• CBP One™

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) developed CBP One™, a mobile application to serve as a single portal for travelers and stakeholders to interact virtually with CBP.

• More importantly, this platform served as a vital tool to combat the impact of the influx of undocumented non-citizens at the southern border.

• CBP One™ consolidates OFO’s mobile application development within a single platform for travelers and stakeholders to interact virtually with CBP, and direct each user to the appropriate travel or trade services based on their needs.

• This initiative was particularly innovative in that the new approach created the most agile mobile platform that empowered CBP to quickly implement vital services to ensure efficient Ports of Entry (POE) Operations, enhanced services for travelers, and provided unprecedented transparency for stakeholders.

• The CBP One™ platform was developed to be highly adaptable to implement new capabilities quickly by leveraging core capabilities such as document scanning, video conference licenses, liveness verification, facial matching, global positioning services (GPS), and plug-ins for interactive messaging.

• These capabilities, combined with an agile approach to operational analysis, requirements development, and programming, have resulted in significantly reduced timelines for implementing new capabilities.

• Global Entry (GE) Modernization Initiative

• Global Entry (GE), is a CBP program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States. Members enter the United States through automatic kiosks at select airports.

• At airports, program members proceed to Global Entry kiosks, present their machine-readable passport or U.S. permanent resident card, place their fingerprints on the scanner for fingerprint verification and complete a customs declaration.

• The kiosk issues the traveler a transaction receipt and directs the traveler to baggage claim and exit.

(See how the Global Entry (GE) process continues innovating the arrival experience, offering members a streamlined and increasingly contactless processing experience. Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and YouTube. Posted on Mar 29, 2022.)

• CBP began the Global Entry Modernization Initiative in 2018, with the first step involving integrating facial comparison technology into the Global Entry arrival experience.

• This process was greatly accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as of April 2022 all Global Entry kiosks have been upgraded to utilize facial comparison technology.

• Facial comparison provides a faster and more secure experience for trusted travelers by automating the comparison of the traveler to their document photo.

• The next step of this Global Entry modernization has been moving airports towards a receipt-less, and touchless process.

(Hear from DEAC Sabatino, and see how the Global Entry (GE) process continues innovating the arrival experience, offering members a streamlined and increasingly contactless processing experience. Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and YouTube. Posted on Mar 29, 2022.)

• During Fiscal Year 2022, CBP upgraded kiosks at 16 airports to no longer issue a receipt, meaning that for the Global Entry traveler, the new process is faster, with fewer touchpoints, and better protects their privacy.

• San Diego Field Office, Port of Otay Mesa, California

• On November 18, 2021, CBP officers at Otay Mesa, California Port of Entry had the largest narcotics seizure in CBP history.

• The CBP officers encountered a tractor-trailer arriving from Mexico with auto parts manifested as the commodity they were carrying.

• However, a CBP drug detection dog alerted to the trailer, and a total of 7,976.20 kilograms (17,584.33 pounds) of Methamphetamine and 176.42 kilograms (388.94 pounds) of Fentanyl Pills were discovered by the CBP Officers whose diligence and outstanding enforcement performance resulted in this discovery of the largest fentanyl seizure in history, to date.

• Securing U.S. borders — by air, land, and sea — is central to our national security.

• Even as efforts continue to expand the zone of security away from the physical borders of our nation, highly adaptive criminal networks attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in enforcement capabilities between the ports of entry.

• At the ports, criminals attempt to conceal their activities within the legitimate flow of trade and travel. Between the ports of entry, human and narcotic traffickers exploit gaps in terrain access, visual surveillance, and deterrence infrastructure.

• Trade is growing at an unprecedented rate, and CBP is charged with facilitating lawful trade, creating a level playing field for American businesses, protecting consumers, and reducing business costs.

• With the value of imports nearing $3 trillion, the amount of international trade crossing U.S. borders has never been higher.  An important part of this volume is entering via e-commerce channels, express couriers, and international mail, but no longer primarily via air. 

• E-commerce shipments are making their way into the U.S. via trucks, trains, ocean vessels, and airplanes.  Global supply chains have transformed in the past few decades, making it harder to trace products back to their original source and to pinpoint responsibility across the network of parties involved.

(Learn More about the CBP and their partnerships in securing our nation, in this American Security Today exclusive interview with Frank Russo, Director of Field Operations for New York and New Jersey, facilitated by Dr. Kathleen Kiernan, President of NEC National Security Systems (NSS). Courtesy of AST, My Pristine Images, and YouTub.)

• The world continues to change, in more dynamic ways than ever.  CBP remains committed to meeting existing and emerging challenges head-on.