TTPRADARCBP's Office of Field Operations unveiled a new five-year roadmap, the "OFO Strategy 2026-2030," on August 6, 2026. Days later, Executive Assistant Commissioner Diane Sabatino told reporters where the agency wants Global Entry to end up: travelers walking through arrivals without stopping at a kiosk or scanning a passport, unless an officer wants to speak with them.
That's the headline. It's also, by CBP's own account, a few years away. Here's what the strategy actually says, what's live today, and what it does and doesn't change if you already have Global Entry or are applying for it.
What the OFO Strategy 2026-2030 actually is
The strategy is a planning document, not a rule or a deployment schedule. CBP has organized it around four goals: National Security, Economic Security, Integration, and Workforce Cultivation, covering everything from intelligence-driven enforcement to modernized trade and travel tools to how OFO recruits and trains staff through 2030.
Sabatino's Global Entry comment builds on that plan. It isn't a separate announcement. Her actual words: "In a few years... people with Global Entry are going to be walking through at all of our airports, unless a CBP officer wants to speak to that traveler." That's a vision statement for the end of a five-year plan, not a description of how Global Entry works today.
What's actually live today
Two different technologies are getting bundled together in coverage of the announcement, and it's worth separating them.
The walk-through concept Sabatino described exists only as a limited, opt-in pilot at a handful of major airports. Travelers pass through a designated camera zone without stopping at a device, then have a brief exchange with an officer. It hasn't been expanded system-wide, and CBP hasn't published a timeline for when, or whether, it will be.
Separately, Enhanced Passenger Processing (EPP) is already running at 33 U.S. airports. EPP uses facial recognition to match a live photo against government records in roughly 2.5 to 8 seconds for U.S. citizens, and travelers can opt out by telling an officer. EPP is real and operating now. The kiosk-free Global Entry walk-through is not, at least not beyond a small test group.
The December 2025 biometric rule doesn't apply to Global Entry members
A separate DHS rule on biometric data collection at entry and exit took legal effect on December 26, 2025, and it's been getting folded into coverage of the new strategy. It shouldn't be.
That rule authorizes CBP to photograph foreign nationals entering and departing the United States. It does not cover U.S. citizens or Global Entry members. CBP itself has said full deployment across every commercial airport and seaport will take another three to five years, so the December date is a legal effective date, not a nationwide switch-on.
What hasn't changed for current or future Global Entry members
Nothing here touches the application process. If you're conditionally approved as a first-time applicant, you still need to complete an interview, either at an enrollment center or through Enrollment on Arrival at a participating airport. None of the new technology replaces that step, and none of it is usable by anyone who isn't already enrolled.
No CBP statement or press coverage from this announcement ties either the OFO strategy or the biometric rule to interview wait times or enrollment center capacity. If you're waiting on an interview appointment, that process runs on its own timeline, unaffected by any of this news.
For members already enrolled, the practical effect of these announcements is roughly zero. EPP is available at 33 airports if you're a U.S. citizen who wants it, the walk-through pilot is worth knowing about but not something you can opt into on demand, and the biometric rule doesn't apply to you at all. If you're still working through the application itself, TTPRadar tracks Global Entry wait times by enrollment center and can send a free alert when an earlier interview slot opens up.