The House on Tuesday approved a number of homeland security bills, including ones related to cyber security, aviation security and counter-terrorism.
The SAFE TECH Act (H.R. 4561), introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), would give the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) one year from enactment to create a program to allow third parties to test transportation security equipment provided by vendors, including as a potential alternative to testing by government entities. The testing would be for detection of explosives and prohibited items.
The Global Aviation System Security Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 4559), sponsored by Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.) and passed by voice vote, calls for the TSA to provide a report in six months on the ways to address security standards across the global aviation system. The report will address best practices for working with foreign partners, identifying foreign partners that haven’t been able to implement internationally accepted security protocols, and to assess the cyber security and cyber espionage risk of security screening equipment.
The Cyber Vulnerability Disclosure Reporting Act (H.R. 3202), introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and passed by voice vote, directs the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress on “policies and procedures” the department uses for coordinating cyber vulnerability disclosures. The report, due nine months after the bill is enacted, can also describe how DHS works with federal and critical infrastructure stakeholders on preventing, detecting and mitigating cyber vulnerabilities.
The House also passed by voice vote the DHS Interagency Counterterrorism Task Force Act of 2017 (H.R. 4555), introduced by Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.), which authorizes DHS to assign its personnel to participate in overseas interagency counterterrorism task forces, and the Counterterrorism Information Sharing Act of 2017 (H.R. 4569), introduced by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), which is aimed at providing DHS with access to biographic and biometric data collected by the U.S. government on individuals associated with a terrorist organization.
Another bill, the Domestic Explosives Detection Canine Capacity Building Act of 2017 (H.R. 4577), was introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and also passed by voice vote. The bill would create a working group of the TSA, DHS Science and Technology branch, canine association, relevant universities, and canine breeders and vendors to find ways to “develop a decentralized domestic canine breeding network to produce high quality explosive detection canines and modernize canine training standards.”
The Screening and Vetting Passenger Exchange Act of 2017 (H.R. 4581), introduced by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), directs DHS to develop best practices for using advanced passenger information and passenger name record data for screening and vetting operations. The bill passed 415 to 1.
Also approved by voice vote was the Securing American Non-Profit Organizations Against Terrorism Act of 2017 (H.R. 1486), introduced by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), which permits DHS to make security grants to eligible non-profits for target hardening and other security enhancements to protect against terrorist attacks. Grants can be used for physical security enhancement equipment and inspection and screening systems.