Money for nothing

Friday, Feb. 29, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

After sinking at least $85 million into the first phase of a “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexico border, Bush administration officials are delaying further work on the project because the technology doesn’t work.

Officials from the Homeland Security Department and the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, told a House subcommittee this week that the towers, sensors and other equipment placed along the pilot project’s 28-mile stretch south of Tucson aren’t gathering data in a manner that is useful to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The problems include the $20.6 million installation of data integration software that was found to be unsuitable for tracking illegal border crossings. Boeing, the company that installed the software, was paid another $65 million to replace it.

And the software still cannot process adequate amounts of data, GAO officials said. What’s more, rain and other natural forces often triggered the detection radar by accident, and the system’s cameras couldn’t provide adequate image resolutions at even half the desired distance.

GAO officials said the system needs a complete redesign. As a result, the first phase of the project which is a major component of President Bush’s immigration policy likely will not emerge for at least three years, well into the next president’s term.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said federal officials will “take elements” of the system for other uses, The Washington Post reports. But Richard Stana, the GAO’s director of homeland security issues, said “the project’s design will not be used as the basis” for the future border fence.

And what of the $85 million? Boeing has offered to give the government a $2 million credit toward redesigning the system.

Brilliant.

At least the delay brings hope that the next administration will secure our borders in a manner that doesn’t involve tossing tens of millions of taxpayers’ dollars into a black hole.