Spotlights

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) partners with the Department of Defense (DoD), SkillBridge internship program to provide transitioning servicemembers the opportunity to transition into permanent CBP positions at no cost to the agency.

On Aug. 14, 2021, the Taliban took control of the city of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Shortly thereafter, President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would be evacuating over 100,000 people from Afghanistan. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), alongside other federal agencies, responded to the rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan and mobilized a comprehensive campaign called Operation Allies Welcome. CBP was asked to support OAW by providing personnel and technology to aid in processing evacuees. Office of Information and Technology (OIT) personnel deployed across the U.S. to provide...

Members of the 16th term Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, known as COAC, were recognized for their meaningful contributions when they gathered Wednesday for their last public meeting of the year in College Park, Maryland. “The COAC advises U.S. Customs and Border Protection regarding regulations, policies or practices and provides critical feedback from the trade community on how these changes will impact the economy and global supply chain entities,” said CBP Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller, who co-chaired the proceedings. “We understand that even small changes on our end…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Collections is the final ACE module that supports the enduring mission and priority of facilitating lawful trade and protecting revenue. ACE fulfills CBP’s goal to unite the revenue and trade entry lifecycles within a single window and retires the over 30-year-old Automated Commercial System (ACS). ACE enables end-to-end trade functions from entry to liquidation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, 368 million cargo entries and 20 million export shipments were processed through ACE, totaling $1.7 trillion. Also in FY...

Beginning on March 11, 2020, the U.S. began limiting the entry of individuals into the U.S. who posed a risk of transmitting the coronavirus. With 26 countries affected by the proclamation, CBP quickly faced a daunting challenge to screen a surge of incoming passengers. The National Counterterrorism Center (NTC) collaborated with the Office of Information and Technology’s (OIT) Robotic Process Automation (RPA) team to create a bot that helped expedite the screening processes. Three days after the proclamation, the RPA team built four automations that enabled CBP to get ahead of the rush of...

The momentum continued when members of the 16th term Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, known as COAC, gathered in Chicago on Sept. 14, for their third public meeting of the fiscal year. It was the first time U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s trade advisory committee held its quarterly meeting with in-person public participation since the beginning of the pandemic. “Thank you all for participating. These meetings are vitally important for public transparency, which is fundamental to our operations,” said CBP’s Deputy Commissioner Troy A. Miller, who co-chaired the…

The focus was on the future at U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s first Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit. Over 3,000 attendees, 1,000 on-site and more than 2,000 virtually, gathered in Anaheim, California, July 18-20, to learn more about CBP’s forward vision in a constantly changing trade environment. It was the first time CBP had hosted an in-person trade event of this magnitude since the pandemic began two-and-a-half years ago. It was also the first time the agency had combined two of its signature events—CBP’s annual trade symposium and the Customs Trade Partnership Against...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus hosted members of the 16th term Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, known as COAC, as they gathered on Wednesday, June 29, for their second public meeting at CBP’s Advanced Training Center in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. “I’m grateful to be able to convene this meeting and continue what I think is one of the most important things we can do, which is build relationships with the trade community to improve how we do enforcement, but perhaps even more importantly, facilitation,” said Magnus. The commissioner, a co-chair…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Information Technology’s Trusted Partnership Initiative program promotes teamwork across organizational lines, facilitating IT to operate at the speed of mission. Through regular engagement, Trusted Partner Initiative meetings increase partner-driven conversations and lead to more efficient and data-driven decision-making. This collaboration is crucial to meet the needs of a vast and wide-ranging mission and facilitate discussions on possible future requirements and provide delivery of scalable solutions. In 2019, then-Enterprise Services...

The Border 5/Migration 5 is a partnership between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. designed to enhance international cooperation and coordination on border security. U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Information and Technology Assistant Commissioner and Chief Information Officer Sonny Bhagowalia serves as the U.S. delegation head for the CBP B5M5 CIO Tech Forum, which is a subsection of the overall B5M5 engagement focused on technology related to border security and immigration. OIT produced the Technology Strategy FY 2020-FY 2024 document to guide the B5M5…