Surveillance tower raises suspicion in border town (1,800 towers to be built)

[The Straight Story]

Surveillance tower raises suspicion in border town
By Bob Brewin [email protected] July 19, 2007

ARIVACA, ARIZ. -- Residents of this small town held a meeting Wednesday with lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union to discuss whether they can legally force the Homeland Security Department to remove a high-tech tower that is part of a virtual fence to slow the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Many Arivacans are concerned that the tower -- equipped with long-range video cameras, radar and night-vision equipment to spot and track illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border 12 miles away -- threatens their privacy.

Arivaca resident Mary Scott said the idea that images from the tower are fed into a Customs and Border Patrol command center 75 miles away in Tucson, where government workers can watch, is "oppressive" to her.

Another resident, Philip Benoit, said he wants the town of about 1,500 to file an injunction to stop DHS from operating the tower and its linked computer systems because the network could spy on residents. "I don't want to be a blip on a radar screen," Benoit said.

The tower, located just south of the center of Arivaca, is one of nine 98-foot structures government contractor Boeing completed last month to monitor 28 miles of border. Once completed, the system, called the Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet), will encompass 1,800 towers housing infrared cameras, radar and communication equipment along almost the entire U.S.-Mexican border. The system is estimated to cost $2.5 billion, but could run as much as $30 billion, according to a DHS inspector general report.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37528&dcn=todaysnews

[babylonsister]

1. That doesn't sound good. And 2.5B$ vs 30B$? That's A LOT of wiggle

room. Why such a huge discrepancy? Sounds flaky to me.

[Ian David]

2. Just set-up a bank of searchlights aimed at the tower from the American side of the border.

That should effectively blind them from looking in the wrong direction.

[panader0]

3. 12 miles is a long ways away. Arivaca has a lot of pot smuggling

Maybe that's the reason. Here in Sierra Vista, home of Ft. Huachuca. we have one of those huge blimps on a tether that's supposed to squelch smuggling. I think that over the ten or so years it's been up. it's made two busts. Everyone thinks the thing is spying on them. And it could be, it's fitted with all kinds of high tech equipment.

[youngdem]

4. They floated one of those things over south Louisiana recently

The cajuns kept shooting it down. They abandoned it.

Hilarious when gun rights work FOR you, isn't it?

[Squatch]

5. Good ol' Arivaca

Been there many, many times. It's a weird town that seems to be the nexus of a dislocated "hippie" crowd, a disgruntled rancher crowd, and a constant flood of illegals that amble up Tres Bellotas Canyon and the Fresnal Split to the south.

Here's a picture of the local convenience store I took last summer:



And here is a view looking south from Fresnal Split to Tres Bellotas (Mexico is about 5 miles in the distance)



(On a related note, this is the exact spot where the NG team was "chased" off their EIT (Entry ID Team) location a few months ago by heavily armed men. Current ROE does not permit offensive rifle fire.)