Economic Sanctions: Agencies Face Competing Priorities in Enforcing the U.S. Embargo on Cuba

In its "60-day letter," DHS wrote that, as recommended in our report, the Miami Service Port/Miami International Airport management team had reevaluated the level of resources devoted to enforcing the US embargo on Cuba at the airport. DHS stated that the CBP reevaluation had been completed through a series of meetings with senior management at the field office, local port management, and local subject matter experts including airline and carrier personnel. DHS also identified some of the different factors CBP considered to determine resource needs, and stated that CBP had used a "risk-based approach" in assessing these factors. DHS reported that, using the stated factors and principles, CBP officials had determined that the agency had achieved an effective balance between the resources dedicated to enforcing the Cuba embargo laws and those dedicated to other missions, such as keeping terrorists, criminals, and inadmissible aliens out of the United States. Our assessment is that the DHS letter provides a reasonable description of the steps CBP took in its reevaluation of the resources employed at the Miami airport in support of the US embargo on Cuba.