"Eyes on until hands on"
The motto of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Intelligence Operations

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") agency wants $51.3 million in Fiscal Year 2006 to spend on its America's Shield Initiative, an upgrade of the existing Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System. America's Shield received $88.1 million in 2005, a huge jump from the $24.2 million it received in 2004. The agency's estimate in August 2004 was that full budget requests through 2010 would add up to $2 billion.

Map displaying points in the U.S. where
there are Remote Video Surveillance systems
(click to enlarge)

Map displaying points in the U.S. where
there are Sensor detection systems
(click to enlarge)

Map displaying the current Integrated
Surveillance Intelligence System
(click to enlarge)

The America's Shield Initiative is "the installation of surveillance and sensory systems that enables monitoring of targeted expanses of the border." There are three parts to America's Shield; the first is the Remote Video Surveillance System, which "integrates multiple color cameras and thermal infrared images into a single remote control system." There are day and night, still, digital, and video cameras in the system. There are 269 RVS installations across the United States in cities such as Buffalo, N.Y.; Detroit, Mich.; Miami, Fla.; and San Diego, Calif. The second part of America's Shield is a Sensor System that includes radar, seismic, motion, magnetic, and heat detectors. These sensors, according to CBP, are mostly Vietnam-era sensors. There are 11,938 sensors installed in cities such as Yuma, Ariz.; Grand Forks, N.D., and Buffalo, N.Y. The third part of America's Shield is the Intelligent Computer-Assisted Detection System, which is an alarm and dispatch system that reports ground sensor activations, and monitors and analyzes that information.

There are problems associated with America's Shield, according to CBP. The agency says that system components are too susceptible to weather and the environment; the sensors do not distinguish between animals and humans, and that the equipment is aging and difficult to maintain. Another problem is that the current CBP infrastructure is incomplete and incapable of supporting all the required repairs. Also, the camera systems are subject to ongoing property leases on privately owned land, which helps drive the lead-time up to 24 months for installation of RVS systems. And all of these electronic systems cover only 2% of America's borders. There must be a significant expansion of the system, at a significant taxpayer cost, for it to cover the 6,000 miles of Mexico and Canadian international land borders and 2,000 miles of coastal waters surrounding the Florida peninsula and Puerto Rico. (The waters are patrolled in concert with the U.S. Coast Guard.)

Along with America's Shield, CBP also has 32 airplanes and 76 helicopters that it uses for aerial surveillance; 106 vessels for ocean surveillance; and 315 drug-sniffing dog and handler teams.

Map displaying the planned Integrated
Surveillance Intelligence System
(click to enlarge)

Chart displaying number of Border
Patrol apprehensions from 1995-2004
(click to enlarge)

This increase in surveillance and monitoring systems has not helped the CBP's bottom line – apprehensions. In 2000, there were 1.6 million apprehensions. Every year since then, the number has steadily fallen to half that – in 2004, there were 800,000 apprehensions.

Resources:

• EPIC's U.S. Domestic Spending on Surveillance page
• Table Highlighting FY 2006 Surveillance Technology (pdf)
• CBP's ISIS-ASI web page (note: this page has since been removed)