Project 28
Encyclopedia
Project 28 is the name given to a U.S. border protection program that runs along a 28 miles (45.1 km) stretch of the US/Mexican border
in southern Arizona.. The project, the first phase of a much larger program called the "Secure Border Initiative network" (SBInet)
, was scheduled to be completed in mid-2007, but did not become operational until late 2007. It involves the placement of 9 high-tech surveillance towers that monitor activity using radar, high-resolution cameras, and wireless networking, looking for incursions to report to the Border Patrol.
In February 2008, authorities said that the project did not work as planned nor did it meet the needs of the U.S. Border Patrol. As a result, the deployment of about 100 miles (160.9 km) of virtual fence near Tucson
, Yuma, Arizona
, and El Paso, Texas
is now projected to be completed by the end of 2011, rather than 2008.
won a contractor competition and was awarded a three-year, $67 million contract by the U.S. government to build and operate Project 28. The initial construction phase had an estimated cost of $20 million. Project 28 is the pilot for SBInet
, which has a total estimated cost of two to eight billion dollars. If Project 28 is successful, hundreds of towers (an estimate in May 2007 was 850 towers) could be placed on the 6000 miles (9,656 km) of the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that the cost to secure each mile of the border with fencing is about $3 million, compared to about $1 million using technology such as that of Project 28.
In a report in February 2007, the Government Accountability Office
said that Congress needed to keep a tight rein on the program, because, it said, "SBInet runs the risk of not delivering promised capabilities and benefits on time and within budget." Between 1998 and 2006, the U.S. government spent $429 million on border technology programs that failed.
Each of the 98 feet (29.9 m)-high towers has radar (MSTAR
), infrared cameras and other sensors, and data-processing and communications equipment to distribute information to control centers, mobile units, agent vehicles and other law enforcement employees.
Boeing, as the prime contractor, selected nearly 100 of the 900 subcontractors that applied to work on the contract. While Boeing considers the list of subcontractors to be an industrial secret, known subcontractors include Booz Allen Hamilton
; Centech, DRS Technologies
; Kollsman, Inc.
; LGS, L-3 Communications
Government Services; Perot Systems
, Pinkerton Government Services
; Power Contracting, Inc. Reconnaissance Group; Sandia National Laboratories
; the Texas Transportation Institute
at Texas A&M University
; and Unisys
.
As of early June 2007, Boeing had issued 55 requests for proposal
for additional technologies to be deployed along the border. Jerry McElwee, a Boeing vice president and the program manager for SBInet, said that the June 2007 version of Project 28 was "a demonstration of our approach and a test bed for incorporating improvements" to SBInet.
"We chose the most difficult, highest-trafficked piece of Arizona because we wanted to take on the challenges that we would have to take on someday," said Brian Seagrave, vice president for border security at Unisys Corporation, the company that is providing the information systems expertise. It also includes a Port of Entry (POE) and is representative of terrain conditions found in large areas along the Southwest border. Unlike other areas on the border that have stadium lighting, fencing and cameras on 40 feet (12.2 m) towers, this area lacks infrastructure and technology.
. Two of the towers are on the land of Tohono O'odham
nation west of the Baboquivari range, three are in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge
, and one is located just outside of Arivaca, Arizona
, 11 miles (17.7 km) north of the border.
The initial towers are redeployable; at the end of the Project 28 trial, DHS will decide whether to change any locations. The towers will then be moved to the next area being tested, and will be replaced by permanent towers.
Residents of Arivaca who objected to the tower near their town were told in a meeting in May 2007 that the tower was located there because mountains to the south hindered surveillance, and the tower’s closer proximity to the roads near the town would make it easier to maintain. In June 2007, with the system scheduled to become operational shortly, residents were concerned about being under 24-hour surveillance, bright lights in the night sky, and the disruption of recreation and other activities near the tower, including loud alarm blasts from the towers scaring horses on trail rides.
The project was originally scheduled to be operational on June 13, 2007. System testing began in the first week of June. Agency officials testified publicly on June 7 that Project 28 was on schedule.
