Virtual border fence on track to track

TUCSON, May 15 (UPI) -- Work on a virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexican border is back on track now that flaws have been fixed, the man charged with building the barrier said.

Mark Borkowski, Secure Border Initiative executive director, said initial testing near Tucson experienced equipment fritzes, adding that the flaws have been resolved, The Arizona Republic reported Friday.

"It was a prototype. We did a bad job of communicating that," said Borkowski, speaking at the Border Security Expo and Conference in Phoenix.

He said early discussions led to unrealistic expectations a virtual fence by itself would stop smugglers and undocumented immigrants, the Phoenix newspaper said. The fence is part of a U.S. response that also relies on 20,000 Border Patrol agents and physical barricades, he said.

The first operating segment, covering a 23-square-mile section of desert near Tucson, will be finished and evaluated this summer, Borkowski said. If the Border Patrol signs off on the Tucson segment, a second segment will be built near Ajo, Ariz.

"It is not the be-all and end-all of border security," Borkowski said. "It is a critical element of a much larger approach. The idea is how to mix those three things together the right way to secure every inch of the border."

Borkowski said the virtual fence offers surveillance and intelligence, using sensors to detect human traffic and relaying signals to nearby camera-equipped towers. He said intelligence is sent to Border Patrol stations.