Later in January the Department of Homeland Security plans to issue a “funding opportunity” to improve the scanning technology that Customs and Border Protection uses to screen vehicles and cargo entering the U.S. through ports of entry by leveraging advanced software, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said this month.
The forthcoming business opportunity follows recent prompting by congressional appropriators directing that CBP move ahead on introducing artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) into non-intrusive inspection (NII) systems. The AI/ML technology will help reduce the manual burden associated with operators peering at images generated by the NII systems to find anomalies inside vehicles and cargo conveyances.
In fiscal years 2019 and 2020 combined, Congress provided CBP with more than $600 million for the purchase and deployment of NII systems to dramatically increase the percentages of personal vehicles and cargo trucks to be scanned by large-scale X-Ray systems as they enter the U.S. at land ports of entry.
“A portion of those funds were to be dedicated to fundamentally changing how inspections were conducted,” Senate appropriators said in a report last August. “Rather than relying solely on a CBP officer to manually operate inspections, the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities would detect anomalies earlier and faster, pushing notifications to CBP officers for review.”
Mayorkas, during a Jan. 4 virtual event hosted and moderated by the Washington Post, said the upcoming funding opportunity will “leverage artificial intelligence to couple with that technology to maximize our law enforcement, detection, interdiction and prosecution impact.” That technology is the NII systems.
The event focused on DHS’ efforts to combat the continuing rise of the deadly synthetic drug fentanyl being smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico, most of which comes through the ports of entry in vehicles and cargo shipments.
Slow NII Rollout
Deployments of new NII systems in primary inspection lanes have been slow due to contracting difficulties and related construction but in the past year DHS has accelerated the installations of the technology, Mayorkas said. However, current deployment numbers provided to HSR in early January by CBP indicate that the agency is still in the early stages of installations.
Currently, CBP has deployed eight drive-through NII systems in pre-primary inspection at southwest border land ports of entry, including six low-energy portals (LEPs) and two multi-energy portals (MEPs). The LEPs are used to safely screen passenger vehicles at low energy levels with their occupants still inside as they enter the U.S.
The MEPs allow CBP to screen cargo vehicles at different energy levels, low energy to scan the occupied cab and high-energy for the cargo conveyance.
CBP said that it has also deployed three additional portals, one LEP and one MEP for post-primary inspection, and an MEP for secondary inspection, which where NII systems have typically been installed to resolve concerns or alarms triggered during primary inspection.
CBP said it has acquired about 123 drive-through NII systems under new contracts and that once these portals are deployed, it will be able to scan about 40 percent of passenger occupied vehicles and 70 percent of commercial occupied vehicles respectively at southwest border land ports of entry. In fiscal year 2023, the agency’s goal is to deploy more than 50 percent of the systems, or about 65 units, across about 30 locations, it said.
Where the NII systems are installed in pre-primary inspection lanes, CBP is scanning more than 75 percent of conveyances, the agency said. In pre-primary areas without these systems, the agency is canning 1 to 2 percent of passenger vehicles and 14 to 15 percent of commercial vehicles.
In 2021, CBP awarded Astrophysics, Leidos [LDOS] and OSI Systems’ [OSIS] Rapiscan Systems division contract for the new LEPs. Earlier that year, the agency also awarded contracts to Leidos, Rapiscan, and Britain’s Smiths Detection for MEPs.
In May 2022, a CBP official told a House panel that in FY ‘21, NII systems scanned less than 2 percent of passenger vehicles and 15 percent of commercial vehicles entering the U.S. from Mexico. The new drive-through NII systems, installed in primary inspection lanes, will increase those percentages to 40 percent and above 70 percent respectively in FY ’23, the official said.
Congress has directed DHS to ultimately scan 100 percent of cargo and vehicles entering the U.S. for contraband, drugs, and other illicit items.
In the FY ’23 Omnibus spending bill signed by President Biden in late December, CBP is getting another $69.9 million for NII systems, including $15.2 million to install equipment in lanes exiting the U.S., and $10 million for AI/ML efforts. The NII package also includes $44.9 million to deploy previously funded NII systems, related civil works infrastructure, and site preparation.
The FY ’23 bill also rescinds $73.2 million in unobligated FY ’22 NII funds “due to continued concerns with the management of the NII program.” Language in the Omnibus goes onto say that, “To date, CBP has failed to request any funding to address unfunded requirements for civil works, installation, and site prep for previously funded NII equipment to be deployed in preprimary lanes at LPOEs (land ports of entry), which could require more than an additional $200 million.”