DHS Interoperable Communications Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in strong support of H.R. 4289, the Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act.

Mr. Speaker, when I began my work on this subcommittee last year, I was shocked to learn how much money had been spent on interoperable communications since the September 11 terrorist attacks. Nationwide, we have spent over $13 billion to achieve interoperable communications at the State and local level, and we are not there yet.

Given the degree of attention that the Federal Government, in general, and DHS, in particular, have devoted to interoperability, I was surprised to learn that DHS has not achieved Department-wide interoperability.

Police officers and firefighters from Newark to Jersey City and across the

10th Congressional District of New Jersey never leave my office without reminding me how important interoperable communications are. Nevertheless, according to a November 2012 inspector general report, DHS has invested over $430 million into communications capabilities for its 123,000 radio users since 2003, but Department ``personnel do not have reliable interoperable communications for daily operations, planned events, and emergencies.''

Indeed, the inspector general testified before the committee in May that in 2012 it asked 479 DHS field radio users to access and use the specified channel to communicate. Only one of those 479 radio users-- one of 479--could get on the common channel. That is a 99.8 percent failure rate.

The problem is not technology. Instead, the inspector general found that the Department had not established and implemented protocols to ensure that components put practices in place to achieve interoperability.

H.R. 4289, the DHS Interoperable Communications Act, which I introduced with my colleague on the Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee, Chairwoman Brooks, requires that certain actions be taken by DHS leadership to drive components in the field towards interoperability. The legislation directs the Under Secretary for Management to issue policies and directives related to interoperability, develop a strategy to achieve DHS-wide interoperability, and report to Congress biannually on the Department's progress.

Interoperable communications capabilities are critical to the mission DHS carries out and to first responders across the United States. DHS must lead by example.

Toward that end, I was encouraged that the Department's acting Under Secretary for Management, Chris Cummiskey, expressed his commitment to addressing this issue when he appeared before the subcommittee last month. It is my hope that this legislation will bolster his efforts and make it clear to everyone in the Department that Congress is looking to DHS to achieve interoperability.

Before reserving my time, I would like to thank Subcommittee Chairwoman Brooks for working with me on this measure. We have found that there are many issues in terms of this matter, and we have worked in a bipartisan manner to make sure that interoperability is achieved.

I would also like to thank Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Thompson for their help in addressing this issue.

Mr. Speaker, we have looked at this issue. We continue to talk to first responders throughout my district and throughout the Nation. We know that these issues around homeland security are bipartisan, and we have been able to work on this committee in a manner which we all have the same goal, which is to make sure this Nation is safe and the homeland is secure.

I urge my colleagues to support improving the interoperable communications at DHS by voting for H.R. 4289. Our communities are safer when DHS has the capabilities necessary to effectively carry out its mission. Mr. Speaker, we always have to make sure that we keep our first responders safe.

Mr. Speaker, interoperable communications capabilities are essential to DHS' ability to carry out its mission on a day-to-day basis when disaster strikes. H.R. 4289 would put DHS on the path to achieving cross-component interoperable communications, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure. We must protect our protectors. Our first responders deserve the ability to communicate with each other.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Will the gentlewoman yield?

Let me just indicate that I have just arrived and I wanted to support all of the bills, including yours.

If I might just make one comment about the preclearance bill, which we have all worked very hard on. I want to thank Mr. Payne and Mrs. Brooks for their leadership, and just make the point that we have worked in a bipartisan manner in Homeland Security very effectively.

I also wanted to make mention in particular of the bill that I worked on extensively, H.R. 3488, the Preclearance Authorization Act, and to indicate that this is a bill in which the Secretary of Homeland Security may establish and conduct preclearance operations. It is imperative, as we seek to push out our Nation's borders.

So we have had a vigorous discussion about how you utilize these preclearance sites. I think it comes to mind with some of the sites in the Middle East. And in light of where we are today, with TSA having to put in place new requirements because of the potential threat, I think this is a very positive step, as I do of all the bills, including ones dealing with interoperability, which we dealt with during the tragedy of 9/11.

I want to again thank Ranking Member Payne and the full committee chair and ranking member for their leadership.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee, I rise in support of H.R. 4289, the ``Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act,'' which will help ensure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) achieves cross- component interoperability.

This bill implements several recommendations contained in a 2012 report of the DHS Inspector General on the status and quality of interoperable radio communications.

A major finding of the report is that DHS has spent over $430 million in the past 9 years for communication purposes but it still does not ``have interoperable communications for daily operations, planned events, and emergencies.''

The IG report also found that 99% (478 out of 479) of radio users surveyed could not find the DHS common channel because the components did not ``effectively inform them'' of the correct channel.

That is why it is important that we vote today to implement the following specific recommendations from the report:

1. Create a structure with the necessary authority to ensure that the components achieve interoperability.

2. Create a structure with the necessary authority to ensure that the components achieve interoperability.

Because the mission of DHS is to ensure that our homeland is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards, effective communication within the organization is crucial.

