WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is preparing to scrap plans to extend the high-tech "virtual" border fence along vast stretches of the 1,969-mile U.S.-Mexico border, ending a troubled and politically contentious security measure inaugurated in 2006 by then-President George W. Bush, the Houston Chronicle learned Friday.

The decision, expected to be announced shortly by the Department of Homeland Security, comes after federal authorities poured nearly $1 billion into a four-year, post-9/11 demonstration project to show that state-of-the-art remote cameras and ground sensors could help U.S. Border Patrol agents intercept undocumented immigrants, drug smugglers or potential terrorists surreptitiously crossing the border.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona keenly familiar with the technical problems afflicting the project, first signaled plans to scrub the "invisible fence" with a series of internal decisions in recent weeks that shifted the year-to-year contract with the prime contractor to a month-to-month contract due to expire on Nov. 21.

The 53-mile section was part of an ambitious Bush administration plan to push the virtual fence along most of the U.S.-Mexico border by 2017 at an estimated cost of $8 billion.

Napolitano's team is "currently reviewing the independent, quantitative, science-based reassessment" of the virtual fence project that was completed last summer, DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said. "A way forward on the future of (the secure border initiative) is expected shortly and will be fully briefed to Congress when ready."

Congress is scheduled to return to Capitol Hill on Nov. 15 for a postelection session devoted largely to spending and budget cutting.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, an administration ally and a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the project had been "plagued by a number of problems since the outset."

She vowed to work with Napolitano "to learn from the mistakes" of the scrubbed virtual fence project.

Management problems

The project has been afflicted with management problems repeatedly spotlighted by the Government Accountability Office.

The watchdog congressional agency recently concluded that Boeing, the prime contractor for the Secure Border Initiative network, had not provided accurate updates on progress to the administration and the DHS had provided inadequate oversight of Boeing, leading to "costly rework" efforts.

Boeing did not address specifically the Chronicle's report that the project is coming to an end. "Boeing has worked closely with Customs and Border Protection to overcome past performance and management challenges" and has "made significant progress," said Deborah D. Bosick, communications director for Boeing Intelligence and Security Systems.

Boeing's work has given the Border Patrol capabilities that provide "greater safety, situational awareness and resource effectiveness than ever before," Bosick added.

Two sites in Arizona

The 53 miles of high-tech surveillance equipment along the border at two locations in Arizona were designed to augment nearly 700 miles of pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers built by the Bush administration and finished by the Obama administration along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Customs and Border Protection has completed construction of 649 miles of the 652 miles of pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers authorized by Congress.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, also a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said he will redouble efforts to identify Department of Defense technology proven to work in Iraq and Afghanistan that can be used along the border, adding, "It's more readily available and will cost taxpayers less."

Napolitano had long underscored her dissatisfaction with the virtual fence since taking her Cabinet post in January 2009. She complained it had been "plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines."

She shifted $50 million in emergency economic stimulus funding from the first phase of the project to buying commercially available security technology.

And she froze spending on the second phase of the demonstration project in the Tucson and Ajo border sectors last March.

"Not only do we have an obligation to secure our borders, we have a responsibility to do so in the most cost effective way possible," Napolitano emphasized at the time.

stewart.powell@chron.com