[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 77 (Monday, May 16, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H2413-H2415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISORY BOARD ACT OF 2016
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 4407) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish in
the Department of Homeland Security a board to coordinate and integrate
departmental intelligence, activities, and policy related to
counterterrorism, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4407
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 ``Counterterrorism Advisory
Board Act of 2016''.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY COUNTERTERRORISM
ADVISORY BOARD.
(a) In General.--At the end of subtitle A of title II of
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121 et seq.)
insert the following new section:
``SEC. 210G. DEPARTMENTAL COORDINATION ON COUNTERTERRORISM.
``(a) Establishment.--There is in the Department a board to
be composed of senior representatives of departmental
operational components and headquarters elements. The purpose
of the board shall be to coordinate and integrate
departmental intelligence, activities, and policy related to
the counterterrorism mission and functions of the Department.
``(b) Charter.--There shall be a charter to govern the
structure and mission of the board. Such charter shall direct
the board to focus on the current threat environment and the
importance of aligning departmental counterterrorism
activities under the Secretary's guidance. The charter shall
be reviewed and updated every four years, as appropriate.
``(c) Members.--
``(1) Chair.--The Secretary shall appoint a Coordinator for
Counterterrorism within the Department who will serve as the
chair of the board.
``(2) Additional members.--The Secretary shall appoint
additional members of the board from among the following:
``(A) The Transportation Security Administration.
``(B) United States Customs and Border Protection.
``(C) United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
``(D) The Federal Emergency Management Agency.
``(E) The Coast Guard.
``(F) United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
``(G) The United States Secret Service.
``(H) The National Protection and Programs Directorate.
``(I) The Office of Operations Coordination.
``(J) The Office of the General Counsel.
``(K) The Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
``(L) The Office of Policy.
``(M) The Science and Technology Directorate.
``(N) Other Departmental offices and programs as determined
appropriate by the Secretary.
``(d) Meetings.--The board shall meet on a regular basis to
discuss intelligence and coordinate ongoing threat mitigation
efforts and departmental activities, including coordination
with other Federal, State, local, tribal, territorial, and
private sector partners, and shall make recommendations to
the Secretary.
``(e) Terrorism Alerts.--The board shall advise the
Secretary on the issuance of terrorism alerts pursuant to
section 203 of this Act.
``(f) Prohibition on Additional Funds.--No additional funds
are authorized to carry out this section.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section
1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after the item
relating to section 210F the following new item:
``Sec. 210G. Departmental coordination on counterterrorism.''.
(c) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting through the
Coordinator for Counterterrorism, shall submit to the
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report on the status and
activities of the board established under section 210G of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
[[Page H2414]]
New York (Mr. Katko) and the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
General Leave
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and
to include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Since the tragic events of 9/11, this body has endeavored to better
integrate intelligence and law enforcement agencies to react to new and
evolving threats and to reduce duplicative efforts and waste. To a
large extent, we have succeeded in producing a more integrated security
apparatus that properly reflects the terrorist threats of the 21st
century. However, we must continue to make improvements to counter
fast-changing threats like those posed by ISIS.
Mr. Speaker, we are seeing the greatest convergence of radical
Islamic threats in history, with more than 40,000 jihadist fighters
traveling to the battlefield in Syria and Iraq.
Furthermore, the United States faces the highest threat level since
9/11--with open counterterrorism investigations in all 50 States in
this great country of ours and with more than 80 ISIS-related arrests
in the past 2 years, including one just up the road from my district on
New Year's Eve.
With the current threat environment in mind, I offer H.R. 4407, the
Counterterrorism Advisory Board Act of 2016.
Initially established at the end of 2010, this panel brings together
the Department of Homeland Security's top counterterrorism
decisionmakers to respond to threats. However, I led a bipartisan task
force, which found that the Counterterrorism Advisory Board, or CTAB,
had neither been codified nor had its charter kept pace with today's
evolving terrorist threats. That is why we need to pass this bill--to
ensure that the DHS is effectively integrating intelligence,
operations, and policy to fight terrorism and that it is quickly
exchanging threat information.
This legislation formally establishes the CTAB in law, and it makes
it the Department's central coordination body for counterterrorism
activities. The bill also updates the Board's charter to better enable
it to confront tomorrow's challenges today, and it requires the
Secretary to appoint a Coordinator for Counterterrorism to oversee the
Board's activities. It is an important change to the current structure.
Additionally, the legislation requires the CTAB to advise the
Secretary on the issuance of terrorism alerts, ensuring that top
counterterrorism and intelligence officials play a key role in
developing these critical notices to the public.
Finally, H.R. 4407 ensures continued congressional oversight by
requiring the DHS to report on the status and activities of the CTAB so
that we can be certain it is meeting its mandate.
I thank Chairman McCaul for appointing me to lead the bipartisan Task
Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel, which
formulated, roughly, 50 recommendations for making our country safer,
one of which serves as the basis for this legislation.
I also thank Ranking Member Thompson and his great staff for all of
the work we have been doing to get a lot of these bills passed into
law, and I very much appreciate our bipartisan work together.
