Border Security

The DHS Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting in Washington, DC, on September 28 to discuss accountability of the department’s compliance assessment process, privacy training at DHS and implementation of DHS privacy policy by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The meeting will be held in the Carl; Hayden Room of the U.S. Government Printing Office at 732 North Capitol Street, NW, 8^th floor, Washington, DC 20401.

The session is scheduled to run from 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM, but may end early if the committee’s business is completed.

The Homeland Security Advisory Council, which was established to provide independent advice to the Secretary of DHS, will hold a one-hour public teleconference call on September 16 during which it will review a report from its Southwest Border Task Force.

The conference call will take place between 4:30 PM and 5:30 PM (EDT) on Sept. 16.

Comments from the public can be made by visiting www.regulations.gov and citing docket number DHS-2010-0074.

After a successful debut earlier this year, National Geographic will premiere a second season of the TV show Border Wars at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time this Sunday, August 29.

The series, which features the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, will then move to its regular time slot on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Sept. 1, where it will run through January 2011.

What do the little-known municipalities of Piegan, Sweetgrass, Sunburst and Havre have in common?

Well, beside the fact that all four are located in the state of Montana, they all had the honor of being visited on August 25 by a distinguished group of federal government officials from Washington, DC, most prominent of whom were DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin.

The Situation Room in CBP headquarters used by Alan Bersin, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is undergoing a total renovation project, which will include the installation of a new 5-foot by 15-foot “Video Wall,” which will use state-of-the-art Christie MicroTiles.

“The Video Wall is one portion of the total situation room renovation project,” explains CBP in a solicitation it released on August 24. “There is other work being performed by other contractors which may take place simultaneously.”

Advantor Systems Corp., of Orlando, FL, which has provided routine maintenance and repair services for CBP’s security systems installed throughout Puerto Rico since fiscal year 2002, will receive a new sole source contract from CBP to continue these support efforts.

CBP issued a “sole source justification” document on August 24, indicating that Advantor has provided “excellent service and warranty validation” since the original security equipment was installed about eight years ago.