Homeland Threat Assessment Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2453) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the Intelligence Rotational Assignment Program in the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within 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, the Department of Homeland Security currently has nine designated component intelligence programs with trained analysts who could benefit from an authorized, better organized rotation program. In order to truly develop homeland security intelligence expertise, the DHS has to develop and expand programs to cross-train their broad cadre of analysts.

One of the major lessons we learned from the September 11 terror attacks was the vital need to connect the dots by sharing information across analytical silos and across agencies. The bill we are considering today builds upon this foundation by authorizing a rotation program for intelligence analysts across the Department.

Having served as an intelligence analyst in the Marine Corps and in the intelligence community, including at the National Counterterrorism Center and the Drug Enforcement Agency, I know firsthand the value of analysts gaining experience in different mission areas and broadening their analytical skills.

H.R. 2453, the DHS Intelligence Rotational Assignment Program Act of 2017, supports the effort to develop an integrated workforce of analysts that will ultimately develop a homeland security intelligence expertise. The bill authorizes the Intelligence Rotational Assignment Program, or IRAP, and directs the Department to promote and reward participation.

There is an existing IRAP, but based on oversight efforts over the past year, it is clear the DHS needs a more integrated, coordinated, and transparent rotation program. For example, numerous intelligence components are not aware of the IRAP's existence, and it is not being coordinated with other rotational programs offered by the Department or the intelligence community at large.

Moreover, a recent joint inspector general review involving IGs from the intelligence community, the DHS, and the Department of Justice specifically referenced the creation of the IRAP as an important step to help unify the DHS intelligence enterprise, but noted the lack of incentives to encourage participation in this initiative. So this legislation seeks to address these shortcomings by authorizing the IRAP and providing the program with a management structure and participation incentives.

Having a robust analyst rotation program is important for a number of reasons. First, it offers key professional development opportunities to analysts by exposing them to the legal authorities, collection capabilities, and data sets associated with different intelligence offices across the DHS. It also is an important building block in the development of homeland security intelligence as a core competency above and beyond individual mission areas at the Department.

Finally, the IRAP enhances the cohesion of the DHS intelligence enterprise by exposing intelligence analysts to their counterparts in one of the eight other intelligence components, thus encouraging them to see themselves as part of the larger DHS intelligence enterprise.

In short, this bill promotes a more robust intelligence analyst rotation program to ensure the Department is building a network of employees with a true homeland security intelligence expertise.

Mr. Speaker, this bill will make the country more safe. I urge my colleagues to support this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on

Intelligence,

Washington, DC, September 8, 2017.

Hon. Michael McCaul,

Chairman, House Committee on Homeland Security, Washington,

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for her hard work, and I, once again, urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2453, to bolster the Department of Homeland Security's Intelligence Analyst Program and, thereby, strengthen the DHS intelligence enterprise.

Additionally, I want to thank Chairman Nunes and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for working with the Committee on Homeland Security to bring my bill, as well as H.R. 2468, offered by Representative Perry, and H.R. 2470, offered by Representative Rogers, to the floor.

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

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, I rise in support of H.R. 2470, Homeland Threat Assessment Act.

This bipartisan bill the Homeland Security Department (DHS) would conduct annual terrorist threat assessments for the next five years using information from DHS offices and fusion centers.

The assessment under this measure would include:

1. Empirical data assessing terrorist activities and incidents over time in the United States, including terrorist activities and incidents planned or supported by persons outside of the United States targeting the homeland;

2. An evaluation of current terrorist tactics, as well as ongoing and possible future changes in terrorist tactics;

3. An assessment of criminal activity encountered or observed by officers or employees of components in the field which is suspected of financing terrorist activity; and

4. Detailed information on all individuals denied entry to or removed from the United States as a result of material support provided to a foreign terrorist organization (as such term is used in section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189));

5. The efficacy and spread of foreign terrorist organization propaganda, messaging, or recruitment;

6. An assessment of threats, including cyber threats, to the homeland, including to critical infrastructure and Federal civilian networks;

7. An assessment of current and potential terrorism and criminal threats posed by individuals and organized groups seeking to unlawfully enter the United States; and

8. An assessment of threats to the transportation sector, including surface and aviation transportation systems.

During natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, the United States is vulnerable to terror attacks due to the lack of first responders available.

It is important to ensure our first responders and local law enforcement agencies are aware of the terror threats that would be reported in each assessment in order to provide continued support, especially during vulnerable situations such as Hurricane Harvey and the Southeast Texas floods.

The most chaotic times for first responders are in response to natural disasters and it is important to ensure that our nation is protected when we are the most susceptible.

During Hurricane Harvey and the flooding that followed, if there had been a homeland security incident, Texas would have been left vulnerable due to the chaos surrounding our first responders.

It is important to equip our first responders and local law enforcement agencies with these assessments in order to offer greater protection and heightened security during vulnerable situations such as natural disasters.

Additionally the assessment may incorporate relevant information and analysis from other agencies of the Federal Government, agencies of State and local governments (including law enforcement agencies), as well as

the private sector, disseminated in accordance with standard information sharing procedures and policies.

