Virtual Fence on Border to Get Approval

[unhappycamper]

Virtual Fence on Border to Get Approval
Associated Press | February 13, 2008

WASHINGTON - The government plans to approve a 28-mile virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday.

Last year the government withheld partial payment to contractor Boeing Co. because the technology the company used in the test project near Tucson, Ariz., did not work properly. The department gave a conditional acceptance in December.

Chertoff saw the fence during a trip to Arizona last week.

"I think it looks good," he told lawmakers. The department has not yet made the official acceptance.

The virtual fence is part of a national plan to secure the southwest border with physical barriers and technological detection capabilities intended to stop illegal immigrants on foot and drug smugglers in vehicles. At the beginning of the month, 294 miles of fencing had been constructed, Chertoff said. Some of the technology used in the 28-mile stretch could be replicated along other parts of the border, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,162030,00.html