[Senate Report 115-308]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 548
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 115-308
_______________________________________________________________________
DHS OVERSEAS PERSONNEL ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 2017
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
H.R. 4567
TO REQUIRE A DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY OVERSEAS PERSONNEL
ENHANCEMENT PLAN, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
July 30, 2018.--Ordered to be printed
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
79-010 WASHINGTON : 2018
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
RAND PAUL, Kentucky HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
STEVE DAINES, Montana DOUG JONES, Alabama
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Michelle D. Woods, Senior Professional Staff Member
Margaret E. Daum, Minority Staff Director
Charles A. Moskowitz, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel
Subhasri Ramanathan, Minority Counsel
Michelle M. Benecke, Minority Advisor
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 548
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 115-308
======================================================================
DHS OVERSEAS PERSONNEL ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 2017
_______
July 30, 2018.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 4567]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H.R. 4567) to require
a Department of Homeland Security overseas personnel
enhancement plan, and for other purposes, having considered the
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and
recommends that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................4
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................5
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................5
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................6
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported.............6
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
H.R. 4567, the DHS Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of
2017, requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the
Department) to provide Congress with a briefing within 90 days
of submitting its comprehensive multi-year strategy on DHS's
overseas personnel deployments, and every 180 days thereafter.
Among other things, DHS is required to brief Congress on any
barriers impeding information sharing and collaboration across
DHS components and stakeholder entities to advance its
counterterrorism mission. Within 90 days of the first overseas
personnel briefing, the Act requires the Department to submit
to Congress a plan to improve the effectiveness of personnel
located at foreign locations.
II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Protecting the homeland against threats posed by
international terrorist groups and transnational criminal
organizations requires efficient and effective management of
the nation's homeland security resources. Because many threats
to the homeland originate overseas, DHS works closely with
international partners and deploys personnel and resources to
foreign locations to interdict potential security threats at
the earliest possible point.\1\ Overseas personnel are often
responsible for sharing information with foreign and domestic
partners, and establishing partnerships with foreign allies to
prevent the spread of terrorist and other criminal activity to
the homeland.\2\ As of December 2017, the Department had an
estimated 2,000 personnel deployed to over 70 countries.\3\
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\1\The Office of International Engagement, Dep't of Homeland Sec.
(July 24, 2018), https://www.dhs.gov/office-international-affairs;
International Engagement, Dep't of Homeland Sec., https://www.dhs.gov/
topic/international-engagement; U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-
17-216, Border Security: CBP Aims to Prevent High-Risk Travelers from
Boarding U.S.-Bound Flights but Needs to Evaluate Program Performance,
1, (Jan. 2017), available at https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-216.
\2\Fact Sheet: DHS's International Footprint, supra note 1;
International Engagement, supra note 1.
\3\Ron Nixon, Homeland Security Goes Abroad. Not Everyone is
Grateful., N.Y. Times (Dec. 26, 2017), available at https://
www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/world/americas/homeland-security-customs-
border-patrol.html.
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The Department's global reach advances its counterterrorism
mission by preventing nefarious actors from entering the
country.\4\ While stationed overseas, DHS personnel engage in a
range of programs and activities in fulfillment of its
counterterrorism, trade and travel missions.\5\ Specifically,
DHS components, including the Customs and Border Protection
(CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
Transportation Security Administration, and Customs and
Immigration Services, deploy personnel abroad to engage in
interdiction and criminal investigation activities.\6\
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\4\Fact Sheet: DHS's International Footprint, supra note 1.
\5\Id.; U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-13-681, Combating
Terrorism: DHS Should Take Action to Better Ensure Resources Abroad
Align with Priorities 6-7, (Sept. 2013), available at https://
www.gao.gov/assets/660/658132.pdf; GAO-17-216, supra note 1 at 1.
\6\Fact Sheet: DHS's International Footprint, supra note 1; GAO-13-
681, Combating Terrorism: DHS Should Take Action to Better Ensure
Resources Abroad Align with Priorities, supra note 5; GAO-17-216, supra
note 1.
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DHS's overseas activities have led to the denial of the
entry of known or suspected terrorists, seizure of drugs,
interdiction of narcotics, and disruption of human smuggling
rings.\7\ Among DHS components, CBP deploys the largest number
of personnel, approximately 1,000, to overseas locations for
the purposes of screening and vetting passengers at airports,
conducting inspections of U.S.-bound cargo shipments, and
training foreign customs officials at international airports to
institute screening procedures consistent with those used by
U.S. customs officials.\8\ Through its Immigration Advisory
Program, CBP identifies ``high-risk'' travelers prior to
boarding U.S.-bound flights.\9\ In Fiscal Year 2015, the
program prevented ``8,100 known or suspected terrorists, or
individuals with connections to known or suspected terrorists''
from boarding U.S.-bound flights.\10\
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\7\GAO-13-681, supra note 5 at 13-14; GAO-17-216, supra note 1 at
1.
