Homeland Security’s Drones Really Suck at Border Patrol
For nearly a decade now, 10 Predator B drones have been zipping around our nations’s borders at $12,000 an hour under the pretense of securing our borders. Except that, according to a scathing report released earlier today by Homeland Security, not only do these drones cost five times as much as advertised, but they’re doing an all around shitty job, to boot.
Part of the problem, though, is the fact that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) simply doesn’t have the manpower necessary to actually put all the drones to use. While each drone was supposed to be on patrol around 16 hours a day, it actually ended up averaging out to less than a quarter of that. The Washington Post cites lack of personnel, spare parts, and bad weather as part of the reason the drones stayed grounded for so long.
Either way, the drones are wildly ineffective for how much money we’re spending on them. In Arizona, less than two precent of all border-crossing apprehensions could be attributed to the drones. In Texas, that number is less than one percent. And all the while, these things are bleeding money. According to the report:
We estimate that, in fiscal year 2013, it cost at least $62.5 million to operate the program, or about $12,255 per [flight] hour. We estimate that, in fiscal year 2013, it cost at least $62.5 million to operate the program, or about $12,255 per [flight] hour
