Port and Border Warning System

Securing U.S. Borders, Protecting the American Public

The US Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) is the agency responsible for protecting U.S. borders, controlling all of America’s 7,500 miles of land borders and 95,000 miles of maritime border in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard. Homeland security is its priority mission. The Department of Homeland Security has designated the CBP as the executive agent for the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), which will utilize cutting edge technologies and procedures with the intent to fully control the U.S. borders within the next five years.

As the frontline, CBP is responsible for:

Protecting the American public against terrorists and instruments of terror
Ensuring that all persons and cargo entering the U.S. are legal and safe
Preventing cross-border smuggling of contraband such as weapons of mass destruction and controlled substances
Ensuring that travelers and immigrants have appropriate documentation
Preventing the illegal export of U.S. currency, stolen goods and sensitive technology.

More specifically, the CBP must contend with a “thinking adversary.” The threat they face comes from personnel infiltrating across the border area on foot or in (or hidden in) vehicles, watercraft and aircraft. These personnel generally know the terrain and the tactics of the CBP. They are also aware of the legal limitations placed upon the CBP by the US government. A good percentage of the CBP’s operating areas favor the infiltrators as well. Lastly they have the will and many have the means (financial or otherwise) to ensure that they are successful.

With limited means, how will CBP deter and respond to these infiltrators as well as the 1.7 million illegal immigrants that were apprehended as they tried to enter the U.S. in 2005?

Mass Notification Systems

Portable Alerting Systems

Giant Voice/Speaker Sirens

Pier-Side Alerting

Outdoor Alerting

Indoor Alerting

Call-based Emergency Notification System

MNS Codes and Standards

DHS Grants

Pier-side Alerting Cooper Notification’s Deterrence, Denial and Communication (DDC) systems are mass notification systems (MNS) that distribute voice and data messages to local areas and/or over the horizon. DDC systems are interoperable with regional C²and communications systems and provide a multitude of capabilities to CBP personnel for use in border security operations. Primarily, DDC systems can be utilized effectively in deterring and denying terrain to threats to border areas. Secondly, employment of DDC systems in remote border areas provides platforms on which sensors can be placed and operated concurrently. Currently, the CBP is limited in the ways and means that it can effectively deter and respond to incursions across the United States border. In conjunction with limited sensor assets, they must also deal with limited manpower and mobility in their quest to secure the border area. DDC systems can provide both a transitional and permanent solution to many of the challenges faced by the CBP today.

DDC systems add an efficient, effective, and powerful new capability to the border protection program. By adding an element of real-time, proactive deterrence and terrain denial, the number of illegal border crossing attempts can be expected to be reduced. The subsequent reduction of arrests, infrastructure demand, and criminal acts will reduce the need for interdiction forces and further reduce the costs associated with securing our borders.

For more information,

click here for the

WAVES overview

brochure.

For additional information on these grants, visit www.rkb.mipt.org.