[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2887 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2887

To provide for the sharing of homeland security information by Federal 
    intelligence and law enforcement agencies with State and local 
                               entities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2002

Mrs. Feinstein introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the sharing of homeland security information by Federal 
    intelligence and law enforcement agencies with State and local 
                               entities.

    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 ``Homeland Security Information 
Sharing Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Federal Government is required by the Constitution 
        to provide for the common defense, which includes terrorist 
        attack.
            (2) The Federal Government relies on State and local 
        personnel to protect against terrorist attack.
            (3) The Federal Government collects, creates, manages, and 
        protects classified and sensitive but unclassified information 
        to enhance homeland security.
            (4) Some homeland security information is needed by the 
        State and local personnel to prevent and prepare for terrorist 
        attack.
            (5) The needs of State and local personnel to have access 
        to relevant homeland security information to combat terrorism 
        must be reconciled with the need to preserve the protected 
        status of such information and to protect the sources and 
        methods used to acquire such information.
            (6) Granting security clearances to certain State and local 
        personnel is one way to facilitate the sharing of information 
        regarding specific terrorist threats among Federal, State, and 
        local levels of government.
            (7) Methods exist to declassify, redact, or otherwise adapt 
        classified information so it may be shared with State and local 
        personnel without the need for granting additional security 
        clearances.
            (8) State and local personnel have capabilities and 
        opportunities to gather information on suspicious activities 
        and terrorist threats not possessed by Federal agencies.
            (9) The Federal Government and State and local governments 
        and agencies in other jurisdictions may benefit from such 
        information.
            (10) Federal, State, and local governments and 
        intelligence, law enforcement, and other emergency preparation 
        and response agencies must act in partnership to maximize the 
        benefits of information gathering and analysis to prevent and 
        respond to terrorist attacks.
            (11) Information systems, including the National Law 
        Enforcement Telecommunications System and the Terrorist Threat 
        Warning System, have been established for rapid sharing of 
        classified and sensitive but unclassified information among 
        Federal, State, and local entities.
            (12) Increased efforts to share homeland security 
        information should avoid duplicating existing information 
        systems.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that Federal, 
State, and local entities should share homeland security information to 
the maximum extent practicable, with special emphasis on hard-to-reach 
urban and rural communities.

SEC. 3. FACILITATING HOMELAND SECURITY INFORMATION SHARING PROCEDURES.

