The Border Studies Initiative (BSI) provides training to the Texas Military Forces and groups such as local, state and federal law enforcement to further enhance understanding and knowledge about border security issues.

Training is also provided to other critical incident first responders such as medical personnel and fire fighters. Specifically, BSI provides training on issues of salience to border, hometown, and homeland security as well as issues outside the traditional scope of law enforcement that include, but are not limited to, responding to threats posed by man-made and/ or natural disasters that impact the safety and civil order of communities.

The initiative provides training in the form of comprehensive and interactive online courses on selected and timely issues through the state of the-art technology. The BSI establishes a collaborative environment with other institutions of higher learning and with professionals in the field of criminal justice, sociology, anthropology, law, biology, geology, political science, public administration, health/medicine, geography and economics. Such collaboration aides in the development of expert knowledge on selected issues which will contribute to the overall success of the training mission.