[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4656 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4656

 To reauthorize and amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to create 
       stronger accountability mechanisms for Joint Task Forces.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 28, 2022

  Mr. Peters introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reauthorize and amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to create 
       stronger accountability mechanisms for Joint Task Forces.

    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 ``DHS Joint Task Forces 
Reauthorization Act of 2022''.

SEC. 2. AMENDING SECTION 708 OF THE HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002.

    Section 708(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 
348(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking paragraph (8) and inserting the following:
            ``(8) Joint task force staff.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each Joint Task Force shall have 
                a staff, composed of officials from relevant components 
                and offices of the Department, to assist the Director 
                of that Joint Task Force in carrying out the mission 
                and responsibilities of that Joint Task Force.
                    ``(B) Report.--The Secretary shall include in the 
                report submitted under paragraph (6)(F)--
                            ``(i) the number of personnel permanently 
                        assigned to each Joint Task Force by each 
                        component and office; and
                            ``(ii) the number of personnel assigned on 
                        a temporary basis to each Joint Task Force by 
                        each component and office.'';
            (2) in paragraph (9)--
                    (A) in the heading, by inserting ``Strategy and 
                of'' after ``Establishment of'';
                    (B) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting the 
                following:
                    ``(A) using leading practices in performance 
                management and lessons learned by other law enforcement 
                task forces and joint operations, establish a strategy 
                for each Joint Task Force that contains--
                            ``(i) the mission of each Joint Task Force 
                        and strategic goals and objectives to assist 
                        the Joint Task Force in accomplishing that 
                        mission; and
                            ``(ii) outcome-based and other appropriate 
                        performance metrics to evaluate the 
                        effectiveness of each Joint Task Force and 
                        measure progress towards the goals and 
                        objectives described in clause (i), which 
                        include--
                                    ``(I) targets for current and 
                                future fiscal years; and
                                    ``(II) a description of the 
                                methodology used to establish those 
                                metrics and any limitations with 
                                respect to data or information used to 
                                assess performance.'';
                    (C) in subparagraph (B)--
                            (i) by striking ``enactment of this 
                        section'' and insert ``enactment of the DHS 
                        Joint Task Forces Reauthorization Act of 
                        2022'';
                            (ii) by inserting ``strategy and'' after 
                        ``Senate the''; and
                            (iii) by striking the period at the end and 
                        inserting a semicolon; and
                    (D) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the 
                following:
                    ``(C) beginning not later than 1 year after the 
                date of enactment of the DHS Joint Task Forces 
                Reauthorization Act of 2022, submit annually to each 
                committee specified in subparagraph (B) a report that--
                            ``(i) contains the evaluation described in 
                        subparagraphs (A) and (B); and
                            ``(ii) outlines the progress in 
                        implementing outcome-based and other 
                        performance metrics referred to in subparagraph 
                        (A)(ii).'';
            (3) in paragraph (11)(A), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting the following: ``, which shall include--
                            ``(i) the justification, focus, and mission 
                        of the Joint Task Force; and
                            ``(ii) a strategy for the conduct of the 
                        Joint Task Force, including goals and 
                        performance metrics for the Joint Task 
                        Force.'';
            (4) in paragraph (12)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``January 31, 
                2018, and January 31, 2021, the Inspector General of 
                the Department'' and inserting ``1 year after the date 
                of enactment of the DHS Joint Task Forces 
                Reauthorization Act of 2022, the Comptroller General of 
                the United States''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking clauses (i) 
                and (ii) and inserting the following:
                            ``(i) an assessment of the structure of 
                        each Joint Task Force;
                            ``(ii) an assessment of the effectiveness 
                        of oversight over each Joint Task Force;
                            ``(iii) an assessment of the strategy of 
                        each Joint Task Force; and
                            ``(iv) an assessment of staffing levels and 
                        resources of each Joint Task Force.''; and
            (5) in paragraph (13), by striking ``2022'' and inserting 
        ``2024''.
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