For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Office of Field Operations

Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects & Diseases

National and Regional Port of Entry DetectionsNovember 14, 2016

Nikki Thomas

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 2

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive

APHIS Offshore Mitigation (e.g. Precleared

Produce)

CBP

Onshore Inspection/ Detection/ Mitigation

(e.g. AQI Inspections & Targeting)

APHIS

Pest Management

(e.g. Domestic, Eradication, & Survey Detection

Programs)APHIS Exports

(e.g. Phytosanitary & Sanitary Certification)

Trade Stakeholders

Trade (e.g. Compliant

Business Practices)

APHIS

Policy Making (e.g. Plant Protection Act & Animal Health

Act)

3

The

Safeguarding

Continuum

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 4

• Inspection/Detection for Pest Exclusion

• Facilitation Programs

• Training

• Partnership

• Outreach

• Business Transformation

• Targeting

• Enforcement/Penalties

CBP Agriculture Program Activities

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 5

Program

• The National Agriculture Cargo Targeting Unit (NACTU) was created as a pilot program in July 2014 by Agriculture Programs and Trade Liaison (APTL) in partnership with the National Targeting Center-Cargo (NTC-C)

• In September 2015, the NACTU was established as a permanent unit at the NTC-C staffed with full-time targeters

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 6

Scope of NACTU

• NACTU’s scope is specifically focused on

agricultural quarantine targeting (animal and plant

pest/disease risk)

• As part of CBP’s targeting community, NACTU

collaborates regularly with other targeting assets by

referring intelligence to relevant targeting units and

centers

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 7

Objectives of NACTU

• The NACTU researches import cargo shipments and

analyzes national quarantine activity to identify those

shipments posing significant risk (animal and plant

pest/disease risks). These agricultural quarantine

risks relate to shipments with:

Pests

Contaminants

Prohibited agricultural products (including through

smuggling activities)

• NACTU attempts to identify potential and repeat

violators, which may be tracked by shipper, importer,

broker, manufacturer, or possibly farm/grower

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 8

Objectives of NACTU (continued)

• NACTU does not replace local port targeting

• NACTU activities help to focus CBP personnel on

critical and higher risk agriculture quarantine

inspections

• NACTU targeting is performed for multiple cargo

environments/pathways (air, sea, rail, truck, ECC)

• Attempts to locate shipments en-route (cargo already

on the water)

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 9

Objectives of NACTU (continued)

• Expand scope of national agriculture quarantine

targeting to utilize intelligence developed by:

local advanced targeting units

port level inspectional data

significant agriculture incident reports

emergency action notifications

pest interception records

• Provide extra capacity for agriculture quarantine

targeting

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 10

Objectives of NACTU (continued)

• Provide targeting oversight to all cargo pathways

• Communicate with local agriculture targeting units to

identify threats

• Support special operations

• Support national agriculture initiatives, such as

NARP

• Provide field support

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive

Vessel Risk List (VRL)

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive

AGM Interceptions

12

24

17

4

21

4442

76

110

Calendar Year

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive

Wood Packaging Materials (WPMs)

13

• Best Practices for Trade

• OFO’s Efforts to Prevent Wood Boring Pests

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive14

Non-ComplianceFY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16

No ISPM-15

Marking2615 2269 2449 2586 1938 1952 1604

Pest Found 861 686 885 1058 603 753 651

No Marking & Pest

Found21 24 17 21 18 37 14

Total 3497 2979 3351 3665 2559 2742 2269

WPM Inspection Results

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 15

Due to CBP interceptions of Medfly in shipments from Spain and

Morocco, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

changed import requirements for those countries.

• January 4, 2016 Federal Order: APHIS suspended the

importation of peppers from Spain

• January 29, 2016 Federal Order: APHIS suspended

the importation of citrus from Morocco. Suspension

lifted in Sept.

Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Medfly)

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 16

Pest Name Port of Entry Origin Order/KingdomExora eucaustica Germar Miami, FL Honduras Coleoptera

Anderida sp. (Pyralidae) Port Everglades, FL Honduras Lepidoptera

Dysodius crenulatus Stal Miami, FL Costa Rica Hemiptera

Gargaphia sanchezi Froeschner Miami, FL Ecuador Hemiptera

Gonatoides typicus Distant (Rhyparochromidae) Port Everglades Guatemala Hemiptera

Edessa rixosa Stal (Pentatomidae) Miami, FL Costa Rica Hemiptera

Loxoprosopus sp. Miami, FL Costa Rica Coleoptera

Gnathotrichus retusus Ponce, PR Canada Scolytidae

Vazquezitocoris andinus Van Duzee Miami, FL Ecuador Hemiptera

Lissomus sp. Miami, FL Ecuador Coleoptera

Graphocephala appropinquans (Fowler) Laredo, TX Mexico Hemiptera

Rhodobaenus nebulosus Pharr, TX Mexico Coleoptera

Hesus flaviventris Burmeister Fort Lauderdale, FL Costa Rica Hemiptera

Pityophthorus glabratus Eichhoff (Scolytidae) Norfolk, VA Poland Coleoptera

Microrhinus sp. (Curculionidae) Aguadilla, PR Colombia Coleoptera

Paracarsidara rostrata Crawford Miami, FL Nicaragua Hemiptera

Mendozellus isis Linnavuori Miami, FL Argentina Hemiptera

Dysdercus maurus Distant Miami, FL Argentina Hemiptera

Euphoria dimidiata (Scarabaeidae) Laredo, TX Mexico Coleoptera

Brasilaphthona sp. (Chrysomelidae) Miami, FL Colombia Coleoptera

First in Nation Pest Interceptions FY15

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 17

Federal Noxious Weeds InterceptedScientific Name Family Common Name

Asphodelus fistulosus L. Liliaceae Onionweed

Avena sterilis L. Poaceae Animated Oat

Cuscuta L. Cuscutaceae Dodder

Heracleum mantegazzianum

Sommier & LevierApiaceae Giant Hogweed

Imperata cylindrical (L.) P Beauv. Poaceae Cogongrass

Ipomoea aquatica Forsskal Convolvulaceae Chinese Water Spinach

Ischaemum rugosum Salisb. Poaceae Ribbed Murainograss

Mikania micrantha Kunth Asteraceae Mile-a-Minute weed

Oryza sp. Poaceae Red Rice

Paspalum scrobiculatum L. Poaceae Kodo-millet

Pennisetum pedicellatum Trin. Poaceae Kyasuma grass

Pennisetum polystachion (L.)

Schult.Poaceae Mission grass

Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Lour.)

ClaytonPoaceae Itchgrass

Saccharum spontaneum L. Poaceae Wild Sugarcane

Spermacoce alata Aubl. Rubiaceae Winged False Buttonweed

Tridax procumbens L. Asteraceae Coatbuttons

Urochloa panicoides P. Beauv Poaceae Liverseed grass

For Official Use Only/Law Enforcement Sensitive 18