BORDER PATROL AND AN ISRAELI CONTRACTOR, PUTTING A RESERVATION UNDER “PERSISTENT SURVEILLANCE”

The Intercept ^ | Aug 25, 2019 | Will Parrish

[BeauBo]

ON THE SOUTHWESTERN END of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation... U.S. Customs and Border Protection will soon construct a 160-foot surveillance tower capable of continuously monitoring every person and vehicle within a radius of up to 7.5 miles.

The tower will be outfitted with high-definition cameras with night vision, thermal sensors, and ground-sweeping radar, all of which will feed real-time data to Border Patrol agents at a central operating station in Ajo, Arizona. The system will store an archive with the ability to rewind and track individuals’ movements across time — an ability known as “wide-area persistent surveillance.”

CBP plans 10 of these towers across the Tohono O’odham reservation, which spans an area roughly the size of Connecticut...

To build them, CBP has entered a $26 million contract with the U.S. division of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military company...

The towers on Tohono O’odham land are part of a surge in wide-area persistent surveillance systems across the borderlands. Elbit Systems of America has already built 55 integrated fixed towers in southern Arizona, which company executives say cover 200 linear miles.

According to information provided by a CBP spokesperson, the agency has also deployed 368 smaller surveillance towers, known as RVSS towers, in areas ranging from south of San Diego to the Rio Grande Valley, as well as along parts of the U.S.-Canadian border...

According to Bobby Brown, senior director of Customs and Border Protection at Elbit Systems of America, the company’s ultimate goal is to build a “layer” of electronic surveillance equipment across the entire perimeter of the U.S. “Over time, we’ll expand not only to the northern border, but to the ports and harbors across the country,”...

[BeauBo]

There is not a lot of public awareness about the technological transformation of border security, that is now happening, while all eyes are on wall construction. Where ever barrier is being built, layers of new surveillance technology are going in with it - but the powerful new surveillance capability is spreading much faster and further than the barrier. The whole Arizona border will be covered over the coming year.

Under President Trump, we are getting a huge "Virtual Wall" - but it is in addition to massive physical wall and supporting infrastructure, not instead of physical wall. Together, they really strengthen each other.

"In addition to fixed and mobile surveillance towers, other technology that CBP has acquired and deployed includes blimps outfitted with high-powered ground and air radar, sensors buried underground, and facial recognition software at ports of entry. CBP’s drone fleet has been described as the largest of any U.S. agency outside the Department of Defense."

"The IFT (Integrated Fixed Towers) command and control system, is known as TORCH. The system, which Elbit originally developed for the Israel Defense Forces, is used to monitor people’s movements along Israel’s border and separation walls. Now, it is also used by the Border Patrol at command centers across southern Arizona."

"Joel Friederich, Elbit Systems of America’s vice president of public safety and homeland security, stood near a wall-sized monitor flanked by a pair of Elbit engineers as reporters and invited guests looked on. On the screen, a satellite map was populated with clusters of yellow and pink dots. Several smaller surrounding images displayed live feeds from the various video cameras and radar sensors adorning a demonstration tower on site. “This can be zoomed in for many, many miles,” Friederich explained."

"An engineer clicked on one of the yellow dots, zooming in on one of the video feeds. Suddenly, several cars inching across U.S. Interstate 10 came distinctly into view. He zoomed in further, and the screen settled on a patch of shrubs adjacent to a roadway, close enough that the bright green, swaying tips of the creosote bushes were visible, though they were well over a mile away. The operating system uses artificial intelligence to assign an icon representing a human, vehicle, or animal, allowing Border Patrol agents to determine if something moving across the desert is a potential “item of interest,” Friederich noted. That item could include “anyone carrying a weapon or a backpack, or anyone in a large group.”"

"For Elbit, the holy grail of border surveillance is to ensure that no person can escape TORCH’s ability to track them across time and space in a given area. If one of the “items” ducks into a bush, the system can track them using a long-range infrared camera. For night operations, the towers have laser illuminators. A pick-up truck that can be remotely operated with a surveillance tower and 6-mile camera range is also able to feed data to TORCH in case someone ducks behind a mountain or into a ravine. The company is currently marketing the truck to CBP."

“The idea is that at the very moment you step near the border, Elbit will catch you. Something similar happens in Palestine.”

Integrated Fixed Tower:

[Hoosier-Daddy]

We need a similar system for the US government since the press has failed us.

[Sacajaweau]

We're getting there....slow and steady.

Now we have to get the immigration laws right.

[Vendome]

Tohono O’odham reservation?

Drop kegs of O’Doul’s on them.

Problem solved...

[Deaf Smith]

Israel enforces it's border with various small arms if intrusion is detected.

What will the USA use for detected intrusion?

[rdcbn]

There are going to be a lot of pissed off Native Americans in that tribe over these towers

A pretty late plurality of tribal members have been using their sovereign nation status to cut a fat hog aiding and abetting. Drug smuggling and human trafficking through their reservation , which has become a de facto safe haven for drug cartels smuggling drugs and illegal aliens

[MrEdd]

Farm and spread rattlesnakes to to go with.

Those big annual rattlesnake hunts?
Make part of those catch and release.
Add in water moccasins.

The Rio Grand, now with alligators.

[ExTexasRedhead]

Here’s a great video about Trump’s Wall!! Please watch and share.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaihuiT24Vg&feature=youtu.be

[Hulka]

Vehicles to horses to run intercepts.
BP Agents know what they are doing.

[Rusty0604]

Great! And we're using an Israeli company! 😱

[Innovative]

Sounds good.

[jjotto]

Unfortunately, Israeli courts and bureaucrats prevent the expulsion of illegal immigrants from Israel. There may be 200,000 or more, mostly African Muslims.

[Vince Ferrer]

There is a lot of great technology available, and I know a virtual wall would work. But I want a physical wall as the first barrier, and its simply because we can’t trust our leaders. They can turn off a virtual wall with a switch, and half of our leaders would flip that switch. Ordinary citizens will not be able to tell if the virtual wall is turned on, but we can see the wall.

[ZOOKER]

Somewhere in the city John Q. is mounting a surveillance camera that can look into his neighbor's bedroom window (maybe intentionally, maybe not).

More cameras are sprouting up on light poles, the sides of buildings, other vantage points --- everywhere.

Privacy is under assault, everywhere. You have to assume you are being monitored, everywhere. It sucks, but that's the society we have created. The reason for this? "Safety and security".

In this particular situation, the cameras are needed, IMO. Funny that it's only these particular cameras spark the media's interest...

[thinden]

This is impressive state of the art high tech surveillance system.

Why are we not seeing resistance from the open borders crowd?

No squawking on funding?

Is this being built on tribal reservation lands?

Thanx for this interesting news.

[Flaming Conservative]

At least we know the Democrats won’t complain, since they wanted “smarter methods” of border security. Right?...Right?

[chief lee runamok]

"But for those crossing the border, the development of this surveillance apparatus has already taken a heavy toll. In January, a study published by researchers from the University of Arizona and Earlham College found that border surveillance towers have prompted migrants to cross along more rugged and circuitous pathways, leading to greater numbers of deaths from dehydration, exhaustion, and exposure."

Winners of the darwin award.

[scrabblehack]

Ajo = Spanish for garlic.

[polymuser]

“We need a similar system for the US government since the press has failed us.”

Maybe Israel can help FR and JW get on steroids...

[CivilWarBrewing]

Here, I've redesigned the tower!: