SEQUESTERING THE NEXT GENERATION

The hottest word currently being spoken in offices and around dinner tables in the US is “sequestration.” Not since the seminal juror movie 12 Angry Men has the word enjoyed such buzz.  While there are many ongoing debates concerning the political ramifications of this government budget-reduction action (that went into effect on March 1), today we would like to discuss one item in particular: its possible effect on military aviation.

PUTTING A PRICE ON PRODUCT USER KNOWLEDGE

by Ashley Collier Clark

Can you put a price on product user knowledge?  Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security and its contractors didn’t put a price on it when it began the SBI border control project.  However, after spending $1 billion dollars on a failed “beta” version of the “Virtual Fence” along the southern U.S. border, they are reconsidering its relevance.

As reported by the popular “60 Minutes,” the project began in 2006 and the contractor promised to deliver the Department of Homeland Security a surveillance system that would cover the whole 1,972 miles of the border within 3 years.  Four years later, the government has a failed prototype and only 28 miles that have been “wired” with the surveillance system.  What happened?