AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018 - 30

GUEST EDITORIAL

A secure future

BY TODD OWEN
U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Modernizing to serve GA
MISSION ONE AT U.S. CUSTOMS and Border Protection
(CBP) is to be the guardian of our nation's borders to
ensure our safety, security, and prosperity, while effectively and efficiently facilitating lawful trade and travel.
This includes processing roughly 1 million people per
day at our land, air, and sea ports-some in urban areas,
others in the most remote, rural regions of our vast
country. General aviation touches on a number of these
issues, both positively affecting our economy and providing for travelers, many taking off and landing from
airstrips far from commercial traffic.
At CBP, we are listening to the operators, owners,
and passengers of general aviation, and we are expanding and modernizing our processes in how we service
the unique needs of general aviation.

This is truly an exciting time as CBP continues to
implement new technologies that are changing the
way we facilitate arriving travelers.

TODD OWEN is U.S.
Customs and
Border Protection
executive assistant
commissioner for
field operations.

30 | AOPA PILOT April 2018

In August 2017, CBP launched a modernized, mobile
Outlying Area Reporting Station (OARS) technology
pilot program in the Northwest Angle of Minnesota to
enable travelers to more easily report arrivals to CBP
using mobile devices while also expanding the availability of reporting locations. The launch of this technology
provides CBP officers with an automated inspection
capability to process travelers in remote geographical
areas where there is typically no CBP close by.
The mobile solution allows travelers to report
their U.S. entry from personal smartphones, CBP
iPads at partner resorts and marinas, and new weatherized booths with iPads at existing OARS locations.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive for the
pilot in the Northwest Angle. It is expected that once
deployed in Crane Lake and Ely, feedback will also
be positive. Of particular interest for CBP is expanding remote reporting capabilities to Crane Lake,
Minnesota, a popular landing location for seaplanes
arriving from Canada. CBP is targeting an early spring
rollout of the mobile remote reporting app in Crane
Lake, followed by locations in the Buffalo, New York,
and Boston field offices.
At CBP, we are also using new technologies to
expand on our biometric entry/exit system. In 2016,

the first exit biometric facial recognition project kicked
off in Atlanta; it leveraged the Advanced Passenger
Information System (APIS) to build a gallery of photos from existing government entities (passports, visas,
previous photos taken at entry into the United States)
for travelers on a single outbound flight and compared
live photographs to identify travelers as they boarded
the airplane. The experiment was a success and has
been expanded to several more airports.
We are now working on designing a new biometric
entry facial recognition process that will eliminate the
need for CBP officers to physically swipe and handle
travel documents. Instead, travelers will approach the
CBP officer, and a photograph will be taken and compared to the gallery of photos based on APIS.
With the expansion of these technologies, CBP is
developing mobile applications that will enable CBP
officers to conduct biometric entry/exit inspections
using mobile technology instead of requiring fixed
technical infrastructure. These mobile applications
will be especially beneficial in processing general aviation, recreational boating, special events, and other
such operations.
This is truly an exciting time as CBP continues to
implement new technologies that are changing the way
we facilitate arriving travelers, making it more efficient,
and allowing us to touch the remote areas of our nation
without physically being on site.
CBP is also committed to the timely processing of
pilots and travelers arriving aboard private aircraft.
When pilots of private aircraft have been granted landing rights or permission to arrive, CBP personnel will
be available upon the scheduled arrival time-barring
exigent circumstances-and will work to expedite the
processing of private aircraft, avoiding long wait times
whenever possible. As with all other aspects of general aviation processing, CBP personnel will perform
their duties in a manner that ensures and facilitates the
timely processing of legitimate trade and travel.
Thank you for working with CBP and maintaining an open dialogue. We know that advancing border
security and travel facilitation cooperation across
federal, state, and local government-as well as with
private security-is paramount. I am confident that,
together, we will continue to progress in making
international travel more secure and efficient for the
members of AOPA.
AOPA

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018