Virtual Borders and Homeland Security

Rey Koslowski

The U.S. National Homeland Security Strategy advocates “pushing borders out” beyond U.S. territorial boundaries by stationing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in seaports and airports abroad and by requiring electronic submission of passenger and cargo manifests in advance of departure to the United States. As expanding e-government and private sector submission of electronic data enables the preclearance of passengers and cargo, thereby removing the necessity of inspection at territorial boundaries, borders may increasingly exist de facto in cyberspace, i.e., become “virtual borders.”

The United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program is an integral part of the Bush administration’s efforts to create a “smart border,” which “must integrate actions abroad to screen goods and people prior to their arrival in sovereign U.S. territory, … allow extensive prescreening of low-risk traffic, thereby allowing limited assets to focus attention on high-risk traffic, [and] use … advanced technology to track the movement of cargo and the entry and exit of individuals.” In a dramatic illustration of the administration’s agenda, Richard Falkenrath, former deputy assistant to the president and deputy Homeland Security advisor, drew an analogy likening the revolution in military affairs of the 1990s to the “revolution in border security” that is taking place now.

The US-VISIT program is developing an automated entry-exit tracking system that collects biographical and biometric data from foreign nationals at U.S. consulates abroad as well as when they enter the United States. Watch list checks are run on the data collected in order to help inspectors at ports of entry keep out potential terrorists and criminals as well as determine whether those who enter the United States leave in accordance with the terms of their visas. The entry-exit tracking system at the core of US-VISIT was initially envisioned to enforce immigration law, but was then recast into a counterterrorism role after September 11, 2001.

The Department of Homeland Security contracted with a team of companies in May 2004 to realize its vision for US-VISIT “t o deploy end-to-end management of processes and data on foreign nationals to the United States covering their interactions with U.S. officials before they enter, when they enter, while they are in the United States, and when they exit. This comprehensive view of border management will lead to the creation of a ‘virtual border.’” Congress mandated the deployment of an automated entry-exit system at all ports of entry by the end of 2005. However, this more comprehensive vision for US-VISIT is expected to be developed and deployed over the coming five to ten years.

In my presentation, I will evaluate US-VISIT within the broader contexts of international national and homeland security. I will begin with a discussion of migration and security in general and a review of post-9/11 border control. I will then give and overview of US-VISIT then examine the challenges of implementation. Finally, I will compare US-VISIT and the screening of people with the screening of cargo.