The political circus pamphlet the POLITICO recently reported that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has halted development of Boeing's disastrous and budget-bloated Southwest border fence project known as SBInet. Napolitano noted in a press release on the matter that the fence project, which uses an intricate system of sensors and cameras, "has been plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines."

According to the article, Secretary Napolitano is "withholding funding for the program’s first deployment until a review she ordered in January is finished." The secretary has also diverted $50 million in stimulus funds from the project. Homeland Security will put those diverted funds toward "other tested, commercially available security technology along the Southwest border."

Also according to POLITICO, during recent testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Napolitano intimated her desire to move away from the troubled program. She claimed that she was "not satisfied with SBInet," and stated that Homeland Security would need "to reevaluate how those technology dollars are used and whether there are other technologies...that would be more mobile, better, easier to maintain and easier to operate."

OMB Watch has endlessly documented the defense contracting boondoggle that Boeing's SBInet is, and we're glad that the federal government is starting to take notice. We can only hope that this hold is a step toward permanent cancellation of the project.

Image by Flickr user fredcamino used under a Creative Commons license.