Homeland Security: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Border Surveillance

Abstract

Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the lead agency charged with securing our nation's borders. While CBP is charged with overall border enforcement, within the bureau a distinction is made concerning border enforcement at and between ports of entry (POE). At POE, CBP officers are responsible for conducting immigrations, customs, and agricultural inspections on individuals presenting themselves for entry into the United States. Between POE, the United States Border Patrol (USBP) is charged with detecting and preventing the entry of terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, and unauthorized aliens into the country, and interdicting drug smugglers and other criminals. Congress has expressed a great deal of interest in using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to surveil the United States' international land border. This report examines the strengths and limitations of deploying UAVs along the borders and related issues for Congress. This report will be updated as events warrant.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 13, 2008
Accession Number
ADA482803

Entities

People

  • Blas Nunez-neto
  • Christopher Bolkcom

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accidents
  • Aircrafts
  • Border Security
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Control Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Homeland Security
  • Remotely Piloted Vehicles
  • Security
  • Surveillance
  • Synthetic Aperture Radar
  • United States
  • Unmanned
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Cognitive Aging in the Guam and Border Populations Affected by Alzheimer's Disease and Tau-Associated Dementias.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs