Recent reports have revealed that expensive southern border surveillance technology is not serving its purpose.
A leaked memo obtained by NBC News reveals that nearly a third of the cameras in the border's main surveillance towers are currently offline.
The report reveals that of the 500 cameras installed in surveillance towers along the US-Mexico border, around 150 are currently inactive.
Overlapping agencies and fragmented responsibilities
One of the main problems with surveillance towers lies in the complicated network of federal supervision. While the Border Patrol relies on these systems to monitor remote areas, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for maintaining the towers. This division of responsibilities leads to delays in repairs and maintenance, undermining the effectiveness of the network.
The Remote Video Surveillance System, where many of these cameras are installed, is only one part of the broader surveillance network. However, the entire system has been hampered by poor coordination, frequent project cancellations, and incompatible technologies developed by different vendors.
The history of border surveillance technology is marked by delays, budget overruns and canceled programs. A prominent example is the Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet), which aimed to deploy towers along the US-Mexico border. By 2010, after spending $1 billion, only 15 towers had been installed along a 53-mile stretch of the Arizona border, covering only a fraction of the 387-mile stretch. The program was eventually scrapped in 2011 after internal reviews that criticized its performance and high costs.
There have been attempts to replace SBInet with new initiatives, such as the Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan and the Southwest Border Technology Plan. However, they are also struggling.
Over the past two decades, the U.S. government has spent nearly $6 billion on surveillance towers and has made efforts to consolidate the various systems into the Integrated Surveillance Tower network. However, there are challenges due to incompatible components and outdated technology.
A recurring problem with watchtowers is the absence of meaningful performance metrics to evaluate their effectiveness. In a 2017 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) criticized the Border Patrol for failing to evaluate whether these technologies were improving security. The GAO urged the agency to develop performance metrics, but recent evaluations suggest little progress has been made.
In February 2023, the GAO noted that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials expect operating deficits of up to 36% by 2025, putting more towers at risk of going offline. Without clear benchmarks for success, it remains difficult to determine the extent to which these expensive surveillance systems contribute to national security efforts.
The outages have frustrated Border Patrol agents, who rely on cameras to monitor vast, remote regions. There are legitimate concerns about officer safety and border security because the towers are not operational.