Interior Border Patrol Memo: One-Third of DHS Surveillance Cameras Not Working

The House Homeland Security Committee is examining Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) surveillance network following a report that nearly a third of the agency’s cameras along the border between the United States and Mexico does not work. Privacy advocates say this is just the latest example of costly border surveillance infrastructure not working as advertised.

An internal Border Patrol memo obtained by NBC News said “several technical issues” had contributed to a large-scale breakdown of remote video surveillance systems, a series of surveillance towers and cameras used to remotely monitor the border since 2011. According to the memo, about 150 of the 500 cameras are not operational. The memo says the Federal Aviation Administration — not CBP — is responsible for maintaining and repairing the cameras, and that the agency has had internal problems meeting the Border Patrol’s needs. Border Patrol plans to replace the FAA with a contractor that can provide “adequate technical support” for the cameras, the memo said.

Rep. Mark E. Green (R-TN), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has asked DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to provide information on the camera system by October 23. In his letter to Mayorkas, Green called cameras and other surveillance tools a “force multiplier.” The letter also claims that sources told the committee that 66 percent of the cameras were inoperable — a much higher figure than cited in the Border Patrol memo reported by NBC News.

Although Green’s letter presents the camera malfunction as a new problem, another CBP official said. NBC News that the agency’s oversight apparatus has not been properly managed over the past 20 years. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation recently noted, CBP and Border Patrol have tested various iterations of a surveillance network along the border for decades — and time and time again, these systems have proven costly and ineffective to reduce unauthorized border crossings.