A Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (AMO) MQ-9 unmanned aircraft system crewed by AMO and Coast Guard personnel working with Joint Interagency Task Force-South and international partners on March 17 seized 2,646-pounds of cocaine and detained three people in the Eastern Pacific during counter-drug operations. The MQ-9 team detected a suspected go-fast drug vessel and notified partner national law enforcement teams and guided them to the target. CBP says that in fiscal year 2021 AMO UAS crews reported 72,836 detections of cross-border and maritime traffic suspected of illegal activity.
The Department of Homeland Security Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office
is formalizing a feedback process with state and local officials for the BioWatch bio-detection program. Gary Rasicot, acting assistant secretary for CWMD, tells BioWatch partners he wants to hear from them more frequently and routinely. BioWatch is managed by CWMD but state and local health authorities are responsible for responding to alerts.
The Department of Homeland Security says the first phase of its first bug bounty program was concluded “successfully,” with the results showing that more than 450 vetted cybersecurity researchers identified 122 vulnerabilities in select external department systems, 27 of which were determined to be critical. DHS paid out $125,600 to participants for identifying the verified vulnerabilities. The Hack DHS program was launched last December as a way to bolster cyber resilience using ethical hackers. In phase two of the program, vetted cybersecurity researchers and ethical hackers will participate in a live, in-person hacking event. In the third phase, DHS will identify lessons learned, which will also help inform future bug bounty programs.