I am proud to say we have now acted legislatively on more than half
of the task force's findings, largely thanks to the hard work of the
other members of the task force and their willingness to reach across
the aisle and do what is right for our country.
I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 4407, the Counterterrorism Advisory Board
Act of 2016.
H.R. 4407 authorizes, within the Department of Homeland Security, the
Counterterrorism Advisory Board, or CTAB, to coordinate and integrate
Departmental intelligence, activities, and policy related to
counterterrorism.
Since 2010, the internal body, which is comprised of top DHS
officials, has helped to harmonize counterterrorism programs and
activities across the DHS. H.R. 4407 directs the CTAB to meet on a
regular basis to coordinate and integrate the Department's
counterterrorism efforts, and it sets forth the leadership and
composition of the Board. H.R. 4407 also requires the DHS to report to
Congress on the Board's status and activities.
This legislation is a product of the House Committee on Homeland
Security's bipartisan Task Force on Terrorist and Foreign Fighter
Travel, which learned that the CTAB, which has operated for 6 years,
was never authorized in law.
{time} 1800
To ensure that the board remains an integral part of counterterrorism
policy recommendations and responses across the Department, the task
force recommended that the board be codified in law. Codification of
the board is consistent with the task force's finding that information
sharing is critical to preventing foreign fighter travel.
I believe that the CTAB should be a permanent fixture in the
Department to help inform the counterterrorism decisionmaking of future
Department Secretaries. As such, I support this legislation, which
tackles an important task force recommendation and finding, and commend
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko) for introducing it as well as
making it here for the hearing of this bill today.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time to close.
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance
of my time.
Again, H.R. 4407 will authorize within the Department of Homeland
Security the counterterrorism advisory board to coordinate and
integrate departmental intelligence activities and policies related to
counterterrorism. The board already plays a central and necessary role
within DHS.
Enactment of H.R. 4407 will ensure that, no matter what happens in
the upcoming election or who is the head of the Department, the
counterterrorism advisory board will remain intact.
I urge passage of H.R. 4407.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I once again urge my colleagues to support this strong bipartisan
piece of legislation. It is commonsense legislation, but it is very
important to institutionalize things that are working to some extent
within the Department of Homeland Security and the counterterrorism
advisory board. The tweaks that we have in this legislation are going
to make it a good, firm setting for fighting the counterterrorism
activity going forward.
I do want to note for a moment as well that there have been an awful
lot of bills that came out of Homeland Security this term, and the vast
majority of those bills have had bipartisan support. I am proud of the
work we are doing together with our colleagues on both sides of the
aisle, and we are going to continue to do that moving forward to keep
this country safe.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4407,
Counterterrorism Advisory Board Act of 2016, because it will establish
a board to coordinate and integrate DHS's intelligence, activities, and
clarify policy related to its counterterrorism mission and functions.
As a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security since its
establishment, and current Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee
on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security this bill is of importance to
me.
It was said of the George W. Bush Administration by the 9-11
Commission that it did not connect the dots that would have allowed the
intelligence and law enforcement communities to detect and possibly
deter the September 11, 2001 attack against our nation.
We have learned a great deal over the nearly 15 years since Al Qaeda
attacked our nation.
One of the more important lessons is the need to have coordination
and unity of effort among and within intelligence and law enforcement
agencies in our battle to defeat terrorists.
[[Page H2415]]
H.R. 4407 establishes a board that will:
(1) advise the Secretary of DHS on the issuance of terrorism alerts,
and meet on a regular basis to discuss intelligence; and
(2) coordinate ongoing threat mitigation efforts and departmental
activities.
The terrorism alert system initiated following September 2001, caused
confusion and uncertainty.
In November 2002, I was proud to join my colleagues in voting to
create the Department of Homeland Security.
H.R. 4407 will develop a process for determining when alerts should
be issued, which will make it easier for the Department of Homeland
Security to develop messages that will guide public and interagency
actions.
My work on the Homeland Security Committee has allowed me the
privilege of serving as Chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation
Security, and the Ranking Member of the Border and Maritime Security
Subcommittee.
The Homeland Security Committee has worked over the years since its
founding to ensure that this agency is prepared and staffed to meet the
challenges and demands of its mandate.
As we have worked to define and support the mission of the Department
of Homeland Security we have worked to keep the efforts of the agency
focused not only on the threats we have faced, but also the new ones
that may come.
It is the responsibility of Congress not only to provide DHS with new
guidelines, but also to provide the agency with the funding it needs to
do the work of protecting this great nation.
For several Congresses DHS has faced a government shutdown and
sequestration that has depleted its resources and stranded its efforts
to do all of the work members of this body demands.
Mr. Speaker, since DHS initiated its headquarters consolidation in
2006, it has progressed despite changes in senior leadership and waning
funding support from Congress.
As I urge my colleagues to support this bill, I also remind them that
the passage of new laws that require more of the agency should also
mean that we should require more of ourselves as members of Congress.
We should support the work of the men and women of DHS as they stand
on the front line of our nation's domestic security by making sure that
they have the tools and the skills needed to do the job we require.
I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4407.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 4407, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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