Ten-Year Counterdrug Technology Plan and Development
Roadmap
Non-Intrusive Inspection Technologies
Scope: This section addresses the technology development roadmap for
Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII). Applications of NII technologies focus on the third stage
of supply reduction (transit) shown in the figure above. The U.S. Customs Service uses
non-intrusive inspection technologies to inspect people, conveyances, cargo and mail
entering the United States through air, sea, and land ports of entry (POE). Inspections
include targets bound for the U.S. in transit or arrival zones. Other agencies, including
the U.S. Coast Guard, INS, DEA, and DoD, also use NII technologies in locations outside of
U.S. ports both within and beyond the U.S. borders. NII systems are also used to identify
items such as currency and weapons that are being shipped out of the United States. NII
supports Goal 4 of the National Drug Control Strategy:
Goal 4: Shield America's air, land, and sea borders from the drug threat.
The envisioned NII system will lead, within the next five years, to a
"family" of NII systems that would satisfy the National goals for achieving the
levels of inspection necessary to deter drug traffickers from using ports of entry. The
National goal can be met by employing any or all levels of NII from intelligence-based
automated targeting systems to high energy x-ray inspections to physical off-load and
examination. (See Appendix A for specific agency comments)
Background: In 1996, the U.S. Customs Service stated that
their current workload at United States ports-of-entry was comprised of approximately 437
million people and pedestrians, 10 million cargo containers and trucks, 117 million
private vehicles, and 1 million aircraft and marine vessels [4]. Only advanced NII
technology holds the promise for providing the means to rapidly, automatically and
non-intrusively inspect cargo and conveyances for hidden drugs. Figure 7 shows statistics
on commercial truck and rail car movement across the Southwest border of the United States
[3]. This rate of traffic highlights the enormity of the problems associated with
inspecting people, conveyances, and cargo for illicit drugs and other contraband at United
States ports-of-entry. In addition, the Coast Guard boards over 50 thousand vessels
annually. Therefore, the development and deployment of systems for conducting accurate and
timely non-intrusive inspections represent an extremely important operational capability.
Non-intrusive inspection system configurations include technology available today for
intelligent screening, technology assisted inspections, and physical examination steps of
the inspection process. In addition, Customs Service inspectors and Coast Guard boarding
officers use a variety of hand held devices and canines to assist in the inspection
process. The types of NII system elements in use today are listed in Table 2 according to
the inspection step in which they are most frequently employed, except for dogs, which are
used in every step of the inspection process.
Figure 7: Commercial Vehicle Arrivals and Examinations from Mexico,
1994–96 [3]
Table 2. Types of Inspection Elements Currently in Use
Operational Requirements: The operational
requirements for NII applications address the tasks of inspecting people, conveyances, and
cargo enroute, entering or leaving the United States. Systems which meet these
requirements can be identified as: (1) Targeting Systems, (2) X-ray Systems, (3)
Physics-based Systems, (4) Chemical/Biological Systems, and (5) Hand-Held Devices [4].
These systems are used for inspection and also to screen out low-risk entries thereby
focusing inspection resources on a target-rich set of entries. Figure 8 provides a
representative list of key systems and supporting technologies that offer the potential
for significant improvement of operational capabilities in detecting illicit substances
transported into the United States. Not shown in this figure are drug destruction
facilities needed to dispose of seized narcotics.
The chart in Figure 8 shows the R&D, prototype and installation plans for advanced
non-intrusive inspection technology systems over the next five years. The primary purpose
of the chart is to show a plan of action which builds upon the current inventory of
equipment to develop an advanced NII capability to be fielded within the next five years.
While personnel requirements are specifically not addressed in this plan, advanced
technology systems carry with them the inherent need for some number of additional
government and contractor personnel to install, operate and maintain the equipment.
Figure 8: Harnessing Technology for Non-Intrusive Inspection
Operational Capability
The largest additional improvements in NII technology address the ability to conduct
inspections of the large number of trucks, sea containers, and rail cars entering the
country each year, along with their associated cargo. Automated targeting systems to
identify suspicious shipments, X-ray and other inspection systems, and new supporting
infrastructure will have a large impact on improving the quality, intensity and
flexibility of inspections of conveyances and cargo.
Technology Development Roadmap: A development roadmap for
Non-Intrusive Inspection is given in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Technology Development Roadmap
Non-Intusive Inspection
