Border Wall System Update (as of 22 Jun 20)

“It’s going to take a while to finish.”

The rough schedule is to get the Program from the Comprehensive Plan awarded on contracts, and the funding obligated, before anyone else might normally take over the Presidency (i.e., before inauguration day 2021).

Contractors would be working hard to deliver on their end of the deal, through all of 2021. Around the beginning of 2022, we would be approaching full operational control of the border. Around this time, every mile of border should be under continuous technological surveillance.

Beyond that, there is a budget wedge in the ten year baseline budget for $1.4 to 1.6 billion per year (indexed for inflation) for additional barrier, out to 2027 - approximately 75 miles a year (my estimate, based on $20mil/mile). By historical standards, that alone would be an exceptionally generous funding for border barrier - but it pales before President Trump’s first term Wall Program - the largest (per year), most expensive, and most powerful in human history.

Each year operational priorities new barrier would be re-assessed (as smuggling routes shift), in whack-a-mole fashion, progressively driving illegal traffic to ever more difficult and infeasible routes.

The one thing I have noticed about this graphic, is that
the total number of miles does not increase as time goes by.

The total of miles built, under construction, and pre-
construction always equals 738.

Shouldn’t that pre-construction part start growing?

I want more than 738 miles total, and that’s the only
way we’ll get there.

The 738 number, is the total of the specific planned miles, for which funding has been transferred into their accounts.

As they say, a vision without funding, is just an hallucination.

Once the money is on hand, things get real, and those miles that those funds are budgeted against get included in the report. Contracting (pre-construction) does not begin until the money is on hand - then they are authorized to ask vendors to prepare bids (which costs them money).

All of the Southern Border has been analyzed, and it has been divided into segments, which have been carefully prioritized, and costs have been estimated. More segments have been identified, that Border Patrol would like built, but they are waiting for additional funds to arrive.

Early this year, the Administration announced plans to divert $3.6 billion from this year’s (FY20) MILitary CONstruction (MILCON) account, to the Wall Program. Those funds have not yet been transferred. They are earmarked for specific segments on the priority list. As soon as that money is transferred, all those miles will enter pre-construction.

I believe they are waiting for the Contracting folks to use up most of the funds they already have on account by awarding contracts, before transferring the rest.

Once the money has been transferred (or actually spent on an advance payment on a contract award), it could be construed as a cause of action to initiate another lawsuit. So that might be a cause for delaying the transfer, until its really needed.

Liberals have started pushing for a virtual wall, citing ecological and economic effects. They ignore the fact that the first one build in 2007 or so didn’t work.

The Invisible Wall Proposal: Why The First Failed, Why It Will Fail Again, and What Works Instead
https://libertyislandmag.com/2018/09/21/the-invisible-wall-proposal-why-the-first-failed-why-it-will-fail-again-and-what-works-instead/

We are currently rolling out several types/layers of “virtual Wall”, along with the real kind.

Arizona”s 370 mile Border is scheduled for complete coverage by the Integrated Fixed Towers Program (the open pylon loaded with. Sensors in the article you linked) by the end of this year. They are also getting Mobile Surveillance Systems, a variety of Unmanned Ground Sensors, Linear Detection Systems, and a bunch of Military support, like Predator drone patrols. Border Patrol argues that all three components - Infrastructure, Technology and Personnel, are needed to effectively control the Border.

The current plan is for about half of the Southern Border to get strong physical infrastructure (alarmed barrier with road) but for every mile to be covered by persistent surveillance. Many of the Technology Programs create a wide band of detection and tracking, deep into both the USA and Mexico. No barrier alone can stop everything. With ropes and ladders, people climb Mount Everest.

In some places, Border Patrol believes they can control the border without barrier, but not near areas where vehicles can approach within some distance of the Border (especially urban areas).

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.