President Joe Biden last Friday sent Congress a $106 billion supplemental funding request largely in support of Ukraine and Israel but that also includes $849 million for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to acquire and field non-intrusive inspection (NII) scanners on the southwest border with an aim to detect and counter illegal drugs and human trafficking.
If Congress agrees to the request, the NII funds would likely be the most CBP has ever received, topping the $564 million Capitol Hill provided the agency in fiscal year 2019. That funding, plus subsequent NII-related appropriations, is still being spent on portal systems that scan passenger and commercial vehicles as they enter the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young on Friday told reporters that the new NII request would result in the purchase of more than 100 “cutting-edge detection machines to help detect fentanyl at our southwest border ports of entry.”
Earlier this year, the Biden administration in its annual budget request asked Congress to provide $305.4 million for NII system with a focus on the detection of fentanyl hidden inside vehicles and cargo crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. House appropriators approved the request and Senate appropriators appear to have at least matched it and potentially to have added to it. However, all FY ’24 appropriations bills are dead in the water until House Republicans agree on a speaker to lead them and then the respective House and Senate appropriations committees iron out their differences in conference.
The same is true with the supplemental request, which must wait for House Republicans to sort out their leadership issues before bills can be voted on the floor of the chamber.
CBP currently has two contracts for NII portals. Astrophysics, Leidos [LDOS], and OSI Systems’ [OSIS] Rapiscan Systems Division have orders to supply the agency with drive-through low-energy portals to screen passenger vehicles. Viken Detection supplies its backscatter-based under vehicle detection system, which is critical for scanning the bottom compartments of a vehicle for drugs and contraband, as part of Leidos’ solution.
Leidos, Rapiscan, and Smiths Detection are supplying the agency with multi-energy portals that scan cargo trucks without requiring the occupants in the cab to exit the vehicles. The MEP systems scan the cab at a lower, but safe, energy level and the cargo container at a higher energy level.
The MEP and LEP systems are being installed at pre-primary inspection lanes at land ports of entry. Some screening is also done of vehicles leaving the U.S.
Congress has set a goal of achieving 100 percent scanning of passenger and commercial vehicles entering the U.S.
The Congressional Budget Office in August release a cost estimate saying CBP would need $982 million between 2024 and 2028 to be able to use NII systems to inspect 40 percent of passenger vehicles and 90 percent of commercial traffic entering the U.S. Those costs would be split between $467 million to make capital improvements before the systems could be installed and $434 million to acquire and maintain the scanners.
CBP also acquires handheld NII systems to assist with screening vehicles for illegal contents.
The supplemental request also seeks $13.8 million for the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate for research and development related to countering-fentanyl.
The DHS Management Directorate’s Operations and Support account is seeking $61 million in the supplemental in support of the department’s biometric technology systems to include security patches to update existing systems. The funding would also go toward continued biometric data services for interagency partners in part to support immigration laws.