U.S. Customs and Border Protection Information Technology Strategy ( - Fiscal Year)

Key Chapter Title List

1. Introduction and Strategic Goals
2. Organization Overview
3. Mission Infrastructure
4. Mission Applications
5. Operations/Information Technology
6. Cybersecurity
7. IT/IRM Governance
8. CIO Business Operations
9. A Glimpse into CBP's Daily Work (FY 2023)
10. Technology Environment and Strategic Approach
11. Implementation and Governance Mechanisms
12. Summary and Future Vision

Document Introduction

This report is the Information Technology Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2024-2028 issued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Information and Technology (OIT). As the largest IT organization within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), OIT manages an IT budget of up to $1.8 billion. Its core mission is to provide critical technological support and enablement for CBP's multifaceted tasks of protecting the American people, securing the nation's borders, and facilitating economic prosperity. This strategy aims to refresh OIT's roadmap, ensuring its technology investments and capability development remain closely aligned with the agency's core vision and its expanding scope of responsibilities.

The report first outlines the organizational structure, operational environment, and challenges faced by CBP OIT. OIT provides data and communication services to over 60,000 employees, 185,000 trade users, and tens of millions of travelers. Its operational scenario is extremely complex, requiring it to address multiple challenges including geographic dispersion, growing mobility demands, escalating cyberattack threats, and budget pressures. Building on this, the report clarifies OIT's vision and mission: the vision is "to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time, anywhere, on any authorized device"; the mission is "to provide secure and reliable IT services and capabilities anytime, anywhere, at the pace of CBP's 7x24 mission."

The core of the strategy revolves around six strategic goals and their subordinate specific objectives. First, ## Mission Infrastructure: Aims to provide innovative, near real-time, secure, reliable, and scalable infrastructure through enterprise cloud, unified networks, and modernized IT operations. Second, ## Mission Applications: Focuses on building more reliable, scalable, and mission-aligned applications, adopting domain-driven design, and emphasizing responsible artificial intelligence application. Third, ## Operations/Information Technology: Focuses on digitizing physical devices (such as sensors, drones) to provide actionable information to frontline personnel through edge computing architectures. Fourth, ## Cybersecurity: The core is to close the gap with increasingly sophisticated threat actors by enhancing cyber hygiene, threat detection and response, transitioning to a zero-trust architecture, and governance with full participation to improve the security posture. Fifth, ## IT/IRM Governance: Aims to maximize enterprise efficiency and enhance user experience by establishing a structured governance framework, policy compliance, and business intelligence. Sixth, ## CIO Business Operations: Focuses on integrating strategy, budget, procurement, and human capital activities to provide end-to-end services, improving cost transparency and employee experience.

The report not only sets goals but also demonstrates OIT's recent practical achievements through numerous "success stories," such as rapid technology deployments supporting "Uniting for Ukraine" (U4U) and "Operation Allies Welcome" (OAW), migration of SAP systems to the cloud, enhancements to the Unified Immigration Portal (UIP), and the development of cybersecurity dashboards. These examples prove OIT's execution capabilities in crisis response, technology modernization, and data-driven decision-making.

Finally, the report elaborates on the strategy's implementation and governance mechanisms. OIT will assign a senior-level owner for each strategic goal and incorporate goal achievement into executive performance plans. Through tools like the CBP IT Executive Dashboard, OIT will establish a near real-time performance monitoring system, ensuring the strategic advancement process is transparent, traceable, and capable of dynamic adjustment based on changes in internal and external environments. This strategy is regarded as a "living plan." Its successful implementation will ensure OIT continues to serve as a key enabler for the nation's premier law enforcement agency, supporting homeland security and national economic prosperity at the speed of technology.