The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) component is looking to generative artificial intelligence (AI) tech to not only provide better customer service but also help its field agents operate more efficiently, according to CBP’s Deputy Chief Data Officer (CDO) Trang Tran.
During the SAIC OutFront 2024 conference – produced by MeriTalk – in Arlington, Va., today, Tran highlighted that CBP has been using AI for nearly a decade but in the past year has really homed in on the benefits of generative AI.
“[We’re] leveraging genAI to assist with some of the CBP capabilities, such as decision making,” Tran said. “How can we use this to make more well-informed decisions for our officers and agents? How can we summarize some of the information, like some of the massive amounts of border security or trade data that we have as well? How can we use language translation to help the officers and agents out in the field to be able to communicate with individuals in which they don’t speak the language of?”
She continued, “this will provide not only customer service, but it will also let them understand each other on the field.”
The deputy CDO highlighted that CBP is enhancing its customer service by leveraging genAI to deliver a “quick and precise response that is needed” to meet the mission.
For example, Tran said that the CBP is building its own chatbot that will be able to sift through the agency’s documents and help field officers summarize and find vital information throughout the papers – something Tran referred to as “next generation search capabilities.”
SAIC’s VP of AI Strategy and Solutions, Jay Meil, praised CBP for being forward leaning in AI.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with DHS in some capacity for about six years,” Meil said during the panel. “It’s very hard to do what they’re describing, but they’re doing it. They’re taking actionable steps. They’re on the leading edge. They’re doing it smart. They’re doing it responsibly. They’re working with private partnerships.”
“They’re making a difference today for all the citizens – when we talk about citizen services – but also for the agents on the field,” he said. “DHS has really been great at bringing these capabilities to bear.”
According to CBP’s Assistant Commissioner of IT and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Sonny Bhagowalia, AI is going to play a major role in the “border of the future.”
“The human is going to be in charge, but the AI will be the assist,” the CIO said. For the border of the future, Bhagowalia said AI will be able to help the CBP officers by flagging certain containers to look into or geographic areas with high human traffic. He also said AI will have “some sentiment analysis,” flagging to the officer when it thinks a person is lying.
Bhagowalia said the CBP is focused on three key areas over the next four years: strategic transformation; tactical operation excellence; and innovation at the speed of mission. The border of the future, he said, falls under strategic transformation.
The CIO explained that the border of the future entails integrating operational assets – planes, drones, boats – with IT.
“Bringing all of that together, to me, is one of the borders of the future where the agent can have a CONOPS, where they could be having a wearable computer, an IoT device, maybe some augmented reality glasses,” he said.
Bhagowalia said he believes the border of the future will also help CBP better integrate its hundreds of ports of entry, border patrol stations, and its air and marine operations.
“I think the border of the future will be something where there’s going to be a lot of fusion, a lot of integration of assets, a lot of edge computing,” he said.
