|
High-Tech Surveillance Eyed for Both Borders By Toby Eckert 9/7/05 |
WASHINGTON — As Congress and the White House confront growing concerns about border security, officials are pondering a major expansion of
surveillance along the Mexican and Canadian borders.
The America's Shield Initiative would deploy an integrated system of
video cameras, high-tech sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles along thousands of miles of desert, forest and water.
While immigration-control advocates and potential contractors have been eagerly awaiting details of the $2.5 billion plan,
homeland security officials have delayed the rollout.
Officials thus are reluctant to discuss details of the initiative, including the level of
surveillance, until a broader plan is developed. The uncertainty has disappointed those who want the federal government to move more aggressively against illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
Others are not so eager to see the system set up, particularly privacy advocates who worry about the precedent it might set for more
extensive surveillance beyond the borders in the name of combating terrorism. Homeland security officials have stressed that an important component of the ASI will be to guard the borders against terrorist infiltration and the potential smuggling of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons into the country.
"Overall, the idea of having
covert surveillance through airplanes, through cameras, through infrared sensors is disturbing," said Melissa Ngo, staff counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based research and advocacy group. "Because you live in a border area, you have less privacy, and we don't think that should happen. It just seems like another step towards being able to have surveillance everywhere, and not just at the border."
Source: signonsandiego.com
|