On June 26, a DHS spokesman could not say when the project would become operational. "We are working hard to resolve these challenges as quickly as possible so that we can deploy or make this system operational and give the agents the tools they need to better secure the border," he said. In mid-July, a DHS spokesman said that programmers were working overtime to make sure the radars, cameras and sensors properly send information to computers in the two command centers and to laptops in Border Patrol vehicles. Boeing is "getting close" but no date has been set for the system to become operational, the spokesman said.
In early September, a spokesman at the Customs and Border Patrol said "It could be two, four, six or eight weeks until it’s operating." Boeing and DHS encountered problems integrating the various cameras, radars and other sensors on the nine towers, and there were also problems combining the incoming data seamlessly with communications networks. Several days later, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff
said he expected to testing to begin in October.
In late October, a senior Boeing official testified that the system was substantially improved. The official said that ""The system is consistently able to slew to new radar targets and successfully record people crossing the border," and that "Camera elevation difficulties have been fixed and a solution for radar display delays has been implemented."
said he expected operational testing to finish by the end of the year, a period of less than three months, assuming that the system did go "live" sometime in October.
DHS officially accepted the system on February 22, 2008.
, Carney said that he saw an incident where two illegal immigrants crossed in front of a project camera. Carney said that a technician tried to electronically reposition the camera to track them, but the picture was out of focus, the camera moved too slowly, and the illegal immigrants got away.
United States–Mexico border
The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico. It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east, and traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major...
in southern Arizona.. The project, the first phase of a much larger program called the "Secure Border Initiative network" (SBInet)
SBInet
SBInet was a program initiated in 2006 for a new integrated system of personnel, infrastructure, technology, and rapid response to secure the northern and southern land borders of the United States...
, was scheduled to be completed in mid-2007, but did not become operational until late 2007. It involves the placement of 9 high-tech surveillance towers that monitor activity using radar, high-resolution cameras, and wireless networking, looking for incursions to report to the Border Patrol.
In February 2008, authorities said that the project did not work as planned nor did it meet the needs of the U.S. Border Patrol. As a result, the deployment of about 100 miles (160.9 km) of virtual fence near Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, Yuma, Arizona
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....
, and El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
is now projected to be completed by the end of 2011, rather than 2008.
Costs
In September 2006, BoeingBoeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
won a contractor competition and was awarded a three-year, $67 million contract by the U.S. government to build and operate Project 28. The initial construction phase had an estimated cost of $20 million. Project 28 is the pilot for SBInet
SBInet
SBInet was a program initiated in 2006 for a new integrated system of personnel, infrastructure, technology, and rapid response to secure the northern and southern land borders of the United States...
, which has a total estimated cost of two to eight billion dollars. If Project 28 is successful, hundreds of towers (an estimate in May 2007 was 850 towers) could be placed on the 6000 miles (9,656 km) of the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that the cost to secure each mile of the border with fencing is about $3 million, compared to about $1 million using technology such as that of Project 28.
In a report in February 2007, the Government Accountability Office
Government Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...
said that Congress needed to keep a tight rein on the program, because, it said, "SBInet runs the risk of not delivering promised capabilities and benefits on time and within budget." Between 1998 and 2006, the U.S. government spent $429 million on border technology programs that failed.
Components
The four primary components of the system are the sensor towers, the P28 "Common Operating Picture" (COP), enhanced communications, and upgraded agent vehicles which include a laptop computer and a satellite phone. The project also incorporates unattended ground sensors that will detect intrusions via magnetic, seismic and acoustic sensors and transmit information that will be distributed via the COP.Each of the 98 feet (29.9 m)-high towers has radar (MSTAR
MSTAR
Man-portable Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar is a light weight all-weather battlefield radar Doppler radar operating in the J band. It is usually used by Artillery Observers to acquire and engage targets in bad visibility or at night...
), infrared cameras and other sensors, and data-processing and communications equipment to distribute information to control centers, mobile units, agent vehicles and other law enforcement employees.
