[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 9, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H34-H36]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DHS OVERSEAS PERSONNEL ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2017

  Mr. KATKO. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4567) to require a Department of Homeland Security overseas 
personnel enhancement plan, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4567

       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 Overseas Personnel 
     Enhancement Act of 2017''.

     SEC. 2. OVERSEAS PERSONNEL BRIEFING.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after submission of 
     the comprehensive three-year strategy required under section 
     1910 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
     Year 2017 (Public Law 114-328) and every 180 days thereafter, 
     the Secretary of Homeland Security shall brief the Committee 
     on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the 
     Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of 
     the Senate regarding Department of Homeland Security 
     personnel with primary duties that take place outside of the 
     United States.
       (b) Requirements.--The briefing required under subsection 
     (a) shall include the following:
       (1) A detailed summary of each type of personnel position 
     with primary duties that take place outside of the United 
     States and how each such position contributes to the 
     Department of Homeland Security's counterterrorism mission.
       (2) Information related to how the geographic and regional 
     placement of such positions contributes to the Department's 
     counterterrorism mission.
       (3) Information related to the position-specific training 
     received by such personnel before and during placement at a 
     foreign location.
       (4) Challenges that may impede the communication of 
     counterterrorism information between Department personnel at 
     foreign locations and Department entities in the United 
     States, including technical, resource, and administrative 
     challenges.
       (5) The status of efforts to implement the strategy 
     referred to in subsection (a).
       (6) The status of efforts (beginning with the second 
     briefing required under this section) to implement the 
     enhancement plan under section 3.

     SEC. 3. OVERSEAS PERSONNEL ENHANCEMENT PLAN.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the briefing 
     required under section 2, the Secretary shall submit to the 
     Committee on Homeland Security of the House and the Committee 
     on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a 
     plan to enhance the effectiveness of Department of Homeland 
     Security personnel at foreign locations.
       (b) Plan Requirements.--The plan referred to in subsection 
     (a) shall include proposals to--
       (1) improve efforts of Department of Homeland Security 
     personnel at foreign locations, as necessary, for purposes of 
     providing foreign partner capacity development and furthering 
     the Department's counterterrorism mission;
       (2) as appropriate, redeploy Department personnel to 
     respond to changing threats to the United States;
       (3) enhance collaboration among Department personnel at 
     foreign locations, other Federal personnel at foreign 
     locations, and foreign partners;
       (4) improve the communication of counterterrorism 
     information between Department personnel at foreign locations 
     and Department entities in the United States, including to 
     address technical, resource, and administrative challenges; 
     and
       (5) maintain practices to guard against counter-espionage 
     threats associated with Department personnel.

     SEC. 4. TERMINATION.

       The briefing requirement under section 2 shall terminate on 
     the date that is four years after the submission of the 
     strategy referred to in such section.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Katko) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Vela) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. KATKO. Madam 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. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4567, the DHS 
Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of 2017.
  As chairman of the Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on 
Transportation and Protective Security, I recently led a bipartisan 
congressional delegation to Europe and the Middle East to examine 
international aviation security and counterterrorism operations. The 
efforts of DHS personnel stationed overseas to build relationships with 
foreign partners, to coordinate with other Federal agencies, and to 
secure our homeland from threats before they arrive on our shores are 
truly a testament to the vital counterterror mission of Homeland 
Security. Additionally, the trip underscored the need to ensure the 
effectiveness and efficiency of our overseas programs in a manner that 
is risk-based.
  Unfortunately, however, I also observed that even today, more than 15 
years after 9/11, the United States Government still struggles to avoid 
stovepiping and effectively participate in information sharing and 
collaboration on homeland security matters. It is imperative that DHS 
personnel serve as a force multiplier with their Federal counterparts 
to act in genuine partnership when mitigating threats to the homeland 
both here and abroad.
  My legislation takes observations from our delegation and codifies 
requirements to make overseas DHS personnel more effective and better 
equipped. This bill provides critical transparency to the training 
provided to overseas DHS employees, as well as how their positions and 
roles measurably contribute to the counterterrorism mission of the 
Department of Homeland Security.
  Additionally, my bill will allow Congress to understand what 
organizational culture or bureaucratic hindrances exist to effective 
information sharing among DHS personnel and how we can break down 
barriers to better address evolving threats to the United States.
  The first role of government is to protect its citizens, and it is 
incumbent upon those of us in Congress to ensure that the United States 
Government is doing all it can to respond to changing threats, share 
information effectively,