\8\Ron Nixon, supra note 3; GAO-13-681, supra note 1, at 11-13;
GAO-17-216, supra note 5 at 21-22.
\9\GAO-17-216, supra note 1 at 2,6.
\10\Id.
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For its part, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
division deploys nearly 300 investigators to 50 countries.\11\
HSI advances the Department's mission overseas by coordinating
with foreign counterparts on investigations, interdicting
transnational criminal organizations seeking to smuggle drugs,
traffic humans and wildlife, and building international
outreach and training partnerships.\12\ HSI's International
Operations Division is responsible for executing a number of
activities and programs.\13\ For instance, within its
Transnational Criminal Investigative Units, HSI investigators
work on teams with foreign law enforcement officials.\14\ The
Visa Security Program (VSP) deploys HSI special agents to U.S.
embassies determined to be high-risk to advise Department of
State consular officers.\15\ Through the VSP, HSI investigators
advance DHS's counterterrorism mission by screening visa
applications and making recommendations to consular officers
regarding visa refusal and revocations.\16\
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\11\International Operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, https://www.ice.gov/international-operations#wcm-survey-
target-id; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Dep't of Homeland
Sec., Budget Overview (Feb. 27, 2018), available at https://
www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/
U.S.%20Immigration%20and%20Customs%20Enforcement.pdf.
\12\International Operations, supra note 11.
\13\Id.
\14\Id.
\15\Id.
\16\Id.
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While DHS's overseas functions are critical to achieving
its counterterrorism mission and protecting the homeland,
questions have been raised about the effectiveness of the
programs and the activities supported by the deployment and use
of personnel stationed abroad.\17\ According to a 2017 report
by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), although
CBP's pre-departure programs have resulted in the
identification and interdiction of high-risk travelers, ``CBP
has not fully evaluated the overall effectiveness of these
programs using performance measures and baselines.''\18\ DHS
concurred with GAO's recommendation to develop and implement
performance measures, including the establishment of
performance baselines, as a means of assessing the
effectiveness of its programs.\19\ DHS has created a working
group comprised of individuals from each of its pre-departure
programs to address this recommendation.\20\ However, the
recommendation has not been fully addressed.\21\ Absent
appropriate measures, CBP and relevant stakeholders cannot
assess whether pre-departure programs are achieving their
intended goals.
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\17\GAO-17-216, Border Security: CBP Aims to Prevent High-Risk
Travelers from Boarding U.S.-Bound Flights but Needs to Evaluate
Program Performance 24, 35-36, supra note 1.
\18\Id.
\19\Id.
\20\Id.
\21\Id.
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In the Explanatory Statement accompanying the Homeland
Security Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2018, the Senate
Committee on Appropriations encouraged HSI to prioritize its
efforts to collaborate with CBP on investigations supporting
trade enforcement activities.\22\ In doing so, HSI will be
better positioned to assess the cost and benefits of expanding
its overseas investigative activities.\23\ The Senate Committee
on Appropriations acknowledged the importance of impeding the
flow of individuals posing a threat and illicit contraband, but
encouraged HSI to continue reviewing the cost and benefit of
overseas agents, noting that ``the annual cost of an overseas
agent can be four times the cost of an agent deployed
domestically.''\24\
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\22\S. Comm. on Appropriations, Explanatory Statement for the
Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, 2018 (Nov. 21, 2017), available
at https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY2018-Homeland-
Security-Explanatory-Statement.pdf.
\23\Id.
\24\Id.
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Oversight of DHS's international counterterrorism programs
has raised questions about the need for additional overseas
personnel.\25\ Specially, during a September 2017 hearing
before the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee
on Transportation and Protective Security, Mr. Anthony Reardon,
National President of the National Treasury Employees Union,
expressed concerns with the Department's proposal to increase
the number of CBP personnel stationed abroad in support of the
Department's efforts to expand its Preclearance Program citing
``critical staffing shortages at the nation's ports of
entry.''\26\
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\25\Raising the Standard: DHS's Efforts to Improve Aviation
Security around the Globe, Hearing before the Subcomm. on Transp. &
Protective Sec. of the H. Comm. on Homeland Sec. (Sept. 26, 2017),
available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/HM/HM07/20170926/106421/
HMTG-115-HM07-Transcript-20170926.pdf; Securing Air Cargo: Industry
Perspectives, Hearing before the Subcomm. on Transp. & Protective Sec.
of the H. Comm. on Homeland Sec. (July 25, 2017), available at https://
homeland.house.gov/hearing/securing-air-cargo-industry-perspectives/;
The Future of the Transportation Security Administration, Hearing
before the Subcomm. on Transp. & Protective Sec. of the H. Comm. on
Homeland Sec. (Feb. 2, 2017), available at https://homeland.house.gov/
hearing/future-transportation-security-administration/; Examining TSA's
Global Efforts to Protect the Homeland from Aviation Threats and
Enhance Security at Last Point of Departure Airports, Hearing before
the Subcomm. on Transp. & Protective Sec. of the H. Comm. on Homeland
Sec. (Dec. 8, 2015), available at https://www.tsa.gov/news/testimony/
2015/12/08/testimony-hearing-%E2%80%9Cexamining-tsas-global-efforts-
protect-homeland.
