Border agency taps ‘chatCBP’ to assist workforce; Democrats call on DHS to reinstate Cyber Safety Review Board membership

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is implementing an AI chatbot called “chatCBP” for its workforce, following in the footsteps of similar federal government creations like DHSChat and StateChat. “CBP’s chatCBP is an AI-powered chatbot designed to improve efficiency and access to information for CBP personnel while meeting CBP’s security standards,” a CBP spokesperson told FedScoop in an emailed statement. The tool uses a large language model and gives workers responses and guidance in a conversational format “quickly and securely.” According to the spokesperson: “chatCBP offers features like document summarization, compilation, information extraction, and multi-file analysis, reducing the time spent searching for and interpreting documents.” News of the chatbot comes after other agencies within the federal government have launched their own internal chatbots in an attempt to more securely provide the type of generative AI assistance made popular by ChatGPT. That includes the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, CBP’s parent agency. DHSChat, for its part, was announced last year and is similarly aimed at aiding workers with routine tasks. But, per the spokesperson, chatCBP is different in that it’s designed to meet unique operational needs that the subagency has, such as requiring more control over LLM development, monitoring, data management and security. Four senators asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to reestablish the Cyber Safety Review Board, citing the need to investigate a landmark breach of telecommunications networks by Chinese hackers known as Salt Typhoon. In a letter last Thursday, the senators also said the board has conducted important oversight of other incidents before DHS removed its members in January, such as its report on a breach of Microsoft by other Chinese hackers. Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote in the letter: “The CSRB played a vital role in U.S. national security carrying out post-incident reviews and providing information and making recommendations to improve public and private sector cyber security. Therefore, we urge you to swiftly reconstitute the Board with qualified leaders to shape our nation’s cyber response.” Warner is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel, and the four members sit on either the Intelligence Committee or the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. DHS purged all members from its advisory boards and committees in January. While the later disbanding of other boards has drawn some concern, the removal of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency-led Cyber Safety Review Board’s members has drawn the most negative reaction from the cybersecurity community. It halted a Salt Typhoon investigation that had only just begun.