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Technology to Enhance Border Security and International Trade

A Report Prepared by the North American Center for Transborder Studies at ASU for Motorola Solutions, Inc.
February 2011

"The bottom line is that for the border, we need the right mixture of personnel, technology, and operational procedures--which has to include cooperation with local law enforcement both here and in Mexico."

-Representative Henry Cuellar, Former Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism

In March 2010, Motorola Solutions, Inc. commissioned a study by the North American Center for Transborder Studies at ASU on how the use of technology can enhance and augment U.S. border  security operations, with a special emphasis along the U.S.-Mexico border.  The objective of the project was to measure the effectiveness of the various security technologies at the border and to find the most crucial technologies needed for effective border security. 

Current U.S. border security operations can be divided into three components:

1. Staffing
2. Infrastructure (such as fencing and lights)
3. Technologies

The primary finding of this study is that to optimize the current architecture of border security operations in North America, communications should be thought of as critical technology, or the keystone of the border security operations structure. This keystone should be added to "stabilize" and connect the entire operational structure.  If communications technologies are effectively implemented, these technologies can link the three areas in crucial ways by accomplishing the following:

• Relay information from a variety of technologies;
• Facilitate the effective command and control of security personnel;
• Take full advantage of the delaying and deterring effect of infrastructure; and
• Share basic information and intelligence with state and local law enforcement as well as counterparts in Mexican law enforcement.
• Enhance the common operating picture (COP) in which all border agents are operating.
• Reduce the environmental footprint of both security infrastructure and technology along the border.
• Facilitate and in some cases expedite the detection and identification of weapons.
• Enhance trade, jobs, and economic development on both sides of the border.

The technologies that fit into the military acronym Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) category increase officer safety and improve the ability to react, recover, and respond to threats and emergencies.

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