Military Contractors Hope to Turn US-Mexico Border Into New Cash Cow Roque Planas - The Huffington Post
go to original April 29, 2015

See the gear that contractors want to sell to Border Patrol (The Huffington Post)

A two-foot metal snake with a tiny but powerful camera at the tip would allow Border Patrol to more easily check backpacks and car trunks without sticking their hands inside. The endoscopic camera produced by RF Systems Lab was originally used to defuse improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it costs $10,000.

A footlong camera installed in a remote-controlled car can wind its way through the sewer systems beneath Nogales, Mexico, that stretch across the border into Arizona. The product, manufactured by Applied Research Associates, costs $35,000.

Companies that specialize in defense-related industries gathered in Phoenix last week for the two-day Border Expo to show off hardware like this to officials charged with policing the border. Many of the gadgets on sale were originally developed for military use. But as foreign wars in Afghanistan and Iraq draw to a close, many contractors look to the ballooning Homeland Security budget as a boon for the future.

...The DHS budget of about $18 billion last year pales in comparison to that of the Department of Defense's $560 billion. Even so, government spending on border security remains a growth area for companies that produce equipment with military applications.

Read the rest at The Huffington Post

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