The House Homeland Security Committee is investigating the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) surveillance network after revelations that nearly a third of the agency's cameras along the U.S.-Mexico border are not working. Privacy advocates say this is just the latest case of expensive border surveillance infrastructure not working as advertised.
An internal Border Patrol memo obtained from NBC News said that “several technical issues” contributed to a widespread failure of the remote video surveillance systems, a series of surveillance towers and cameras used to remotely monitor the border since 2011. According to the memo, about 150 of the 500 cameras are out of service. The memo said the Federal Aviation Administration — not CBP — is responsible for maintaining and repairing the cameras and that the agency has had internal problems meeting the Border Patrol's needs. Border Patrol is considering replacing the FAA with a contractor that can provide “appropriate technical support” for the cameras, the memo said.
Rep. Mark E. Green (R-TN), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has asked DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to release information about the camera system by October 23. In his letter to Mayorkas, Green called the cameras and other surveillance tools “a force multiplier.” The letter also said sources told the committee that 66 percent of the cameras were inoperable – a far higher number than reported in the memo reported by Border Patrol NBC News.
Although Green's letter presents the cameras' malfunction as a new problem, another CBP official said NBC News that the agency's surveillance apparatus has not been properly managed over the past 20 years. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation recently noted, CBP and Border Patrol have tested various versions of a surveillance network along the border for decades – and these systems have been shown time and time again to be costly and ineffective at reducing unauthorized border crossings.