DHS Cites Importance Of 'Aesthetics' In Border Wall Notice
The Department of Homeland Security has asked vendors to consider aesthetics in their future proposals for wall prototypes to run along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In an amendment to Customs and Border Protection’s initial pre-solicitation notice for wall designs, posted online Friday and flagged by ProPublica Wednesday, DHS specified that it was looking for “concrete wall structures, nominally 30 feet tall, that will meet requirements for aesthetics, anti-climbing, and resistance to tampering or damage.”
The amended request comes out of left field, but for Trump’s multiple campaign-era promises to build a “big, beautiful" wall spanning the border.
The prototype notice specifies that DHS isn't yet asking for a “total wall solution for the border with Mexico” in their prototype designs. But a separate notice flagged by ProPublica published last Thursday notes that the eventual "long-term strategy" for a wall will necessarily “need to accommodate the entire Southwest Border, which has a quite diverse range of terrain, foliage, population, wildlife, and other features.”