[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 115 (Thursday, July 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4993-S4994]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2683. Mr. PETERS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle H of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1095. NORTHERN BORDER COORDINATION CENTER.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish the
Northern Border Coordination Center.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the Center shall be to serve
as the Department's forward deployed centralized coordination
center for operations, domain awareness, information sharing,
intelligence, training, and stakeholder engagement with
Federal, State, tribal, local, and international government
partners along the northern border of the United States. The
Center shall be placed along the northern border at a
location that is collocated with an existing U.S. Border
Patrol sector headquarters, an Air and Marine Operations
branch, and a United States Coast Guard air station, and
other existing Department activities.
(c) Components.--
(1) In general.--The Center shall collocate personnel and
activities of--
(A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including U.S.
Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations;
(B) the United States Coast Guard;
(C) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland
Security Investigations;
(D) other components and offices of the Department that the
Secretary determines to be necessary, including to support
the training, technology testing, and development described
in subsection (d); and
(E) additional Federal, State, tribal, local, and
international government partners, as the Secretary
determines to be necessary and appropriate to support the
coordination of operations described in this section.
(d) Functions.--The Center shall perform the functions
described in this subsection in addition to any other
functions assigned by the Secretary.
(1) Northern border strategy.--The Center, in collaboration
with relevant offices and components of the Department,
shall--
(A) serve as a coordination mechanism for operational
components for the implementation, evaluation, and updating
of the Northern Border Strategy and any successor strategy;
and
(B) support the development of best practices and policies
for personnel at the northern border to support such
implementation.
(2) Training.--The Center shall serve as a training
location to support the delivery of training or exercises for
Department personnel and Federal, State, tribal, local, and
international government partners.
(3) Metrics.--The Center, in collaboration with relevant
offices and components of the Department, shall coordinate
the development and tracking of border security metrics for
the northern border.
(4) Resource and technological needs and challenges.--The
Center, in collaboration with relevant offices and components
of the Department, shall--
(A) identify resource and technological needs or challenges
affecting security along the northern border; and
(B) serve as a testing ground and demonstration location
for the testing of border security technology, including
determining such technology's suitability and performance in
the northern border and maritime environments.
(5) Air and marine operations.--
(A) Quick reaction capabilities.--In support of the Center,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine
Operations--
(i) shall establish and maintain capability that is
collocated with the Center and available for quick deployment
in support of the northern border missions, U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, and the Department, including missions in
the Great Lakes region; and
(ii) in coordination with the Center and relevant offices
and components of the Department, shall evaluate requirements
and make recommendations to support the operations of large
unmanned aircraft systems based at the Center.
(B) Northern border domain awareness.--In order to
coordinate with the Center and support its operations, the
Air and Marine Operations Center shall collocate personnel
and resources with the Center to enhance the Department's
capabilities to--
(i) support air and maritime domain awareness and
information sharing efforts along the northern border;
(ii) provide dedicated monitoring of northern border
systems; and
(iii) lead, in coordination with other U.S. Customs and
Border Protection components, Federal, State, tribal, local,
and international governments, and private sector partners,
the Center's efforts to track and monitor legitimate cross-
border traffic involving unmanned aircraft and unmanned
aircraft systems.
(6) Counter-unmanned aircraft systems.--
(A) In general.--Pursuant to policies established by the
Secretary, consistent with section 210G of the Homeland
Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124n), the Center shall
support counter-unmanned aircraft systems operations along
the northern border to respond to the increased use of
unmanned aircraft systems. Such support may involve
development, testing, and evaluation of technologies.
(B) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this section may be
construed to provide additional authority related to
detection, mitigation, research, development, or testing of
[[Page S4994]]
unmanned aircraft systems or counter-unmanned aircraft
systems.
(7) Privacy and civil rights.--The Center, in collaboration
with the Chief Privacy Officer and the Office for Civil
Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department, shall ensure
that operations and practices of the Center comply with the
privacy and civil rights policies of the Department and its
components.
(8) Noncontiguous northern border.--The Center, in
collaboration with relevant offices and components of the
Department, shall--
(A) identify the specific challenges that exist along the
noncontiguous international land border with Canada and the
maritime border with Russia, including resource,
technological challenges, and domain awareness;
(B) ensure that dedicated personnel, including reachback
support, are working to evaluate and address the challenges
identified pursuant to subparagraph (A); and
(C) determine the feasibility of establishing a satellite
facility of the Center to address the specific challenges
identified pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(e) Annual Reporting.--Not later than 180 days after the
establishment of the Center, and annually thereafter, the
Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of
Representatives, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the
House of Representatives, and the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives that
describes the activities of the Center during the most
recently concluded fiscal year, including--
(1) personnel levels;
(2) additional resources that are needed to support the
operations of the Center and northern border operations of
the Department; and
(3) any additional assets or authorities that are needed to
increase security and domain awareness along the northern
border.
(f) Temporary Duty Assignments.--The Secretary shall submit
a quarterly report to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security
of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Foreign
Affairs of the House of Representatives regarding temporary
duty assignments of U.S. Border Patrol agents during the
reporting period, including--
(1) the number of agents on temporary duty assignment;
(2) the duration of the temporary duty assignment; and
(3) the sectors from which the agents were assigned.
(g) Rule of Construction.--The Center established pursuant
to subsection (a) shall be established separate and distinct
from the Secretary's authorities under section 708 of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 348).
(h) Sunset.--This section shall cease to be effective on
the date that is 7 years after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(i) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Center.--The term ``Center'' means the Northern Border
Coordination Center established pursuant to subsection (a).
(2) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Homeland Security.
(3) Northern border.--The term ``northern border'' means--
(A) the international border between the United States and
Canada; and
(B) the maritime border between Alaska and the Russian
Federation.
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Homeland Security.
______