Border security

U.S. Wants Israeli Border Fence Technologies

Many, the United States included, have criticized the barrier fence Israel has built along the West Bank, but that hasn’t stopped the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from seeking the experience of Elbit Systems, who helped build the fence, to assist it in coping with trouble of its own.

2005 saw an initiative to secure the U.S. western border in an effort that is to cost billions of U.S. dollars. The fence was meant to cover the whole southern border with control towers equipped with radars and cameras, but the Department of Homeland Security has abandoned the plan in 2011, after realizing that contract’s details are not suited for the conditions in the south. Deployment of cameras and radars in highly populated areas has proven ineffective.

Now, in order to replace the former plan, DHS seniors claim that they are interested in forming a new plan. The idea is to set several smart watch towers, only where it makes sense – where they would be useful, that is. The aim of the border surveillance system is to spot and help responders stamp out illicit activity, such as human trafficking and drug smuggling. Now there is video surveillance displayed on the border police’s computers screens.