Border security

Snapshot: New training aims to improve operational security at U.S. border

Drug smugglers, human traffickers, illegal immigrants, and even potential terrorists crossing the United States border do their best to, literally, cover their tracks. It is the responsibility of the United States Border Patrol (USBP) to pursue and apprehend these individuals. Without proper training, tracking people who do not want to be found is a nearly impossible task, and it can be extremely difficult even with training.

While the USBP does perform standardized tracking training, proficiency varies based on the individual.   USBP asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) First Responders Group (FRG) to develop training to assist in increasing tracking abilities. Tracking, or “sign cutting,” is identifying telltale indicators of movement through the southern border’s desert or northern border’s wooded areas.