SBInet
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[edit] The Secure Border Initiative
The Secure Border Initiative (SBI) was a program created by Secretary Chertoff of DHS to organize the four operating components of border security: Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). SBI has 3 main operating goals: improve border security, increase interior enforcement of immigration and customs laws, and implement a Temporary Worker Program (TWP).
[edit] SBInet’s Background
The Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet) is one part of SBI. SBInet is a program created under CBP to design a new integrated system of personnel, infrastructure, technology, and rapid response to secure the Northern and Southern land borders of the U.S. SBInet replaces two former programs, America’s Shield Initiative (ASI) and the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System (ISIS), both of which were programs with similar goals, but were scrapped due to mismanagement and failure of equipment. To avoid such problems, DHS decided to have SBInet completely managed by a single private contractor from technology development and acquisition to training of personnel and system evaluation.
[edit] The Players
5 companies competed for the SBInet contract: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and Ericsson. On September 21, 2006, DHS announced that it had chosen to award the contract to Boeing. Boeing named Jerry McElwee as SBInet’s executive program manager, Tony Swansson as the deputy program manager, and Ilia Rosenberg as the director of technology assessment. In addition, Boeing has an extensive team of companies assembled to work on SBInet under the management of Boeing. At DHS, Deputy Director of Homeland Security Michael Jackson played a large role in the initiation of SBInet, while Greggory L. Giddens is currently the Executive Director of the SBI Program Management Office at CBP, and Dr. Kirk Evans is the SBInet Program Manager at CBP.
[edit] The SBInet Contract
The SBInet contract is an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract extending through September 30, 2009 (3 years) with three one year option periods. This means that if DHS is not satisfied with the work that Boeing is doing, it is under no obligation to continue work on SBInet. The only commitment that DHS has currently made is to pay for a 28-mile pilot section of SBInet in the Tucson Sector of the Arizona-Mexico border. The cost of this pilot section is estimated at $67 million. The value of Boeing’s 3-year contract to build SBInet across both the Northern and Southern borders is estimated between $2 and $2.5 billion.
[edit] SBInet Objectives
SBInet is supposed to secure the border by fulfilling four main objectives: 1) detect entries when they occur, 2) identify what the entry is, 3) classify the threat level of the entry before interdiction, 4) provide a means to effectively and efficiently respond to entries. In addition, SBInet should provide a Common Operating Picture (COP) of the border environment that can be shared with DHS components and federal, state, and local partners to provide comprehensive situational awareness improving interoperability. The SBInet contract gives Boeing full responsibility for developing, deploying, and maintaining a system that is able to accomplish these goals.
[edit] SBInet Requirements
Boeing is required to design, develop, test, integrate, deploy, document and maintain the optimum mix of personnel, technology, infrastructure, and response capability to defend 6,000 miles of border. Boeing is required to manage every aspect of the implementation SBInet; their job even includes less intuitive tasks, such as conducting oversight to test the security of the border and the financial efficiency of the project, training maintenance personnel to repair their products, and constructing facilities to house additional CBP offices required for SBInet. Additionally, Boeing is required to integrate their program into previously existing infrastructure and equipment systems wherever possible. The pilot section of SBInet is required to be completed and fully operational 8 months from the contract signing.
[edit] SBInet Technology
Short Timeline
The short timeline for the deployment of the pilot section of SBInet (8 months) means that, for the pilot section, Boeing will be using entirely existing technology. In the future, as SBInet expands, Boeing may direct the development and deployment of new and additional technology for SBInet.
Tower System
Under the current plan, towers will be set up along the border, with varying surveillance and communications equipment depending on the climate, terrain, population density, and other factors. Towers are slated to include radar, long-range cameras, broadband wireless access points, thermal imaging capabilities, and motion detectors. SBInet will also include some ground sensors for seismic detection as well.
Command Centers
All of the information received by sensors will go to command centers, where a Common Operating Picture (COP) will be compiled on CBP computers and shared with other agencies. The COP will appear on computer screens as a geospatial map, where border entries are tracked in real time. Command center personnel will be able to click on a given entry, view the entry, and assess the threat using the long-range cameras on the towers. They will then dispatch Border Patrol agents accordingly.
Border Patrol Response
Border Patrol agents will carry PDA’s with GPS capabilities, to allow the command center to track the location of agents interdicting illegal entries and watch the encounter in real time on the COP. Additionally, Border Patrol’s PDA’s will have advanced finger print identification technology, to allow Border Patrol agents to identify an individual at the interdiction site immediately, and the ability to view (and in the future control) border cameras from their PDA. In the future, identification capabilities may also feature the addition of face identification software to the long-range camera system on the towers. In addition, Border Patrol agents will be given laptops in the patrol car that will advise them on the best procedures to approach a given threat.
Airborne Sensors
Airborne sensors on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) will fill in gaps in the “virtual fence” for remote areas where building and maintaining towers is impractical. Boeing will employ a light aerostat that a lone person can launch called the Skylark, made by Elbit.
Construction Strategy
The towers that will initially be placed in the pilot section will be mobile, so that they can be moved around to discover optimal placement. Once the optimal placement is determined, they will be replaced with permanent towers, and the mobile towers will be reused to begin construction on the next section of SBInet in a similar manner. At completion, Boeing estimates that it will use approximately 1,800 towers to create its “virtual fence” along the borders.