Operations
When migrants cross the SBInet's virtual fence, camera and other sensors on the tower are to instantly detect the incursion. These towers then relay real-time electronic images to a private sector communications center. There, a contractor employee will take manual command of the camera, zooming in to identify the number of individuals and their means of transport. After classifying the "threat," the employee will electronically transfer the entrants' coordinates to Border Patrol agents via laptop computers mounted inside Border Patrol vehicles.Limitations of Project 28
Rather than develop new technology, Boeing took existing cameras, sensors, radar and other equipment and bundled them into a system that although not technologically novel is unlike anything the Border Patrol had used.Boeing, as the prime contractor, selected nearly 100 of the 900 subcontractors that applied to work on the contract. While Boeing considers the list of subcontractors to be an industrial secret, known subcontractors include Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. , or more commonly Booz Allen, is an American public consulting firm headquartered in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia, with 80 other offices throughout the United States. Ralph Shrader is its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The firm was founded by Edwin Booz in...
; Centech, DRS Technologies
DRS Technologies
DRS Technologies, Inc. is a US-based defense contractor. Previously traded on the NYSE, the company was purchased by the Italian firm Finmeccanica in October 2008.-History:...
; Kollsman, Inc.
Elbit Systems
Elbit Systems Ltd. is one of the world's largest defense electronics manufacturers and integrators. Established in 1967, and based in Haifa, Israel, Elbit employs 11,000 people worldwide....
; LGS, L-3 Communications
L-3 Communications
L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. is a company that supplies command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, space, and navigation products. Its customers include...
Government Services; Perot Systems
Perot Systems
Perot Systems was an information technology services provider founded in 1988 by a group of investors led by Ross Perot and based in Plano, Texas, United States. A Fortune 1000 corporation with offices in more than 25 countries, Perot Systems employed more than 23,000 people and had an annual...
, Pinkerton Government Services
Securitas AB
Securitas AB is a security services , monitoring, consulting and investigation group, based in Stockholm, Sweden. The group has approximately 300,000 employees in 50 countries in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Securitas AB is listed at Nasdaq OMX Stockholm,...
; Power Contracting, Inc. Reconnaissance Group; Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories
The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
; the Texas Transportation Institute
Texas Transportation Institute
The Texas Transportation Institute in College Station, Texas is the largest transportation research agency in the United States. Created in 1950, primarily in response to the needs of the Texas Highway Department , TTI has since broadened its focus to address all modes of transportation–highway,...
at Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
; and Unisys
Unisys
Unisys Corporation , headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, and incorporated in Delaware, is a long established business whose core products now involves computing and networking.-History:...
.
As of early June 2007, Boeing had issued 55 requests for proposal
Request for Proposal
A request for proposal is issued at an early stage in a procurement process, where an invitation is presented for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. The RFP process brings structure to the procurement decision and is meant to...
for additional technologies to be deployed along the border. Jerry McElwee, a Boeing vice president and the program manager for SBInet, said that the June 2007 version of Project 28 was "a demonstration of our approach and a test bed for incorporating improvements" to SBInet.
Selection
The area where the project is located was the busiest in the sector in fiscal year 2006, according to Border Patrol officials."We chose the most difficult, highest-trafficked piece of Arizona because we wanted to take on the challenges that we would have to take on someday," said Brian Seagrave, vice president for border security at Unisys Corporation, the company that is providing the information systems expertise. It also includes a Port of Entry (POE) and is representative of terrain conditions found in large areas along the Southwest border. Unlike other areas on the border that have stadium lighting, fencing and cameras on 40 feet (12.2 m) towers, this area lacks infrastructure and technology.
Location of towers
The nine towers are located on either side of Sasabe, ArizonaSasabe, Arizona
Sasabe is a small unincorporated border community in the Altar Valley of southern Pima County, Arizona, United States. It hosts a little-used United States–Mexico border crossing...
. Two of the towers are on the land of Tohono O'odham
Tohono O'odham
The Tohono O'odham are a group of Native American people who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert of the southeastern Arizona and northwest Mexico...
nation west of the Baboquivari range, three are in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge
Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge provides of habitat for threatened and endangered plants and animals. The refuge was established in 1985.-Natural history:...
