[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4681 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4681
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
_______________________________________________________________________
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,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Enhanced Oversight and
Accountability in Screening Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
(C) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate;
(D) the Select Committee on Intelligence of the
Senate;
(E) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate;
(F) the Committee on Homeland Security of the House
of Representatives;
(G) the Committee on Oversight and Accountability
of the House of Representatives;
(H) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives;
(I) the Committee on Armed Services of the House of
Representatives;
(J) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
of the House of Representatives; and
(K) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
of Representatives.
(2) Committee.--The term ``Committee'' means the Screening
and Watchlisting Advisory Committee established under section
3(a).
(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.
(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.
(5) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Homeland Security.
(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.
(7) Homeland security congressional committees.--The term
``homeland security congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security of the House
of Representatives.
(8) Redress.-- The term ``redress'' means the process
established by the Department to assist individuals to resolve
travel-related issues, such as being--
(A) denied or delayed airline boarding;
(B) denied or delayed entry into or exit from the
United States at a port of entry or border crossing; or
(C) repeatedly referred to additional screening or
inspection.
(9) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Homeland Security.
SEC. 3. SCREENING AND WATCHLISTING ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
(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.
(b) Membership.--
(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:
(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.
(B) Not less than 1 member shall be appointed from
each of the following components of the Department:
(i) The Transportation Security
Administration.
(ii) U.S. Customs and Border Protection;
(iii) The Privacy Office.
(iv) The Office of Strategy, Policy, and
Plans.
(v) The Office of Intelligence and
Analysis.
(vi) Any other relevant component germane
to Department screening, inspections, and
redress, as determined appropriate by the
Secretary.
(C) 3 members shall be the following agency heads
or their representatives:
(i) The Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
(ii) The Director of the Terrorist
Screening Center.
(iii) The Director of the National
Counterterrorism Center.
(D) Members of the nonprofit, academia, or civil
society sectors representing the following:
(i) Individuals of diverse backgrounds in
race, ethnicity, religion, and gender.
(ii) Individuals from various geographic
regions within the United States.
(iii) National organizations that represent
diverse racial, ethnic, and religious
communities.
(iv) Individuals with expertise in law,
transparency, technology, privacy, civil
rights, and civil liberties.
(E) Any other individuals as the Secretary
determines appropriate.
(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).
(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.
(4) Voluntary service.--The members of the Committee shall
serve on the Committee on a voluntary basis.
(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.
(c) Period of Appointment; Vacancies.--
(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.
(2) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Committee--
(A) shall not affect the powers of the Committee;
and
(B) shall be filled in the same manner as the
original appointment.
(3) Reappointment.--A member of the Advisory Committee may
be reappointed for not more than 1 term.
(d) Meetings.--
(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.
(2) Frequency; manner.--The Committee--
(A) shall meet--
(i) not less frequently than quarterly; and
(ii) at the call of the Co-Chairs of the
Committee or the Secretary; and
(B) may meet remotely.
(e) Duties.--
(1) In general.--The Committee shall--
(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--
(i) all covered processes implemented by
the Transportation Security Administration;
(ii) all covered processes implemented by
U.S. Customs and Border Protection at ports of
entry and their equivalents;
(iii) trainings associated with these
covered processes;
(iv) the intelligence used to support these
covered processes;
(v) how data related to these covered
processes is used, collected, retained,
analyzed, and shared;
(vi) internal Department oversight over
these covered processes;
(vii) metrics to assess the effectiveness
of covered processes, including any metrics
outlined in policy documents;
(viii) redress processes related to these
covered processes; and
(ix) any other matter related to covered
processes as the Committee may determine
relevant;
(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;
(C) provide recommendations for the plan required
under section 4(a), including--
(i) all recommendations agreed upon by a
simple majority of members of the Committee;
and
(ii) an identification of each of the
members of the Committee that agreed on each
recommendation; and
(D) consider, when providing recommendations for
the plan required under section 4(a)--
(i) the use of external advocates who are
granted security clearances and may access
classified information to assist passengers;
(ii) the establishment of a Federal office
to serve as advocates for passengers;
(iii) the establishment of an independent
ombudsman office to assist passengers with the
redress process;
(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;
(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;
(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;
(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;
(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;
(ix) notifying applicants for redress of
whether any records have changed as a result of
the application; and
(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.
(2) Consultation.--
(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 administration of Department
covered processes and redress policies and procedures.
(B) Committee consultation.--The Committee may
consult with applicable Federal agencies other than the
Department to ensure a holistic review of covered
processes.
(C) Access to materials.--The Committee shall have
access to all materials necessary to implement its
responsibilities, including all materials marked as for
official use only, law enforcement sensitive, or
sensitive security information.
(3) Reports.--
(A) Periodic reports.--The Committee shall
periodically submit to the Secretary reports on
screening, inspections, and redress matters identified
by the Secretary and on matters of concern identified
by a majority of the members of the Committee.
(B) Annual report.--
(i) In general.--Not later than September
30 of each year, the Co-Chairs of the Committee
shall submit to the homeland security
congressional committees and the Secretary a
report on the activities of the Committee for
the preceding year, which shall include--
(I) information from the periodic
reports submitted under subparagraph
(A) during the year covered by the
report; and
(II) the activities of any
subcommittees established under
subsection (f)(5).
(ii) Publication.--Not more than 30 days
after the date on which the Secretary receives
a report under clause (i), the Secretary shall
publish a public version of the report.
(4) Congressional briefing.--Not more than 10 days after
the date on which the Co-Chairs of the Committee submit to the
Secretary the report required under paragraph (3)(B)(i), the
Co-Chairs of the Committee shall provide a briefing to the
homeland security congressional committees on the work,
recommendations, and dissenting opinions of the Committee and
any actions taken as the result of the work, recommendations,
and dissenting opinions.
(f) Powers of the Committee.--
(1) Hearings.--The Committee may hold such hearings, sit
and act at such times and places, take such testimony, and
receive such evidence as the Committee considers advisable to
carry out this Act.
(2) Information from federal agencies.--
(A) In general.--The Committee may secure directly
from a Federal department or agency such information as
the Committee considers necessary to carry out this
Act.
(B) Furnishing information.--On request of the Co-
Chairs of the Committee, the head of the department or
agency shall furnish the information to the Committee.
(3) Postal services.--The Committee may use the United
States mail in the same manner and under the same conditions as
other departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
(4) Gifts.--The Committee may accept, use, and dispose of
gifts or donations of services or property.
(5) Subcommittees.--
(A) In general.--The Co-Chairs of the Committee may