Funds Frozen for Border Spy Tower Flop

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano halted the cash cow of Boeing at the border, freezing the cash for the big virtual border flop, Secure Border Initiative Network. That's the spy tower sytem where Boeing, and its subcontractor Elbit Systems, the Israeli Apartheid spy contractor, built the spy towers that don't work along the Arizona border.

Those are the same spy towers that were using Wi-Fi in the desert mountains. Yep, that was the same system that put a spy tower in Arivaca and pointed it -- not at the border because there was a mountain there -- but instead pointed it at the good folks of Arivaca. They flew kites around it to mess with it, which probably wasn't necessary since it didn't work anyway.

Yep, and that is the same system where the US government put spy towers on the sovereign Tohono O'odham land. Of course everyone locally who knows at least one Border Patrol agent had a pretty good idea of what those agents would be looking at on their laptops, if those spy towers had worked, chilling thought.

The spy towers had lots of problems, like interference. Say a coyote, cow or bat came by, that would mess with it. Rain would mess with the sensors. But anyone who has ever depended on Wi-Fi in well-insulated hotels should have a good laugh about Boeing using this system in the extreme rugged mountains of the Sonoran Desert.

Writers are always told to write about what they know best and these spy towers are something I came to know. Since I had a lot of time on my hands, and my fellow unemployed friends had a lot of time on their hands, we drove around, and hung around those spy towers over the years.

One night, a couple of security guards just looked at us as we wandered around the fence of the spy tower at Arivaca. Another night, we went out there with an ACLU representative and those good folks from Arivaca. We wandered around some more. Another day, we drove over to Sasabe and wandered around the spy tower there, peering into the cameras. That's the summer when it was so hot that we wrapped ourselves in wet towels to keep from passing out in the car.

We dug out spy tower maps at the public libraries. When the Mohawks came for the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit, we went over and checked out the spy tower on Tohono O'odham land.

Then, the news confirmed what we all thought: The spy towers didn't work. Even loaded with all the modern technology of sensors and cameras, the spy towers were a flop.

The desert reigned.

Here's the latest as Napolitano freezes the cash cow for Boeing:

Napolitano freezes virtual border fence initiative

Rio Grande Guardian
WASHINGTON, D.C, March 16, 2010 - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Tuesday froze the effort to build a virtual fence along the southern border. She cited cost overruns and missed deadlines as she halted what is known as Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet).

Here is Napolitano's announcement:

"Not only do we have an obligation to secure our borders, we have a responsibility to do so in the most cost effective way possible. The system of sensors and cameras along the Southwest border known as SBInet has been plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines.

"Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security will redeploy $50 million of Recovery Act funding originally allocated for the SBInet Block 1 to other tested, commercially available security technology along the Southwest border, including mobile surveillance, thermal imaging devices, ultra-light detection, backscatter units, mobile radios, cameras and laptops for pursuit vehicles, and remote video surveillance system enhancements.

"Additionally, we are freezing all SBInet funding beyond SBInet Block 1's initial deployment to the Tucson and Ajo regions until the assessment I ordered in January is completed."