From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Subterranean, Aerial, and Maritime Border Smuggling Description: Transnational criminal organizations are smuggling drugs and humans across the U.S. border using things like cross-border tunnels, ultralight aircraft, and fishing boats. So, what is the Department of Homeland Security doing about it? Related GAO Work: GAO-17-474: Border Security: Additional Actions Could Strengthen DHS Efforts to Address Subterranean, Aerial, and Maritime Smuggling Released: May 2017 [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's May 2017. Transnational criminal organizations are smuggling drugs and humans across the U.S. border using things like cross-border tunnels, ultralight aircraft, and fishing boats. A team led by Rebecca Gambler, a director in GAO's Homeland Security and Justice team, looked into what the Department of Homeland Security is doing about it. Sarah Kaczmarek sat down with Rebecca to talk about what they found. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Some of the backdrop to the story seems to be that DHS has focused a lot on securing land smuggling routes. So are we seeing an increase in smuggling by, like, underground tunnels, by air, even by boats, as a result? [ Rebecca Gambler: ] As DHS has worked to secure smuggling routes over land, smugglers have turned to other methods for trying to bring people and drugs into the United States. While it's hard to really know the exact number of smuggling events that occur via some of these other methods, such as tunnels or by air, in general, when you look at drug seizures, for example, these other methods of smuggling by air, by land, by sea tend to be a smaller portion of overall seizures. So just to give some numbers here as it relates to drug smuggling, between fiscal year 2011 and 2016, DHS and its components identified 309 smuggling events by different types of marine vessels, 67 tunnels during that time, and they identified over 500 incursions by these small aircraft that are referred to as ultralights. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] So I think I know how fishing boats could be used for smuggling, but what about these ultralight aircraft and cross-border tunnels? How does that work? [ Rebecca Gambler: ] Ultralight aircraft are these small, single-seat airplanes generally weighing a few hundred pounds, and smugglers may use this type of aircraft to drop loads of drugs in the United States. In terms of tunnels, those are man-made passageways that are dug underground and can be used to smuggle both people and drugs into the country. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] So what's DHS doing to prevent drug smuggling and smuggling in of people through these kinds of methods? [ Rebecca Gambler: ] DHS has taken a number of different steps to try to address smuggling via these methods. For example, they've conducted various risk assessments to understand what the threats and vulnerabilities are that are posed by smuggling via tunnels, or small aircraft, or marine vessels. They've also worked to coordinate efforts to address these types of smuggling mechanisms. There are different components within DHS that have responsibility for addressing these smuggling methods as well as other departments, and so DHS and its components have set up different task forces and working groups and different interagency efforts to try to best position themselves to be able to address these smuggling methods. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] And does it have the technology it needs to do this, or are they looking at kind of needing new technology, or- [ Rebecca Gambler: ] DHS is using some technology to try to address these smuggling threats, and in some areas, they're also working to test and develop other technologies as it relates specifically to these ultralight aircraft. So these small aircrafts that can be used for drug smuggling. One of the key findings from our report was that DHS needs to do a better job of assessing the different technologies that it's trying to develop and deploy to detect ultralight incursions into the U.S. and better document the extent to which the different technologies that they're testing and using really meet their requirements for being able to detect when those incursions are occurring. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] What recommendations did you make in this report? [ Rebecca Gambler: ] We made a number of recommendations to DHS and its components to try to strengthen their efforts to address smuggling via these different methods. For example, there are different components within DHS that have responsibility for addressing smuggling via tunnels, and one of the key recommendations from our report was for those two components to better develop standard operating procedures that can guide their efforts to coordinate identification but also investigation and remediation of tunnels. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Finally, what do you see as the bottom line of this report? [ Rebecca Gambler: ] The bottom line message of this report, Sarah, is that DHS and its components have undertaken a number of different steps and actions to try to address smuggling via tunnels, by small aircraft, and by maritime vessels. But overall, they could do a better job of assessing the effectiveness of those efforts and having in place the right policies and procedures to guide coordination. [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] To learn more, visit GAO.gov and be sure to tune in to the next episode of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office.