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

[patrick1]

Good decision to cut this program.  It basically amounted to a $1 billion dollar subsidy to Boeing. To state the obvious, I don't think there is a silver bullet to solve the problem but the federal (state and local is often worse) procurement process is just a joke.

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.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70D4KN20110114?pageNumber=1

[exopolitician]

Good, it should never have been established in the first place.

[tpfkaw]

Good, that was a profoundly idiotic program.  Why have a $20 million Predator drone when a $150000 Cessna would work just as well?

[patrick1]

Good, it should never have been established in the first place.

I would disagree. I think there needs to be tighter border security, however, basically funding Boeing's R&D on this products when off the shelf technology is cheaper and more effective is just foolish.

[exopolitician]

Good, it should never have been established in the first place.

I would disagree. I think there needs to be tighter border security, however, basically funding Boeing's R&D on this products when off the shelf technology is cheaper and more effective is just foolish.

I think there are many different ways to approach this issue, but this costly proposal wasn't one of them in my opinion.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Good decision.  It was WAY too much money for a very small stretch of land, and often times the technology wasn't working as we'd hoped.  There's better ways to patrol the border than this.

[Sbane]

Good to hear. What needs to happen is that a fence must be built in high traffic areas of the border. In addition more border patrol need to be added, and I wouldn't care if the national guard supplemented them. But adding men itself will not do the trick. You need to give them good technology so they can actually find the coyotes. You need to give them eyes in the sky so they can monitor if people are camped out in the mountains giving directions to those crossing the border. And a $20 billion dollar drone is not needed to accomplish this.

[courts]

Good, that was a profoundly idiotic program.  Why have a $20 million Predator drone when a $150000 Cessna would work just as well?

Why do you hate America?

[tpfkaw]

Good, that was a profoundly idiotic program.  Why have a $20 million Predator drone when a $150000 Cessna would work just as well?

Why do you hate America?

I wish to see more of our womenfolk be deflowered.