By Stew Magnuson and Ashleigh Fugate Department of Homeland Security officials said they need 24 unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the U.S. border, and carry out other domestic missions such as disaster relief. The problem is that the department has only been receiving funding for about one Predator per year. It has six UAVs now, [...]
Archive | Customs and Border Protection RSS feed for this section
$23 Million For an inline baggage screening system at Orlando International Airport
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced approximately $23 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for an inline baggage screening system at Orlando International Airport (MCO)—enhancing the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ongoing efforts to bolster airport security while boosting the local economy. “This state-of-the-art technology will strengthen security for [...]
Raytheon to Install Chemical Sensors in the Port of Providence
Raytheon Company received a contract from the city of Providence, R.I., to strengthen surveillance in its port by integrating chemical-detection sensors into the existing security system. Working with emergency management and environmental agencies, and using cameras and sensors provided by Smith’s Detection, Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) will install equipment and integrate immediate warning capabilities [...]
Miami Border Patrol Receives Mobile Remote Video Surveillance Systems
Border Patrol agents assigned to the Miami Sector have two new sets of high-tech eyes to help them keep a closer watch on the border. The Miami Border Patrol Sector recently took delivery of two Mobile Remote Video Surveillance Systems (MRVSS). The systems consist of a sophisticated camera array attached to a hydraulic mast mounted [...]
Smuggling Attempt Thwarted on Calif. Coast
A collaborative effort between the Border Patrol and the Oceanside Harbor, Calif., police department prevented a maritime smuggling attempt early Friday morning as 22 foreign nationals who illegally entered the country at sea were arrested on the shore at Camp Pendleton. At about 3:30 a.m., Border Patrol agents on patrol along the coastline spotted a [...]
Border Drones Plagued by Mishaps, Pilot Shortage
Despite high-profile support for flying unmanned aircraft along the U.S. border with Mexico, the camera-equipped drones are far from a technological magic bullet for fighting illegal immigration. Testimony presented to the House Homeland Security Committee highlights a number of problems facing Customs and Border Patrol’s drone fleet, including a high accident rate and a pilot [...]
FAA Pressed To Allow Drone Flights in non Segregated Air Space
Unmanned aircraft have proved their usefulness and reliability in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the pressure’s on to allow them in the skies over the United States. The Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to issue flying rights for a range of pilotless planes to carry out civilian and law-enforcement functions [...]
Border Patrol at 19,000 Feet Along Texas Border
A Predator UAV climbed into the early morning Arizona sky June 1 and headed east to conduct the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s first surveillance flight along the U.S.-Mexican border in Texas. Cruising at 19,000 feet, the Predator B’s camera fed a stream of video images to operators back at Libby Army Airfield in Sierra [...]
High-Tech X-ray Detects Illegal Exportation
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers stopped an illegal exportation of currency. CBP officers conducting southbound operations searched a vehicle utilizing a high-tech x-ray machine which led to the discovery of the illegal exportation of undeclared currency. On June 17, at approximately 12:30 p.m., CBP officers were screening travelers going into Mexico as part of [...]
Boeing Delivers Security Capabilities to US CBP for the Northern Border Project
Boeing has finished installing 10 remote video surveillance systems in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Detroit Sector, completing the company’s work on all available sites in the Northern Border Project. The systems, delivered to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), will enhance border surveillance capabilities along 37 miles of the St. Clair River — the border [...]
US CBP and China Sign MOU to Enhance Supply Chain Security
U.S. Customs and Border Protection today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China on Supply Chain Security and Facilitation. The CBP-China Customs Memorandum of Understanding will serve as a key component of a cooperative security and trade relationship between the two nation’s [...]
Inter-agency Maritime Operations Center at Port Canaveral
The port has potential high-profile terrorism targets Under construction for a month, the $1.5 million Inter-agency Maritime Operations Center at Port Canaveral, which will house the port’s growing police department, is scheduled for completion in November. Foundation and drainage work is being done on the 3.3-acre site on the port’s north side. “The concept is [...]
DRS Defense Technical Services: 100 M$ for U.S. Customs and Border Protection License Plate Readers.
DRS Technical Services Inc., a DRS Defense Solutions company, announced today that its Maritime & Security Solutions business unit was awarded a fixed price, indefinite- delivery indefinite-quantity contract worth up to $100 million to enhance and expand the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency’s license plate reader (LPR) program. DRS will work closely with [...]
Cuban Aliens Rescued from Monito Island
Federal authorities rescued a group of approximately twelve Cubans left by migrant smugglers on the inhospitable Monito Island. The migrants were allegedly smuggled into Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic aboard an unidentified boat. A Park Ranger from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources called the Ramey Sector of the U.S. Border [...]
Joint Maritime Enforcement Efforts Stops Smuggling Attempt
U.S. Border Patrol agents, with the assistance of Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Air and Marine and U.S. Coast Guard assets, stopped a maritime human smuggling attempt at a North County beach resulting in 20 arrests. A panga boat carrying 18 undocumented aliens and two smugglers was stopped off the coast of Southern California. [...]
