ALERT Collaborates with CBP on Technology Demonstration at Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport
On Thursday, November 21, 2019, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport headed by Chief Victor Todorov, hosted an all-day Technology Demonstration organized and led by ALERT Industrial Liaison Officer, Ms. Emel Bulat. The meeting was well-attended, with six ALERT researchers and staff members, seven industry representatives, six senior DHS personnel, and 25 CBP officers participating.
To kick off the meeting, General Robert Newman, Executive Director for the Office of Mission and Capability Support at DHS S&T, gave welcoming remarks along with Dr. Laura Parker, Program Manager for DHS S&T, Mr. David Taylor, Portfolio Manager for DHS S&T and CBP Assistant Port Director Edward Morones. In preparation for the event, four of ALERT’s industry partners, including Pendar Technologies, Rapiscan Systems, Rigaku Analytical Equipment, and Smiths Detection, prepared live demonstrations of six instruments, including handheld Raman Spectroscopy units and bench-top or handheld Ion Mobility Spectrometry systems.
One week before the event, vendors were given a list of approximately 40 compounds, mostly from a Drug Enforcement Agency list of precursors, to add to their instruments’ lookup libraries for sample identification. Ten samples from the 1 to 4 compounds list were prepared for analysis and scanned. At the end of the meeting, six “live” shipments were scanned on the warehouse floor. A team of CBP/DHS S&T/ALERT evaluators are reviewing the results, which will be reported to the participating vendors by the end of December.
The enthusiasm with which the CBP Officers and vendors prepared for and participated in the Technology Demonstration made this event successful. We thank them for their partnership and teamwork.
