Management, technology short-circuit DHS's 'virtual fence'

Computerworld - A U.S. government plan to build a "virtual fence" along the border of Mexico and Canada — using radar, satellites, sensors and communication links to rapidly dispatch border patrol — has all the earmarks of a technology boondoggle.

Congress was told this week that the project is being delayed, and for reasons likely familiar to IT managers: The users haven't been involved in the project's development, and the technology's complexity was underestimated.

Roger Krone, president of The Boeing Co.'s Network and Space Systems, the project vendor, was asked to explained what happened and what's being done to fix it at a joint hearing on Wednesday with two U.S. House Homeland Security subcommittees.

The first and most important lesson learned, said Krone in his testimony (PDF format), "is the need for engagement with a complete set of customer stakeholders to include the actual SBInet users within the Border Patrol." SBInet is the name for the Secure Border Initiative, with the "net" referring to the virtual fence aspect of the border initiative.

Another "major lesson," said Krone, "is the need for more robust integration and testing prior to deployment."

The first segment of the 28-mile electronic fence was built along part of Arizona's border with Mexico. Congress was told this week that initial plans to extend the fence out to El Paso, Texas, will likely take until the end of 2011.

Increasing security

David Fishering, a research analyst for homeland security at Frost & Sullivan in San Antonio, said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the project, "is underfunded, and at the same time, they haven't proven they can do the best with the money they have been given, either."

The Government Accountability Office has been harsh on the DHS, especially recently, said Fishering, "but, I think, rightfully so — if the stuff doesn't work, we shouldn't be paying for it."

The software that manages the virtual fence has proved to be another problem for Boeing. In a report this week (PDF format), the GAO said Boeing's inability to integrate system components was the result of picking a software system, previously used in law enforcement dispatch, that couldn't handle the demands of the virtual fence. The company's now building a "next-generation" management system.

Some of the other lessons concerned technology integration, said Jayson Ahern, deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a branch of DHS, who also testified (PDF format). His list of lessons learned included realizing that commercial off-the-shelf components cannot be integrated out of the box without interface design, "thorough testing and integration in the laboratory."