Settlement Blues: Obama Scraps Full 'Virtual' Border Fence

Settlement Blues: Obama Scraps Full 'Virtual' Border Fence: The "virtual" border fence isn't a virtual reality anymore.

The $1 billion project to install sensors, radar, video and other technology as a way of spotting illegal immigrants crossing over from Mexico to the United States has been scrapped by the Obama administration, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.

The SBInet program, started in 2006 under the Bush administration, faced a series of cost overruns and missed deadlines. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says proven, commercially available technology -- aerial drones, thermal imaging and other surveillance systems -- will be used in place of a full virtual fence across 53 miles of borderland in Arizona.

The abandonment of the full-scale virtual fence comes as the White House grapples with on-going pressure to improve security along the border. In 2010, Obama signed legislation adding 1,500 Border Patrol agents, customs inspectors and other law enforcement officers to stem the flow of drugs and nab smugglers and other illegals trying to cross into the U.S.

Napolitano said in a statement the "new strategy" would be more realistic -- balancing "cost and capability."