The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is seeking an artificial intelligence-powered investigative analytics platform to uncover and disrupt transnational criminal networks – and monitor a million people.
In a request for information (RFI) published to SAM.gov at the end of last month, ICE said it is seeking contractors to provide it with a data analytic system that can process and aggregate large volumes of information to detect criminal patterns and trends.
The platform would support automated and human analysis, enable bulk data queries, and feature a continuous monitoring and alert system compatible with existing agency infrastructure, according to a detailed document available with the RFI.
ICE said that platform must support real-time and batch data queries, offer visual analysis of connections between targets and their associates, and deliver reports that help “more efficiently direct investigative resources.”
The system will provide “a continuous monitoring and alert service that provides real-time data to support the identification and location of threats to public safety and/or national security.”
The dataset amassed by ICE to power its continuous monitoring tool – which it said must be able to track up to a million people – would pull from commercial, public, and proprietary datasets ranging from social media and court records to blockchain, geolocation, shipping, and international travel data.
According to ICE, the system is expected to assist agents with tasks such as “screening and vetting,” “lead development,” and “criminal analysis,” all aimed at helping ICE “more precisely target investigations.”
The agency also stressed the need for linguistic support, including the capability to translate Mandarin and other languages, as “information of this value is often subtle or cryptic.”
While ICE did not specify a response deadline in the document, it indicated the project would operate under a blanket purchase agreement with a one-year base period and four optional one-year extensions, plus a six-month add-on.
The latest RFI follows other efforts of the Trump administration to expand its monitoring of foreign nationals within the United States, including those that monitor certain visa holders and applicant’s social media activity that may be anti-American – going so far as to direct social media settings to be turned to public so that data may be easily accessible to the Department of Homeland Security.