The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has sharply criticized U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for mismanaging the deployment of scanning technology meant to detect illicit drugs like fentanyl at the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to the OIG's June 2025 report, CBP purchased 150 large-scale non-intrusive inspection (NII) systems between 2020 and 2024, but only 50—just 33%—were installed. The rest remained in various states: 21 had been delivered but not installed, 31 were still under construction, and 43—worth over $96 million—were in storage. Five systems could not be accounted for.
