[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10265 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10265
To establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border
Mission Center, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 29, 2024
Mr. Suozzi (for himself and Mr. Pappas) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border
Mission Center, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Securing our Northern Border Act''.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY NORTHERN BORDER MISSION CENTER.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish the Department of
Homeland Security Northern Border Mission Center.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the Center shall be to serve as the
Department's forward deployed centralized operations support center for
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.
(c) Location.--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.
(d) Components.--
(1) In general.--The Center shall collocate personnel and
activities of--
(A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection;
(B) the United States Coast Guard;
(C) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's
Homeland Security Investigations; and
(D) 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 (e).
(2) Additional personnel.--Additional Federal, State,
tribal, local, and international government partners may be
collocated as the Secretary determines to be necessary and
appropriate to support the operations described in this
section.
(e) Functions.--
(1) In general.--The Center shall perform the functions
described in this subsection in addition to any other functions
assigned by the Secretary. In carrying out these functions, the
Center shall support the Department's northern border security
operations.
(2) Northern border strategy.--The Center, in collaboration
with relevant offices and components of the Department, shall--
(A) serve as a coordination mechanism for
operational components for the implementation of the
Department of Homeland Security Northern Border
Strategy and any successor strategy and support
appropriate offices of the Department in the evaluation
and updating of the Department of Homeland Security
Northern Border Strategy and any successor strategy;
and
(B) support the development of best practices and
policies for personnel at the northern border to
support such implementation.
(3) 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.
(4) Resource and technological needs and challenges.--The
Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components
of the Department, shall--
(A) identify resource and technological needs or
challenges affecting security along the northern
border; and
(B) 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.
(5) Air and marine operations.--
(A) 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.
(B) 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--
(i) support air and maritime domain
awareness and information sharing efforts along
the northern border;
(ii) provide dedicated monitoring of
northern border systems; and
(iii) 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.
(6) Counter-unmanned aircraft systems.--
(A) 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.
(B) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this section
may be construed to provide additional authority
related to detection, mitigation, research,
development, or testing of unmanned aircraft systems or
counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
(7) 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,
and as necessary, ensure there are resources or personnel
available to support the Center's mission onsite.
(8) 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.
(f) Annual Reporting.--Not later than 180 days after the
establishment of the Center, and annually thereafter, the Secretary
shall submit a report, that may include a classified annex or a
sensitive but unclassified annex, 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--
(1) personnel levels;
(2) additional resources that are needed to support the
operations of the Center and northern border operations of the
Department; and
(3) any additional assets or authorities that are needed to
increase security and domain awareness along the northern
border.
(g) Temporary Duty Assignments.--The Secretary shall submit a
quarterly report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the
House of Representatives regarding temporary duty assignments of U.S.
Border Patrol agents during the reporting period, including--
(1) the number of agents on temporary duty assignment;
(2) the duration of the temporary duty assignment;
(3) the sectors from which the agents were assigned; and
(4) the sectors to which the agents were assigned.
(h) Report on Large Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations.--Not
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a report to the Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, and the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives on the Department's operation of large unmanned
aircraft systems. The report shall include information on existing
large unmanned aircraft systems, as well as recommendations on how to
enable the operations of large unmanned aircraft systems based at the
Center established pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
(i) Rules of Construction.--
(1) Authority to establish center.--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).
(2) Commandant authority.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to affect, impinge, or alter any authority of the
Commandant of the Coast Guard under title 14 or title 46,
United States Code, or limit the Commandant's discretion and
ability to deploy Coast Guard assets and personnel.
(j) Sunset.--This section shall cease to be effective beginning on
October 1, 2027.
(k) No Additional Funds.--No additional funds are authorized to be
appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this section.
(l) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Center.--The term ``Center'' means the Department of
Homeland Security Northern Border Mission Center established
pursuant to subsection (a).
(2) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Homeland Security.
(3) Northern border.--The term ``northern border'' means--
(A) the international border between the United
States and Canada; and
(B) the maritime border between Alaska and the
Russian Federation.
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Homeland Security.
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