Recent reports have shown that expensive technology for surveillance of the southern borders is not achieving its goals.
A leaked memo obtained by NBC News reveals that almost a third of the cameras on the main border surveillance towers are currently offline.
The report shows that of the 500 cameras installed on surveillance towers along the U.S.-Mexico border, about 150 are currently inactive.
Overlapping agencies and fragmented responsibilities
One of the core problems with the surveillance towers lies in the tangled web of federal oversight. 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 responsibility 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 just one part of the broader surveillance network. However, the entire system is 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 place towers across the US-Mexico border. In 2010, after spending $1 billion, only 15 towers had been installed along a 50-mile stretch of the Arizona border, covering only a fraction of the 370 miles. The program was ultimately scrapped in 2011 after internal reviews criticized its performance and high costs.
Efforts have been made to replace SBInet with new initiatives, such as the Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan and the Southwest Border Technology Plan. However, they are also having a hard time.
Over the past two decades, the U.S. government has spent nearly $6 billion on surveillance towers and worked to consolidate the various systems into the Integrated Surveillance Towers network. However, there are challenges due to incompatible components and outdated technology.
A recurring problem with surveillance towers is the lack of meaningful performance data to evaluate their effectiveness. In one Report 2017the Government Accountability Office (GAO) criticized the Border Patrol for failing to assess whether these technologies improved security. The GAO urged the agency to develop performance metrics, but recent reviews suggest little progress has been made.
In February 2023, the GAO noted that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials expect operational shortfalls as high as 36% by 2025, putting more towers at risk of failure. Without clear measures of success, it remains difficult to determine how much these expensive surveillance systems contribute to national security efforts.
The outages have frustrated Border Patrol agents, who rely on the cameras to monitor vast, remote areas. There are legitimate concerns about officer safety and border security due to non-operational towers.