CBP Seeks AI Forensics Tools for Border Device Searches
US Customs and Border Protection issued a request for information seeking advanced digital forensics tools to analyze data from devices seized at the border, including capabilities to detect hidden messages and patterns. The move raises privacy concerns amid reports of CBP searching travelers' phones during border questioning.
What happened
United States Customs and Border Protection issued a request for information on June 20, 2025, updated July 1, seeking digital forensics tools to process and analyze text messages, pictures, videos, and contacts from seized phones, laptops, and other devices at the border.
The tools sought must identify 'hidden language' in text messages, locate specific objects like 'a red tricycle' across videos, access chats in encrypted messaging apps, and find patterns in large datasets for 'intel generation'.
CBP has used Cellebrite since 2008 to extract and analyze device data, conducting searches on more than 47,000 devices over that period, with searches increasing from approximately 8,500 devices in 2015 to over 47,000 by 2024.
Reported impact
CBP has reportedly detained people entering the US, sometimes questioning them about travel plans or political beliefs and searching their phones.
In March 2025, a Lebanese professor at Brown University's medical school was sent back to Lebanon after CBP searched her phone and alleged she was 'sympathetic' to the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Index analysis
CBP seeks to expand and modernize its digital forensics program with tools capable of detecting patterns and hidden communications in seized devices.
The request comes as CBP faces scrutiny over practices of detaining travelers and accessing their devices at the border.
Governance controls
CBP has eight active contracts with Cellebrite worth more than $1.3 million in total, set to end between July 2025 and April 2026.
CBP indicated that a digital forensics vendor will sign a contract in the third fiscal quarter of 2026, running from April through June.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.