COVER STORY: Eyes on the border - Tests of troubled networking plan could determine its future

摘要

Patience is running thinner than ever in the U.S. over the status of the country's Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet), a proposed multibillion-dollar expanse of cameras and radars where there are no fences along the border with Mexico. The program remains stuck in its test phase after expenditures of more than dollar1.1 billion. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the analytical arm of Congress, is examining the management of the Boeing program, which is seven years behind schedule. Congressional committees are preparing to explore the reasons for the delays. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the initiative run by the Customs and Border Protection Agency, is now considering "options that may more efficiently, effectively and economically meet our border security needs," a spokesman said by e-mail.