[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3815 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 3815


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 31, 2008

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of 
    Homeland Security to make full and efficient use of open source 
 information to develop and disseminate open source homeland security 
             information products, 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 ``Homeland Security Open Source 
Information Enhancement Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Internet has profoundly expanded the amount, 
        significance, and accessibility of all types of information, 
        but the Department of Homeland Security has not sufficiently 
        expanded its use of such information to produce analytical 
        products.
            (2) Open source products can be shared with Federal, State, 
        local, and tribal law enforcement, the American public, the 
        private sector, and foreign allies because of their 
        unclassified nature.
            (3) The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for 
        providing open source products to consumers consistent with 
        existing Federal open source information guidelines.

SEC. 3. FULL AND EFFICIENT USE OF OPEN SOURCE INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle A of title II of the Homeland Security 
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 210F. FULL AND EFFICIENT USE OF OPEN SOURCE INFORMATION.

    ``(a) Responsibilities of Secretary.--The Secretary shall establish 
an open source collection, analysis, and dissemination program within 
the Department. This program shall make full and efficient use of open 
source information to develop and disseminate open source intelligence 
products.
    ``(b) Open Source Products.--The Secretary shall ensure that among 
the open source products that the Department generates, there shall be 
a specific focus on open source products that--
            ``(1) analyze news and developments related to foreign 
        terrorist organizations including how the threat of such 
        organizations is relevant to homeland security;
            ``(2) analyze the risks and vulnerabilities to the Nation's 
        critical infrastructure;
            ``(3) analyze terrorist tactics and techniques to include 
        recommendations on how to identify patterns of terrorist 
        activity and behavior allowing State, local and tribal first 
        responders to allocate resources appropriately; and
            ``(4) utilize, as appropriate, computer-based electronic 
        visualization and animation tools that combine imagery, sound, 
        and written material into unclassified open source intelligence 
        products.
    ``(c) Sharing Results of Analysis.--The Secretary shall share the 
unclassified results of such analysis with appropriate Federal, State, 
local, tribal, and private-sector officials.
    ``(d) Protection of Privacy.--The Secretary shall ensure that the 
manner in which open source information is gathered and disseminated by 
the Department complies with the Constitution, section 552a of title 5, 
United States Code (popularly known as the Privacy Act of 1974), 
provisions of law enacted by the E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 
107-347), and all other relevant Federal laws.
    ``(e) Inspector General Report.--The Inspector General of the 
Department shall audit the use and dissemination of open source 
information by the Department to evaluate the effectiveness of the 
Department's activities and to ensure that it is consistent with the 
procedures established by the Secretary or a designee of the Secretary 
for the operation of the Department's open source program and with 
Federal open source information and intelligence guidelines promulgated 
by the Director of National Intelligence.
    ``(f) Open Source Information Defined.--In this section the term 
`open source information' means information that is publicly available 
and that can be used and disseminated in a timely manner to an 
appropriate audience for the purpose of addressing a specific homeland 
requirement.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2013 such sums as 
may be necessary to carry out this section.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to such 
subtitle the following:

``Sec. 210F. Full and efficient use of open source information.''.

SEC. 4. PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES IMPACT ASSESSMENT.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Privacy Officer and the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 
Liberties of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with 
the Chief Privacy Officer and Civil Liberties Protection Officer of the 
Office of the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, 
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 
Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
Representatives, and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a 
privacy and civil liberties impact assessment of the Department of 
Homeland Security's open source program, including information on the 
collection, analysis, and dissemination of any information on United 
States persons.

SEC. 5. OPEN SOURCE INFORMATION DEFINED.

    In this Act the term ``open source information'' has the meaning 
that term has in section 203 of Homeland Security Act of 2002, as 
amended by this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives July 30, 2008.

            Attest:

                                            LORRAINE C. MILLER,

                                                                 Clerk.