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Deep in the Otay Mountain Wilderness, there is no wall... But it is fertile for an invisible kind of fence, one built of artificial intelligence, radar, drones, sensors, motion-activated cameras and even lidar, the technology used in self-driving vehicles... An electronic fence is not about preventing intrusion as much as it is about detecting intrusions and then intercepting them. While even the strongest proponents for such a technological solution admit that physical barriers are probably best in urban areas like San Diego and El Paso, Texas, they see a virtual wall as a cheaper and more effective way to police...

The Department of Homeland Security "virtual fence" project, being built by Boeing, is in big, big trouble. The virtual fence is a high-tech network of cameras, lighting, sensors, and technology designed to intercept illegal border crossings. According to the Wall Street Journal:Boeing Co. has changed the management of an electronic-surveillance project along the U.S.-Mexican border after falling more than two months behind schedule, marking the complications involved in setting up a new generation of border security. The project, part of a larger Department of Homeland Security program called SBInet, is a critical link in the plan to use technology to...

Reporting from Washington — The Department of Homeland Security, positioning itself to cut its losses on a so-called invisible fence along the U.S.- Mexico border, has decided not to exercise a one-year option for Boeing to continue work on the troubled multibillion-dollar project involving high-tech cameras, radar and vibration sensors.

Rick Perry may just be the guy. The country's longest tenured governor, from its second-largest state, is generating a lot of buzz in conservative circles as he contemplates entering the wide open Republican presidential primary. There are plenty of reasons that Perry is an attractive option: he is a no-nonsense decision-maker with solid conservative credentials. A man who not only speaks about family values, but lives them, Perry's power to persuade voters to see things his way is proven -- battle-tested in a state known for independent-minded citizens. But what serious political analysts on both sides of the aisle will...

The Department of Homeland Security today officially scrapped a Bush-era program designed to use radar technology to detect illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a DHS official and a congressional source. The project, called "Virtual Fence," was rolled out under the Bush administration in 2006 with much fanfare about how technology could help secure the border. Illegal immigrants crossing the border would be detected by a radar and picked up by remote cameras, which were monitored by border patrol agents. But numerous internal and Congressional reviews found consistent performance problems with the project's systems, which only spanned 53...

The Department of Homeland Security has "largely defined but has not adequately implemented" controls over a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border promised for completion in 2009 and, as a result, the multibillion-dollar project is behind schedule and over budget, a government report says. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in a 63-page report released last week, said the department had failed to effectively manage the project, known as the Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet), or give sufficient oversight to its prime contractor — resulting in costly rework and contributing to SBInets "well-chronicled history of not delivering promised capabilities and benefits...

The troubled four-year-old federal program to install a virtual fence along the 2,000-mile U.S. border with Mexico is behind schedule and overbudget -- and the Department of Homeland Security is at least partly to blame, for not adequately policing contractor Boeing, a new watchdog report concludes. The department's Secure Border Initiative Network, or SBInet, is intended to utilize cameras, ground sensors and radars designed to let a small number of dispatchers watch the border on computer monitors, zoom in with cameras to see people crossing and decide whether to send Border Patrol agents to the scene. But the Government Accountability...

WASHINGTON — Taxpayers have shelled out at least $15.1 million per mile for 53 miles of "virtual fence" built to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, more than 12 times the original estimate. The federal government set aside $833 million for the fence of cameras, sensors and other barriers in 2007, and the vast majority of that money, at least $800 million, has been spent on a sliver, in Arizona, of the nearly 2,000-mile southern border. About $20.9 million has been used on the northern border. Rep. Chris Carney, D-Pa., chairman of a House Homeland Security subcommittee, said the money was supposed...

Illegal Immigration: Los Angeles' city council votes to boycott Arizona for its enforcement of existing federal law. No word yet on how China's human rights violations will be treated. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. The next time the Lakers play Los Suns in Phoenix, traveling fans are advised to bring their own snacks. The L.A. City Council voted 13-1 on Wednesday to economically boycott the state of Arizona for daring to protect its borders against the crime, violence and illegal immigration that recently took the life of an Arizona rancher and has made Phoenix the kidnapping capital of...

