s 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.