GSA DEPUTY COMMISSIONERTESTIFIES ON HOW GOVERNMENT PRIORITIZES INVESTMENTS

FROM:  U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

Port of Entry Infrastructure: How Does the Federal Government Prioritize Investments?

Statement of the Honorable Michael Gelber

Deputy Commissioner, Public Building Service, General Services Administration

Before the Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security

July 16, 2014

Introduction

Good morning Chairwoman Miller, Ranking Member Jackson-Lee, and members of the Committee. My name is Michael Gelber, and I am the Deputy Commissioner of GSA’s Public Buildings Service.

GSA’s mission is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to government and the American people. As part of this mission, GSA maintains a close partnership with the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) to meet that agency’s space needs along our nation’s borders. CBP is our primary partner of the Federal inspection agencies stationed along our land borders.

I look forward to outlining the importance of Land Ports of Entry, our partnership with CBP, how the Federal government jointly prioritizes and executes port projects, and the challenges facing these investments.

The Criticality of Land Ports

GSA works closely with CBP to design, construct, maintain, and operate land ports of entry along more than 1,900 miles of border between the southern United States and Mexico and more than 5,500 miles of border between the northern United States and Canada. These ports are integral to the nation’s trade and security.

On a daily basis, about $2 billion in goods, 350,000 vehicles, 135,000 pedestrians, and 30,000 trucks cross the border at one of these 167 ports. Since 1990, the combined value of freight shipments between the U.S. and Canada and the U.S. and Mexico has increased 170 percent, growing an average of 8 percent annually. Additionally, approximately 23 million U.S. citizens cross the land borders into Mexico and Canada a total of nearly 130 million times each year. These statistics highlight the vital role of safe, secure, and modern land ports along our borders.

GSA owns 102 land ports of entry along the northern and southern borders, leases or partially owns 2. GSA’s land port of entry inventory amounts to more than 5.5 million square feet of space. Additionally, CBP owns and operates 40 primarily smaller locations, mostly in remote, rural areas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service mutually own 1 land port of entry, and the National Park Service owns 2 ports.

GSA’s Ongoing Partnership with CBP in Support of Land Port Modernization

Given the crucial importance of these ports, GSA, in collaboration with CBP, has prioritized investment to modernize and upgrade these ports.

To ensure these investments address CBP’s highest priority needs, GSA relies on the priorities established in CBP’s 5-year plan for portfolio upgrades. CBP employs a multi-step process to develop its 5-year plan. This list of priorities can include expansion and modernization of existing land ports along with new port construction.

As CBP has outlined, its process includes gathering data through Strategic Resource Assessment, scoring identified needs at each port, conducting a sensitivity analysis on the initial ranking of needs, assessing project feasibility and risk, and establishing an executable capital investment plan.

In the current 5-Year LPOE Construction Plan, CBP has identified six construction projects at land ports of entry totaling more than $830 million in facility construction along the northern and southern borders.

During the past 15 years, GSA has invested more than $1.5 billion to deliver more than 20 new land ports along our northern and southern borders. In the past four fiscal years, the Administration has requested more than $740 million in support of modernization of land ports to address CBP’s most pressing needs. Unfortunately, Congress has provided approximately $295 million of these requests, all of which came in Fiscal Year 2014. This has stalled critical modernizations and delayed land port upgrades that would secure our borders and improve the efficient flow of commerce with our partners in Canada and Mexico.

When a critical modernization project receives needed funding and, if required, the State Department issues a Presidential Permit, GSA and CBP work in close partnership with key Federal, state, and local stakeholders to construct and operate GSA-owned land port inspection facilities.

GSA and CBP consult with stakeholder agencies at the onset of project planning and continue this relationship throughout project development and execution. If a project involves a new border crossing and or a substantial modification of an existing crossing, GSA works closely with the State Department, which must determine whether the project is in the national interest justifying issuance of a Presidential Permit.  GSA also works closely with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)  and the transportation departments from the 15 Border States when planning border infrastructure projects. GSA and CBP are partners in the Border Master Planning process on the U.S. - Mexico border.  In addition to coordination with State and local agencies, the border master planning process also includes Mexican (federal, state and local) governments as well as other federal agencies including State Department, DOT (FHWA, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, etc.) and sometimes private partners as well (railroads for example).  The connectivity of highways with the land ports of entry is critical to the safe and efficient flow of traffic and trade across our borders. In addition to working closely with domestic stakeholders, GSA also works closely with the Department of State to coordinate with federal and local governments in Mexico and Canada.

Alternative Resources in Support of Land Port Projects

Especially given the consistent cuts to the port program that I have previously mentioned, we have seen intense interest in finding alternatives to Federal appropriations to deliver high-priority port projects. Importantly, when assessing any options, GSA and CBP must look comprehensively at the full life-cycle cost of a port. This includes the land where construction takes place, the infrastructure that supports the mission, the funds to staff the facility, and the sophisticated technology and equipment CBP uses to ensure the nation’s security. If an alternative resource exists for one or more of these items, GSA and CBP likely still must find funding to address the full range of costs.

GSA has had some success in using alternative delivery methods to support land port projects in the past. For instance, GSA has long-standing authority to accept unconditional gifts of real and personal property from other public or private entities. GSA has used this authority multiple times when state or local governments, and in a few cases private sector entities, have elected to donate land or other real property to GSA in order to realize the economic benefit that comes with a new or expanded land port of entry.

For instance, at the San Luis II port in Arizona, GSA received a donation of land and utilities in support of the site to help make progress on the modernization. In Donna, Texas, the City donated money for design, land for the site of the port, and 180,000 cubic yards of fill dirt for construction. In Columbus, New Mexico, a private landowner donated approximately 10.2 acres of land to GSA near the port site for construction and a bypass road for commercial trucks.

Additionally, Congress has sought to support these efforts by providing for additional donation and reimbursable service authorities. In Fiscal Year 2013, CBP received limited authority to enter into reimbursable service agreements with private sector entities for the provision of certain inspectional services.[1] Congress expanded CBP’s ability to execute these reimbursable service agreements in addition to broadening GSA’s and CBP’s donation acceptance authority in Fiscal Year 2014.[2]

These authorities present valuable opportunities to support port development. However, these resources have generally been utilized to make modest improvements to existing ports or defray the cost of a major modernization, not to deliver a full-scale upgrade of the type the Administration has requested consistently in the President’s budget.

We look forward to working with Congress to further explore these and other flexible authorities and to continue to highlight the importance of these investments.

Conclusion

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about our ongoing partnership with CBP and other federal agencies to address the nation’s security and economic needs along our borders. I welcome the opportunity to discuss GSA’s commitment to strategic investment in the nation’s land ports. I am happy to answer any questions you may have

HOMELAND SECURITY'S NEXT GENERATION OF X-RAY SCANNING TECHNOLOGY

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent conducts cargo inspections through the use of Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) equipment as part of the overall protection of Super Bowl XLVI. Photo Credit: Brian Bell-U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Compact, Multi-Energy X-Ray Generator

Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) imaging systems–or industrial x-ray imaging systems—are used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and port operators to inspect air, land, and sea cargo for contraband, including weapons, narcotics, explosives and potentially nuclear and radiological threat materials. Recent technological advances, funded through the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office’s Small Business Innovative Research program, have led to the next generation of technology used to produce the x-rays in these NII systems, facilitating faster scanning and more precise material discrimination for mobile operations.

The Technology

The x-ray generator features a source of high-energy electrons that are used to produce a spectrum of x-rays. This innovative and revolutionary x-ray source, called a linear accelerator, is more compact and has more capabilities than current x-ray sources, which include:
The capability to produce high pulse rates up to 1000 pulses of x-rays per second
The capability to produce multiple x-ray energies ranging from 2 MeV to 9 MeV
The capability to change the intensity of the x-rays from pulse-to-pulse
The high pulse rate enables faster and more efficient scanning of cargo, while the multiple x-ray energies facilitate material discrimination and detection of contraband. Depending on the density of the cargo being scanned, the intensity variation capability enables systems to easily increase or decrease the amount of x-rays being generated. Additionally, the compact size facilitates mobile applications with a reduced operational footprint.

Current Status

This compact, multi-energy x-ray generator has caught the attention of commercial vendors of NII systems and will soon become integrated in their systems. One vendor is already using a variant of this generator in its latest generation scanning solution. This integrated system provides multi-energy imaging performance in a bus-mounted platform.

INTERNATIONAL CRACKDOWN ON DRUG TRAFFICKERS

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Colombian naval forces arrest alleged drug traffickers May 6, 2012 and net 5,000 pounds of cocaine. U.S. Navy photo.  


Interagency Task Force Mounts Aggressive Counter-drug Effort
By Donna Miles
KEY WEST, Fla. , May 30, 2012 - The interdiction of a drug-trafficking speedboat carrying almost 5,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of more than $363 million played out like a motion-picture thriller.
The action followed a carefully choreographed script, from the moment U.S. Customs and Border Protection pilots spotted the speedboat El Kike on May 6 from their P-3 Orion aircraft. They passed the mission to USS Nicholas, a guided-missile frigate patrolling the region with an embarked U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement team. Nicholas dispatched a helicopter to track the speedboat, while maneuvering into position to intercept.
El Kike's crew, recognizing their plight, jettisoned half of their cargo, then adjusted course and hit the throttle toward Colombia.

Nicholas followed, while calling on the USS McClusky, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, and the Colombian navy ship ARC 20 de Julio operating nearby for assistance. McClusky launched a helicopter to maintain surveillance, diverting El Kike it into Colombian territorial waters, where the Colombian navy intercepted it.

"With the help of some friends, we accomplished what we set out to do: disrupt the drug trade," said Navy Cdr. Stephen Fuller, Nicholas' commanding officer. "Interdictions are challenging, but with the help of McClusky, [U.S.] Customs and the Colombian navy, we executed a successful operation."

It was latest in a recent string of operational successes for the Joint Interagency Task Force South and its regional partners since they kicked off an aggressive counterdrug effort earlier this year.

In a small, largely symbolic gesture of pride, the JIATF staff hoisted their "cocaine flag" outside their headquarters here to mark the second of many successful interdictions this month. Fluttering in the tropical breezes, it offered a tangible expression to members of what Coast Guard Rear Adm. Charles D. Michel, the task force commander, calls "the most effective and efficient counter-illicit trafficking, detection, monitoring and law enforcement organization the planet has ever known."

Last year alone, JIATF South facilitated the interdiction of 117 metric tons of cocaine, Michel reported. That's 58 percent of all cocaine seized in the East Pacific and Caribbean transit zones last year. It's almost six times the net of all U.S. law enforcement border apprehensions -- the efforts of federal, state, city and tribal efforts combined, he noted. Collectively, they netted 20 metric tons.

"We are the most efficient cocaine removal organization that I am aware of, by far," Michel said. "The taxpayer gets a huge bang for the buck down here, through the interdiction of cocaine, the protection of our neighbors, the stability of the hemisphere and the protection of our citizens on the street."

Sitting with American Forces Press Service, Michel and his vice director, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent John Murphy Jr., said they're convinced these seizures still amount to just 25 percent of the cocaine trade trafficking through the region.

To put a greater squeeze on the traffickers, JIATF South launched Operation Martillo, which translated, means "Operation Hammer," in January. The mission specifically targets illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American Isthmus -- the route for more than 90 percent of the cocaine destined for the United States.

"Operation Martillo is designed to take pressure off these Central American countries," Michel said. Particularly in the northern triangle area of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, "thousands of their citizens are being murdered," he said. "Government officials are being corrupted. Institutions are being rotted from the inside out. Portions of their territory are no longer effectively under their control."

"That is instability," the admiral said, "and that is a national security threat, right in our backyard."

Operation Martillo represents "a different way of doing business in employing this entire enterprise to achieve a strategic effect," Michel said. "And that strategic effect is to protect Central America from these [drug] flows currently causing all the murder, death, destruction, corruption."

While all trafficking causes concern, Michel called the lucrative cocaine trade the No. 1 threat. "Cocaine is king down here," he said, with transnational criminal organizations running an $88 billion-a-year global market.

The incredibly high profit margin -- an estimated $84 billion -- funds everything these groups need to support their efforts: fleets of aircraft, go-fast boats, semi-submersible vessels and increasingly, fully submersible vessels, he said. It also allows them to operate with near impunity in many parts of the region as they buy off government officials and intimidate or kill anyone who stands in their way.

"There are tens of thousands of Central Americans being murdered each year because of drug trafficking," Michel said. "It is a shocking statistic to me. And it's also shocking because it doesn't get the attention that it should."

Michel contrasted the huge resources available to drug traffickers with those of regional governments that seek to counter them. "Those guys are just outgunned and outspent by the traffickers," Michel said. "These are organizations of such magnitude that they can actually challenge nation states."

That makes these organizations and their drug trafficking operations a major national security threat, as reflected in President Barack Obama's national strategy released in July, Michel said. "The No. 1 cause of regional instability throughout Central America, which is our closest neighbor, is the cocaine trade," he said. "There is no question about it."

As the stakes get ever-higher, Michel cited a clear realization that no single nation or agency can stand up to this scourge alone. Partner nations share that recognition, and have participated in 83 percent of all illicit trafficking disruptions since Operational Martillo kicked off in January, he noted.

JIATF South has embraced this inclusive approach since it initially stood up 23 years ago as Joint Task Force 4 as a new model of intergovernmental cooperation.

"This was not an overnight success," Michel conceded. Members of different governmental organizations had to learn to overcome their different backgrounds, ways of doing business and their historical practices of competing for resources, authorities and responsibilities.

"The No. 1 ingredient that you need in order to make this work is trust, and that only gets built up with time," he said. "I wish there was an easy way that you could just flash a magic wand and make people trust each other. But coworkers have to learn to work together, to trust that others are going to protect their information, are going to protect their equities and that others are actually going to act as team players."
More than two decades later, Michel praised JIATF South's evolution into what has been described as "the gold standard for interagency and international cooperation."

"In all my travels and experiences working through the government in different forms, this is the best working model of the whole-of-government solution to a problem set I have ever seen that produces consistent results," he said.

The staff includes representatives of all five armed services, including the National Guard and reserves, members of various federal law enforcement entities, the intelligence community and their counterparts from 13 partner nations.

This brings a wealth of experience to the effort, Michel said. "We can match any capability, competency, authority or partnership that is available in the national inventory to deal with this particular problem set," he said. "Plus, by leveraging contributions from the international partners, we can make this all work together in this joint international interagency task force that we have put together."

As JIATF South evolved, Michel said its staff has become "much smarter" about the way it operates. "We achieve results that are magnitudes better than we used to when this first started, with just a fraction of the assets in place," he said. "And that's because of the way we leverage all those international and interagency partnerships and capabilities that we bring to the table. That is the power of the whole-of-government approach."

These capabilities are critical, he said, as traffickers employ increasingly sophisticated methods. Of particular concern is their use of low-profile semi-submersible vessels that are extremely difficult to detect and more recently, submersibles that operate completely underwater.

JIATF South and its partners have confiscated about 30 semi-submersibles so far, with one now positioned on the lawn outside its headquarters building here and another at the U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Miami.

Almost all were discovered operating in the Eastern Pacific. "But this summer, for the first time, we saw them on the Caribbean side, which is a disturbing trend," Michel said. "That means they have exported that technology to another building area and other people are operating this type of craft."

Michel reported signs that more evasive submersible vessels have come into favor. The only ones JIATF South has confiscated to date have been discovered on land, but Michel said he's sure they're operating underwater.

Looking ahead, Michel called traffickers' deep pockets and adaptability one of JIATF South's biggest challenges. "Their conveyances have gotten better, their security procedures are better, they dig themselves more and more into governments, they corrupt more and more and they have become more and more violent in their tactics," he said. "Our adversary is incredibly nimble."

But almost as daunting, Michel said, are budget realities that give these adversaries a leg up.

"My No. 2 challenge is the resource challenge, particularly for ships and aircraft," he said. Michel cited cases when JIATF South had "high-confidence that drugs are moving," but no law-enforcement assets available to interdict them.

"I can be as smart as I possibly can," he said, "but if there is no ship or an aircraft to come up with an end game, the traffickers get a free pass."

Michel said he'll continue to press for more assets dedicated to the JIATF South mission. "If we had more assets, we would be able to make an even bigger dent into this effort," he said. "You give me assets, and I'll show you results."

Meanwhile, JIATF South will continue to make the most of every capability made available to it.

"We have limited assets, but because of what we have built down here, we can use those limited assets very smartly and achieve results in a magnitude of what we used to get in the past, for just a fraction of the investment," he said.
(Navy Lt. Matt Phillips from USS Nicholas contributed to this story.)