I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Border Enforcement, 

5 Security, and Trade (BEST) Facilitation Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NEW OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS POSITIONS AU2 THORIZED. 

3 Section 411(g) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

4 (6 U.S.C. 211(g)) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(6) IMAGE TECHNICIAN POSITIONS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IMAGE TECHNICIAN.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in 

9 the Office of Field Operations, the position 

10 of Image Technician, who shall be ap11 pointed in accordance with the provisions 

12 under chapter 33 (relating to appointments 

13 in the competitive service) and chapters 51 

14 and 53 (relating to classification and rates 

15 of pay) of title 5, United States Code. 

16 ‘‘(ii) DUTIES.— 

17 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Duties of an 

18 Image Technician shall include— 

19 ‘‘(aa) reviewing non-intru20 sive inspection images of convey21 ances and containers entering or 

22 exiting the United States through 

23 a land, sea, or air port of entry 

24 or international rail crossing; 

25 ‘‘(bb) assessing whether im26 ages of conveyances and conVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Nov 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5990.IH H5990

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1 tainers appear to contain anoma2 lies indicating the potential pres3 ence of contraband, persons un4 lawfully seeking to enter or exit 

5 the United States, or illicitly con6 cealed merchandise, including il7 licit drugs and terrorist weapons; 

8 ‘‘(cc) recommend entry re9 lease or exit release for any con10 veyances and containers where 

11 the images do not include notice12 able anomalies indicating the po13 tential presence of contraband, 

14 persons seeking to unlawfully 

15 enter or exit the United States, 

16 or illicitly concealed merchandise, 

17 including illicit drugs or terrorist 

18 weapons, to the U.S. Customs 

19 and Border Protection Officer re20 sponsible for inspecting such con21 veyance or container. 

22 ‘‘(dd) recommend for further 

23 inspection any conveyances and 

24 containers where any image the 

25 Image Technician reasonably beVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:28 Nov 06, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5990.IH H5990

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1 lieves contains anomalies indi2 cating the potential presence of 

3 contraband, persons seeking to 

4 unlawfully enter or exit the 

5 United States, or illicitly con6 cealed merchandise, such as illicit 

7 drugs or terrorist weapons, to the 

8 U.S. Customs and Border Pro9 tection Officer who is responsible 

10 for inspecting such conveyance or 

11 container; and 

12 ‘‘(ee) referring to a Super13 visory Image Technician any 

14 image of conveyances or con15 tainers that is difficult to review 

16 or assess due to poor image qual17 ity or other factors. 

18 ‘‘(II) RULE OF CONSTRUC19 TION.—A U.S. Customs and Border 

20 Protection Officer shall retain the dis21 cretion and final decision-making au22 thority to release conveyances or 

23 cargo for entry or exit or to refer such 

24 conveyance or cargo for further in25 spection. 


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1 ‘‘(B) SUPERVISORY IMAGE TECHNICIAN.— 

2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in 

3 the Office of Field Operations, the position 

4 of Supervisory Image Technician, who 

5 shall be appointed in accordance with the 

6 provisions under chapter 33 (relating to 

7 appointments in the competitive service) 

8 and chapters 51 and 53 (relating to classi9 fication and rates of pay) of title 5, United 

10 States Code. 

11 ‘‘(ii) DUTIES.— 

12 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Duties of a 

13 Supervisory Image Technician shall 

14 include— 

15 ‘‘(aa) carrying out all of the 

16 duties described in clauses (i) 

17 through (iv) of subparagraph 

18 (A); 

19 ‘‘(bb) reviewing and making 

20 a recommendation regarding im21 ages referred by an Image Tech22 nician pursuant to subparagraph 

23 (A)(v) to the U.S. Customs and 

24 Border Protection Officer who is 


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1 responsible for inspecting such 

2 conveyance or container; 

3 ‘‘(cc) receiving intelligence 

4 from the National Targeting 

5 Center regarding tactics, tech6 niques, and procedures being 

7 used at ports of entry and in the 

8 border environment by malign ac9 tors to facilitate the unlawful 

10 entry or exit of contraband, per11 sons, or illicitly concealed mer12 chandise such as illicit drugs or 

13 terrorist weapons; and 

14 ‘‘(dd) reporting new infor15 mation to the National Targeting 

16 Center regarding tactics, tech17 niques, and procedures being 

18 used at ports of entry and in the 

19 border environment by malign ac20 tors to facilitate the unlawful 

21 entry or exit of contraband, per22 sons, or concealed merchandise 

23 such as illicit drugs or terrorist 

24 weapons. 


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1 ‘‘(II) RULE OF CONSTRUC2 TION.—A U.S. Customs and Border 

3 Protection Officer shall retain the dis4 cretion and final decision-making au5 thority to release conveyances or 

6 cargo for entry or exit or to refer such 

7 conveyance or cargo for further in8 spection. 

