Test of steel prototype for border wall showed it could be sawed through

[demmiblue]

Source: NBC News



A photo exclusively obtained by NBC News shows the results of the test after experts from the Marine Corps were instructed to attempt to destroy the barriers with common tools.

The Trump administration directed the construction of eight steel and concrete prototype walls that were built in Otay Mesa, California, just across the border from Tijuana, Mexico. Trump inspected the prototypes in March 2018. He has now settled on a steel slat, or steel bollard, design for the proposed border barrier additions. Steel bollard fencing has been used under previous administrations.

However, testing by DHS in late 2017 showed all eight prototypes, including the steel slats, were vulnerable to breaching, according to an internal February 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Protection report.

Photos of the breaches were not included in a redacted version of the CBP report, which was first obtained in a Freedom of Information Act Request by San Diego public radio station KPBS.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/test-steel-prototype-border-wall-showed-it-could-be-sawed-n956856?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

1. And rust...

[Maxheader]

2. Couple look like slag on the edges? That would probably be

from a oxy/acetylene cutting torch or arc gouge..

[kwassa]

12. That was my immediate thought when they started talking about steel.

A cutting torch and a couple of minutes.

[underpants]

3. Lowe's checklist

Ladder
Shovel
Saw

[MyOwnPeace]

47. Love it!

[underpants]

54. Note to self: cheaper at Harbor Freight

Since I’ll only need them one time.

[MyOwnPeace]

56. Harbor Freight might

hire you to transport for them!

[Blues Heron]

4. better go with titanium

or maybe depleted uranium

[yuiyoshida]

24. What? No alligator moat?

[Blues Heron]

26. definitely a moat!

got to have one of those!

[Bengus81]

5. Oh my...now we MUST have a Trump concrete monument wall.......

[ancianita]

8. Don't give 'em any ideas.

[NurseJackie]

15. He may go with a Korean-style MINEFIELD instead.

[bigbrother05]

6. This is why 2000 miles of this is foolish

In built up, well travelled areas a wall/fence/barrier is sensible and for the most part is already in place. In remote areas, a breach could go unnoticed for extended periods and would require continual patrolling to monitor. This is exactly why sensors and other surveillance measures are the real answer to securing the borders.

Technology gets better every day, but Forrest Trump is stuck in the Dark Ages.

[LakeSuperiorView]

23. Hell, put the cut out piece back in place and a hole could go undetected for years.

Who is going to cut brush on the other side of the fence? I assume Bush, Jr. is going to cut it on this side, he likes doing that. Donny, Jr. and "I'm Eric" don't know what end of a machete to hold.

Saw through the base of the fence in some brush and you have a Narnian portal into usa.

[groundloop]

7. As much as Tiny is fighting for 'the wall', one has to wonder what's in it for him

Since Tiny is obviously all about enriching himself at the expense of others I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen any reporting on what he has to gain from 'the wall'. I have a strong suspicion that he or one of his spawn is somehow financially connected to the wall construction. There must be either partial ownership in a construction company, a company supplying material, or else an agreement for monetary kickbacks.

[Bengus81]

14. That's what I've wondered about since the get-go..........

Or are we supposed to lap up the LIE that he truly cares about the safety of immigrants?? BS,follow the $$$BILLIONS on this one.

[grumpyduck]

31. Holy crap!

Could that explain why he's so adamant about it? Promises made, deals cut, and maybe even the spectre of a threat of blackmail?

I don't like to speculate, but things are weird in this day and age.

[Richard D]

44. Cheap riverfront land?

Along the Rio Grande.

[calimary]

62. AND I can't help but suspect that we've seen what he did as a kid when he didn't get his way.

Stalk out of the room, throw a hissy fit, made a federal case about it - literally, this time, rather than figuratively when he was younger.

Figure this, too: when he’s ever asked for, or needed, or demanded money, it was always provided. Either daddy kicked it in at the beginning or bailed him out later on, or Deutsche Bank or the Russians came to his rescue after he’d burned the American banks once too often.