CG Rescues, Repatriates 119 Haitians
The Boston-based Coast Guard Cutter Seneca repatriated 119 Haitian migrants to Cap Haitien, Haiti Friday, after they were interdicted at sea. While on a routine patrol, Coast Guard Cutters Tornado and Key Biscayne crewmembers located a grossly overloaded 65-foot Haitian sail freighter northeast of Matanzas, Cuba. The crew of two Coast Guard cutters arrived on [...]
Intelligence and Operations Coordination Center of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a new facility to help enhance information sharing across the nearly 60,000-person organization. The new Intelligence and Operations Coordination Center will serve as the “one-stop-shop” for operations coordination and information sharing across the operational entities within the agency, including Field Operations, Border Patrol and Air and Marine. A formal [...]
Alenia Aeronautica delivers second ATR-42MP airplane to the NAF
The delivery ceremony was held at Alenia Aeronautica’s Training Centre at Turin-Caselle and was attended by Air Vice Marshal DS Dillimono (Chief Operation Officer) and Wing Commander AT Marquis (Programme Manager ATR-42MP NAF) who signed the acceptance of the aircraft in the presence of Alenia Aeronautica’s Managers. Having completed the final acceptance phases with the [...]
Border Patrol Agents Rescue 10 from El Paso Storm Drains
A potentially deadly situation was averted on March 24 after U.S. Border Patrol agents, helped rescue ten illegal migrants who were put in a perilous situation by a smuggler in an attempt to elude authorities. In the early hour’s yesterday afternoon on March 25, Border Patrol agents from the El Paso Station responded to the [...]
What is the Purpose of the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations List?
The United States maintains a range of “terrorist lists,” of which the Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list is one of the better known. But in two recent court cases, the U.S. government has offered arguments that raise questions about the purpose of the list. FTO List vs. State Sponsors List Another list is that of [...]
SBINET in troubles: funds frozen
The Department of Homeland Security is pulling in the reins on a high-priced border “virtual fence” system plagued by cost overruns and missed deadlines since its launch four years ago. Additional funding for the SBInet project will be frozen beyond two systems already going up along the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe and Ajo, the agency [...]
CBP Seizes Counterfeit DVDs at California Border
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials today announced the seizure of a single truckload containing more than 6,300 counterfeit DVDs last month at the Otay Mesa cargo export facility. click for hi-res At about 9 a.m. on February 11, a CBP officer processing trucks exporting cargo out of the United States into Mexico pulled aside [...]
Upgraded Biometric Technology Facilitates Visitors’ Entry to the United States
An upgraded biometric technology is in place at major U.S. ports of entry, and most international visitors should expect to use the new technology when they enter the United States. DHS’s US-VISIT program began upgrading its biometric technology from a two- to a 10-fingerprint collection standard in 2007 to make the entry process faster and more [...]
Radiation Detection Portals at Port Hueneme
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced today the deployment of Radiation Portal Monitors at Port Hueneme to prevent terrorists from attempting to smuggle radiological materials used in nuclear and radiological dispersal devices. “This advanced technology enhances our capabilities in keeping the flow of legitimate trade critical to the U.S. economy, while protecting our country from [...]
SBINET in danger? No finish in sight for ‘virtual’ border fence
A multibillion-dollar “virtual fence” along the southwestern border promised for completion in 2009 to protect the U.S. from terrorists, violent drug smugglers and a flood of illegal immigrants is a long way from becoming a reality, with government officials unable to say when, how or whether it will ever be completed. More than three years [...]
Border Patrol Agents Intercept Migrants After Landing by Boat in Florida
On Feb. 22, at approximately 7:15 a.m., Border Patrol agents from the West Palm Beach Station responded to a call from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office which reported a landing of migrants in the area of Sewall’s Point, Fla. Border Patrol agents interviewed and processed four Haitians and one Dominican. The subjects are adult males [...]
Miami Sector Border Patrol Agents Intercept Migrants After Landing by Boat in Florida U.S. Citizen Suspected of
Smuggling On Feb. 22, at approximately 7:15 a.m., Border Patrol agents from the West Palm Beach Station responded to a call from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office which reported a landing of migrants in the area of Sewall’s Point, Fla. Border Patrol agents interviewed and processed four Haitians and one Dominican. The subjects are adult [...]
CBP Halts Deadly Illegal Immigration Attempt at Torrey Pines Beach
One person is dead, another is in critical condition, and 14 others are in custody following a failed attempt to illegally enter the United States by boat at a San Diego beach this morning. At about 4:30 a.m., law enforcement authorities spotted a 30-foot panga in distress in the surf just off of Torrey Pines [...]
Customs and Border Protection Halts Deadly Illegal Immigration Attempt at Torrey Pines Beach
One person is dead, another is in critical condition, and 14 others are in custody following a failed attempt to illegally enter the United States by boat at a San Diego beach this morning. At about 4:30 a.m., law enforcement authorities spotted a 30-foot panga in distress in the surf just off of Torrey Pines [...]
ManTech: 98M$ to Support DHS SBI Program Office
Will Provide Systems Engineering and Technical Support to Enhance Border Security ManTech International Corporation announced that it was awarded an Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide a full range of program management support services to the nation’s Secure Border Initiative (SBI). The competitively awarded, single-award IDIQ program, which [...]