118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2291
AN ACT
To establish the Northern Border Coordination Center, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Northern Border Coordination Act
.
Definitions
In this Act:
Center
The term Center means the Northern Border Coordination Center established pursuant to section 3.
Department
The term Department means the Department of Homeland Security.
Northern border
The term northern border means—
the international border between the United States and Canada; and
the maritime border between Alaska and the Russian Federation.
Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Northern Border Coordination Center
Establishment
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish the Northern Border Coordination Center.
Purpose
The purpose of the Center shall be to serve as the Department’s forward deployed centralized coordination center for operations, domain awareness, information sharing, intelligence, training, and stakeholder engagement with Federal, State, tribal, local, and international government partners along the northern border of the United States. The Center shall be placed along the northern border at a location that is collocated with an existing U.S. Border Patrol sector headquarters, an Air and Marine Operations branch, and a United States Coast Guard air station, and other existing Department activities.
Components
In general
The Center shall collocate personnel and activities of—
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including U.S. Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations;
the United States Coast Guard;
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations;
other components and offices of the Department that the Secretary determines to be necessary, including to support the training, technology testing, and development described in subsection (d); and
additional Federal, State, tribal, local, and international government partners, as the Secretary determines to be necessary and appropriate to support the coordination of operations described in this Act.
Functions
The Center shall perform the functions described in this subsection in addition to any other functions assigned by the Secretary.
Northern border strategy
The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components of the Department, shall—
serve as a coordination mechanism for operational components for the implementation, evaluation, and updating of the Northern Border Strategy and any successor strategy; and
support the development of best practices and policies for personnel at the northern border to support such implementation.
Training
The Center shall serve as a training location to support the delivery of training or exercises for Department personnel and Federal, State, tribal, local, and international government partners.
Metrics
The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components of the Department, shall coordinate the development and tracking of border security metrics for the northern border.
Resource and technological needs and challenges
The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components of the Department, shall—
identify resource and technological needs or challenges affecting security along the northern border; and
serve as a testing ground and demonstration location for the testing of border security technology, including determining such technology’s suitability and performance in the northern border and maritime environments.
Air and marine operations
Quick reaction capabilities
In support of the Center, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations—
shall establish and maintain capability that is collocated with the Center and available for quick deployment in support of the northern border missions, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Department, including missions in the Great Lakes region; and
in coordination with the Center and relevant offices and components of the Department, shall evaluate requirements and make recommendations to support the operations of large unmanned aircraft systems based at the Center.
Northern border domain awareness
In order to coordinate with the Center and support its operations, the Air and Marine Operations Center shall collocate personnel and resources with the Center to enhance the Department’s capabilities to—
support air and maritime domain awareness and information sharing efforts along the northern border;
provide dedicated monitoring of northern border systems; and
lead, in coordination with other U.S. Customs and Border Protection components, Federal, State, tribal, local, and international governments, and private sector partners, the Center’s efforts to track and monitor legitimate cross-border traffic involving unmanned aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems.
Counter-unmanned aircraft systems
In general
Pursuant to policies established by the Secretary, consistent with section 210G of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124n), the Center shall support counter-unmanned aircraft systems operations along the northern border to respond to the increased use of unmanned aircraft systems. Such support may involve development, testing, and evaluation of technologies.
Rule of construction
Nothing in this Act may be construed to provide additional authority related to detection, mitigation, research, development, or testing of unmanned aircraft systems or counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
Privacy and civil rights
The Center, in collaboration with the Chief Privacy Officer and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department, shall ensure that operations and practices of the Center comply with the privacy and civil rights policies of the Department and its components.
Noncontiguous northern border
The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components of the Department, shall—
identify the specific challenges that exist along the noncontiguous international land border with Canada and the maritime border with Russia, including resource, technological challenges, and domain awareness;
ensure that dedicated personnel, including reachback support, are working to evaluate and address the challenges identified pursuant to subparagraph (A); and
determine the feasibility of establishing a satellite facility of the Center to address the specific challenges identified pursuant to subparagraph (A).
Annual reporting
Not later than 180 days after the establishment of the Center, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives that describes the activities of the Center during the most recently concluded fiscal year, including—
personnel levels;
additional resources that are needed to support the operations of the Center and northern border operations of the Department; and
any additional assets or authorities that are needed to increase security and domain awareness along the northern border.
Temporary duty assignments
The Secretary shall submit a quarterly report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives regarding temporary duty assignments of U.S. Border Patrol agents during the reporting period, including—
the number of agents on temporary duty assignment;
the duration of the temporary duty assignment; and
the sectors from which the agents were assigned.
Rule of construction
The Center established pursuant to subsection (a) shall be established separate and distinct from the Secretary’s authorities under section 708 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 348).
Sunset
This Act shall cease to be effective on the date that is 7 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Passed the Senate June 5, 2024.
Secretary