Fort Worth Firm Monitors 200 Miles of the Border With Motion-sensing Technology

Officials at a Fort Worth company that already uses high-tech towers to monitor 200 miles of unpopulated border in Arizona for illegal crossings say they're eager to expand the technology to Texas, New Mexico and California.Since 2015, Elbit Systems of America, a U.S. subsidiary of an Israeli defense contractor that operates in a non-descript building in northwest Fort Worth, has built and operated 55 border towers under a $145 million contract with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.On Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump's State of the Union address that focused on border security, officials at Elbit Systems offered visitors a tour of their facility to look at some of their alternatives to a physical barrier.In Arizona, the 80- to 120-foot towers feature radar that detects motion along the border, and cameras that can zoom in -- and determine within seconds whether the motion is caused by a human, animal or vehicle. If necessary, a Border Patrol agent can then be dispatched to investigate the cause of the motion."They're able to determine, are individuals carrying backpacks, which might be an indication of drug loads, or are they carrying weapons, which might indicate a higher level of threat," said Gordon Kesting, vice president of homeland security for Elbit Systems of America, which for decades has operated as a defense contractor in northwest Fort Worth.  Continue reading...