U.S. Border Patrol Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams sit inside sector Targeting and Intelligence Divisions. On September 8, 2026, Joseph Cox at 404 Media published a Homeland Security document written by Agent Matthew Phelps of the Spokane Sector PITT. Phelps wrote that he reviews law-enforcement-sensitive databases, including financial activity, and passed “financial activity patterns commonly associated with illicit narcotics activity” to Montana Highway Patrol.

Kyle Olson was stopped on Interstate 90. Troopers cited an obstructed plate. Sergeant James Beck wrote that Phelps had identified a vehicle with indicators of possible narcotics trafficking. Olson received the PITT paper in discovery. A CBP spokesperson told Military.com that PITT monitors indicators of smuggling, follows privacy rules, and will not disclose targeting methods. CBP did not tell 404 Media how the financial records were obtained or whether a warrant preceded the query.

Documented desks include the Spokane Sector and the Laredo Sector. The roadside reason and the federal flag can live in different files. That split is the failure surface: a driver cannot contest a database they are not shown. CBP’s statement treats the method as law-enforcement sensitive. How many of Border Patrol’s twenty sectors run a PITT desk remains an open question on the public record.

No statute gives the public a right to see or correct a PITT score. Read the 404 Media report and CBP’s quoted reply. In a criminal case, demand the referral document the way Olson’s lawyers did.

Sources

A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over

https://www.404media.co/a-secretive-dhs-predictive-policing-unit-is-analyzing-americans-financial-habits-and-pulling-them-over/

Joseph Cox, September 8, 2026: first public naming of PITT and the Phelps document from Olson’s case.

DHS Program Analyzes Americans' Finances to Flag Drivers for Traffic Stops: Report

https://www.military.com/dhs-program-analyzes-americans-finances-to-flag-drivers-for-traffic-stops-report

September 9, 2026 recap with CBP’s on-record statement that PITT exists and that methods will not be disclosed.

Secret DHS Unit Pulling People Over Based on Their Financial Data

https://newrepublic.com/post/215177/secret-dhs-unit-predictive-policiing-people-based-financial-data

Quotes the Phelps language and Sergeant James Beck’s write-up of the Montana stop.

The Highway Tip Sheet

https://uncoveredinvestigates.substack.com/p/the-highway-tip-sheet

Walks the Interstate 90 stop, the discovery document, and how PITT sits inside Border Patrol targeting shops.

DHS Unit Uses Financial Data to Flag Drivers for Traffic Stops, Report Says

https://www.sofx.com/dhs-unit-uses-financial-data-to-flag-drivers-for-traffic-stops-report-says/

Identifies Phelps’s Spokane Sector assignment and the two documented sector desks.

Border Patrol PITT flags drivers from financial patterns — troopers can stop a plate while the DHS tip stays off the roadside record