[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5990 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5990
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize Office of Field
Operations positions, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 19, 2023
Mr. Ciscomani (for himself and Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas)
introduced the following bill
October 25, 2023
Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize Office of Field
Operations positions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Border Enforcement, Security, and
Trade (BEST) Facilitation Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. NEW OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS POSITIONS AUTHORIZED.
Section 411(g) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C.
211(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(6) Image technician positions.--
``(A) Image technician.--
``(i) In general.--There shall be in the
Office of Field Operations, the position of
Image Technician, who shall be appointed in
accordance with the provisions under chapter 33
(relating to appointments in the competitive
service) and chapters 51 and 53 (relating to
classification and rates of pay) of title 5,
United States Code.
``(ii) Duties.--
``(I) In general.--Duties of an
Image Technician shall include--
``(aa) reviewing non-
intrusive inspection images of
conveyances and containers
entering or exiting the United
States through a land, sea, or
air port of entry or
international rail crossing;
``(bb) assessing whether
images of conveyances and
containers appear to contain
anomalies indicating the
potential presence of
contraband, persons unlawfully
seeking to enter or exit the
United States, or illicitly
concealed merchandise,
including illicit drugs and
terrorist weapons;
``(cc) recommend entry
release or exit release for any
conveyances and containers
where the images do not include
noticeable anomalies indicating
the potential presence of
contraband, persons seeking to
unlawfully enter or exit the
United States, or illicitly
concealed merchandise,
including illicit drugs or
terrorist weapons, to the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection
Officer responsible for
inspecting such conveyance or
container.
``(dd) recommend for
further inspection any
conveyances and containers
where any image the Image
Technician reasonably believes
contains anomalies indicating
the potential presence of
contraband, persons seeking to
unlawfully enter or exit the
United States, or illicitly
concealed merchandise, such as
illicit drugs or terrorist
weapons, to the U.S. Customs
and Border Protection Officer
who is responsible for
inspecting such conveyance or
container; and
``(ee) referring to a
Supervisory Image Technician
any image of conveyances or
containers that is difficult to
review or assess due to poor
image quality or other factors.
``(II) Rule of construction.--A
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Officer shall retain the discretion and
final decision-making authority to
release conveyances or cargo for entry
or exit or to refer such conveyance or
cargo for further inspection.
``(B) Supervisory image technician.--
``(i) In general.--There shall be in the
Office of Field Operations, the position of
Supervisory Image Technician, who shall be
appointed in accordance with the provisions
under chapter 33 (relating to appointments in
the competitive service) and chapters 51 and 53
(relating to classification and rates of pay)
of title 5, United States Code.
``(ii) Duties.--
``(I) In general.--Duties of a
Supervisory Image Technician shall
include--
``(aa) carrying out all of
the duties described in clauses
(i) through (iv) of
subparagraph (A);
``(bb) reviewing and making
a recommendation regarding
images referred by an Image
Technician pursuant to
subparagraph (A)(v) to the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection
Officer who is responsible for
inspecting such conveyance or
container;
``(cc) receiving
intelligence from the National
Targeting Center regarding
tactics, techniques, and
procedures being used at ports
of entry and in the border
environment by malign actors to
facilitate the unlawful entry
or exit of contraband, persons,
or illicitly concealed
merchandise such as illicit
drugs or terrorist weapons; and
``(dd) reporting new
information to the National
Targeting Center regarding
tactics, techniques, and
procedures being used at ports
of entry and in the border
environment by malign actors to
facilitate the unlawful entry
or exit of contraband, persons,
or concealed merchandise such
as illicit drugs or terrorist
weapons.
``(II) Rule of construction.--A
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Officer shall retain the discretion and
final decision-making authority to
release conveyances or cargo for entry
or exit or to refer such conveyance or
cargo for further inspection.
``(C) Training requirements.--All Image Technicians
and Supervisory Image Technicians shall receive annual
training and additional ad hoc training, to the extent
necessary based on current trends, regarding--
``(i) privacy, and civil rights and civil
liberties, including the protections against
unreasonable searches and seizures afforded by
the Fourth Amendment to the United States
Constitution;
``(ii) analyzing images generated by non-
intrusive inspection technologies or any
successor technologies deployed by U.S. Customs
and Border Protection;
``(iii) identifying commodities and
merchandise in images generated by non-
intrusive inspection technologies or any
successor technologies deployed by U.S. Customs
and Border Protection;
``(iv) identifying contraband, persons who
are seeking to unlawfully enter or exit United
States, or illicitly concealed merchandise such
as illicit drugs or terrorist weapons in images
generated by non-intrusive technologies or any
successor technologies deployed by U.S. Customs
and Border Protection;
``(v) tactics, techniques, and procedures
being used at ports of entry and in the border
environment by malign actors to facilitate the
unlawful entry or exit of contraband, persons,
or concealed merchandise such as illicit drugs
or terrorist weapons; and
``(vi) any other training that the
Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border
Protection determines to be relevant to the
duties described in subparagraphs (B) or (D) of
this subsection.
``(D) Annual assessment.--All Image Technicians and
Supervisory Image Technicians shall receive annual
testing with respect to their--
``(i) accuracy in image analysis;
``(ii) timeliness in image analysis; and
``(iii) ability to ascertain tactics,
techniques, and procedures being used at ports
of entry and in the border environment by
malign actors to facilitate the unlawful entry
or exit of contraband, persons, or illicitly
concealed merchandise such as illicit drugs or
terrorist weapons.''.
SEC. 3. WORKFORCE STAFFING MODEL.
(a) Development.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection shall develop a workforce staffing model for Image
Technicians and Supervisory Image Technicians described in section
211(g)(6) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended by section
2, based upon--
(1) the deployment of non-intrusive inspection technologies
at ports of entry and international rail crossings;
(2) border traffic patterns; and
(3) scanning goals at each port of entry and international
rail crossing.
(b) Validation.--Not later than 6 months after the completion of
the workforce staffing model described in subsection (a), the
Comptroller General of the United States shall validate such workforce
staffing model and transmit notification of such validation to the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate
and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives.
SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
Upon completion of the validation of the workforce staffing model
pursuant to section 3(b), and quarterly thereafter, the Commissioner of
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in consultation with the Executive
Assistant Commissioner, shall submit a report to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives that
identifies--
(1) the number of Image Technicians and Supervisory Image
Technicians hired during the reporting period;
(2) the number of Image Technicians and Supervisory Image
Technicians currently employed by the Office of Field
Operations, disaggregated by port of entry or sector;
(3) the daily average number of images scanned by each
Image Technician;
(4) training methodologies utilized to train Image
Technicians and Supervisory Image Technicians;
(5) assessment passage rates of Image Technicians and
Supervisory Image Technicians; and
(6) the apparent impact of Image Technicians and
Supervisory Image Technicians on interdiction rates at ports of
entry and international rail crossings at which Image
Technicians or Supervisory Image Technicians are stationed or
from which Image Technicians or Supervisory Image Technicians
review images, including--
(A) throughput increases or decreases at such ports
of entry and international rail crossings;
(B) increases or decreases in waiting times at such
ports of entry and international rail crossings;
(C) average wait times at such ports of entry and
international rail crossings; and
(D) increases or decreases of seizures of
contraband, persons seeking to unlawfully enter or exit
the United States, or illicitly concealed merchandise
such as illicit drugs or terrorist weapons, broken down
by type of seizure and port of entry or international
rail crossing.
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