The Department of Homeland Security will revisit its "virtual fence" border, said a Scripps Howard News Service report.

 

DHS and border 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 planned for the Southwest border.

 

 

Last fal, Napolitano directed the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to evaluate the SBInet program, according to a statement e-mailed from Napolitano. Yet, to date, the report says, only a flawed test system in Arizona is being used by the Border Patrol.

 

 

The surveillance systems are one part of the government's three-pronged border-security strategy, which also includes added border barriers and agents. The sensor towers, which have a 3.7 mile radius, also have day and night cameras. Radar and sensor signal control units on top and unattended ground sensor receivers halfway down are linked to collect information about who and what is coming across the border.