Immigration: Arizona moves to protect its citizens from a raging border war, and the administration and its activist supporters cry racism. Why is antelope protection more important than protecting American lives?

Illegal Immigration: An Arizona rancher is murdered while patrolling his ranch. A gaping hole in the border fence and footsteps back to Mexico tell the tale. When will we put the National Guard back on the border? Robert N. Krentz Jr., 58, scion of one of the best-known and oldest ranching families in southeast Arizona, was found shot to death March 27 on his vast, remote ranch after radioing to his brother that he was checking out someone he believed to be an illegal immigrant. Krentz was found slumped over his ATV on his 35,000-acre ranch about 35 miles northeast...

Illegal Immigration: The government puts the brakes on a problem-plagued "virtual" fence on our border with Mexico. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned kind? If ever there was a shovel-ready project, this is it. The much-ballyhooed "virtual" fence that was supposed to monitor and control illegal immigration doesn't work and is being scrapped as we evaluate alternatives and rely on existing technology. After years of delay and billions of dollars already spent, Secretary Napolitano on Tuesday halted work on SBInet. The system involves cameras, sensors and radars designed to let a small number of dispatchers watch the border on computer monitors...

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Work on the virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexican border will stop, freeing up its share of stimulus funds, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. Napolitano said Tuesday the halt to work beyond the two pilot projects in Arizona was pending a broader reassessment of the concept, and the $50 million in economic stimulus funds planned for the project would be diverted to technology such as mobile surveillance devices, sensors, radios and laptop computers, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The date for operating the first major section “virtual fence” (Secure Border Initiative Network, or SBInet) the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been touting appears to have slipped farther into the future. The section around Sasabe, Arizona (“Sasabe grid” or Tuscon-1 test section of the SBInet) was to have been operating by December 2009. It is not complete, however, and DHS reports further delays are expected. The entire fence was supposed to be in place by Fall 2009 but now the US government says 2016-- maybe. The virtual fence consists of radars, towers, digital sensors (acoustic, seismic, etc),...

The Department of Homeland Security's latest version of a border "virtual fence" has suffered another setback. TUCSON, Ariz. — The Department of Homeland Security's latest version of a border "virtual fence" has suffered another setback — prompting Secretary Janet Napolitano to order a departmentwide reassessment of the program. Officials expected to have a 17-tower system up and working along 23 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border flanking Sasabe, Ariz., by the end of 2009. But the handover to the Border Patrol has been delayed at least three more months. The Sasabe grid is the first in a series of virtual fences...

Homeland Security hopes to begin construction next month on the latest version of its much-maligned and costly "virtual fence" on the U.S.-Mexico border. More than two years have passed and more than $400 million in taxpayers' dollars have been spent on the Secure Border Initiative Net (SBInet) project, which still hasn't produced an effective virtual fence. The only system operating along the border is the "Project 28" prototype near Sasabe, southwest of Tucson, a grid of nine sensor towers that is still plagued with problems. It will be replaced by the new version — whenever it goes up.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has decided to award Boeing contracts for the construction of two sections of a high-tech fence to be built along the border with Mexico in Arizona, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Monday. The two fence sections would be an "operational configuration" of a much-criticized 28-mile (45-km) section of "virtual fence" built by Boeing and tested earlier, Chertoff told a news conference. He said the fence would include fixed towers, with radar sensors, remote control cameras, ground sensors and software linking border agents to give them a "common operating picture" of...

TUCSON, Ariz. - The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said. The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson. Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar...

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said. The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson. Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, cameras and radar capability,...

Officials say the government will replace its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border with new towers, radars, cameras and computer software. They're scrapping the brand-new $20 million system because it doesn't work sufficiently.Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially signed off on the program just two months ago.But with the decision, Customs and Border Protection officials are acknowledging that the program to detect illegal immigrants doesn't work well enough to keep or to continue tweaking.Critics say the system is highly flawed, but officials say it's only a demonstration project.