SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the if-you-build-it-they-will-come...and-cut-through-it dept.
Smugglers have found an easy way to get through the vertical steel tube Mexican border wall. From https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/smugglers-are-sawing-through-new-sections-of-trumps-border-wall/2019/11/01/25bf8ce0-fa72-11e9-ac8c-8eced29ca6ef_story.html
The breaches have been made using a popular cordless household tool known as a reciprocating saw that retails at hardware stores for as little as $100. When fitted with specialized blades, the saws can slice through one of the barrier's steel-and-concrete bollards in minutes, according to the agents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the barrier-defeating techniques.
After cutting through the base of a single bollard, smugglers can push the steel out of the way, creating an adult-size gap. Because the bollards are so tall — and are attached only to a panel at the top — their length makes them easier to push aside once they have been cut and are left dangling, according to engineers consulted by The Washington Post.
The taxpayer-funded barrier — so far coming with a $10 billion price tag — was a central theme of Trump's 2016 campaign, and he has made the project a physical symbol of his presidency, touting its construction progress in speeches, ads and tweets. Trump has increasingly boasted to crowds in recent weeks about the superlative properties of the barrier, calling it "virtually impenetrable" and likening the structure to a "Rolls-Royce" that border crossers cannot get over, under or through.
In other words, no one did any serious pen testing on the wall design, or it would have been obvious that with all that leverage, the top tie-in was easy to flex.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday November 04 2019, @09:19PM
Some other approach than a ~$100 sawzall? Certainly. But in the absolute worst case they use a $50 ladder or grappling hook. Obviously that'd mean you can't drive through it, but if you don't have guards smugglers just transfer people from one vehicle to another waiting on the other side of the wall. Or just blow a hole in the wall and drive through - nobody has built a wall yet that can withstand a skilled demolition team with a few sticks of dynamite.
Walls buy you time, nothing more. You can make them arbitrarily difficult to destroy, but destroying them will always be far, far cheaper than building them, so there's some severely diminishing returns to consider. And climbing over them will always be pretty easy.
It's only the guards that make a wall secure. Without them a wall, no matter how strong and intimidating, is just an inconvenience.