DHS-CBP-PIA-022 Border Surveillance Systems (BSS)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deploys Border Surveillance Systems (BSS) to provide comprehensive situational awareness along the United States border for border security and national security purposes, and to assist in detecting, identifying, apprehending, and removing individuals illegally entering the United States at and between ports of entry or otherwise violating U.S. law. BSS includes commercially available technologies such as fixed and mobile video surveillance systems, range finders, thermal imaging devices, radar, ground sensors, and radio frequency sensors. CBP is updating this PIA to assess the privacy risks associated with new border surveillance technologies not addressed in the original PIA, including maritime and ground radar, enhanced video capabilities, seismic and imaging sensors, and the use of commercially available location data to identify activity in designated areas within near the United States border.

September 2018

Associated SORN(s)

• DHS/CBP-011 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (TECS), December 19, 2008 73 FR 77778
• DHS/CBP-023 Border Patrol Enforcement Records (BPER), October 20, 2016, 81 FR 72601