U.S. ends "virtual fence" project on Mexican border

[cal04]

Source: Reuters

President Barack Obama's administration on Friday canceled the troubled "virtual fence" project meant to better guard stretches of the vast U.S. border with Mexico and will replace it with other security measures.

The project, begun in 2006 and run by Boeing Co, has cost about $1 billion and was designed to pull together video cameras, radar, sensors and other technologies to catch illegal immigrants and smugglers trying to cross the porous border.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said commercially available surveillance systems, unmanned aerial drones, thermal imaging and other equipment would be used instead, suggestions made by critics of the Boeing SBInet program.

"This new strategy is tailored to the unique needs of each border region, providing faster deployment of technology, better coverage, and a more effective balance between cost and capability," she said in a statement.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110114/us_nm/us_usa_security_fence

[jody]

1. OK, Bush and Obama 0, drug lords 1. When will Obama bring our troops home from Afghanistan,

an Invasion Too Far that has bankrupt our nation?

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Boeing, 1 billion.

No refunds, sorry.

[DCKit]

2. Boeing screwed up.

Apparently someone in this administration isn't willing to hand out the cash hand-over-fist on a project with constant problems, delays and glitches. It's just not like it was in the good old days.

[valerief]

3. Or the gummint has a new friend to waste tax dollars. nt

[shanti]

7. funny, that

when the dems are in charge the money spigot slows way down. on a similar note, here in cali, just heard that carnival cruise lines are pulling out of the state and moving elsewhere. just up and leaving. we just elected a dem for governor - guess the business climate ain't so hot for them here anymore!

[Atypical Liberal]

4. Good.

A boondoggle of a project that had no reason to exist anyway.

I've been to Mexico. If I lived there I'd smuggle myself here in a container of shit if I had to. All the Mexican people I saw working on houses around here during the construction boom worked from dawn till tusk busting their asses. They are exactly the kind of people we should be asking to come live here.

[alp227]

6. but, won't those guys DEIK AAHR JERBS though??

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/104259/they-took-our-jobs

[L. Coyote]

10. Cronyism is NEVER "A boondoggle of a project that had no reason to exist anyway"

Bush's buddies filled their pockets. Projects like this are one more reason to get rid of bush tax cuts for the rich, to payback filling their pockets in myriad ways.

[grahamhgreen]

5. Thank god! - Who got our billion?

[DCKit]

8. Too, too funny. The S.O. is home and just pointed out that, for $500 mil/year...

We could do this the whole way across the border, paying people, not corporations:

[Iggo]

9. A billion fucking dollars.

Jeezusaychkeeryst.

[gratuitous]

12. Stanched one hemorrhage

Many to go, but here's hoping this is a trend and not an aberration.

[Blue_Tires]

13. I hope all the teabag quasi-deficit hawks read this...

THIS is what government waste looks like