\26\Raising the Standard: DHS's Efforts to Improve Aviation
Security around the Globe, Hearing before the Subcomm. on Transp. &
Protective Sec. of the H. Comm. on Homeland Sec., supra note 25, at 30.
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DHS should deploy its personnel and resources in a manner
that is consistent with the nation's homeland security
priorities. In January 2017, the President issued a series of
Executive Orders aimed at stemming the flow of illegal entrants
along the U.S. border with Mexico.\27\ Under these Executive
Orders, CBP and ICE, DHS components with large international
footprints, are to execute hiring plans that would
significantly increase the number of Border Patrol and ICE
agents.\28\ As the Department develops its staffing models and
budget requests for its international programs, consideration
should be given to whether proposed staffing increases advance
current homeland security priorities and provide intended
security benefits.\29\
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\27\Exec. Order No. 13,767, 82 Fed. Reg. 8793 (Jan. 2017); Exec.
Order No. 13,768, 82 Fed. Reg. 8799 (Jan. 2017).
\28\Exec. Order No. 13,767, supra note 27; Exec. Order No. 13,768,
supra note 27.
\29\Exec. Order No. 13,767, supra note 27; Exec. Order No. 13,768,
supra note 27.
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This Act provides transparency into the use and
effectiveness of overseas personnel. Specifically, the briefing
and plan required by this Act will enable Congress to hold the
Department accountable for ensuring that the costs associated
with overseas personnel do not outweigh the derived security
benefits.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Representative John Katko (R-NY) introduced H.R. 4567, the
DHS Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act, on December 6, 2017.
The Act passed the House unanimously on January 10, 2018, and
was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs.
The Committee considered H.R. 4567 at a business meeting on
June 13, 2018. The Committee reported the Act favorably by
voice vote en bloc. Senators present for the vote were Johnson,
Portman, Lankford, Enzi, McCaskill, Carper, Peters, Hassan,
Harris, and Jones.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE ACT, AS REPORTED
Section 1. Short title
This section provides the short title of Act, the ``DHS
Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of 2017.''
Section 2. Overseas personnel briefing
Subsection (a) requires the Secretary of the DHS to brief
Congress regarding personnel stationed abroad. The first
briefing is to occur 90 days after the submission of the
strategy required under section 1910 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, P.L. 114-328.
Subsequent briefings are to be provided to the aforementioned
Committees every 180 days.
Subsection (b) specifies the content requirements for the
briefing in subsection (a). The briefing is to include
information on the types of overseas positions, including how
the geographical and regional locations and position-specific
training provided to overseas personnel support the
Department's counterterrorism mission. The briefing is also to
include information on the challenges impeding the sharing of
counterterrorism information between DHS personnel at foreign
locations and DHS personnel within the United States. The
subsection also requires the Department to provide a status
update on the implementation of the strategy in subsection (a)
and the enhancement plan discussed under section 3.
Section 3. Overseas personnel enhancement plan
Subsection (a) requires the Secretary, within 90 days of
the first briefing required in section 2, to submit to Congress
an effectiveness enhancement plan for DHS overseas personnel.
Subsection (b) outlines the contents required to be
included within the plan. The plan is to include proposals to
improve foreign partner capacity development; the use of threat
information to redeploy personnel; enhance coordination with
partners, including DHS entities within the U.S. and foreign
partners; and practices for preventing counter-espionage
activities.
Section 4. Termination
This section sunsets the briefing required under section 2
of this Act 4 years after the submission of the strategy
required in Public Law Number 114-328.
V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this Act and determined
that the Act will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the Act contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, June 22, 2018.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 4567, the DHS
Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of 2017.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Mark
Grabowicz.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall,
Director.
Enclosure.
H.R. 4567--DHS Overseas Personnel Enhancement Act of 2017
H.R. 4567 would require the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) to devise a plan to improve the effectiveness of DHS
personnel who are stationed at foreign locations. The act also
would require DHS--about twice a year over the next four
years--to provide briefings to the Congress on department
personnel with primary duties outside the United States. Using
information from DHS, CBO estimates that implementing those
provisions would cost less than $500,000 annually; such
spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated
funds.
Enacting H.R. 4567 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4567 would not increase
net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
H.R. 4567 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
On January 18, 2018, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for
H.R. 4567 as passed by the House of Representatives on January
10, 2018. CBO estimates of the budgetary effects of the two
versions of the legislation are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Mark Grabowicz.
The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE ACT, AS REPORTED
Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any
provision of current law, it would not make changes in existing
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
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