Public Intelligence

The complete U.S. Customs and Border Protection Security Policy and Procedures handbook from August 2009.

The chief of the Homeland Security Department’s drone aircraft program is facing an ethics investigation for joining the board of directors of the largest industry group promoting the use of unmanned aircraft, officials said Monday.The internal affairs office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reviewing whether Tom Faller, director of unmanned aircraft systems operations, violated internal rules when he took an unpaid position as a board member of the Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International on Aug. 16. Faller oversees eight Predator B surveillance drones that are chiefly used to help search for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers on the northern and southwestern borders.

Information sharing (or lack thereof) between intelligence agencies has been a sensitive topic in the U.S. After 9/11, there was a push to create fusion centers so that local, state, and federal agencies could share intelligence, allowing the FBI, for example, to see if the local police have anything in their files on a particular individual. Now the Department of Homeland Security wants to create its own internal fusion center so that its many agencies can aggregate the data they have and make it searchable from a central location. The DHS is calling it a “Federated Information Sharing System” and asked its privacy advisory committee to weigh in on the repercussions at a public meeting in D.C. last month.

Customs and Border Protection Bandidos Motorcycle Club global distribution map produced in May 2010.

CBP BorderStat drug seizure information was used to evaluate seizure statistics in relation to the arrest or death of key DTO personnel. The drug seizure data was collected from January 2009 through January 2010. This data was analyzed to determine if the arrest or death of key personnel had a direct impact on the flow of U.S.-bound drugs. This research indicates that there is no perceptible pattern that correlates either a decrease or increase in drug seizures due to the removal of key DTO personnel.

Customs and Border Protection Colombian US Army Imposter Briefing, 2010.

On 6/21/2007, Juan Carlos GOMEZ arrived at Miami International Airport from Bogota, Colombia, on Avian flight #008. Passenger GOMEZ presented himself for inspection to CBPO Ortiz at Passport Control at 2311 hrs. CBPO Ortiz admitted GOMEZ as a USC and referred him to Baggage Control Secondary to verify his parole status as Ortiz indicated prior drug arrest. At approximately 2335 hrs GOMEZ presented his CBP form 6059B to the primary baggage control officer and was escorted to baggage secondary for further examination. The floor coordinator was informed of the situation and assigned CBPO Medrano to conduct GOMEZ’s secondary inspection at 2340 hrs. SCBPOs Adan and Sanfilippo were also informed of GOMEZ’s record.

The Security Filing, commonly known as the “10+2” initiative, is a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulation that requires importers and vessel operating carriers to provide additional advance trade data to CBP pursuant to Section 203 of the SAFE Port Act of 2006 and section 343(a) of the Trade Act of 2002, as amended by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, for non-bulk cargo shipments arriving into the United States by vessel.

Provides Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), operations, maintenance, technical support, pilots, and sensor operators to surveil the Southwest border of the United States. Over the next several years UAV border surveillance will improve sensor/video surveillance capabilities of the current, monitored base system through persistent 24 hours per day / 7 days per week surveillance; integrate new surveillance technologies (aerial sensor suites), and increase interoperability with other law enforcement agencies and initiatives.