Interoperable radio communications between Customs and Border Protection and other federal agencies arrayed around the most active section of U.S. border in terms of human trafficking and drug smuggling were cut off for a half year period ending in April 2010, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The GAO, in a report dated Nov., 18 but released Dec. 8, says that CBP officials changed in November 2009 the secure radio encryption key used by Border Patrol agents in the Tucson, Ariz. CBP sector. That meant that federal agencies in the area--which covers most of Arizona--could no longer radio patrol agents unless the agents were using the old, common encryption key.

During the communications blackout, according to information in the report, federal land law enforcement officials on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (which directly touches the Mexican border) engaged in a high speed chase couldn't coordinate with nearby Border Patrol agents. In late 2009, another federal land law enforcement official on the Ironwood Forest National Monument (60 or so miles north of the Mexican border) radioed Border Patrol agents for help with a smuggler who failed to yield, but couldn't be certain whether CBP heard the message.

CBP and other federal agencies adopted a common encryption key following a 2008 memorandum of understanding signed by the departments of Homeland Security, Interior and Agriculture. CBP's November 2009 decision to change the key didn't disregard the MOU, Border Patrol headquarters officials told the GAO, because field agents could be trained to switch their radios back and forth between the new encryption key and the old one.

In April 2010, CBP relented, telling Tucson Sector agents to permanently switch back to the old encryption key for daily operation. But, the GAO says CBP allows use of the old key in that sector alone. As a result, radio compatibility problems "could persist in other Border Patrol sector," the report states.

Based on lessons learned, CBP established a working group to address future radio communications issue--a group that, as of June 2010, didn't include the Agriculture Department, "because of an oversight," the report states.

GAO auditors also detail in the report a lack of information sharing. CBP, under a 2006 MOU between DHS, DOI and USDA, should disseminate daily situation reports about the types and location of illegal activities along the border. But, the agency stopped providing those reports around late 2009 without consulting Interior or Agriculture officials, the report states.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol officials told the GAO they stopped doing so because the information sharing responsibility fell to a new Arizona-based multiagency law enforcement partnership called the Alliance to Combat Transnational Threats. But, Tucson Sector officials never coordinated with alliance officials to ensure that other federal agencies would continue to receive threat information.

In response to the report, DHS concurred with all GAO recommendations, including the ones for better coordination over threat information and radio upgrades. CBP also told the GAO that it will issue, by no later than Dec. 31, a memo to all Border Patrol sector and stations "emphasizing the importance of USDA and DOI partnerships."

For more:
- download the report, GAO-11-177 (.pdf)

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