People wait in a security line at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Aug. 12, 2026 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general office identified vulnerabilities that could enable an attacker to compromise networks and access sensitive information.
The DHS unit is conducting market research to see how vendors could potentially help add AI agents to development workflows and expand its existing STELLA platform.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrive to push protesters back as cars enter and leave the Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Center on June 12, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Documents shared exclusively with FedScoop offer insight into the initial contract awarded six years ago that acted as a critical building block in DHS’s current surveillance apparatus.
A fireside chat with David Alexander, senior science advisor at DHS S&T, Julie Brewer, deputy under secretary for DHS S&T, and Samuel Howerton, chief scientist at DHS S&T, on Sept. 22, 2026 at the Gallup Building in Washington, D.C.
The agency’s Science and Technology Directorate wants to add testing and evaluation sites, forge partnerships with industry and create internal roles to lead the work.
A demonstrator holds a sign to commemorate Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls outside of the Wisconsin State Capitol on May 5, 2022 in Madison, Wis. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The agency’s Missing and Murdered Unit will use Clearview AI tools to “rapidly identify and locate missing persons, crime victims, and suspects nationwide,” contracting documents said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. The Ventura County Government Center has been the site of tense standoffs and confrontations in recent weeks between ICE agents, local community observers, and protesters. (Photo by Blake Fagan / AFP via Getty Images)
While the system’s deployment timeline is unclear, the Department of Homeland Security unit described the platform as providing a secure access point to large language models.
Samuel Howerton, chief scientist within DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate, and Andrew McClure, director of DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response, during a fireside conversation at the 17th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (Courtesy of Billington CyberSecurity Summit)
The government plans to award at least three indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts for each of its identified tracks: fingerprint, face, iris, palm and multimodal.
A Department Of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection sign is displayed at the CBP headquarters on May 18, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
A U.S. Secret Service robot dog manufactured by Boston Dynamics patrols the grounds at President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on November 18, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The planned $2 million investment follows increased use of the tech in law enforcement operations, such as to support security operations during the World Cup.
