Glitches delay "virtual fence"

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from linked, tower-mounted sensors and communications and surveillance gear, federal officials said Wednesday.

Technical problems discovered in a 28-mile pilot project south of Tucson prompted the change in plans, Homeland Security Department officials and congressional auditors said.

While the department took over that initial stretch Friday from Boeing, authorities confirmed that Project 28, the initial deployment of its Secure Border Initiative network, did not work as planned or meet the needs of the U.S. Border Patrol.

The announcement marked a major setback for what President Bush in May 2006 called "the most technologically advanced border-security initiative in American history." The virtual fence was to be a key component of his proposed overhaul of U.S. immigration policies, which died last year in the Senate.

Investigators for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) had earlier warned that the effort was beset by difficulties. But Wednesday, they disclosed new troubles that will require a redesign and said the first phase will not be completed until near the end of the next president's first term.

The virtual fence was to complement a physical fence that the administration now says will include 370 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers on the border that was to be completed by the end of this year. The GAO said this portion of the project may also be delayed.