Despite a $1.4 billion IT budget, the agency responsible for screening people and cargo entering the U.S. from abroad suffers from system downtime that could lead to increased security risks, according to an internal oversight report.
The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found problems related to excessive downtime that affected passport control operations. Between June 2016 and March 2017, Customs and Border Protection reported 99 outages and service degradations resulting in 277.3 hours of downtime or interrupted service, according to an OIG audit report released Sept. 28. In particular, issues with passport control systems at the Miami International Airport “hindered” screening of 91,850 passengers across 698 international flights.
