U.S. Customs and Border Protection has signed an agreement with Clearview AI to use the company’s facial recognition platform for tactical targeting and strategic counter-network analysis workflows, according to contract details reported by WIRED.
The arrangement extends Clearview AI’s face-search capabilities to intelligence units within CBP, moving beyond isolated investigative checks into routine intelligence infrastructure. Contract language references access to more than 60 billion publicly available images scraped from the internet.
The deal mirrors Clearview AI’s federal contract pivot announced last year, when the company refocused under new leadership to pursue DHS and Pentagon programs. The CBP access agreement joins ICE’s $9.2M contract with Clearview AI, which gave Homeland Security Investigations ongoing database licenses for federal investigations.
Use cases include tactical targeting operations and intelligence analysis units, according to the reporting. The arrangement adds to ongoing oversight debates around large-scale scraped-image face search in government operations, particularly when deployed as routine intelligence infrastructure rather than limited investigative tools.
The reported contract builds on credibility signals such as Clearview AI’s SOC 2 Type 2 clean audit, which the company points to when courting sensitive DHS programs. The agreement also aligns with DHS AI inventory disclosures and congressional oversight activity around facial recognition procurement.
Civil-liberties advocates have long raised concerns about Clearview AI’s business model, which relies on scraping billions of public images without explicit consent. The company has faced litigation in multiple jurisdictions over privacy violations, though it continues to secure contracts with federal law enforcement agencies.
Sources: WIRED
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By Cass Kennedy
