The Southwest Border of the United States is home to nearly
2,000 miles of majestic, yet rugged and often treacherous terrain,
terrain that makes Border Patrol access in some remote areas a mere impossible proposition. Manpower alone, while essential, will never be enough to secure the border. In order to enhance situational awareness, we need to leverage technological force multipliers that provide persistent surveillance across wide swaths of remote areas along the border.
Technology such as cameras, night vision goggles, motion sensors,
and surveillance equipment have become critical elements of our border security operations. These technologies have enhanced agent safety, provide a constant monitoring of difficult-to-access areas, and extended situational awareness, and the ability to interdict criminal activity faster.
Aviation assets, such unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, often considered UASs, unmanned aerial systems, equipped with advanced radar capabilities, have also refined our understanding of the significant threat that exists along the border, and help reposition and redeploy assets as the flow and the vulnerability shift. But technology cannot do any of these things if CBP's acquisition and procurement process cannot get these tools and the latest cuttingedge technology in the hands of the men and women on the ground in a timely fashion.
