Counterterrorism Information Sharing Improvement Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4569) to require counterterrorism information sharing coordination, and for other purposes.

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

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

As we destroy the caliphate in the Middle East, foreign fighters and terrorist sympathizers have fled the battlefield and are looking for new ways to spread their hatred, recruit new followers, instill fear, kill innocent people, and disrupt our way of life.

The December 11 bombing at the New York City Port Authority Bus Terminal was the second terror attack in New York in less than 2 months and a grave reminder of the reality of this threat.

Given this current environment, at the direction of Chairman McCaul, I led a task force to identify specific national security challenges and examine how terrorists might infiltrate our homeland and bring harm to our people. Subsequently, we produced a report with a series of solutions to fix any identified weaknesses that may be exploited by our enemies.

This report resulted in several pieces of legislation that have come before the House today. To that end, my bill, the Counterterrorism Information Sharing Improvement Act, seeks to enhance the current information-sharing environment that exists within the Federal and military communities. Throughout the task force, we heard time and time again about the incredible amount of biometric and biographic data being pulled off battlefields in Syria and Iraq, as U.S. forces and our allies continue to roll back the territories once held by ISIS.

It is often DOD personnel that encounter ISIS fighters on the battlefield, which often leads to the collection of valuable data. However, if these fighters and their associates move back to the West or try to enter the U.S., the DHS becomes the primary entity that will engage them. Therefore, it is critical that the data recovered by the DOD in the battlefield is able to reach the DHS and its systems for effective frontline screening and vetting of known or suspected terrorists.

In order to verify we are utilizing this information to support our counterterrorism efforts, we must ensure that the Department of Homeland Security gets access to that data in a timely manner, particularly so that it can be used for screening and vetting purposes. My bill directs the President, acting through the Secretary of Homeland Security, to ensure that the DHS has access to biographic and biometric data collected by the U.S. Government on individuals associated with a terrorist organization. The bill also directs the Secretary to report to Congress on these efforts.

The U.S. must prioritize any opportunity to identify bad actors outside the country and expand our ability to identify and deter threats before they reach the homeland. Unfortunately, information- sharing challenges among U.S. agencies can prevent valuable information from becoming available for frontline screening and vetting. Not only is this a bureaucratic challenge, given the number of separate government agencies and components involved, but legal capacity and technical issues exist as well.

This bill will address these challenges and create improved collaborations between the Department of Homeland Security and its other Federal and military partners.

Mr. Speaker, I therefore urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I thank my colleagues for their hard work in generating the task force report and all of the ideas that led to the variety of bills we are doing here today.

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

Mr. Speaker, the following cost estimate for H.R. 4569, the Counterterrorism Information Sharing Improvement Act of 2017, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office was not made available to the Committee at the time of filing of the legislative report.

U.S. Congress,

Congressional Budget Office,

Washington, DC, May 4, 2018.

Hon. Michael McCaul,

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has

prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 4569, the

Counterterrorism Information Sharing Improvement Act of 2017.

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be

pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Mark

Grabowicz.

Sincerely,

Keith Hall, Director.

Enclosure.

H.R. 4569--Counterterrorism Information Sharing Improvement Act of 2017

As passed by the House of Representatives on January 9, 2018

H.R. 4569 would direct the Department of Homeland Security

(DHS) to ensure that it has access to any biographical and

biometric data collected by federal agencies (such as the

Department of Defense) on people associated with terrorist

organizations. Because DHS currently carries out similar

activities, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4569 would

have no significant effect on spending by DHS or other

agencies.

Enacting H.R. 4569 would not affect direct spending or

revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4569 would not increase

net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four

consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.

H.R. 4569 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector

mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Mark Grabowicz.

The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy

Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4569-- Counterterrorism Information Sharing Improvement Act of 2017.

This legislation will require the coordination of counterterrorism information sharing to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has access to biographic and biometric data collected by the U.S. Government on individuals associated with a terrorist organization for counterterrorism purposes.

I believe counterterrorism information sharing between the U.S. Government and the DHS will be an essential asset to the United States. Lack of interagency cooperation prevents critical details from being shared in time sensitive situations, leading to avoidable errors and potentially fatal consequences. In the past few years, ISIS has suffered significant defeats in Iraq and Syria. In the wake of these losses, ISIS fighters have dispersed into surrounding states, Europe, and even the United States. The changing landscape where we meet this enemy necessitates information sharing between law-enforcement agencies. Though we first made contact with members of ISIS on a foreign battlefield, this threat is pervasive and dynamic.

H.R. 4569 will allow the Department of Defense to share intelligence with the DHS, should members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria attempt to enter the United States. The DHS will be able to utilize this intelligence for frontline screening, vetting, and protecting Americans on domestic soil.

As a former member of the Armed Services Committee I understand the obstacles facing our fight to eliminate terrorism worldwide. H.R. 4569 will remove at least one of these obstacles by promoting interagency cooperation. ISIS is not a traditional enemy and it is critical our security and intelligence agencies support one another. I support H.R. 4569 and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4569, the Counterterrorism Information Sharing Improvement Act of 2017. This bill seeks to ensure that the DHS gets access to biometric and biographic data collected by the United States Government to carry out its counterterrorism efforts.

Since 9/11, the Democratic members of this committee have been committed to bolstering terrorism information sharing within our government. Today, terrorist threats are decentralized, spreading beyond al-Qaida, al Shabaab, and ISIL to a patchwork of small cells and lone wolves who stand ready to carry out violence to our country at their whim. Increasingly, this threat also includes homegrown violent extremists and domestic terrorists.

Ensuring that the DHS has access to biographic and biometric data on individuals associated with a terrorist organization is critical to comprehensive assessing of all forms of terrorism and threats to our government.

This legislation also requires that the DHS report on how the data is being received and utilized for screening and vetting purposes. This report will help Congress ensure that screening and vetting of travelers to the United States is conducted in a risk-based manner.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation and I am prepared to close.

Again, Mr. Speaker, this legislation ensures that the DHS have access to biographic and biometric data collected by our government on individuals associated with terrorist organizations. It is important that this information be integrated into the DHS' screening and vetting programs to protect our country, our citizens, from all forms of terrorism and extremism.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.