For all the liberal hysteria over President Trump’s announcement Wednesday he would start building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. government–under the Bush and Obama administrations–has been building a complex border wall security system for the Middle East nation of Jordan since 2008 in part to stem the flood of refugees from war-torn neighbors. When completed in a few years the Jordan wall will cover 287 miles of the border with Syria and Iraq.
Graphic by Raytheon via Defense News.
Vice News’ William M. Arkin reported last February on the border wall which is being built with U.S. taxpayer funds by U.S. based Raytheon. The experience gained building that wall should translate easily to building the wall on the Mexican border.
The Great Wall of Jordan: How the US Wants to Keep the Islamic State Out
…The Obama administration is spending close to a half a billion dollars to build a sophisticated electronic fence along Jordan’s northern and eastern borders, a wall which US strategic planners hope will stem the flow of refugees and also wall off the increasingly important American base from the disintegration of Syria and Iraq.
The wall, which began as a $20 million project in 2008 to erect a set of surveillance towers along a 30-mile (50 km) stretch of the border with Syria, has since expanded into a program costing half a billion dollars, according to defense officials who spoke to VICE News. Called the Jordan Border Security Program or JBSP, the wall is ostensibly meant to stop weapons of mass destruction from getting out, but since 2013 has refocused on detecting Islamic State fighters and arms smuggling, as well as refugees, on both sides of the border.
When completed later this decade, the border wall will have a camera-studded high-security fence, plus a network of ground sensors and a set of fixed and mobile surveillance towers that will be able to see and detect activity five miles away on either side of the fence. The entire system funnels into a joint US-Jordanian command center, where the United States also shares additional intelligence with Jordan about external threats to the kingdom.
The first phase of the JBSP, the erection of the towers, was completed in September 2009. Phase 1B, the beginning of the fence, was completed in March 2014. Phases 2 and 3, the building of a fully integrated and networked fence running along a 275-mile(442 km) stretch of Jordan’s borders with Syria and Iraq and costing some $300 million, are scheduled to be fully operational this year. Further phases will extend the fence along the entire border and improve surveillance and detection gear. Mobile surveillance stations and quick reaction forces will be stationed at vulnerable points or emerging hot spots.
It’s all paid for by the United States taxpayer. The JBSP is loosely part of a wall-building program to stop weapons of mass destruction sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, focused not just on Jordan but also on the borders of Turkey, Iraq, and Lebanon. Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services of Tucson, Arizona, a division of the Raytheon Company — one of the largest US defence companies — is the prime contractor…”
Click here to read the entire Vice News article.
Defense News article on Jordan border wall published May 2016.
…By the end of next year, the third and final $18.6 million phase is expected to be completed along a relatively short but complex high-threat area where Jordan’s northeasternmost border converges with the Israeli and Syrian sides of the Golan Heights.
Unlike Jordan’s other borders, which are characterized by desertlike terrain, the 12-mile stretch — known in Jordan as Wadi Glade and in Israel as the triple border meeting point — is unique for its craggy hills and densely foliaged valleys that offer ideal camouflage for aspiring infiltrators.
Since the Syrian civil war began more than five years ago, this area has changed hands numerous times, from forces loyal to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad to the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and Daesh, an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
Raytheon was awarded $18.6 million last October by DTRA for the third and final, 12-mile phase of the Jordan Border Security Project to deter, detect and interdict threats.
“We’re now finalizing the design and we’re looking to have this final system in place in 18 months or so. Once complete, the entire border with Syria and Iraq will be covered,” Gugiu said (Andrei Gugiu, director for border security and critical infrastructure protection at Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services division)…”
Perhaps opponents of a U.S.-Mexico border wall can explain why it’s okay for the U.S. to fund and build a border wall to protect Jordanians but not okay to build one to protect Americans.
