[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 133 (Friday, August 1, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5240-S5241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 3468. Mr. LANKFORD submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2026 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of title X, add the following:
Subtitle I--Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade Facilitation
SEC. 1091. SHORT TITLES.
This subtitle may be cited as the ``Border Enforcement,
Security, and Trade Facilitation Act of 2025'' or the ``BEST
Facilitation Act''.
SEC. 1092. OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS IMAGE TECHNICIAN PILOT
PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--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 pilot program.--
``(A) Image technician 1.--
``(i) In general.--There shall be in the Office of Field
Operations, Image Technician 1 positions, which shall be
filled 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) Conditions.--Image Technician 1 positions--
``(I) may be filled by existing U.S. Customs and Border
Protection employees;
``(II) are not law enforcement officer positions;
``(III) may not be filled by independent contractors; and
``(IV) shall be assigned to a regional command center
established under subparagraph (F).
``(iii) Duties.--The duties of an Image Technician 1 shall
include--
``(I) 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;
``(II) 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;
``(III) recommending entry release or exit release for any
conveyances and containers whenever the images of such items
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; and
``(IV) recommending further inspection of any conveyances
and containers whenever the Image Technician reasonably
believes that an image of any such item 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.
``(B) Image technician 2.--
``(i) In general.--There shall be in the Office of Field
Operations, Image Technician 2 positions, which shall be
filled 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) Conditions.--Image Technician 2 positions--
``(I) may be filled by existing U.S. Customs and Border
Protection employees;
``(II) are not law enforcement officer positions;
``(III) may not be filled by independent contractors; and
``(IV) shall be assigned to a regional command center
established under subparagraph (F).
``(iii) Duties.--The duties of an Image Technician 2 shall
include--
``(I) carrying out all of the duties described in
subclauses (I) through (IV) of subparagraph (A)(ii);
``(II) 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
``(III) 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.
``(C) Supervisory u.s. customs and border protection
officers.--
``(i) Supervision.--All image technicians shall be
supervised by a Supervisory U.S. Customs and Border
Protection Officer.
``(ii) Discretion and decision-making authority.--The
appropriate Supervisory U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Officer, while working with image technicians, shall retain
the discretion and final decision-making authority--
``(I) to release conveyances or cargo for entry; or
``(II) to refer such conveyance or cargo for further
inspection.
``(iii) Training.--A Supervisory U.S. Customs and Border
Protection Officer who supervises image technicians shall
receive additional training in accordance with subparagraph
(D).
``(D) Training requirements.--All image technicians shall
receive annual training and additional ad hoc training, to
the extent necessary based on current trends, regarding--
``(i) respecting privacy, civil rights, and civil
liberties, including the protections against unreasonable
searches and seizures afforded by the First and Fourth
Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as
applicable and as interpreted by the Federal courts;
``(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 the 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 illicitly concealed merchandise, such as illicit
drugs or terrorist weapons; and
``(vi) any other training that the Commissioner of U.S.
Customs and Border Protection determines to be relevant to
the duties described in subparagraphs (A)(iii) or (B)(iii).
``(E) Annual assessment.--All 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.
``(F) Command centers.--As part of the pilot program
established under this paragraph, the Executive Assistant
Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations shall
establish 5 regional command centers at land, rail, air, and
sea ports in which image technicians shall review non-
intrusive inspection images.
``(G) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this paragraph may
be construed to affect the discretion and final decision-
making authority given to U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Officers to release conveyances or cargo for entry or exit or
to refer such conveyances or cargo for further inspection.''.
(b) Effective Date.--
(1) Sunset.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
cease to have effect on the date that is 5 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act.
(2) Transfers authorized.--Upon the termination of the
pilot program established by section 411(g)(6) of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a),
individuals occupying Image Technician 1 or Image Technician
2 positions in the Office of Field Operations may transfer to
comparable positions within U.S. Customs and Border
[[Page S5241]]
Protection or the Department of Homeland Security.
SEC. 1093. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Semiannual Reports.--Not later than 180 days after the
hiring of the first positions described in section 411(g)(6)
of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added by section
2092(a), and every 180 days thereafter, the Commissioner of
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in consultation with the
Executive Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Field
Operations, 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 Technician 1 and Image Technician 2
positions filled during the reporting period;
(2) the number of Image Technician 1 and Image Technician 2
positions currently employed by the Office of Field
Operations, disaggregated by--
(A) port of entry or field office;
(B) image technician position; and
(C) command center, as applicable;
(3) the daily average number of images scanned by each
Image Technician 1 and each Image Technician 2;
(4) training methodologies utilized to train image
technicians;
(5) assessment passage rates of image technicians;
(6) the impact of image technicians on interdiction rates
at ports of entry and international rail crossings at which
image technicians are stationed or from which 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;
(7) the impact of image technicians on U.S. Customs and
Border Protection's capability to review 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;
(8) an assessment of the effectiveness with which image
technicians carry out the duties described in subparagraphs
(A)(iii) and (B)(iii) of section 411(g)(6) of the Homeland
Security Act of 2002, as added by section 2092(a), compared
to any U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who are
assigned such duties.
(9) the progress made in establishing command centers under
the pilot program established by such section;
(10) any infrastructure or resource needs required to
establish such command centers; and
(11) the ports of entry and international rail crossing, as
applicable, that are supported by such a command center.
(b) Biannual Briefings.--The Executive Assistant
Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations shall provide
biannual briefings to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives regarding
the information described in the latest report submitted
pursuant to subsection (a).
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