Securing U.S. Ports of Entry with Advanced Analytics

U.S. port of entry traffic includes hundreds of millions of travelers and trillions of dollars worth of imported goods annually. DHS is at the center of the nation’s efforts to counter cross-border smuggling and potential terrorist activity hidden amid this traffic. Given the scope of this mission and the enormous quantities of data necessary to support it, DHS must create and deploy technical solutions to efficiently clean, query, and model data in support of the cargo and traveler vetting process.

The mission-specific needs that Booz Allen supports include advanced data analysis and analytics capabilities, and a lightweight DevSecOps approach to developing and advancing these with the speed and agility required to counter constantly changing threats brought by adversaries that operate outside of the rules that the U.S. is obliged to honor as a principled, law-abiding nation.

Our help in these areas improves DHS’ ability to:

• Proactively identify and address evolving threats in a rapid and timely manner
• Provide data-driven, decision-making capabilities at the tactical edge worldwide
• Cleanse, prepare, and leverage large amounts of disparately sourced data to enable decision makers to make quicker, more informed decisions

Booz Allen’s team combines subject matter experts on DHS’ port of entry security mission with data scientists and IT practitioners. Together, they work with the agency’s analysts to rapidly assess critical mission questions. To date, their efforts have focused on a range of needs, including:

• Identifying available and must-have data sources
• Collecting, preparing, and developing analytic models
• Building advanced analytics applications in support of creating actionable opportunities to identify and disrupt illicit cross-border activity, logistics, and finances of nefarious networks and organizations that threaten U.S. national security
• Deploying analytical models, interpreting the results, and reporting on findings

Working closely with DHS technologists and mission specialists, Booz Allen has developed an array of new tradecraft, applications, and analytics tools purpose-built for identifying nefarious, port of entry and border-related activity. These include a suite of “bring your own data” tools for rapid data cleansing, analysis, and visualization that can, for example, assist in visualizations highlighting suspicious patterns that warrant further scrutiny. These applications can work on their own or be used in conjunction with tools and data feeds from DHS information and other information available to DHS to develop actionable insights, assist law enforcement operations, and facilitate data-driven decision making.

To ensure that these new tools were swiftly adopted and effectively employed, we trained thousands of DHS and interagency officials to use them through in-person and online classes and tutorials focused on the tools themselves, as well as on broader analytic techniques.

Employing advanced analytics tools and tradecraft that we developed, we assisted DHS with the conception, planning, and execution of a surge operation aimed at curtailing the smuggling of illicit fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that played a role in tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2022. This undertaking stopped more than 900 pounds of fentanyl from entering the country in its first week alone, and gathered information that enhances efforts to identify drug cargo and traffickers at U.S. ports of entry.

Booz Allen also developed a tool used in the Afghan evacuation that occurred in September 2021. The application was rapidly developed and deployed in 36 hours to assist globally stationed DHS and Department of Defense personnel as they processed Afghan refugees for transport to the United States.