This story comes courtesy of California Watch.

By Andrew Becker

U.S. Customs and Border Protection last month received its latest unmanned aircraft, but it’s a new sole-source contract that could approach a half-billion dollars that offers the latest insight into the agency’s vision for its controversial eyes-in-the-sky drone program.

The border agency has locked in a five-year deal with a San Diego-area aeronautical company estimated to be worth as much as $443 million, according to a document posted Nov. 1 on the federal government contracting opportunities website. An estimated $237 million of that would buy up to 14 drones and related equipment. Whether Customs and Border Protection will actually get the money to spend is another question.

Congress hasn’t appropriated funding beyond the 10th drone the agency just received, which will fly from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and the agency hasn’t asked for any more for the 2013 fiscal year.

The Homeland Security inspector general’s office in a June audit recommended that Customs and Border Protection stop buying the drones until officials figure out a budget plan for the program and how to get the most use out of the unmanned aircraft, which are frequently grounded by inclement weather.

The watchdog agency’s criticism spurred a Texas congressman who has championed the use of drones to call on Customs and Border Protection to come up with a strategic plan before the agency buys more of the unmanned vehicles.

Yet Customs and Border Protection still wants more of them – up to 24 total – to patrol over land on the northern and southern borders and along coastal regions to help catch drug traffickers and undocumented migrants sneaking into the country, and apparently wants to be ready to buy more drones if and when Congress gives it the green light.

The agency has been on the forefront of domestic use of drones by law enforcement. While there are still relatively few drones flying today, the Federal Aviation Administration predicts 30,000 will fly domestically in less than 20 years, according to a recent congressional report.

Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee for homeland security, which has supported the agency’s use of unmanned aircraft, said in a statement that procurement law prohibits an agency from obligating the government without enough money to cover contract costs. The Homeland Security Department can, as is apparently the case with the drones, put in place certain contract types without obligating funds so they can be ready for “future operational needs,” he said.

Whether the agency’s justification for the sole-source contract with Poway-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. serves as a de facto strategic plan, officials won’t say. General Atomics has built the agency’s unmanned aircraft and was recently awarded a $128 million operations and maintenance contract for pilots, support services and other needs.

Officials have said that they have no immediate plans to acquire more unmanned aircraft. A Customs and Border Protection spokesman would not speak on the record about the contract, but Kimberly Kasitz, a spokeswoman for General Atomics, said the document amounted to a “five-year plan” for the agency’s drone program.

“It was their way of showing they had done the research – and chose to go with us,” she said.

The agency flies two models of drones, which can stay airborne for up to 20 hours. The land version, known as the Predator B, costs $18.5 million while the maritime Guardian costs $20.5 million. Those costs include a ground control station, surveillance and radar equipment, maintenance and the drone itself. The agency cited the maritime version as a major reason why it awarded the contract solely to General Atomics.

Customs and Border Protection said the agency could not fly enough drones operations – which would put national security and Border Patrol agents at risk – if it didn’t award the sole-source contract.

While hailed by Customs and Border Protection and some members of Congress, the drones have also been criticized for being expensive and inefficient.

In the 2012 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the unmanned aircraft, which are controlled remotely from bases in Arizona, California, North Dakota and Texas, were credited with assisting efforts to interdict more than 58,000 pounds of drugs. The drones also contributed to 130 arrests and 1,408 apprehensions as drones flew about 5,500 hours, the most ever in a single year. It was also the drone program’s best year in terms of seizures since the agency began using them in 2006.

The drones account, however, for only a fraction of the agency’s overall interdiction statistics. As a whole, the agency seized about 5 million pounds of drugs and apprehended more than 340,000 people trying to sneak into the country in 2011, the most recent year complete figures were available.

Officials have said that drug seizures and border-crosser apprehensions alone are not fair measurements of the program’s success, as the drones also support disaster response efforts.

Andrew Becker covers border and national security issues for the Center for Investigative Reporting and California Watch. To read more California Watch stories, click here.

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  • Because the U.S. Won’t Control The Flow Of Guns Into Latin America

    <a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/01/mexico-guns-arturo-sarukhan-us-weapons-mexico-violence-gun-rights_n_1563250.html”>Mexican authorities seized almost 70,000 weapons of U.S. origin</a> from 2007 to 2011. In 2004, the U.S. Congress declined to renew a 10-year ban on the sale of assault weapons. They quickly became the guns of choice for Mexican drug cartels.

    Some 60,000 people have died in Mexico since President Felipe Calderón launched a military assault on the cartels in 2006.

  • Because the United States Leads The Hemisphere In Drug Consumption

    Americans have the <a href=”http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve/?File_id=81b53476-64a3-4088-9bae-254a84b95ddb”>highest rate of illegal drug consumption in the world</a>, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

  • Because The U.S. Ignores Latin American Calls For A Rethinking Of Drug Policy

    Several current and former Latin American presidents, like Fernando Henrique Cardoso, have <a href=”http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/”>urged the United States to rethink its failed war on drugs</a>, to no avail.

  • Because Of The Fast And Furious Scandal

    In an attempt to track guns as they moved across the U.S.-Mexico border, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms <a href=”http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/atf-fast-furious-sg,0,3828090.storygallery”>allowed smugglers to purchase weapons</a>. The ATF lost track of the guns and they wound up in the hands of drug cartels — even as <a href=”http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/09/11/atf-fast-and-furious-guns-appear-in-colombia/”>far south as Colombia</a>.

