Legislative Activity This Week’s Hearings: On Tuesday, February 7, the House Homeland Security Committee has scheduled a hearing titled “Ending the Crisis: America’s Borders and the Path to Security.” On Wednesday, February 8, the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support has scheduled a hearing titled “Current Readiness of U.S. Forces.” On Wednesday, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Approves DHS Provisions in Defense Authorizing Bill On Friday, December 2, the House of Representatives approved the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (S. 2943) conference report by a vote of 375 to 34. The bill’s homeland security provisions: Direct the Secretary of Defense to coordinate unmanned aerial systems training missions along … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Debate Security as Commercial Flights to Cuba Take Off Earlier this year, the House Homeland Security Committee had been considering legislation banning U.S. commercial flights to Cuba until the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) assessed the country’s airport security practices. Commercial air service between the two countries resumed for the first time in … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Reacts to Administration’s Implementation Plan for Changes to Visa Waiver Program On January 21, the Administration announced plans to begin implementing changes to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) included in the omnibus appropriations bill funding the government through the end of FY 2016. The VWP permits citizens from approved countries to enter … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Reacts to President Obama’s Gun Control Proposals Shortly before departing Washington for the holidays, President Obama pledged a focus on gun safety in 2016, suggesting he may even act through his own Executive authority. Last week, the White House unveiled a series of such gun control plans aimed at tightening existing laws. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Panel to Consider Port Security This week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation will hold a hearing on “The Prevention of and Response to the Arrival of a Dirty Bomb at a U.S. Port.” In a memo accompanying the hearing announcement, the Subcommittee staff explained that … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Consider Homeland Security Legislation On Tuesday, October 20, the House of Representatives will consider several bills related to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including: H.R. 3572, the DHS Headquarters Reform and Improvement Act of 2015, which would reorganize DHS functions and update the agency’s acquisitions procedures; H.R. 3350, the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity U.S. Secret Service Allegedly Released Information on Congressional Leader This week, allegations surfaced that the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) had leaked sensitive information on Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) just as the Congressman had been investigating the agency. An Inspector General’s report found that senior USSS officials released information on the head of the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Continues Oversight of Aviation Security Agency On Thursday, July 23, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security advanced three measures aimed at strengthening the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), after covert TSA testing earlier this year found airport screeners failed to detect prohibited items in 67 out of 70 test cases. The … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Panel Approves Homeland Security Spending Bill, Scrutinizes “Sanctuary City” Policies This week, the House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2016 spending bill funding homeland security programs. The measure provides $39.3 billion in discretionary funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), $337 million below the amount enacted for FY 2015 … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Panel to Consider Homeland Security Measure This Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee will meet to consider its draft FY 2016 bill funding homeland security programs. The Subcommittee on Homeland Security unanimously approved the measure, which provides $39.3 billion in discretionary funding, on Thursday, July 9. Though the subcommittee vote was unanimous, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Appropriations Panel Approves Homeland Security Spending Bill This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2016 Homeland Security spending bill. The measure, adopted 26-4, provides $40.213 billion in funds for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), $765 million above the FY 2015 enacted levels but $1.2 billion less than requested … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Homeland Security IG Testifies Before Congressional Committee On Tuesday, June 9, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General John Roth testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee regarding oversight of the Transportation Secretary Administration (TSA). Mr. Roth’s testimony comes just as TSA continues to address the results of covert … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Respond to Results of TSA Internal Investigation Upon news that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners failed to detect prohibited items in 67 out of 70 test cases conducted by U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General undercover teams, the acting TSA Administrator was reassigned and replaced by Acting TSA Deputy Administrator … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Homeland Security Chair Concerned with Flow of Foreign Fighters On Friday, May 29, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX) participated in a meeting with top officials from around the world, including U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, at the United Nations to discuss the threat from foreign fighters. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Immigration Provision Removed from House Defense Bill On Friday, the House passed H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2016, by a vote of 269 in favor and 151 against. During floor debate, the chamber narrowly approved an amendment proposed by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) stripping language from H.R. 1735 that would … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity DHS FY 2016 Appropriations Continues Debate Over Immigration and U.S. Secret Service Challenges FY 2016 funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could restart debate on Capitol Hill regarding the President’s executive actions on immigration, the very same fight that almost derailed FY 2015 funding for the agency earlier this year. While … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Bill Would Tighten Requirements for Visa Waiver Program A proposed House bill seeks to strengthen requirements under the visa waiver program in place for nationals from certain countries. The Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act of 2015 (H.R. 158), originally introduced by Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI), aims to tighten requirements under the visa … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Avoids DHS Shut-Down With only hours to spare before the midnight Friday deadline, the House and Senate passed a stop-gap measure extending funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by one week, delaying a long-term solution to the current partisan impasse but avoiding a temporary shut-down of the agency. In remarks … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Homeland Security Nominations The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held a nomination hearing for President Barack Obama’s nominee to become the next Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), John Roth. Both Majority and Minority Members of the committee expressed support for Roth’s nomination and along with continued … Continue Reading
Executive Branch Activity NIST Cybersecurity Framework Stakeholders have until Friday, December 13 to submit comments on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) draft Cybersecurity Framework that was released in October. As required by the President’s Executive Order (EO) on cybersecurity released in February 2013, NIST will incorporate these comments in the final version … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Cybersecurity Legislation Last week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) called on the Senate Intelligence Committee to pass a cybersecurity information sharing bill so that it could eventually be conferenced with his bill that passed the House in April – the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (H.R. 624). Privacy and national … Continue Reading
