Project Maven - the Pentagon's AI targeting platform built for overseas battlefields - has been turned inward. The system is now detecting people attempting to cross America's southern border, assisting Customs and Border Protection, and supporting the US Coast Guard, according to officials at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

The domestic expansion is detailed in an investigation by journalist Katrina Manson published in WIRED, which traces how a military AI tool designed for Iraq and Yemen found its way to America's own frontiers, "Hvylya" reports.

The shift accelerated under the second Trump administration. Maven became relevant for what Trump described to Congress as an "armed conflict" against alleged narco-terrorists in the Caribbean. US Southern Command had been using Maven for years - previously deploying it to identify a drug-running vessel that was subsequently boarded. An NGA official said Maven assisted "in the detection, classification, and ultimate interdiction of more than three dozen vessels suspected of engaging in illicit or clandestine activity." NGA could identify vessels three times faster than human analysts.

SOUTHCOM's operations turned lethal in September 2025, when the command began striking Venezuelan vessels accused of drug smuggling. By early December, the US had struck 23 boats, killing 87 people - including two shipwrecked survivors. Vice President JD Vance responded to criticism with a blunt social media post: "I don't give a shit what you call it." Whether Maven was directly involved in these strikes was not officially confirmed, but SOUTHCOM's longstanding use of the platform raised pointed questions.

On the northern front, NORAD and NORTHCOM adopted Maven in July 2024 to track Russian and Chinese military aircraft approaching US airspace. By 2025, the two commands had 2,000 daily users. James Rizzo, chief data officer for both commands, described the scale: the day he spoke to Manson, Maven had logged 850 million computer vision detections by morning. "I thought wow, that's a big number. I don't know what to do with that," he said. "I'm trying to sort hornets from honeybees."

Critics warned that deploying military-grade AI domestically amounted to what theorists call "imperial boomerang" - the tendency of oppressive techniques used overseas to eventually come home. One commentator argued the US risked building a military "optimized for domestic warfare."

Previously: Pentagon Cuts Ties With Elite Colleges as Hegseth Targets "Anti-American" Education.