[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4681 Reported in Senate (RS)]
<DOC>
Calendar No. 738
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4681
[Report No. 118-318]
To ensure a timely, fair, meaningful, and transparent process for
individuals to seek redress because they were wrongly identified as a
threat under the screening and inspection regimes used by the
Department of Homeland Security, to require a report on the
effectiveness of enhanced screening programs of the Department of
Homeland Security, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 11 (legislative day, July 10), 2024
Mr. Peters introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
December 19 (legislative day, December 16), 2024
Reported by Mr. Peters, with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ensure a timely, fair, meaningful, and transparent process for
individuals to seek redress because they were wrongly identified as a
threat under the screening and inspection regimes used by the
Department of Homeland Security, to require a report on the
effectiveness of enhanced screening programs of the Department of
Homeland Security, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>
<DELETED> This Act may be cited as the ``Enhanced Oversight and
Accountability in Screening Act''.</DELETED>
<DELETED>SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.</DELETED>
<DELETED> In this Act:</DELETED>
<DELETED> (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the
Senate;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (C) the Committee on Armed Services of the
Senate;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (D) the Select Committee on Intelligence
of the Senate;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (E) the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the Senate;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (F) the Committee on Homeland Security of
the House of Representatives;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (G) the Committee on Oversight and
Accountability of the House of
Representatives;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (H) the Committee on the Judiciary of the
House of Representatives;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (I) the Committee on Armed Services of the
House of Representatives;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (J) the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence of the House of Representatives;
and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (K) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of
the House of Representatives.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (2) Committee.--The term ``Committee'' means the
Screening and Watchlisting Advisory Committee established under
section 3(a).</DELETED>
<DELETED> (3) Consolidated terrorist watchlist.--The term
``consolidated terrorist watchlist'' means any database or
watchlist maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center for the
purpose of monitoring individuals suspected of engaging in
terrorist activity, including the terrorist screening database
and any successor database.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (4) Covered processes.--The term ``covered
processes'' means the practices, policies, and programs used to
conduct primary, secondary, enhanced, and additional
screenings, vettings, inspections, and other processes related
to watchlists maintained by any Federal agency.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (5) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Homeland Security.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (6) Enhanced redress.-- The term ``enhanced
redress'' means the process by which the Department confirms
whether a United States person, who has been denied boarding
and has applied for redress, is on the No Fly List maintained
by the Terrorist Screening Center.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (7) Homeland security congressional committees.--
The term ``homeland security congressional committees'' means--
</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) the Committee on Homeland Security of
the House of Representatives.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (8) Redress.-- The term ``redress'' means the
process established by the Department to assist individuals to
resolve travel-related issues, such as being--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) denied or delayed airline
boarding;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) denied or delayed entry into or exit
from the United States at a port of entry or border
crossing; or</DELETED>
<DELETED> (C) repeatedly referred to additional
screening or inspection.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (9) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the
Secretary of Homeland Security.</DELETED>
<DELETED>SEC. 3. SCREENING AND WATCHLISTING ADVISORY
COMMITTEE.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (a) Establishment.--Not later than 60 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a Screening and
Watchlisting Advisory Committee.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (b) Membership.--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (1) Composition.--The Committee shall be composed
of an odd number of members of not less than 15 and not more
than 23 members appointed by the Secretary as
follows:</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) 2 members shall be the Civil Rights
and Civil Liberties Officer of the Department and a
representative from a nonprofit organization, academia,
or civil society, who shall serve as Co-Chairs of the
Committee.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) Not less than 1 member shall be
appointed from each of the following components of the
Department:</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) The Transportation Security
Administration.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) U.S. Customs and Border
Protection;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iii) The Privacy
Office.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iv) The Office of Strategy,
Policy, and Plans.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (v) The Office of Intelligence and
Analysis.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (vi) Any other relevant component
germane to Department screening, inspections,
and redress, as determined appropriate by the
Secretary.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (C) 3 members shall be the following
agency heads or their representatives:</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) The Director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) The Director of the Terrorist
Screening Center.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iii) The Director of the National
Counterterrorism Center.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (D) Members of the nonprofit, academia, or
civil society sectors representing the
following:</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) Individuals of diverse
backgrounds in race, ethnicity, religion, and
gender.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) Individuals from various
geographic regions within the United
States.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iii) National organizations that
represent diverse racial, ethnic, and religious
communities.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iv) Individuals with expertise in
law, transparency, technology, privacy, civil
rights, and civil liberties.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (E) Any other individuals as the Secretary