  • Because American Politicians Refuse To Candidly Lead A Debate On Reforming Our Laws

    Though the subject of marijuana legalization regularly ranks among the most popular at the digital town halls President Obama takes part in, he <a href=”http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/06/askobama-twitter-town-hall-ignores-flood-of-marijuana-legalization-questions/”>declines to address the issue</a> or give it a <a href=”http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/03/obama-addresses.html”>thoughtful answer</a>.

    Incidentally, a younger Obama <a href=”http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/229756/82/We-Need-To-Decriminalize-Our-Marijuana-Laws—-Barack-Obama”>supported marijuana decriminalization and a rethinking of the drug war</a>.

  • Because The U.S. Tortures Detainees In Cuba

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  • Because The U.S. Has The World’s Largest Prison Population

    The United States has <a href=”http://www.prb.org/Articles/2012/us-incarceration.aspx”>the world’s largest prison population</a> by far — largely fed by the war on drugs — at 500 per 100,000 people.

  • Because The U.S. Jails Undocumented Immigrants Guilty Of Civil Violations

    Because the United States <a href=”http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/ExposeAndClose”>imprisons roughly 400,000 immigrants</a> each year on civil violations.

  • Because The Border Patrol Kills Kids Who Throw Rocks

    The U.S. Border Patrol has come under fire for <a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/26/border-patrol-killing-un_n_2018731.html”>killing minors who were throwing rocks</a>.

  • Because The U.S. Recognized An Illegal Government In Venezuela

    When opponents of leftwing Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez briefly ousted him in 2002, the United States not only failed to condemn the coup, it <a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/16/world/bush-officials-met-with-venezuelans-who-ousted-leader.html”>praised the coup leaders</a>.

  • Because U.S. Extradition Undermines Justice In Colombia

    When Colombia demobilized the largest rightwing paramilitary organization in 2006, if offered lenient sentences to those who would offer details on the atrocities the AUC committed. But rather than facing justice in their home country, <a href=”http://www.propublica.org/article/colombian-paramilitaries-extradited-to-u.s.-where-cases-are-sealed”>Colombia has extradited several paramilitary leaders to the United States</a> to face drug trafficking charges — marking it harder for people like Bela Henríquez to find out the details surrounding the murders of their loved ones.

    “More than anger, I feel powerless,” Henriquez, whose father, Julio, was kidnapped and killed on the orders of one defendant, told ProPublica. “We don’t know what they are negotiating, what conditions they are living under. What guarantee of justice do we have?”

  • Because The U.S. Helped Create Today’s Cartels

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  • Because The U.S. Backed An Argentine Military Dictatorship That Killed 30,000 People

    The rightwing military dictatorship that took over Argentina in 1976 “disappeared” some 30,000 people, according to estimates by several human rights organizations. They subjected countless others to sadistic forms of torture and stole dozens of babies from mothers they jailed and murdered. The military junta carried out the so-called “Dirty War” with the <a href=”http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB104/index.htm”>full knowledge and support of the Nixon administration</a>.

  • Because The U.S. Helped Topple The Democratically Elected Government Of Salvador Allende

    When it became clear that socialist Salvador Allende would likely win the presidency in Chile, U.S. President Richard Nixon told the CIA to “make the economy scream” in order to “prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him,” <a href=”http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm”>according to the National Security Archive</a>.

    Augusto Pinochet overthrew Allende in a bloody coup on Sept. 11, 1973, torturing and disappearing thousands of his political rivals with the backing of the U.S. government.

  • Because the U.S. Backed A Military Coup In Brazil In 1964

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  • Because The U.S. Funded A Terrorist Group In Nicaragua

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  • Because The U.S. Helped Finance Atrocities In Colombia

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  • Because The U.S. Maintains A Trade Embargo Against Cuba Despite Opposition From The Entire World

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    Some 188 nations voted against the embargo this year, with only the U.S. itself, Israel, Palau opposing.

  • Because The U.S. Engineered A Coup Against The Democratically Elected Government Of Guatemala In 1954

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  • Because The U.S. Backed The Salvadoran Military As It Committed Atrocities In The 1980s

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  • Because The U.S. Invaded Haiti and Occupied It For Almost 20 Years

    Woodrow Wilson ordered the Marines to <a href=”http://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/Haiti”>invade and occupy Haiti in 1915</a> after the assassination of the Haitian president. The troops didn’t leave until 1934.

  • Because The U.S. Invaded Haiti Again In 1994

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  • Because The U.S. Trained Military Leaders Who Committed Atrocities In Latin America

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  • Because The U.S. Backed Dictator Rafael Trujillo

    Rafael Trujillo Sr. (Photo by Hank Walker//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

  • Because The U.S. Invaded Cuba And Undermined The Island’s Independence

    The so-called “Spanish-American War” began in 1868 with the first of a series of three wars for Cuban independence. In 1898, the U.S. got involved, invading Cuba and occupying the island after forcing Spain to give it. The United States then forced Cuba to <a href=”http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=55″>accept the odious Platt Amendent to its Constitution</a>, which allowed the United States to intervene in the country militarily and established the U.S. military base at Guantánamo.

  • Because The U.S. Colonized Puerto Rico

    As long as your invading Cuba, <a href=”http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/puerto-rico-invaded”>why not take Puerto Rico</a> as well? The United States invaded in 1898 and the island remains a U.S. territory today.