According to the IG, the reason for this lack of communication is that DHS's efforts to achieve department-wide interoperable communications capability have been undermined by excessive reliance upon on Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) and voluntary participation by communications task forces and working groups.

This means that various agencies within DHS do not have a standardized set of policies regarding radios and the department's leadership has not been successful in enforcing adherence to those policies by all department components.

Although the IG urged DHS to implement a stronger enforcement structure, DHS has not adopted this recommendation, insisting instead that its existing structure is effective.

Plainly, it is not.

H.R. 4289 follows the recommendation from the report and ensures that DHS can achieve cross-component interoperability by:

Directing the Undersecretary to submit to Congress a strategy for achieving Department-wide interoperability within 120 days of enactment.

Report to Congress within 220 days, and biannually thereafter, on the progress of efforts to implement the Department-wide interoperability strategy.

Since its founding, the Department of Homeland Security has overcome many challenges as an organization but much more progress must be made regarding effective inter-operable communication between the federal, state, and local agencies.

Athough not a panacea, H.R. 4289 is a step in the right direction because it will help improve DHS' overall functions so that it can more effectively protect our people.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4289) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Under Secretary for Management of the Department of Homeland Security to take administrative action to achieve and maintain interoperable

communications capabilities among the components of the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4289, the Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act, introduced by the gentleman from New Jersey and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications, Mr. Payne. I am happy to be an original cosponsor of this important legislation, which the Committee on Homeland Security also approved last month by a bipartisan voice vote.

This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to include, among the responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security's Under Secretary for Management, achieving and maintaining interoperable communications among the Department's components.

H.R. 4289 addresses the findings and recommendations of a November 2012 DHS Office of Inspector General report, which stated that the Department does not have the appropriate oversight or governance structure to ensure communications interoperability among its own components.

The Department has been in the forefront on working with stakeholders to provide our Nation's first responders with the resources and tools needed to have effective interoperable communications. Now the Department needs to practice what they preach. It is vital that the Department's own components are able to effectively communicate day to day and, most importantly, during emergencies.

In order to ensure the Department is taking the necessary steps to achieve and maintain interoperable communications capabilities, H.R. 4289 requires the Department's Under Secretary for Management to submit an interoperable communications strategy to the Department of Homeland Security no later than 120 days after enactment.

I applaud the ranking member for his work and leadership on bringing this to the floor.

I urge all Members to join me in supporting this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, it is vital that the various component agencies of the Department of Homeland Security are able to communicate on a daily basis, and particularly in times of crisis. As the ranking member has pointed out, it is not only our first responders, but all of our Federal agencies that deal with crisis daily.

Right now, numerous components, including being led in part by ICE, FEMA, and CBP, are working together to respond to the influx of unaccompanied alien children across our southern border. They must communicate together with one another. It is so important as they address this crisis. This is just one example of the latest reason why communications interoperability must be achieved and maintained between and among Department of Homeland Security's components.

I urge all Members to join the ranking member and myself in supporting this very important bipartisan legislation.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Reclaiming my time, I reiterate that I urge all Members to join Ranking Member Payne and I in supporting this bipartisan legislation.

The gentlewoman from Texas has been very involved as well on the issues involving the unaccompanied alien children and interoperable communications issues. I appreciate her comments, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H.R. 4289, the ``Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act.''

One of the major lessons of the September 11th attacks was that operable and interoperable communications are imperative to an effective response.

Simply put, when law enforcement and other first responders have interoperable communications during an incident or disaster, lives are saved.

As a Nation, we have invested over $13 billion on interoperable communications. However, the goal of achieving interoperability continues to evade us--even at the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal agency that is in charge of driving efforts to achieve interoperability at the Federal, State, and local levels.

In November 2012, the Office of the Inspector General reported that DHS' interoperable communications capability was deficient.

For example, of the radios examined during the OIG's audit, only 20 percent of them were set up to use the common channel.

The Inspector General recommended that stronger Departmental governance be established to ensure communications policies are fully implemented.

At the time, DHS explicitly rejected the OIG recommendation that a stronger governing structure be established and, instead, insisted that its existing structures were sufficient.

Nevertheless, the interoperability problem at DHS persists to this day.

This past May, Inspector General John Roth appeared before the Committee on Homeland Security and said: ``I am frankly concerned that as we speak today a Secret Service agent in New York can't get on his radio and talk to a Federal Protective Service officer in New York or a CBP officer in El Paso can't talk to a Homeland Security Investigations Agent in the same city.''

H.R. 4289 would require the Department to undertake the planning and oversight necessary to ensure that achievement of interoperability within DHS.

I would like to congratulate Subcommittee Ranking Member Payne, Jr. and Chairwoman Brooks for their commitment to addressing this critical issue. I wish them success in their efforts and urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4289.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed two votes on July 8. Had I been present, on rollcall No. 369, H.R. 4263, the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014 I would have voted ``aye.'' On rollcall No. 370, H.R. 4289, the Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act I would have voted ``aye.''