This, now, is a FLAT NO with no “oh, okay... stop screaming and yowling, I’ll give in.”

I’d say this is very likely to be the first time he’s demanded something and that he’s been told “NO, donald.”

[RKP5637]

37. "tRump Construction, Inc." Building Stupid walls for a Stupid future - send money now!

[NewJeffCT]

45. He's going to use that picture to justify using Russian steel

from the company that was recently taken off of the sanctions list.

[erronis]

57. That was my assumption also. Quid pro quo, Don-the-con and putine.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

9. A huge boon to scrap metal dealers, both side of border.

There would be scrappage wars all along the border.......

A new security threat of its own........

[Perseus]

13. Excellent deduction

You are very right about that...Mexicans may not cross the border, but they will cut it to pieces and sell it as scrap metal.

[watoos]

10. Better go with Stainless steel,

oh boy, the cost of the wall just went up. Not sure 100 billion will cover that?

[watoos]

11. Has anyone told Trump,

that only 6 possible terrorists were captured on the southern border while 42 were captured on the northern border? I've been to a border crossing in Maine and it is in the middle of nowhere in god's country.
There are a lot of Muslims in Canada, I think we need a northern border wall.

[erronis]

38. Well, maybe Canada WILL pay for part of that wall. Gotta keep the magats out.

Congrats on #3000. Your posts are always laden with content, unlike some others....

[watoos]

49. Gracias,

I worked with Mexicans, Chileans, Venezuelans, Columbians, the average Jose is just like you and me. They are only trying to earn a living for their families.

I travelled all over rebuilding huge glass bottle making machines and installing new ones. The title made me laugh though, of course you can cut steel, why not? The easiest and best way to cut steel around the house is with a cutting disc, it looks like a grinding disc but it eats through steel, it fits on a grinder.

[underpants]

61. Well then clearly we need TWO walls

Twice the graft. Twice the kickbacks. Twice the cost overruns.

[LiberalArkie]

16. Best to go with the East Berlin style wall.

[MyOwnPeace]

50. "Mr. Gorbachev,

tear down that wall....... and send it over here to Donnie."

[sfwriter]

17. Well, just protect that fence...

...with a wall.

[Danascot]

18. If they were careful

coyotes could remove a section, let people through and put it back in place. Then they could let people through whenever the coast was clear.

Rump could have his wall and immigrants could come and go ... win, win for everybody except tax payers.

[grumpyduck]

33. Or set up an illegal

toll gate: charge people to come through. Great moneymaker for the criminally minded.

[erronis]

39. Careful. Don't give the Dump Family any ideas.

[C_U_L8R]

19. Over, under, around or through

Trump’s wall is simply a dumb idea.

[iluvtennis]

20. +++ agree. FFS, this is 2018, there is lots of technology availability for border security.

[Dave Starsky]

34. It may be the dumbest idea in history.

I'm wracking my brain, and I can't thing of a single national project that was dumber than this.

[RKP5637]

40. It's gotta win some kind of "Stupid Award" for the best of "The Stupid!" n/t

[ginnyinWI]

21. the answer is fix the immigration system.

Relieve the pressure by allowing legal immigration. Put money into fixing that and people will much prefer to immigrate legally. It's so simple. But of course, when you are a racist idiot...

[cstanleytech]

28. That plus hold the employers truly criminally responsible rather than just the illegal immigrants

as the cycle will continue until the ones exploiting the illegal immigrants are truly held accountable.

[Bengus81]

58. Including Tump for his illegal hiring at Bedminster........

Love how the Trumpanzies love to explain this one off by claiming Trump doesn't do the hiring. So FUCKING what,seeing how he's made himself the illegal immigration TOP COP then he should start with his own business.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/us/trump-undocumented-workers-bedminster-golf-course.html

[underpants]

60. Tech upgrade

I’m guessing here but given the sad state of tech at the Fed level an upgrade in technology would improve the entire system....unless certain interests want thingbto stay murky.

[watoos]

22. Why doesn't someone in the media ask Trump

how he got all of those undocumented workers to work for him? Even hid them from the Secret Service.

Trump himself is a perfect example of why people come here, because Trump gave them a job. Who else would clean his toilet and make his bed for pennies?

[cstanleytech]

25. The wall idea is stupid as shit no matter how you cut it (pun intended).

After all if its not the cutting its the fact that it can be tunneled under not to mention the sheer cost to build the damn thing added on the cost to provide maintenance to to as well as the fact you would still need people to patrol it.

[Dave Starsky]

30. Tunneled under, climbed over, sawn through...

Jesus Christ, are we in the fucking Middle Ages?

[MosheFeingold]

27. Any fixed fortification

Can be overcome, with time and effort.

But it takes time and effort. And some guys with a generator and a cutting wheel sitting on the fence for a couple hours would be noticed.

A wall, will, indeed, result in the need of less border guards and the ability to create choke points. It's not really up to honest debate. It's a mechanical thing. They do work -- witness Israel where terrorist attacks from people coming in from the outside dropped to almost zero.

What is up for honest debate, however, is whether a strong Southern border is a good thing.

We've seemed to done just fine without a strong Southern border.

[cstanleytech]

29. Depends on where they are doing the cutting.

The border is thousands of miles long so there are plenty of out of the way places for a group to setup and cut throw and they could also potentially do it in a way to conceal that they have done so.
For example if they cut down low and install some sort of concealed hinges they could make it so they could lower and raise it back up and if they do it right no one would be the wiser unless they were caught or the posts in question where physically examined.

[MosheFeingold]

32. OK

That's still a choke point and where things like drones and passing guards come into play.

You just need far less of them. Again, witness Israel. Yes, Hamas keeps trying to tunnel under the wall so they can kidnap and kill people. Sometimes they make it. But far less make it, and it takes a lot of effort. Most get stopped.

Again, the debate is not whether some sturdy barrier will slow things greatly. That's an obvious "yes".

The debate is why we need to stop things.

I don't see 1,000s of Mexicans clamoring to get into the USA to commit terror attacks like what was going on Israel.

I see lots of people coming for work and a better life.

That's not a valid reason for an extraordinary measure like a wall.

[cstanleytech]

41. Now drones are actually a better thing than the wall will ever be and its one thing I would not

object to.
After all if you have a number of them equipped with lidar as well as infrared (and ground penetrating radar for some) you could patrol the border effectively and dispatch border patrol teams to intercept them when it looks like someone is heading to the border to cross.

[Bengus81]

59. That's what Dems keep trying to tell that fucking IDIOT---TECHNOLOGY

Will serve us better than some POS wall that could be gone under (five feet) in no time. Dems offer him money AGAIN--hasn't spent much from the last two years and want to work with technology but all he wants is his monument and to shut down Gov.

[watoos]

52. Give me a battery powered grinder,

with spare batteries, and a bunch of cutting discs and I will cut a hole in the fence in a half hour big enough to drive a truck through.

[House of Roberts]

35. A cordless recip saw, a few charged batteries, and you're in!

.

[RKP5637]

42. And maybe an Oxy-fuel cutting torch to go with it. n/t

[Still In Wisconsin]

43. That was my first thought.

Wouldn't be that hard.

[watoos]

53. Yip, or a battery powered grinder with cutting discs.

Those cutting discs eat steel, they come in handy around the house and are cheap.

[mac56]

36. Vibranium

[Dave Starsky]

63. Adamantium

Or how about unobtainium? That was the metal they made the drill out of in the ridiculous (but fun) sci-fi movie The Core. I think they used it again in Avatar.

[Sinistrous]

46. I don't recall seeing any reference to the gold standard of failed barriers:

The Maginot Line.

[LongTomH]

48. In other news........hacksaw manufacturer stocks rise dramatically!!!

[slack-bot]

51. Cool Hand Luke

Every time I hear about these "steel slats" I can't help but think about Paul Newmann in the opening scene of Cool Hand Luke.

Feeling validated; thanks for sharing!

[Flaleftist]

55. Who didn't see that coming?

[crazytown]

64. The Saudis get through OK

What were they thinking