Interesting Encounter at IAH
 

I was flying back to the to the US this afternoon on UA4 (LHR-IAH), and when we arrived, I went through the normal GE line, but at the exit from the GE kiosk area, there were 2 CBP officers, stopping everyone. When I got to one of the officers, he asked me:

• "Where are you coming from?" (London)
• "How long were you there?" (3 days)
• "What was the purpose of your visit?" (Visited friends)
• "What do you do for a job?" (Engineer)
• "Who do you work for?" (Livermore/Sandia National Laboratory)
• "What do you do there?" (I informed him that answering that would be leaking classified information)

After that, he let me pass, but it was all a really strange experience, because I have never been asked my job title and my employer. I am definitely reporting this to our DoD liaison tomorrow, but it's starting to make me think that when I travel, I should keep my technology to a minimum, or just not bring it.

Also, if they access a secured phone, and retrieve classified material, could the CBP officer get arrested for accessing classified equipment?

Has anyone else encountered this, or is it just a IAH thing?

You were luckier than this NASA/JPL employee who recently passed through IAH:
That thread discusses the options faced by government employees caught in similar predicaments.

Has anyone else noticed this type of occurrence, either at IAH or any other airport, or any other strange occurrences?

Except that the JPL guy probably isn't a government employee.

In my experience the agents minding the exit of Global Entry at IAH always engage in some number of general questions like that, usually 2 or 3, but not as many as your experience. This is similar to the other airports where I've used GE. As far as asking about your employer, I'd say yes, that's happened to me. I don't recall job title before though.

There seem to be a small list of questions and on a random basis, a few questions asked. I have never perceived a pattern or seen anyone taking notes of the answers.

There is usually an unclassified answer to questions which might call for information which might be classified. If CBP let you hang out at that choke point at IAD, you might be surprised to learn that 92% of the people coming through on official passports work in IT or are engineers !

I know there is, I was just caught off guard at the time.

My experience has been that I get asked these kinds of questions at immigration rather than at the end of the line leaving the customs area. Most of the time, the questions are a result of the brown passport. If there isn't much of a line, or especially at pre-clearance airports such as YOW, you can engage in a conversation. I remember once at YOW asking the guy if his job was considered an "overseas" tour, how long was the assignment, could he extend, how competitive were these jobs, etc. Another time, the agent complimented my agency in a way I didn't expect.

I don't have GE. I've been asked my occupation by CBP officers many, many times. I have been asked the name of my employer also. I have never worked for the government.

Yes, but they are well aware of you and just like to mess with you. :)

I've had similar questions coming back from Canada, asked very casually and when I told him my employer he followed up with a semi-relevant question. It was at preclearance in Montreal and the agent in question had been very obviously chatty already even to the other agents so it didn't seem particularly odd. Boredom as much as anything, and in the days before there were kiosks so a live person had to at least look at every passport.

If they ask for access to something that would give them access to classified information I'd guess you should tell them "sorry, no, you need permission from DOE (or whoever)"

They don't ask specific questions about your job out of boredom. They ask the questions to determine if you're telling the truth and to help them assess if you're involved in criminal activity.

As I understand the policy (DoD employee), if a US traveller is carrying classified material in a designated, sealed courier container, and holding a courier letter from their workplace security office, then CBP is not supposed to open the container. They can call the appropriate home office to verify the identity of the traveller and validity of their courier letter.

I've never had to carry a classified "live" device like a laptop or classified phone while travelling. But I would think rules would require those to also be in a secured container while in such a public setting, I know we're not even supposed to take a classified laptop out of the secured part of our building. Either way, I would imagine the courier status exception applies.

Government-owned electronic equipment other than classified courier material IS subject to CBP search. Since CBP is legitimate federal law enforcement, our guidance is that we are expected to cooperate with such requests while on official travel with government-owned equipment -- it's the US government searching its own property, after all.

This question in mostly in jest but also part serious: in two different threads you have used the term "...legitimate federal law enforcement.." so I am wondering, has your employer identified or referred to "illegitimate federal law enforcement" agencies?

If yes, which ones?

I was wondering which of our administrative federal state's law enforcement bodies are less legitimate than CBP? :D