Israelis Win Contract
To Secure US Borders
By Christopher Bollyn
American Free Press
10-5-6


On Sept. 21, Michael Chertoff, the secretary of the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), announced that a consortium headed by the
Chicago-based Boeing Company had won a multi-billion dollar contract
to install sensors and radar along the U.S. border. The deal, the
first part of a multibillion-dollar government plan designed to reduce
illegal entry along the Canadian and Mexican borders calls for
cameras, sensors and even unmanned planes.

When Chertoff was asked why DHS had chosen the Boeing-led group he
declined to comment. The reason for Chertoff's silence, however, is
telling: the Boeing team includes an Israeli military subcontractor
which will play a key role in "securing" the U.S. border.

Of interest is the fact that Chertoff's Israeli mother played a key
role in creating that country in its infancy.

The Boeing team, which will implement the DHS program called the
Secure Border Initiative (SBI) along the northern and southern borders
of the United States, includes a Merrimack, N.H.-based surveillance
technology firm called Kollsman Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Elbit Systems Ltd. of Haifa, Israel.


The Israeli-American team includes Unisys Corp., DRS Technologies
Inc., L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc.,
Perot Systems Corp. and the Israeli-owned Kollsman, which makes the
thermo-imaging cameras used to monitor Israel's borders.

As Chertoff announced the awarding of the contract, estimated to be
worth some $2.5 billion, he was giving a very lucrative and sensitive
contract to an Israeli company with close ties to the Israeli
military. The contract reportedly does not have a set value. Payments
will be announced as parts for the system are ordered.


The work will be done in phases, with the first piece being a 28-mile
stretch near Tucson, Ariz., Chertoff said. This first phase will cost
$67 million, he said. Boeing's proposal includes some 1,800 towers
along the borders with cameras developed by Israel's Elbit Systems
Ltd. which can reportedly spot people up to 9 miles away.

Elbit Systems says it is "the prime contractor and systems integrator
for the Israel Police Border Control System, a computerized system for
registration and control deployed at every Israeli border crossing.


"Elbit Systems has developed and integrated multi-layered solutions
incorporating cutting-edge biometrics, optical ID and RFID [radio
frequency identification] technologies. Our perimeter security
solutions have also been adapted for energy infrastructures and
offshore installations," the company's web site says.

"We are looking at a technology that is advanced and can pick a face
in the crowd," Wayne Esser, capture team leader of the Boeing team,
told Washington Technology.

Elbit provides Israel's military with a border security surveillance
system with integrated sensors, radars, a "smart fence" and cameras.

TIES TO ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE

Kollsman is not the only player on the Boeing team with ties to
Israeli military intelligence. As AFP has reported previously, Unisys
Corp., chaired by Lawrence A. Weinbach, has integrated Israeli
security software into the computer products it sells to the U.S.
government and other clients. Software from Check Point Software
Technologies of Ramat Gan, Israel, for example, is integrated into
Unisys products.


Elbit Systems is directed by a high-level board that is comprised of
former Israeli major generals, colonels, ambassadors, and former
chiefs of Israel's largest banks and companies. The company's only non-
Israeli director on its board of 18 members is Timothy Taylor, the
British-born president and CEO of Elbit Systems of America. Taylor
speaks to the U.S. media for the Israeli-owned company while the
former Israeli fighter pilots and generals run the company from Haifa.

SBI is a Chertoff initiative that is meant to be "a comprehensive plan
to control our borders and stem the flow of illegal immigration. "What
we are looking to do is build a virtual fence," Chertoff said. "We
want to know when anybody or anything is crossing the border."

While the Israeli press was quick to report that an Israeli company
was part of the SBI border security program, Chertoff failed to
mention it. "Elbit System's subsidiary Kollsman announced it would
supply technology to identify threats, deter and prevent crossings,
and apprehend intruders along U.S. borders," Israeli daily Ha'aretz
reported.

Huntleigh U.S.A., another Israeli-owned security company, provided
passenger screening at Boston's Logan Airport on the morning of Sept.
11, 2001. Huntleigh, which is wholly owned by the Israeli company
International Consultants on Targeted Security (ICTS) apparently
failed to intercept the Arab terrorists who hijacked the two planes
that hit the World Trade Center, according to the government version.
Now, the same administration that failed to stop the terror attacks of
9-11 is hiring an Israeli-owned company to help protect the entire
U.S. land border.

Christopher Bollyn is a much-traveled international journalist
currently based in Chicago, serving as Midwest bureau chief for
American Free Press. He has written extensively on a wide variety of
subjects including the controversy surrounding computerized voting
systems, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the many unanswered questions
surrounding the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Lest we forget - Israeli security companies had the contracts for the
security at the airports where the alleged 'Arab terrorists' were
allowed to pass through to board the 911 flights. -ed