[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2696 Introduced in Senate (IS)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                 S. 2696

To establish the United States Homeland Security Signal Corps to ensure 
        proper communications between law enforcement agencies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 20, 2004

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish the United States Homeland Security Signal Corps to ensure 
        proper communications between law enforcement agencies.

    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 ``U.S. Homeland Security Signal Act of 
2004''.

SEC. 2. HOMELAND SECURITY SIGNAL CORPS.

    (a) In General.--Title V of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
U.S.C. 311 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 510. HOMELAND SECURITY SIGNAL CORPS.

    ``(a) Establishment.--There is established, within the Directorate 
of Emergency Preparedness and Response, a Homeland Security Signal 
Corps (referred to in this section as the `Signal Corps').
    ``(b) Personnel.--The Signal Corps shall be comprised of specially 
trained police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, 
and other emergency personnel.
    ``(c) Responsibilities.--The Signal Corps shall--
            ``(1) ensure that first responders can communicate with one 
        another, mobile command centers, headquarters, and the public 
        at disaster sites or in the event of a terrorist attack or a 
        national crisis;
            ``(2) provide sufficient training and equipment for fire 
        and police units to enable those units to deal with all threats 
        and contingencies in any environment; and
            ``(3) secure joint-use equipment, such as 
        telecommunications trucks, that can access surviving telephone 
        land lines to supplement communications access.
    ``(d) National Signal Corps Standards.--The Signal Corps shall 
establish a set of standard operating procedures, to be followed by 
signal corps throughout the United States, that will ensure that first 
responders from each Federal, State, and local agency have the methods 
and means to communicate with, or substitute for, first responders from 
other agencies in the event of a multi-state terrorist attack or a 
national crisis.
    ``(e) Demonstration Signal Corps.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a 
        demonstration signal corps in New York City, New York, 
        consisting of specially trained personnel from the New York 
        Police Department, the Fire Department of New York, the New 
        York Port Authority, and other appropriate personnel.
            ``(2) Responsibilities.--The demonstration signal corps 
        established under this subsection shall--
                    ``(A) ensure that `best of breed' military 
                communications technology is identified and secured for 
                first responders;
                    ``(B) ensure communications connectivity between 
                the New York Police Department and the Fire Department 
                of New York;
                    ``(C) identify the means of communication that work 
                best in New York's tunnels, skyscrapers, and subways to 
                maintain communications redundancy; and
                    ``(D) serve as a model for other major metropolitan 
                areas across the Nation.
            ``(3) Team captains.--The Mayor of New York City shall 
        appoint team captains to command communications companies drawn 
        from the personnel described in paragraph (1).
            ``(4) Technical assistance.--The Signal Corps Headquarters, 
        located in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, shall provide technical 
        assistance to the demonstration signal corps.
    ``(f) Reporting Requirement.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
of enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 
shall submit a report, to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Select 
Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Committee on the 
Judiciary and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
House of Representatives, which outlines the progress of the Signal 
Corps in the preceding year and describes any problems, issues, or 
other impediments to effective communication between first responders 
in the event of a terrorist attack or a national crisis.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) Demonstration signal corps.--There are authorized to 
        be appropriated $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2005 to carry out 
        subsection (e).
            ``(2) Fiscal years 2006 through 2009.--There are authorized 
        to be appropriated $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 
        2006 through 2009--
                    ``(A) to create signal corps in high terrorism 
                threat areas throughout the United States; and
                    ``(B) to carry out the mission of the Signal Corps 
                to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement 
                agencies to effectively communicate with each other 
                during a terrorism event or a national crisis.''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--Section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act 
of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 509 the following:

        ``Sec. 510. Homeland Security Signal Corps.''.
                                 <all>