Sens. Kit Bond, R-Mo., and Joseph Biden, D-Del., told Gates that the Marines failed to support the Tactical Concealed Video System, which was developed by St. Louis-based Sentrus. Adequately supported, they write, the system might have prevented bomb attacks on Marines serving in Iraq.

Bond and Biden say Marines in the field still want the system. Lt. Gen. Keith Stalder, commander of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, which commands troops in Afghanistan, has asked for a demonstration of the system. Lt. Col. Curtis Hill, a spokesman for Stalder, says it may have use in combat.

Officials at the Marine Corps Systems Command, which helps equip Marines for combat, say the system doesn't work.

"Our operating forces have told us explicitly that this system does not meet their performance expectations," said Col. Phillip Chudoba, the command's program manager for intelligence systems. "It does not function as it was intended to function. It does not yield the results that they expected."

The haggling over the system highlights the demand for constant battlefield surveillance and the difficulty developing it. Gates calls adding surveillance capability one of his top priorities, akin to his call to speed the production of heavily armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles

Late in 2004, Marines in Iraq issued their first urgent plea for the concealed-camera system. It uses cameras and heat- and motion-detecting sensors, sometimes encased in fake rocks, to monitor areas that can't be seen from the sky by drones. The Marines awarded Sentrus its first contract in September 2005.

The cameras were slow to be put into use in Iraq. In 2006, Marines in Iraq sent a request for improvements to the system. In April, Marine commanders in Iraq canceled their orders. The camera systems were cumbersome and complex and their batteries burned out, Chudoba said. Today, most of the 15 systems, valued at about $1 million apiece, sit on the shelf.

Bond and Biden told Gates there was a "disconnect" between calls from commanders in the field for TCVS and other surveillance systems and "the bureaucracy back home."

"The TCVS program has been providing operational systems for the last 30 months, but very few have been sent to the front lines," they wrote. "Unless there is a good alternative, we cannot understand this at a time when Marines in theater are subjected to IED (improvised explosive device) and other hostile attacks that could be prevented if sufficient ground surveillance systems were available. If there is another system that works better, we would like to know about it."

An internal study on TCVS by Franz Gayl, a Marine Corps science adviser, supports the senators' contention. "The delay in the delivery of, and lack of support for, TCVS reflect gross mismanagement of the TCVS program … creating a significant adverse impact on the (troops') ability to accomplish its mission," wrote Gayl, who has also criticized the Marines' MRAP program.

Col. David Lapan, a Marine spokesman, said Gayl's work has not been presented to his superiors and is not an official study or report.

A spokesman for Gates, who is traveling in Asia, could not be reached for comment.

Chudoba demonstrated the original system recently at the Marine Corps base in Quantico on the banks of the Potomac River. Its cameras and sensors beamed images of their surroundings and displayed them on laptop computers in a nearby truck. The equipment filled several large crates and two equipment bags.

Chudoba said the system is better suited for industrial security, not the battlefield. It takes two hours to set up the cameras, antennas and generators, which exposes Marines to too many risks "when they emplace it," Chudoba said.

Richard Weinstein, Sentrus' owner, said the Marines tested the system and knew what they were getting when they awarded the contract.

Next week, Sentrus will get another chance to prove its system. A demonstration has been scheduled at the Marines Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., to show Stalder an improved version of TCVS.

Even if Stalder wants the Sentrus system for Afghanistan, Chudoba said, it will have to be tested again before the Marines commit to buying more.

Though the Marines in Quantico say TCVS doesn't work, the Corps is still seeking a concealed video system, records show. Last month, the Marines asked potential contractors to develop a new system. Testing for that is not scheduled to start until June 2009.

Enlarge By Cpl. Shane S. Keller, U.S. Marine Corps Marines from the Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion leave Camp Korean Village, Iraq, on Sept. 10, 2007. The Marines operate in Anbar province.

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