Enhancing Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5094) to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to improve suspicious activity reporting to prevent acts of terrorism, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 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 in strong support of H.R. 5094, the Enhancing Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative Act.

I have been a long-term proponent of the If You See Something, Say Something campaign, which was begun in New York City in 2002 by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

This program, along with the Suspicious Activity Reporting initiative, SAR, helps Federal, State, and local law enforcement piece together sometimes seemingly disparate pieces of information to prevent, detect, and interdict terrorist threats to the homeland.

During a recent subcommittee hearing on SARs, a witness from the New Jersey State Police explained that a SAR triggered a law enforcement investigation where a copy of ``Inspire'' magazine was found in a residence, in particular, an article on how to construct a pressure cooker bomb. The suspect admitted to planning a major attack in New York City.

This SAR was instrumental in thwarting a potential terrorist attack against our Nation.

While the FBI reviews, nationwide, SARs for investigative leads, DHS largely manages the efforts to provide information and training to State and local law enforcement, fusion centers, and other emergency response providers.

H.R. 5094 strengthens this effort by requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a strategy designed to improve the operations and activities of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, NSI.

This includes training; outreach; information sharing with key partners, including law enforcement officers, fusion centers, emergency response providers, and the private sector.

H.R. 5094 also empowers the Secretary to establish an NSI working group that includes representation from State and local stakeholders, the private sector, and privacy experts.

The working group will provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary on improvements to the SARs initiative. Additionally, the reporting requirement to Congress promotes transparency in these efforts and rigorous oversight by my subcommittee and others.

Last week, the Secretary of Homeland Security noted that DHS was in the midst of ``refreshing'' the SARs initiative. While I am pleased to hear that DHS is moving to enhance ``See Something, Say Something'' and SARs, the legislation before us today will ensure that the refresh is done strategically and includes input from the very stakeholders responsible for investigating and reporting SARs.

Shortly after an attack or tragedy in our Nation, leaders of both parties urge our citizens to be vigilant during their commutes and in their neighborhoods, and to report suspicious activity to law enforcement. It is important to turn public statements of support into legislative action.

This bill received strong bipartisan support in committee. The passage of this legislation will demonstrate Congress' commitment to provide commonsense legislation to help DHS continue to provide important SARs training and outreach.

I would also like to emphasize that a Secret Service detailee to my subcommittee, Pete Murphy, was very instrumental in working with other staff members in putting this legislation together.

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

Mr. Speaker, I again want to thank my colleague, Mr. Langevin, for his bipartisan support on this legislation, as in so many other pieces of bipartisan legislation, and for the outstanding work he does on the subcommittee and the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I once again urge my colleagues to support this bill, 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 H.R. 5094, the Enhancing Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative Act.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5094 would require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a strategy to improve the training, outreach, and information it provides on Suspicious Activity Reporting to prevent acts of terrorism.

Since the September 11 attacks, we have seen that sharing information regarding suspicious activity can help local, State, and Federal law enforcement connect the dots about threats in the communities that they serve.

While it is important that ordinary citizens say something when they see something that could be a threat to their community, we must recognize that there have been instances where there have been abuses. On occasion, we have seen allegations of suspicious activity made against individuals solely based on biases regarding race, ethnicity, or religion.

H.R. 5094 seeks to prevent such discriminatory reporting by directing DHS to disseminate examples of reporting that meet the guidelines for action. Further, it instructs DHS to outline the types of suspicious activity reporting, including reporting based on race, religion, and nationality, that is prohibited. More broadly, H.R. 5094 seeks to build numerous safeguards for privacy, civil liberties, and civil rights into the suspicious activity reporting regime.

It requires the establishment of an outside working group to provide advice to the DHS Secretary on matters such as outreach, information sharing, protecting personally identifiable information, protecting privacy and civil rights, and training for emergency response providers and the private sector.

Additionally, H.R. 5094 enhances congressional oversight of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties by requiring the department to furnish Congress with copies of the materials it disseminates to stakeholders.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this security measure.

Mr. Speaker, as the terrorist threats evolve, so too must our counterterrorism efforts.

Since the September 11 attacks, we have seen that raising public awareness about reporting suspicious activity can be effective at detecting, deterring, and combating terrorism in the homeland.

I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 5094 to ensure that DHS strategically engages stakeholders to improve suspicious activity reporting.

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