An AP report on the 1 billion dollar contract to update the security systems at US Airports has shown itself to be an utter fiasco. There was not enough money to fulfill the requirements or allow the federal government to monitor  the contract properly. So what do we have when we decide to federalize a private function? An unmitigated mess, but is that surprising?

The TSA does not  even have  the basic telecommunication structure necessary to do its job, with some airports  having  20 dollar radio shack phones to communicate with while  Unisys would insist on making the company to provide the most basic services that TSA employees could do, such as installing software.

The TSA, which was created shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, needed information technology and telecommunications for what it anticipated would be 65,000 employees at headquarters, 429 airports, 21 field offices and a command center, the report said.

Unisys was to have provided dial-up connections, laptops, pagers and cell phones by November 19, 2002. Six weeks later, the company was to have delivered high-speed connections, phones, encrypted radios and an electronic surveillance system. Eventually, Unisys was to provide command centers at airports, advanced wireless communications and inter operable radios.

The inspector general said that the company had only supplied the first phase by September 30, 2004. via CNN.com .