The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched a hiring spree to recruit 50 artificial intelligence (AI) technology experts in 2024.
The new DHS AI Corps is modeled on the US Digital Service and will help leverage this new technology responsibly across strategic areas of the homeland security enterprise, including efforts to secure travel, counter fentanyl, combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, deliver immigration services, fortify critical infrastructure and enhance cybersecurity.
The AI Corps will bolster the DHS workforce with experts in AI and machine learning (ML) technologies, models and applications. These experts will support policy initiatives to ensure the safe and secure use of AI, while protecting privacy, civil rights and civil liberties.
Using the Office of Personnel Management’s new flexible hiring authorities for AI-related jobs, DHS has worked to streamline and expedite the federal hiring process to ensure qualified candidates receive offers as quickly as possible.
“As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful and more accessible than ever, government needs the support and expertise of our country’s foremost AI experts to help ensure our continued ability to harness this technology responsibly, safeguard against its malicious use, and advance our critical homeland security mission,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, US Secretary of Homeland Security.
“Our new AI Corps initiative will make it easier to bring these talented, experienced, creative men and women into public service quickly. The DHS AI Corps will enable the Department of Homeland Security to keep up with the pace of innovation as we enhance our work combating fentanyl traffickers, rescuing victims of child sexual exploitation, countering cyberattacks, assessing disaster damage and much more.”
The DHS AI Corps AI technology experts will be part of the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer and will work on a variety of projects across the department advancing AI innovation and use. They will provide expertise in AI/ML, data science, data engineering, program management, product management, software engineering and cybersecurity, and the safe, secure and responsible use of these technologies.
Mayorkas and chief information officer and chief artificial intelligence officer Eric Hysen will launch the hiring effort at an event in Mountain View, California. The event is designed to generate interest in AI career opportunities within the department. Leaders from the department and DHS agencies and offices will demonstrate to technologists from industry their use of AI to support their missions.
“Now is the time for tech experts to make a real difference for our country and join the federal government,” said Hysen. “We are recruiting faster than ever because the need is urgent. More Americans interact with DHS every day than any other federal agency, so the better and faster we can deploy responsible AI, the more it can positively impact the American people.
“We are prioritizing recruiting talent who are technologically proficient and eager to leverage recent innovations in AI to transform the way people interact with the government.”
AI is already delivering significant value across DHS missions, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), as Passenger Terminal Today has previously reported. For example, working with industry, TSA developed an AI algorithm to reduce the number of pat-downs required as a result of alarm triggers by existing advanced imaging technology (AIT) passenger scanners. In addition, progress is being made in the development of AI-based algorithms for computed tomography (CT) screening technologies.
Last year, Christopher McLaughlin, executive vice president of operations at Dallas-Fort Worth International, told Passenger Terminal World that he sees plenty of potential for AI in the context of one of the world’s busiest terminals.
“The sky is the limit for us,” McLaughlin said. “We are currently working on four large-scale projects that will be introduced in the next 12-18 months and all are heavily dependent on AI/ML. One is public-facing and three represent unseen layers of security that will work in the background, quietly improving security and the passenger experience.”
Last year, DHS established the department’s first AI Task Force and named Hysen as its first chief AI officer. The Task Force is working across the DHS mission to identify areas where AI can improve the department’s work. For instance, it is working to enhance the integrity of supply chains and the broader trade environment by helping deploy AI to improve cargo screening, the identification of imported goods produced with forced labor, and risk management.
The Task Force is also charged with using AI to better detect fentanyl shipments, identify and interdict the flow of precursor chemicals around the world, and disrupt key nodes in criminal networks.
DHS’s work on AI is part of a whole-of-government effort to address this emerging technology. In October, President Biden issued an Executive Order, Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, which directed DHS to promote the adoption of AI safety standards globally, protect US networks and critical infrastructure, reduce the risk of AI being used to create weapons of mass destruction, combat AI-related intellectual property theft, and help the US attract and retain skilled talent, among other missions.
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