Broadband Advisor

Increasing security

The US has plans to increase security along all 10,000 kilometres of its border under SBI with Mexico and Canada, although not entirely with the electronic fence.The project was estimated about two years ago to cost about US$7.6 billion.

David Fishering, a research analyst for homeland security at Frost & Sullivan, said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the project, "is underfunded and at the same time they haven't proven they can do the best with the money they have been given, either."

The Government Accountability Office has been harsh on DHS, especially recently, said Fishering, "but, I think, rightfully so -- if the stuff doesn't work, we shouldn't be paying for it."

The software that manages the virtual fence has proven to be another problem for Boeing. In a report this week, the GAO said Boeing's inability to integrate system components was result of picking a software system, previously used in law-enforcement dispatch, that couldn't handle the demands of the virtual fence. The company's now building a "next generation" management system.

Some of the other lessons concerned technology integration, said Jayson Ahern, deputy commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (a branch of DHS), who also testified. His list of lessons learned included realizing that commercial off-the-shelf components cannot be integrated out of the box without interface design, "thorough testing and integration in the laboratory."

There was also a need for sensors that have "common standard controls and interfaces," said Ahern.

Project management skills wanted

Ray Bjorklund, a vice president with IT research and consulting firm Federal Sources, said DHS needs people with project management skills.

"There just aren't enough fully qualified, experienced acquisition professionals in the government workforce," said Bjorklund. DHS isn't the only department dealing with this issue, but he said the department is working to address the shortfall. "There just aren't enough of those people to go around," he said.

The DHS did accept Boeing's work on the virtual fence this month, after the company addressed most of the outstanding technology issues. But Michael Chertoff, who heads DHS, took exception in a blog post Thursday with a news report that he claimed had characterized the effort as mothball-destined.

"I've seen this system work with my own eyes, and I've talked with the Border Patrol Agents who are using it," wrote Chertoff of the virtual fence. "They assure me that it adds value. That's what matters to me, and it's a fact that cannot be denied."