[[Page H35]]

and build counterterrorism capacity among our foreign partners.
  I appreciate the bipartisan support of Ranking Member Watson Coleman, 
Congressman Vela, and Congresswoman Meng of this bill and I look 
forward to continuing our work together on these and other issues. I 
also wish to thank the chairman of the full committee, Mr. McCaul, for 
his unwavering support of our efforts.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. VELA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of H.R. 4567, the DHS Overseas Personnel 
Enhancement Act of 2017.
  Madam Speaker, the DHS Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of 2017 
would require the Department of Homeland Security to submit to Congress 
an overseas personnel assessment and enhancement plan.
  Today, roughly 2,000 DHS personnel have been deployed to more than 70 
countries around the world. These DHS employees are involved in a 
diverse range of overseas operations targeted at terrorism prevention, 
counternarcotics, and preventing human smuggling.
  I am particularly interested in the efforts of the National Targeting 
Center, which is housed within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to 
embed intelligence analysts in overseas information sharing operations 
with international partners to prevent terrorist and other criminal 
networks from carrying out attacks and criminal operations with 
impunity.
  In fact, in a short while, the House will be debating H.R. 4578, the 
Counter Terrorist Network Act, which, among other things, authorizes 
overseas deployments from the CBP.
  About half of overseas DHS personnel are from the CBP and are 
involved, among other things, in screening U.S.-bound passengers at 
airports, inspecting cargo being loaded on ships bound for the U.S., 
and training other nations' customs and border force.
  Additionally, the DHS also assigns Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement special agents, Secret Service special agents, and 
Transportation Security Administration officials to overseas posts to 
engage with international partners on counterterrorism, 
counternarcotics, information sharing, and criminal investigations, as 
well as security screening and vetting programs.
  Just last month, CBP personnel were credited with helping Ecuadoran 
authorities interdict and arrest seven people and 800 pounds of 
cocaine. Specifically, a CBP team participating in an aerial 
surveillance mission in drug transit zones near South America tracked a 
low-flying aircraft that intelligence reports indicated had not filed a 
flight plan and, with a long-lens camera, snapped images of the plane's 
tail number and other identifying details and radioed Ecuador who were 
waiting when the plane landed to arrest the smugglers.

