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  1. Home
  2. About CBP
  3. Congressional Resources
  4. Trade & Field Operations

Trade & Field Operations

Director: Dane Norman

The Trade and Field Operations (TFO) Directorate manages the CBP’s legislative priorities related to the agency’s trade facilitation and enforcement mission, as well as cargo and passenger operations at the Nation’s air, land, and sea ports of entry.

Trade & Agriculture Division

The Trade & Agriculture Division within the TFO Directorate is CBP's Congressional point of contact for trade policy, program development, regulatory, and compliance measurement functions. The directorate coordinates and consults with Congressional committees of jurisdiction in the development of international trade policies and programs that will guide the work performed by the agency's trade policy and enforcement personnel as well as CBP officers, agriculture specialists, and other field staff at ports of entry.

Key issues handled by the Division include: trade policy and program modernization, forced labor, e-commerce, intellectual property, antidumping / countervailing duty, the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the Jones Act, textile enforcement, and the reauthorization of CBP's trade functions.

The division serves as the point of contact for activities surrounding the confirmation of the CBP Commissioner due to the frequent interaction with the Senate Committee on Finance – the Congressional committee with confirmation authority. Internally, the branch also interacts with the Field Operations & Intelligence Directorate and the Budget & Appropriations Directorate on policy and budget matters concerning trade policy, cargo operations, and enforcement of U.S. trade laws.

The Trade & Agriculture Division collaborates with the two primary committees of jurisdiction over legacy customs revenue and trade policy matters:

In addition, the Trade Policy & Agriculture Directorate interacts with these committees:

The directorate collaborates with other U.S. Government trade-focused agencies, to include the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Key issues handled by the directorate include: trade policy and program modernization, e-commerce, intellectual property, forced labor, antidumping / countervailing duty, the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the Jones Act, textile enforcement, and the reauthorization of CBP's trade functions. The directorate serves as the point of contact for activities surrounding the confirmation of the CBP Commissioner due to the frequent interaction with the Senate Committee on Finance – the Congressional committee with confirmation authority. Internally, the branch also interacts with the Field Operations & Intelligence Directorate and the Budget & Appropriations Directorate on policy and budget matters concerning trade policy, cargo operations, and enforcement of U.S. trade laws.

Field Operations Division

The Field Operations Division serves as the primary agency point of contact for all authorizing committees and Member personal offices on matters related to the admissibility of travelers seeking lawful entry into the United States; cargo security; port-of-entry staffing, facilities, and technology programs; as well as certain aspects of CBP’s National Targeting Center/National Vetting Center.

  • Passenger and cargo targeting eff​orts (National Targeting Center / National Vetting Center)
  • CBP officer staffing levels and the Workload Staffing Model
  • CBP land​ port of entry infrastructure
  • Drug smuggling through por​ts of entry
  • Traveler wait times
  • Trusted Traveler Program
  • Biometric entry-exit
  • Outbound operations at ports of entry
  • Preinspection and Preclearance operations
  • Cargo security programs​
  • Non-Intrusive Inspection technology
  • Mass migration events at ports of entry
  • Global pandemic mitigation
  • Reimbursable services and donation acceptance

The directorate collaborates regularly with Congressional staff from the following committees:

Learn more:

Last Modified: Oct 24, 2023