House Passes Bipartisan Homeland Security Technology Bill
July 20, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4842, the “Homeland Security Science and Technology Authorization Act of 2010”. This bipartisan legislation introduced by Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, Science and Technology Chairwoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) and Ranking Member Dan Lungren (R-CA), reauthorizes the activities of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T;) and Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and puts these two DHS components on a path to greater effectiveness and efficiency by requiring strategic plans, benchmarking, and accountability systems.
The bill also authorizes an Office of Public-Private Partnerships to increase outreach and to ensure technological innovations get quick review at the Department as well as a new Rapid Review Division to assess unsolicited proposals. It also requires S&T; to give particular attention to the border security mission. Specifically, H.R. 4842 authorizes S&T;, in coordination with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to pursue research and development to improve effective control of the international land borders of the United States within five years.
H.R. 4842 also authorizes several specific programmatic areas for research including:
• mobile biometric technologies for deployment at the border;
• enhanced detection of border tunnels;
• hand-held detectors for DHS to do rapid detection of biological threats at ports and airports;
• technologies to mitigate the threat of small vessel attack;
• research to assess the extent of cyber compromises to federally-owned networks and devices; and
• enhancements to unmanned aerial surveillance technology for safe and effective deployment for border and maritime missions.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the following statement regarding the passage of the bill:
“As Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, I strongly believe that recurring authorizations are important mechanisms to realize oversight findings and help steer an agency on the right course, and this bill does exactly that.
The legislation comes on the heels of extensive committee oversight and government analysis to direct DHS to put robust management, administration, and programmatic systems in place at S&T; and DNDO.
This bipartisan legislation takes into account that innovation is often fueled by the private sector and that the challenging and evolving nature of the terrorist threat demands closer collaboration between S&T; and the private sector.”
# # #
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please contact Dena Graziano or Adam Comis at (202) 225-9978