                              {time}  1245

  According to CBP, its P-3 plane program patrols more than 42 million 
square miles in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific 
Ocean and last year contributed to 145 drug seizures, helping American 
and foreign authorities capture a combined 34,108 pounds of marijuana 
and 193,197 pounds of cocaine, according to Customs and Border 
Protection records.
  More broadly, DHS personnel stationed overseas make important 
contributions to the Department's efforts in securing the homeland and 
keeping the American people safe. As such, it is imperative that these 
individuals are utilized efficiently and effectively. This bill seeks 
to ensure just that.
  In 2016, Congress enacted legislation that the Committee on Homeland 
Security, on a bipartisan basis, approved to direct the Secretary of 
Homeland Security to issue a strategy for the Department's 
international programs.
  Among other things, the law required DHS to provide the committee 
with an inventory of personnel and resources deployed abroad and a 3-
year, risk-based strategy to ensure strategic overseas employment of 
personnel.
  The statutory deadline for this strategy was June 2017, 7 months ago. 
This critical strategy has not been submitted to Congress, as mandated.
  H.R. 4567 incorporates an amendment from Ranking Member Thompson that 
expands the bill's briefing requirement to include information on 
efforts to implement the strategy. Enactment of this bipartisan 
legislation should help enhance the effectiveness of DHS personnel at 
foreign locations.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my House colleagues to support this 
legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KATKO. Madam Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. VELA. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Payne).
  Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I represent Newark, New Jersey, home of 
Port Newark and Newark Liberty International Airport.
  Port Newark is the busiest container port on the East Coast, handling 
over 700,000 cargo containers annually. In 2015, over 37 million 
passengers traveled through Newark Liberty International Airport, 
including many traveling into the United States from abroad.
  As a Member of Congress representing the largest port on the Eastern 
seaboard and one of the busiest international airports in the country, 
it is important to me that the Federal Government do everything in its 
power to push out our borders--to prevent dangerous cargo and dangerous 
people from coming into our country.
  The DHS Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of 2017 would do just that 
by directing the Department to develop and execute an overseas 
personnel assessment and enhancement plan.
  As we speak, nearly 2,000 DHS employees are stationed around the 
globe, engaging in terrorism prevention, counternarcotics, and 
antihuman smuggling activities in more than 70 countries.
  About half of DHS personnel deployed overseas are from Customs and 
Border Protection, who are responsible for screening U.S.-bound 
passengers at airports, inspecting cargo being loaded onto ships bound 
for the U.S., and training other nations' customs and border forces.
  The Department also sends Immigration and Customs Enforcement special 
agents, Secret Service special agents, and Transportation Security 
Administration officials abroad to help prevent international criminal 
and terrorist activity from spreading into the United States.
  These activities have a direct impact on the security of my district. 
Over the course of the past year, multiple people have been caught 
attempting to smuggle drugs into the country through Newark Liberty 
International Airport, including a man who tried to bring over 1 
kilogram of heroin into the country by disguising it as a six-layer 
cake.
  While I applaud CBP for apprehending bad actors as they attempt to 
enter the United States, I would prefer to keep bad people and bad 
cargo outside of our borders, particularly in light of the drug 
epidemic affecting many of our communities.
  Accordingly, I am committed to ensuring that the Department has 
optimized the deployment of its international personnel.
  Madam Speaker, therefore, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4567.
  Mr. KATKO. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. VELA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, in closing, H.R. 4567 seeks to enhance DHS' efforts to 
push out our borders.
  The men and women of DHS face an immense challenge in responding to 
the ever-changing terrorist threat landscape. It is imperative that DHS 
personnel stationed overseas serve as an effective force in this 
mission, and enactment of this legislation would be a positive step 
towards this goal.
  In fiscal year 2016, CBP officers inspected over 390 million 
travelers at 328 ports of entry, of which over 119 million flew into 
air ports of entry. Deployed overseas CBP officers, through programs 
such as Preclearance and the Immigration Advisory Program, utilize a 
risk-based, intelligence-driven strategy to extend our border security 
efforts outward to detect, assess, and mitigate, at the earliest 
possible point in the travel continuum, any risk imposed by travelers 
before they reach the United States.
  Today, ICE agents are assigned to 66 offices in 49 countries and work 
with their overseas law enforcement counterparts to detect, disrupt, 
and dismantle transnational criminal groups

[[Page H36]]

and individuals who seek to harm our country and people.
  ICE special agents investigate transnational crime by conducting a 
wide range of criminal investigations, in coordination with our foreign 
and domestic partner agencies, targeting the illegal movement of 
people, merchandise, and monetary instruments into, within, and out of 
the United States.

  Maintaining an overseas footprint is costly. In fact, the annual cost 
of deploying an ICE agent overseas can be four times the cost of 
deploying the agent domestically. As such, it is critical that DHS have 
a strategy for its overseas programs and execute it.
  Congress has an important oversight role to play to ensure that DHS 
carries out these programs in a risk-based, strategic manner.
  Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 4567, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. KATKO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, the starkness of the challenges facing the men and 
women of DHS to accomplish our mission was made clear to me and my 
committee colleagues on a recent trip to the Middle East and Western 
Europe. I hope they know just how much we appreciate all of their 
tireless efforts to protect the homeland.
  Madam Speaker, I digress just for a moment before I close and note 
that, for the last 3 years on my committee, one of my colleagues, the 
main committee staff person, Krista Harvey, has worked on all these 
bills and worked on all these trips I have taken and has played a key 
role in the things we do to keep our country safe. In fact, I was just 
checking. Twenty-one bills that she helped author passed the House, and 
many were signed into law.
  Ms. Harvey, regrettably, is leaving our service, but she is going to 
continue serving the government in working at the Department of 
Homeland Security in a senior capacity at the Transportation Security 
Administration. I thank her for her work and doing all she does as a 
public servant helping us keep our country safe.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important 
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  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. 4567, 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. Madam 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.

                          ____________________