Integrating New Technologies to Empower Law Enforcement at Our Borders Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8230 To require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a comprehensive plan to identify, deploy, and integrate emerging technologies to achieve greater situational awareness along the northern and southern borders of the United States. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 Ms. SLOTKIN (for herself, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. TAYLOR, and Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a comprehensive plan to identify, deploy, and integrate emerging technologies to achieve greater situational awareness along the northern and southern borders of the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Integrating New Tech- 4 nologies to Empower Law Enforcement at Our Borders 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8230.IH H8230 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8230 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Our border security is directly tied to our 3 national security. 4 (2) U.S. Customs and Border Protection faces 5 a daunting challenge in maintaining situational 6 awareness along the United States northern and 7 southern borders. 8 (3) The United States northern border is the 9 longest common non-militarized border between two 10 countries. 11 (4) The United States southern border is nearly 12 2,000 miles long, stretching across rugged and var- 13 ied terrain. 14 (5) Emerging technologies present an oppor- 15 tunity to reduce current strains on manpower while 16 improving situational awareness along the northern 17 and southern borders. 18 (6) U.S. Customs and Border Protection is cur- 19 rently testing a number of emerging technology pro- 20 grams that will help improve situational awareness 21 along the northern and southern borders. 22 (7) Successfully integrating these technologies 23 into a layered border defense requires a strategic 24 plan for transitioning new programs from the testing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8230.IH H8230 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8230 IH and development stage to wide-scale implementation 1 along both the northern and southern borders. 2 SEC. 3. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO ACHIEVE GREATER SIT- 3 UATIONAL AWARENESS ALONG THE NORTH- 4 ERN AND SOUTHERN BORDERS OF THE 5 UNITED STATES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 7 date the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 8 Security shall develop and submit to the Committee on 9 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 10 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 11 Affairs of the Senate a plan to identify, deploy, and inte- 12 grate emerging and advanced technologies, such as artifi- 13 cial intelligence, machine-learning, automation, fiber-optic 14 sensing technology, nanotechnology, optical and cognitive 15 radar, modeling and simulation technology, hyperspectral 16 and LIDAR sensors, imaging, identification, and cat- 17 egorization systems, and other similar emerging and ad- 18 vanced technologies, to achieve greater situational aware- 19 ness along the northern and southern borders of the 20 United States between ports of entry. 21 (b) CONTENTS.—The plan required under subsection 22 (a) shall include the following: 23 (1) An assessment of how U.S. Customs and 24 Border Protection (CBP) is currently utilizing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8230.IH H8230 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8230 IH emerging and advanced technologies referred to in 1 such subsection to achieve situational awareness 2 along the northern and southern borders of the 3 United States. 4 (2) An assessment of how border security capa- 5 bility gaps can be addressed through the integration 6 and deployment of such technologies. 7 (3) Cost estimates for the acquisition and main- 8 tenance, as the case may be, of technologies referred 9 to in such subsection. 10 (4) Metrics to measure how technologies re- 11 ferred to in such subsection will assist in supporting 12 CBP’s mission. 13 (5) An assessment of how metrics referred to in 14 paragraph (4) can be used to facilitate improve- 15 ments in situational awareness at the northern and 16 southern borders of the United States. 17 (6) An assessment of how the integration of 18 such technologies will support the improvement of 19 multi-domain awareness capabilities. 20 (7) An analysis of technologies used by other 21 Federal departments and agencies not in use by 22 CBP that could assist in improving situational 23 awareness, and how such technologies would be uti- 24 lized. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8230.IH H8230 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8230 IH (8) An analysis of authorities CBP can use to 1 procure technologies referred to in such subsection, 2 and whether additional or alternative authorities are 3 needed. 4 (9) An explanation of how CBP plans to scale 5 existing programs related to emerging and advanced 6 technologies and efficiently transition new tech- 7 nology systems into programs of record. 8 (10) An assessment of CBP legacy technology 9 programs that could be phased out and replaced by 10 technologies referred to in such subsection and cost 11 estimates relating to phasing out and replacing such 12 programs. 13 (11) Information relating to how CBP is coordi- 14 nating with the Department of Homeland Security’s 15 Science and Technology Directorate to— 16 (A) research and develop new technologies 17 to meet mission needs and address gaps in situ- 18 ational awareness; and 19 (B) incentivize the private sector to de- 20 velop technologies that will help meet mission 21 needs to address gaps in situational awareness. 22 (c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘situa- 23 tional awareness’’ has the meaning given such term in sec- 24 tion 1092(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8230.IH H8230 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8230 IH for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 6 U.S.C. 1 223). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:28 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8230.IH H8230 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS