The Washington Times
By Tony Blankley
Over a year ago, Congress passed a law to spend over $7 billion to build a fence to secure our Mexican border. Less than two weeks ago, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced at a news conference that a high-tech "virtual fence" project on part of the U.S. border with Mexico was finally ready for service, and that the technology that was a substitute for an actual physical fence — you know, cement, barbed wire, watch towers, moats.
The secretary was very specific. He said: "I have personally witnessed the value of the system, and I have spoken directly to border patrol agents ... who have seen it produce actual results, in terms of identifying and allowing the apprehension of people who were illegally smuggling across the border." The so-called Project 28 virtual fence was built near Nogales, Ariz. The $20 million project of sensor towers and advanced mobile communications was supposed to be ready by mid-2007, but was delayed by software problems.
Posted by tyne at March 6, 2008