, and one is located just outside of Arivaca, Arizona
Arivaca, Arizona
Arivaca is an unincorporated community in Pima County, Arizona, United States. It is located north of the Mexican border and northwest of the port of entry at Nogales. The European-American history of the area dates back at least to 1695, although the community was not founded until 1878....
, 11 miles (17.7 km) north of the border.
The initial towers are redeployable; at the end of the Project 28 trial, DHS will decide whether to change any locations. The towers will then be moved to the next area being tested, and will be replaced by permanent towers.
Residents of Arivaca who objected to the tower near their town were told in a meeting in May 2007 that the tower was located there because mountains to the south hindered surveillance, and the tower’s closer proximity to the roads near the town would make it easier to maintain. In June 2007, with the system scheduled to become operational shortly, residents were concerned about being under 24-hour surveillance, bright lights in the night sky, and the disruption of recreation and other activities near the tower, including loud alarm blasts from the towers scaring horses on trail rides.
Organizational placement
The 28 miles (45.1 km) of the border near Sasabe that are in Project 28 are the responsibility of the Tucson station of the Border Patrol. The station was arresting 200 to 400 illegal aliens per day as of early 2008.Initial testing
In early April 2007, Boeing announced that it had successfully tested the first integrated mobile sensor tower. Dr. Kirk Evans, the SBInet program manager at CBP, said that "The tower and its components functioned as expected, and we are confident that the design is repeatable for deployment along the border."The project was originally scheduled to be operational on June 13, 2007. System testing began in the first week of June. Agency officials testified publicly on June 7 that Project 28 was on schedule.
Delayed implementation
On June 8, agency officials said that project completion would be delayed until June 20. On June 16, the department said that the project would be delayed beyond June 20.On June 26, a DHS spokesman could not say when the project would become operational. "We are working hard to resolve these challenges as quickly as possible so that we can deploy or make this system operational and give the agents the tools they need to better secure the border," he said. In mid-July, a DHS spokesman said that programmers were working overtime to make sure the radars, cameras and sensors properly send information to computers in the two command centers and to laptops in Border Patrol vehicles. Boeing is "getting close" but no date has been set for the system to become operational, the spokesman said.
In early September, a spokesman at the Customs and Border Patrol said "It could be two, four, six or eight weeks until it’s operating." Boeing and DHS encountered problems integrating the various cameras, radars and other sensors on the nine towers, and there were also problems combining the incoming data seamlessly with communications networks. Several days later, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as assistant U.S. Attorney...
said he expected to testing to begin in October.
In late October, a senior Boeing official testified that the system was substantially improved. The official said that ""The system is consistently able to slew to new radar targets and successfully record people crossing the border," and that "Camera elevation difficulties have been fixed and a solution for radar display delays has been implemented."
Reduced operational testing
As a pilot project for SBInet, Project 28 was originally scheduled to be operational for eight months. However, in September 2007, DHS Secretary Michael ChertoffMichael Chertoff
Michael Chertoff was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush and co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. He previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as assistant U.S. Attorney...
said he expected operational testing to finish by the end of the year, a period of less than three months, assuming that the system did go "live" sometime in October.
Acceptance of first phase
In early December 2007, Homeland Security Department conditionally accepted the delivery of the first phase of Project 28 and awarded Boeing a $64 million contract for the next phase. Part of the next phase involves upgrading the Common Operating Picture (COP) system to display real-time information from the radars, cameras and ground sensors that were installed along the borders. The Border Patrol was to take over Project 28 and run it in an operational mode for 45 days. During that time, Chertoff said that "we will identify further adjustments or fixes that need to be made."DHS officially accepted the system on February 22, 2008.
Effectiveness
In February 2008, U.S. Representative Chris Carney, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Management, Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, said the system "works about 30 percent of the time". During a visit in early January 2008 to El PasoEl Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, Carney said that he saw an incident where two illegal immigrants crossed in front of a project camera. Carney said that a technician tried to electronically reposition the camera to track them, but the picture was out of focus, the camera moved too slowly, and the illegal immigrants got away.
External links
- What is Project 28?, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, December 29, 2006
- SBInet official website, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- SBInet Virtual Fence, www.arivaca.net