Borders and Maritime Security

The Borders and Maritime Security Division's (BMD) mission is to enhance U.S. air, land and maritime border security while maximizing the flow of legitimate trade and travel. BMD aims to achieve its mission by transitioning scientific and technical knowledge and solutions to operational use. The strategy involves three distinct activities:

Understanding the technical dimensions of homeland security challenges
Working collaboratively across the Homeland Security Enterprise
Applying rigorous process and methodology

Objectives

Provide technical solutions for DHS components to stop dangerous people and things from entering the country.
Enable the protection of the public, the environment and U.S. economic and security interests.

Borders consist of all air, land and maritime boundaries, including U.S. ports of entry, vast stretches of remote terrain and inland waterways. BMD works closely with its operational partners to understand what technologies they need to achieve their missions and to find technical solutions to fill gaps in existing capabilities.

Leadership

Anh N. Duong is the director for BMD.

Organization

BMD consists of scientific and technical professionals responsible for funding, directing and managing the research, development, prototyping, test and evaluation of technical solutions for border, maritime and port of entry security.

BMD Focus Areas

Port of Entry Security

This program develops technologies to enhance security while expediting the flow of legitimate trade and travel. The program will work to reduce the risk of terrorists and transnational criminal organizations from exploiting cargo and conveyances for illegal smuggling of people and contraband. The program will also take a cost effective approach to implementing technologies to ensure the security and expediency of travelers entering and exiting the U.S.

Land Border Security

This program develops and transitions technical capabilities that strengthen U.S. land border security by safeguarding lawful trade and travel and disrupting and dismantling transnational criminal and terrorist organizations.

Maritime Border Security

This program develops and transitions technical capabilities that enhance U.S. maritime border security by safeguarding lawful trade and travel and helps to prevent illegal use of the maritime environment to transport illicit goods or people.

Apex Air Entry/Exit Re-Engineering (AEER)

The Apex Air Entry/Exit Re-Engineering (AEER) program is a multi-year effort within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that will inform the transformation of the international arrivals process and the implementation of a biometric capability to verify the departure of foreign nationals leaving from U.S. air ports of entry. Through the Apex AEER program, DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are collaborating to transform CBP operations by leveraging commercially available technologies, re-engineering current processes, and introducing new operational capabilities.

Apex Border Situational Awareness (BSA)

The Apex Border Situational Awareness (BSA) project will enable the Homeland Security Enterprise to achieve increased border situational awareness leading to increased border incursion detection, interdictions, and deterrence. Specifically, the increased situational awareness will result in:

Improved measurement of border illegal activity to understand current state and impacts from addition of resources or other actions taken to improve security.
Improved assessment of risks by identifying current threats along with emerging patterns and trends.
Improved alignment of resources to risk for current and future operations on both a tactical and strategic level.

BMD Customers

BMD’s primary customers—its end users—are the operational components within DHS, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as the nation’s first responders. BMD’s partners and performers include academia, national laboratories, private industry and other members of the Homeland Security Enterprise.

BMD Partners

BMD directly supports emergency responders; federal, state, local, tribal, and international as well as critical infrastructure owners and operators. Private sector, including airlines and airports, air industry associations, foreign governments, industry solution providers, and other key stake-holders.