9 ‘‘(C) TRAINING REQUIREMENTS.—All 

10 Image Technicians and Supervisory Image 

11 Technicians shall receive annual training and 

12 additional ad hoc training, to the extent nec13 essary based on current trends, regarding— 

14 ‘‘(i) privacy, and civil rights and civil 

15 liberties, including the protections against 

16 unreasonable searches and seizures af17 forded by the Fourth Amendment to the 

18 United States Constitution; 

19 ‘‘(ii) analyzing images generated by 

20 non-intrusive inspection technologies or 

21 any successor technologies deployed by 

22 U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 

23 ‘‘(iii) identifying commodities and 

24 merchandise in images generated by non25 intrusive inspection technologies or any 


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1 successor technologies deployed by U.S. 

2 Customs and Border Protection; 

3 ‘‘(iv) identifying contraband, persons 

4 who are seeking to unlawfully enter or exit 

5 United States, or illicitly concealed mer6 chandise such as illicit drugs or terrorist 

7 weapons in images generated by non-intru8 sive technologies or any successor tech9 nologies deployed by U.S. Customs and 

10 Border Protection; 

11 ‘‘(v) tactics, techniques, and proce12 dures being used at ports of entry and in 

13 the border environment by malign actors to 

14 facilitate the unlawful entry or exit of con15 traband, persons, or concealed merchandise 

16 such as illicit drugs or terrorist weapons; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(vi) any other training that the Com19 missioner of the U.S. Customs and Border 

20 Protection determines to be relevant to the 

21 duties described in subparagraphs (B) or 

22 (D) of this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(D) ANNUAL ASSESSMENT.—All Image 

24 Technicians and Supervisory Image Technicians 


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1 shall receive annual testing with respect to 

2 their— 

3 ‘‘(i) accuracy in image analysis; 

4 ‘‘(ii) timeliness in image analysis; and 

5 ‘‘(iii) ability to ascertain tactics, tech6 niques, and procedures being used at ports 

7 of entry and in the border environment by 

8 malign actors to facilitate the unlawful 

9 entry or exit of contraband, persons, or il10 licitly concealed merchandise such as illicit 

11 drugs or terrorist weapons.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. WORKFORCE STAFFING MODEL. 

13 (a) DEVELOPMENT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of 

15 U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall develop a work16 force staffing model for Image Technicians and Super17 visory Image Technicians described in section 211(g)(6) 

18 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended by 

19 section 2, based upon— 

20 (1) the deployment of non-intrusive inspection 

21 technologies at ports of entry and international rail 

22 crossings; 

23 (2) border traffic patterns; and 

24 (3) scanning goals at each port of entry and 

25 international rail crossing. 


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1 (b) VALIDATION.—Not later than 6 months after the 

2 completion of the workforce staffing model described in 

3 subsection (a), the Comptroller General of the United 

4 States shall validate such workforce staffing model and 

5 transmit notification of such validation to the Committee 

6 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

7 Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

8 House of Representatives. 

9 SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

10 Upon completion of the validation of the workforce 

11 staffing model pursuant to section 3(b), and quarterly 

12 thereafter, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border 

13 Protection, in consultation with the Executive Assistant 

14 Commissioner, shall submit a report to the Committee on 

15 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen16 ate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

17 House of Representatives that identifies— 

18 (1) the number of Image Technicians and Su19 pervisory Image Technicians hired during the re20 porting period; 

21 (2) the number of Image Technicians and Su22 pervisory Image Technicians currently employed by 

23 the Office of Field Operations, disaggregated by port 

24 of entry or sector; 


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1 (3) the daily average number of images scanned 

2 by each Image Technician; 

3 (4) training methodologies utilized to train 

4 Image Technicians and Supervisory Image Techni5 cians; 

6 (5) assessment passage rates of Image Techni7 cians and Supervisory Image Technicians; and 

8 (6) the apparent impact of Image Technicians 

9 and Supervisory Image Technicians on interdiction 

10 rates at ports of entry and international rail cross11 ings at which Image Technicians or Supervisory 

12 Image Technicians are stationed or from which 

13 Image Technicians or Supervisory Image Techni14 cians review images, including— 

15 (A) throughput increases or decreases at 

16 such ports of entry and international rail cross17 ings; 

18 (B) increases or decreases in waiting times 

19 at such ports of entry and international rail 

20 crossings; 

21 (C) average wait times at such ports of 

22 entry and international rail crossings; and 

23 (D) increases or decreases of seizures of 

24 contraband, persons seeking to unlawfully enter 

25 or exit the United States, or illicitly concealed 


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1 merchandise such as illicit drugs or terrorist 

2 weapons, broken down by type of seizure and 

3 port of entry or international rail crossing. 

Æ 


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