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When it comes to border security, the vast majority of the officials with their hands on the purse strings overwhelmingly favor so-called "high tech" solutions. If you read American Police Beat you already know that the "virtual fence" between the U.S. and Mexico is poster child for mismanagement with regard to government contracts and will most likely never be completed. It's made a lot of money for a select few but is widely considered a failure in terms of what the fence was supposed to actually do. But according to AOL News, public concern about illegal immigration, border security and human trafficking is at an all-time high. The pressure to "do something," has led to the deployment of National Guard troops on the border as well the increased use of unmanned aircraft, or drones to stem the tide of drugs and illegal immigrants as it washes onto American shores.
However, despite high-profile support for flying unmanned aircraft along the U.S. border, the camera-equipped drones are far from a technological magic bullet for fighting illegal immigration. The unmanned drones have proven invaluable for eliminating enemy personnel in the Middle East but recent testimony presented to the House Homeland Security Committee highlights a number of problems facing Customs and Border Patrol's drone fleet, including a high accident rate and a pilot shortage.
According to testimony from Nancy Kalinowski, vice president for system operations at the Federal Aviation Administration, the unmanned aircraft flown by Customs and Border Patrol have an accident rate seven times higher than that of general aviation.
But compared to commercial aviation, the Customs and Border Patrol drone accident rate is 353 times higher. While the FAA did not detail the number of drones involved in accidents, they did estimate that the crash rate was 52.7 per 100,000 flight hours over the past four years.
The combination of the increased use of unmanned aircraft along with the high accident rate sets off alarm bells for some. Supporters of drones have pushed to have unmanned aircraft operate in national air space, the FAA has taken a more conservative approach.
Kalinowski told the panel that the agency has had problems getting adequate data on unmanned aircraft operations in order to assess the odds of midair collisions between commercial aircraft and unmanned drones. Another challenge for border operations is a lack of trained drone pilots.
Similar to the Air Force, which has had to scramble to train more drone operators, Customs and Border Patrol has struggled to keep up with the demand. But as is always the case with high-tech security solutions, the real issue is cost.
The Border Patrol doesn't have nearly as big a checkbook as the Pentagon. The border patrol needs 24 aircraft to provide full coverage, but it only has enough funding to buy one Predator a year, Customs and Border Patrol assistant commissioner Michael Kostelnik told the House panel.
At current rates, that means it would take the agency about 16 years to get the drones they say they need. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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