determines appropriate.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (2) Nongovernment members.--There shall be not
less than 1 more member of the Committee appointed under
paragraph (1)(D) than the total number of members appointed
under subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (E) of paragraph
(1).</DELETED>
<DELETED> (3) Date.--The appointments of members of the
Committee shall be made not later than 120 days after the date
of enactment of this Act.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (4) Voluntary service.--The members of the
Committee shall serve on the Committee on a voluntary
basis.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (5) Publication of list of members.--The Committee
shall publish an updated list of members of the Committee on a
publicly available website before each meeting of the
Committee.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (c) Period of Appointment; Vacancies.--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (1) Term.--The term of a member of the Committee
shall be 3 years, except that a member may continue to serve
until a successor is appointed.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (2) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Committee--
</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) shall not affect the powers of the
Committee; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) shall be filled in the same manner as
the original appointment.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (3) Reappointment.--A member of the Advisory
Committee may be reappointed for not more than 1
term.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (d) Meetings.--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (1) Initial meeting.--Not later than 30 days after
the date on which all members of the Committee have been
appointed, the Committee shall hold the first meeting of the
Committee.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (2) Frequency; manner.--The Committee--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) shall meet--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) not less frequently than
quarterly; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) at the call of the Co-Chairs
of the Committee or the Secretary;
and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) may meet remotely.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (e) Duties.--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (1) In general.--The Committee shall--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) advise, consult with, and make
recommendations to the Secretary, as appropriate, on
the development, refinement, implementation, and
evaluation of policies, programs, and planning
pertaining to covered processes of the Department,
including--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) all covered processes
implemented by the Transportation Security
Administration;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) all covered processes
implemented by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection at ports of entry and their
equivalents;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iii) trainings associated with
these covered processes;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iv) the intelligence used to
support these covered processes;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (v) how data related to these
covered processes is used, collected, retained,
analyzed, and shared;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (vi) internal Department oversight
over these covered processes;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (vii) metrics to assess the
effectiveness of covered processes, including
any metrics outlined in policy
documents;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (viii) redress processes related
to these covered processes; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ix) any other matter related to
covered processes as the Committee may
determine relevant;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) disclose to the public and Congress
information about the covered processes described in
subparagraph (A), and the data and analytical system
related to those processes, including materials
explaining how those processes work and legal and
policy analyses of the processes;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (C) provide recommendations for the plan
required under section 4(a), including--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) all recommendations agreed
upon by a simple majority of members of the
Committee; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) an identification of each of
the members of the Committee that agreed on
each recommendation; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (D) consider, when providing
recommendations for the plan required under section
4(a)--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) the use of external advocates
who are granted security clearances and may
access classified information to assist
passengers;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) the establishment of a
Federal office to serve as advocates for
passengers;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iii) the establishment of an
independent ombudsman office to assist
passengers with the redress process;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (iv) expanding the enhanced
redress process to include United States
persons who wish to contest their placement on
the Selectee List, the Expanded Selectee List,
or the consolidated terrorist
watchlist;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (v) how to provide United States
persons subject to the enhanced redress process
with a significant amount of information about
the placement of the person on the No Fly List
and what a reasonable amount of time for this
disclosure should be;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (vi) whether it is advisable to
create a system that would allow an individual
to demonstrate that the individual does not
pose a threat to aviation or border security,
and if advisable, the options for developing
such a system;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (vii) the extent to which an
applicant for redress can be notified about
placement on any other lists maintained by the
Department or other Federal agencies aside from
those described in clause (iv), and a summary
of the basis for that placement;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (viii) which policies, procedures,
and guidelines related to covered processes and
redress can be made available to the public
and, for those policies, procedures, and
guidelines that are required to be withheld in
part or in full, how the Department and other
Federal agencies can release summaries of those
policies, procedures, and guidelines to the
public;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ix) notifying applicants for
redress of whether any records have changed as
a result of the application; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (x) the potential for redress for
an applicant who opts in to receive an
expedited or discounted review of an
application for a trusted traveler program of
the Department.</DELETED>
<DELETED> (2) Consultation.--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) In general.--To ensure input and
coordination from relevant components of the Department
and the public, the Secretary shall regularly consult
and work with the Committee on the administrati