    (a) Presidential Procedures for Determining Extent of Sharing of 
Homeland Security Information.--(1) The President shall prescribe 
procedures under which relevant Federal agencies determine--
            (A) whether, how, and to what extent homeland security 
        information may be shared with appropriate State and local 
        personnel, and with which such personnel it may be shared;
            (B) how to identify and safeguard homeland security 
        information that is sensitive but unclassified; and
            (C) to the extent such information is in classified form, 
        whether, how, and to what extent to remove classified 
        information, as appropriate, and with which such personnel it 
        may be shared after such information is removed.
    (2) The President shall ensure that such procedures apply to all 
agencies of the Federal Government.
    (3) Such procedures shall not change the substantive requirements 
for the classification and safeguarding of classified information.
    (4) Such procedures shall not change the requirements and 
authorities to protect sources and methods.
    (b) Procedures for Sharing of Homeland Security Information.--(1) 
Under procedures prescribed by the President, all appropriate agencies, 
including the intelligence community, shall, through information 
sharing systems, share homeland security information with appropriate 
State and local personnel to the extent such information may be shared, 
as determined in accordance with subsection (a), together with 
assessments of the credibility of such information.
    (2) Each information sharing system through which information is 
shared under paragraph (1) shall--
            (A) have the capability to transmit unclassified or 
        classified information, though the procedures and recipients 
        for each capability may differ;
            (B) have the capability to restrict delivery of information 
        to specified subgroups by geographic location, type of 
        organization, position of a recipient within an organization, 
        or a recipient's need to know such information;
            (C) be configured to allow the efficient and effective 
        sharing of information; and
            (D) be accessible to appropriate State and local personnel.
    (3) The procedures prescribed under paragraph (1) shall establish 
conditions on the use of information shared under paragraph (1)--
            (A) to limit the redissemination of such information to 
        ensure that such information is not used for an unauthorized 
        purpose;
            (B) to ensure the security and confidentiality of such 
        information;
            (C) to protect the constitutional and statutory rights of 
        any individuals who are subjects of such information; and
            (D) to provide data integrity through the timely removal 
        and destruction of obsolete or erroneous names and information.
    (4) The procedures prescribed under paragraph (1) shall ensure, to 
the greatest extent practicable, that the information sharing system 
through which information is shared under such paragraph include 
existing information sharing systems, including, but not limited to, 
the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, the Regional 
Information Sharing System, and the Terrorist Threat Warning System of 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
    (5) Each appropriate Federal agency, as determined by the 
President, shall have access to each information sharing system through 
which information is shared under paragraph (1), and shall therefore 
have access to all information, as appropriate, shared under such 
paragraph.
    (6) The procedures prescribed under paragraph (1) shall ensure that 
appropriate State and local personnel are authorized to use such 
information sharing systems--
            (A) to access information shared with such personnel; and
            (B) to share, with others who have access to such 
        information sharing systems, the homeland security information 
        of their own jurisdictions, which shall be marked appropriately 
        as pertaining to potential terrorist activity.
    (7) Under procedures prescribed jointly by the Director of Central 
Intelligence and the Attorney General, each appropriate Federal agency, 
as determined by the President, shall review and assess the information 
shared under paragraph (6) and integrate such information with existing 
intelligence.
    (c) Sharing of Classified Information and Sensitive but 
Unclassified Information With State and Local Personnel.--(1) The 
President shall prescribe procedures under which Federal agencies may, 
to the extent the President considers necessary, share with appropriate 
State and local personnel homeland security information that remains 
classified or otherwise protected after the determinations prescribed 
under the procedures set forth in subsection (a).
    (2) It is the sense of Congress that such procedures may include 
one or more of the following means:
            (A) Carrying out security clearance investigations with 
        respect to appropriate State and local personnel.
            (B) With respect to information that is sensitive but 
        unclassified, entering into nondisclosure agreements with 
        appropriate State and local personnel.
            (C) Increased use of information-sharing partnerships that 
        include appropriate State and local personnel, such as the 
        Joint Terrorism Task Forces of the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation, the Anti-Terrorism Task Forces of the Department 
        of Justice, and regional Terrorism Early Warning Groups.
    (d) Responsible Officials.--For each affected Federal agency, the 
head of such agency shall designate an official to administer this Act 
with respect to such agency.
    (e) Federal Control of Information.--Under procedures prescribed 
under this section, information obtained by a State or local government 
from a Federal agency under this section shall remain under the control 
of the Federal agency, and a State or local law authorizing or 
requiring such a government to disclose information shall not apply to 
such information.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``homeland security information'' means any 
        information possessed by a Federal, State, or local agency 
        that--
                    (A) relates to the threat of terrorist activity;
                    (B) relates to the ability to prevent, interdict, 
                or disrupt terrorist activity;
                    (C) would improve the identification or 
                investigation of a suspected terrorist or terrorist 
                organization; or
                    (D) would improve the response to a terrorist act.
            (2) The term ``intelligence community'' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 
        1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a(4)).
            (3) The term ``State and local personnel'' means any of the 
        following persons involved in prevention, preparation, or 
        response for terrorist attack:
                    (A) State Governors, mayors, and other locally 
                elected officials.
                    (B) State and local law enforcement personnel and 
                firefighters.
                    (C) Public health and medical professionals.
                    (D) Regional, State, and local emergency management 
                agency personnel, including State adjutant generals.
                    (E) Other appropriate emergency response agency 
                personnel.
                    (F) Employees of private-sector entities that 
                affect critical infrastructure, cyber, economic, or 
                public health security, as designated by the Federal 
                government in procedures developed pursuant to this 
                section.
            (4) The term ``State'' includes the District of Columbia 
        and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 
        States.

SEC. 4. REPORT.

    (a) Report Required.--Not later than 12 months after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the 
congressional committees specified in subsection (b) a report on the 
implementation of section 3. The report shall include any 
recommendations for additional measures or appropriation requests, 
beyond the requirements of section 3, to increase the effectiveness of 
sharing of information among Federal, State, and local entities.
    (b) Specified Congressional Committees.--The congressional 
committees referred to in subsection (a) are the following committees:
            (1) The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the 
        Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives.
            (2) The Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee 
        on the Judiciary of the Senate.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out section 3.
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