Leidos CEO Tom Bell said, during a Breitbart News discussion on border security, public safety, and American sovereignty, that additional investment in security infrastructure at U.S. ports and border crossings will be required to increase screening of vehicles, cargo, and other traffic entering the country.
Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle asked Bell about Leidos’s work at ports of entry and in port security.
“Leidos is a major player in ports and border security,” Bell said. “Everything from scanning people, cars, trucks, railroad containers, railroad cars, all of those can pass through Leidos security equipment to make sure that we know what’s coming through and whether what’s coming through actually matches the bill of lading that is supposed to be in that truck or train.”
Bell then described gaps in current screening coverage.
“The problem is there’s — it’s porous. Not every port has one. Not every railroad crossing has one. Not every car is screened for narcotics, and our equipment can do that,” Bell said.
He then turned to what he said would be needed to expand that coverage.
“But what’s going to be required is, and I’m sure the ports and border customs, border patrol, and Secretary Mullin are focused on this, a little bit of investment in the fixed infrastructure that’s going to allow us to have more of what’s coming into this nation actually surveyed for whether or not it’s authentically what it says it is on the bill of lading,” Bell said.
At the beginning of the discussion, Bell described Leidos’s work with the Department of War, U.S. intelligence agencies, Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration, and several Department of Homeland Security components, including the Coast Guard, TSA, and CISA.
“We are the number one federal IT provider, and that gives us installed base and domain knowledge at essentially every department and every agency in the federal government,” Bell said. “From that, we develop mission solutions that help our government be better, faster, cheaper at serving its missions. What do I mean by that? We’re the number eight supplier at the Department of War.”
“That’s what we bring together: hardware, software, people, mission knowledge, solutions,” Bell added.