Fusion centers were established administratively after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to serve as focal points at the state and local levels to receive, analyze, and share threat-related information with the federal government and the private sector.

The assessments would have to utilize data collected from the field and could incorporate relevant information from other government agencies and the private sector.

During recovery efforts for incidents such as Hurricane Harvey, having terrorist threat assessments would be valuable in keeping vulnerable citizens secure.

I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2470.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2470, the Homeland Threat Assessment Act of 2017.

Mr. Speaker, since the attacks of September 11, 2001, which claimed the lives of over 3,000 innocent people, the terrorist threat has metastasized and is decentralized. That was how then-DHS Secretary John Kelly described it in April. He went on to warn that ``the risk is as threatening today as it was that September morning almost 16 years ago.''

Whereas, in 2001, there was a centralized, well-funded terrorist organization planning and carrying out major attacks, today the landscape is a patchwork of small cells and lone wolves eager to embrace violence in furtherance of their terrorist ideology.

Today, we consider H.R. 2470 a bill that requires DHS to conduct an assessment of the terrorist threat to the homeland on an annual basis. The factors to be considered include: data on terrorist incidents and activity in the U.S.; current and potential future terrorist tactics; cyber threats, particularly those to critical infrastructure and Federal IT networks; threats to surface and aviation transportation; and the efficacy of foreign terrorist propaganda.

In my district, these threats are an everyday reality for the Port of Los Angeles, which has the largest container volume in the country and faces threats to their shipping, cybersecurity, and infrastructure. This bill will help DHS assess those threats and provide the right response after an incident.

We learned from the September 11 attacks about the importance of recognizing and analyzing the ever-evolving terrorist threat landscape. This annual assessment will ensure that DHS comprehensively examines all forms of terrorism and extremism that could damage the homeland today so that, as a nation, we can be vigilant.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to again express my support for this bill and highlight a particular provision that seeks to strengthen interagency collaboration on examining the threat.

The provision requires DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis to continue working with fusion centers, which are the focal points for sharing threat-related information between Federal, State, local, and private sector partners.

DHS must continue to address and improve the Nation's fusion centers' capabilities in gathering, analyzing, and sharing threat-related information between partners on every level.

I thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers) for sponsoring this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2470) to require an annual homeland threat assessment, and for other purposes.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak in favor of this bill on behalf of Congressman Mike Rogers. He is dealing with the aftereffects of Hurricane Irma, which is the tropical storm affecting his district.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2470 received bipartisan support during consideration by the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence in May, and was included in the Department of Homeland Security authorization bill, which passed the floor in July.

H.R. 2470 requires the Department of Homeland Security to release an annual comprehensive homeland security threat assessment. This will provide a common threat picture across the Department and for Federal, State, and local partners.

This week, we are recognizing 16 years after the horrific events of 9/11. Sixteen years later, our ability to accurately identify and evaluate threats to the homeland remains stunted, in many ways.

Though talented professionals across Federal agencies and at the State and local level are hard at work gathering and analyzing threat information, there is still not a formalized process that evaluates homeland threats in a meaningful and comprehensive way.

The assessment in this bill requires DHS to incorporate and analyze Departmental data in a strategic picture. By relying on information provided by the on-the-ground professionals, including State and local police and the Department's operational component, this threat assessment will be a unique contribution to the intelligence community, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

By requiring the Department to consider specific cyber, transportation, and border security threats, in addition to traditional terrorism threats, H.R. 2470 ensures that DHS will focus on critical mission areas where it can provide real value.

Additionally, the threat assessment required by H.R. 2470 can inform the Department's budgeting and planning by clarifying the nature and scale of the threats DHS was created to counter.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pass H.R. 2470, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I once again urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2470, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my friend's bill, H.R. 2453, the DHS Intelligence Rotational Assignment Program Act of 2017.

Mr. Speaker, 16 years ago, Americans were jarred by the spectacle of the mighty Twin Towers collapsing and fires at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field. The perpetrators of the attacks sought to bring the United States to its knees. While, without question, a deep wound that may never fully heal was inflicted on the heart of this Nation on that day, we remain strong and resolute.

We emerged from that devastating experience more determined and with lessons learned about the need for better information sharing, interoperability, and coordination.

One major reform was the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security as a multimission agency, which today has 240,000 men and women serving in a range of capacities at our land, air, and seaports, as well as in the field, working to protect critical infrastructure from cyber and other attacks.

The DHS Intelligence Rotational Assignment Program Act seeks to provide DHS employees with the opportunity to do a rotational assignment within the DHS' Intelligence and Analysis division.

By establishing this program, officers and analysts across the DHS who have a passion for keeping our Nation secure would be provided the opportunity to develop or broaden their intelligence and counterterrorism skills. Organizations with such programs find that they yield benefits far beyond what the individuals who participate learn.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my House colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2453 was overwhelmingly approved by the Committee on Homeland Security. The rotational program that it authorizes has the potential to not only provide some dedicated DHS employees a boost in morale and fresh perspective on the mission, but also to enrich DHS' contributions to the intelligence enterprise.

Mr. Speaker, as such, I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 2453, and I yield back the balance of my time.