Global Maritime Intelligence

Overview

Development stage

In development or acquisitionSource: a) Pre-deployment – The use case is in a development or acquisition status.

High-impact designation

Presumed high-impact, determined notSource: b) Presumed high-impact, but determined not high impact

Impact justification

This use case does not meet the definition of "high-impact" as outlined in Section 5 of M-25-21 because its outputs do not serve as a "principal basis for decisions or actions that have a legal, material, binding, or significant effect on rights or safety." Instead, the AI system generates intelligence reports and risk assessments that are used to support human decision-making. Analysts review the outputs and initiate follow-on actions after validating the source data, such as inspections or investigations, ensuring that the AI's outputs are not the sole or principal basis for these decisions. While the use case aligns with a presumed high-impact category due to its critical role in maritime safety and law enforcement, it does not meet the stricter definition of high-impact because its outputs are advisory and produce leads that must be validated as part of the investigative process prior to action being taken.

Start date

Not reported

Withheld from public reporting

Not reported

Mission

Topic area

Law Enforcement

Operational functions

Image and video analysis Derived by keyword rules; see methodology

Problem the AI is intended to solve

The AI is intended to solve the problem of investigators having to manually piece together fragmented maritime activity data from many sources, which makes it difficult to see relationships among vessels, shipments, and ports and identify potential leads on illicit maritime activity.

Expected benefits

The use of AI in this process helps Homeland Security Investigations quickly identify potential threats, improves the efficiency of intelligence operations, and enables faster responses to maritime risks that would be difficult to detect through manual analysis alone.

System outputs

The platform uses several machine learning (ML) models and other AI techniques to process and analyze large volumes of maritime data from multiple sources, such as satellite imagery, Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals, and transactional maritime data. The platform’s AI models detect patterns and anomalies that may indicate potential threats or behaviors consistent with illicit activities like smuggling or trafficking. These AI-generated insights are incorporated into detailed intelligence reports and risk assessments for platform users. These outputs support HSI analysts’ decision-making and are reviewed in conjunction with other HSI data holdings to determine whether analysts should take follow-up actions, such as investigations, into flagged entities.

Technology

AI classification

Classical / predictive MLSource: Classical/Predictive Machine Learning: Models trained on data to make predictions or classifications based on identified patterns or relatio…

System name(s)

Not reported

Custom-developed code

Not reported

Public source code

Not reported

Sourcing

How it was built

Not reported

Vendor (as reported)

Not reported

Vendors (standardized)

None on the standard list

A vendor is the supplier named by the agency. It does not identify the underlying model or AI technology.

Data and privacy

Involves PII

Not reported

Privacy Impact Assessment

Not reported

Authorization to Operate

Not reported

Demographic features

Not reported

Training and evaluation data

Not reported

Federal Data Catalog

Not reported

Governance

0 of 8 minimum-practice questions answered. A blank answer means the agency reported nothing; it does not mean the practice is absent.

Potential impacts and how they were identified

Not reported