[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4062 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






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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