[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4062 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4062
To establish a pilot program to assess the use of technology to speed
up and enhance the cargo inspection process at land ports of entry
along the border.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 22, 2024
Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a pilot program to assess the use of technology to speed
up and enhance the cargo inspection process at land ports of entry
along the border.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES.
This Act may be cited as the ``Contraband Awareness Technology
Catches Harmful Fentanyl Act'' or the ``CATCH Fentanyl Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security of the House
of Representatives.
(2) Artificial intelligence; ai.--The terms ``artificial
intelligence'' and ``AI'' have the meaning given the term
``artificial intelligence'' in section 238(g) of the John S.
McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019
(Public Law 115-232; 10 U.S.C. 4061 note).
(3) CBP innovation team.--The term ``CBP Innovation Team''
means the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Innovation Team
within the Office of the Commissioner.
(4) Nonintrusive inspection technology; nii technology.--
The terms ``nonintrusive inspection technology'' and ``NII
technology'' means technical equipment and machines, such as X-
ray or gamma-ray imaging equipment, that allow cargo
inspections without the need to open the means of transport and
unload the cargo.
(5) Pilot projects.--The term ``pilot projects'' means the
projects required under section 3(a) for testing and assessing
the use of technologies to improve the inspection process at
land ports of entry.
SEC. 3. PILOT PROJECTS ALLOWING ADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS TO
PARTICIPATE IN INSPECTING CARS, TRUCKS, AND CARGO
CONTAINERS AT CERTAIN PORTS OF ENTRY.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security,
acting through CBP Innovation Team, and in coordination with
the Office of Field Operations, shall begin the implementation
of pilot projects for testing and assessing the use of
technologies or technology enhancements to improve the process
for inspecting, including by increasing efficiencies of such
inspections, any conveyance or mode of transportation at land
ports of entry along the borders of the United States. The
technologies or technology enhancements tested and assessed
under the pilot projects shall be for the purpose of assisting
U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to detect
contraband, illegal drugs, illegal weapons, and threats on
inbound and outbound traffic, in conjunction with the use of
imaging equipment, radiation portal monitors, and chemical
detectors.
(2) Requirements.--
(A) In general.--In implementing the pilot projects
at ports of entry, the CBP Innovation Team shall test
and collect data regarding not fewer than 5 types of
nonintrusive inspection technology enhancements that
can be deployed at land ports of entry. The CBP
Innovation Team shall test technology enhancements from
not fewer than 1 of the following categories:
(i) Artificial intelligence.
(ii) Machine learning.
(iii) High-performance computing.
(iv) Quantum information sciences,
including quantum sensing.
(v) Other emerging technology.
(B) Identification of effective enhancements.--The
pilot projects shall identify the most effective types
of technology enhancements to improve the capabilities
of nonintrusive inspection systems and other inspection
systems used at land ports of entry based on--
(i) the technology enhancement's ability to
assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection
accurately detect contraband, illegal drugs,
illegal weapons, or threats in inbound and
outbound traffic;
(ii) the technology enhancement's ability
to increase efficiencies of inspections to
assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection
address long wait times;
(iii) the technology enhancement's ability
to improve capabilities of aging detection
equipment and infrastructure at land ports of
entry;
(iv) the technology enhancement's safety
relative to As Low As Reasonably Achievable
(ALARA) standard practices;
(v) the expected cost of implementing the
new technology;
(vi) the ability to integrate the new
technology into the existing workflow and
infrastructure;
(vii) the technology enhancement's ability
to incorporate automatic threat recognition
technology using standard formats and open
architecture;
(viii) the mobility of technology
enhancements; and
(ix) other performance measures identified
by the CBP Innovation Team.
(C) Private sector involvement.--The CBP Innovation
Team may solicit input from representatives of the
private sector regarding commercially viable
technologies.
(3) Nonintrusive inspection systems program.--The CBP
Innovation Team shall work with existing nonintrusive
inspection systems programs within U.S. Customs and Border
Protection when planning and developing the pilot projects
required under paragraph (1).
(b) Termination.--The pilot projects shall terminate on the date
that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(c) Reports Required.--Not later than 3 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and 180 days after the termination of the pilot
projects pursuant to subsection (b), the Secretary of Homeland Security
shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that
contains--
(1) an analysis of the effectiveness of technology
enhancements tested based on the requirements described in
subsection (a)(2);
(2) any recommendations from the testing and analysis
concerning the ability to utilize such technologies at all land
ports of entry;
(3) a plan to utilize new technologies that meet the
performance goals of the pilot projects across all U.S. Customs
and Border Protection land ports of entry at the border,
including total costs and a breakdown of the costs of such
plan, including any infrastructure improvements that may be
required to accommodate recommended technology enhancements;
and
(4) the analysis described in subsection (d).
(d) Areas of Analysis.--The report required under subsection (c)
shall include an analysis containing--
(1) quantitative measurements of performance based on the
requirements described in subsection (a)(2) of each technology
tested compared with the status quo to reveal a broad picture
of the performance of technologies and technology enhancements,
such as--
(A) the probability of detection, false alarm rate,
and throughput; and
(B) an analysis determining whether such observed
performance represents a significant increase,
decrease, or no change compared with current systems;
(2) an assessment of the relative merits of each such
technology;
(3) any descriptive trends and patterns observed; and
(4) performance measures for--
(A) the technology enhancement's ability to assist
with the detection of contraband on inbound and
outbound traffic through automated (primary) inspection
by measuring and reporting the probability of detection
and false alarm rate for each NII system under
operational conditions;
(B) the throughput of cargo through each NII system
with a technology enhancement, including a breakdown of
the time needed for U.S. Customs and Border
Protection--
(i) to complete the image review process
and clear low-risk shipments; and
(ii) to complete additional inspections of
high-risk items;
(C) changes in U.S. Customs and Border Protection
officer time commitments and personnel needs to sustain
high volume NII scanning operations when technology
enhancements are utilized; and
(D) operational costs, including--
(i) estimated implementation costs for each
NII system with technology enhancements; and
(ii) estimated cost savings due to improved
efficiency due to technology enhancements, if
applicable.
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