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Managing America: War on terror

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Week Ending August 1, 2008

H.R.3815 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to make full and efficient use of open source information to develop and disseminate open source homeland security information products, and for other purposes.

The bill defines ‘open source’ information as information that is publicly available and that can be used and disseminated in a timely manner to an appropriate audience for the purpose of addressing a specific homeland security requirement. The bill relates to information available on the Internet.

The Secretary of Homeland Security is directed to establish an open source collection, analysis, and dissemination program to make full and efficient use of open source information to develop and disseminate intelligence products. Specific focus is directed to open source products that analyze news and developments related to foreign terrorist organizations to include how the organizations are a threat to the US and to analyze the risks and vulnerabilities to the nation’s critical infrastructure. The program will also attempt to analyze terrorist tactics and techniques to include recommendations on how to identify patterns of terrorist activity and behavior such to allow State, local and tribal first responders to allocate resources appropriately.

This bill looks to search the Internet for information that might be helpful to terrorist plotting attacks against the US or to otherwise exploit. That information would be gathered, analyzed and disseminated when relevant to national security. Because the information is publicly available the results of the analysis can be easily distributed to State and local law enforcement who can then take preventative action or prepare for a potential threat.

Sponsor:  Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-7^th)

Vote: Passed House by voice vote July 30, 2008

Cost to the taxpayers: “CBO expects that the department would hire about 10 people to carry out the activities required by the bill. We estimate that the additional staff would cost about $1 million annually over the 2009-2013 period, assuming the availability of appropriated funds.”

Earmark Certification:   In compliance with rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, this bill, as reported, contains no congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in clause 9(d), 9(e), or 9(f) of the rule XXI.

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MORE INFORMATION

Congress finds the following:

(1) The Internet has profoundly expanded the amount, significance, and accessibility of all types of information, but the Department of Homeland Security has not sufficiently expanded its use of such information to produce analytical products.

(2) Open source products can be shared with Federal, State, local, and tribal law enforcement, the American public, the private sector, and foreign allies because of their unclassified nature.

(3) The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for providing open source products to consumers consistent with existing Federal open source information guidelines.

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATION

Section 1. Short title

This section states that this measure may be cited as the `Homeland Security Open Source Information Act of 2007'.

Section 2. Findings

This section outlines a series of Congressional findings, including that: (1) the Department of Homeland Security has not sufficiently expanded its use of open source information to produce open source analytical products; (2) open source products can be easily shared with the Department's State, local, and tribal partners, the private sector and the public because of its unclassified nature; (3) more than three years ago, the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction identified both the increasing importance of exploiting open source information and the Federal Government's failure to do so; (4) the Department has been specifically tasked with creating open source products under existing Federal open source guidelines.

Section 3. Full and efficient use of open source information

This section modifies Title II of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296) by requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish an open source program at the Department of Homeland Security that produces open source intelligence products that: (1) analyze news reports and developments related to foreign terrorist organizations including how the threat is relevant to homeland security; (2) analyze the risks and vulnerabilities to the Nation's critical infrastructure; (3) analyze terrorist tactics and techniques to include recommendations on how to identify patterns of terrorist activity and behavior allowing State, local and tribal first responders to allocate resources appropriately; and (4) utilize, as appropriate, computer-based electronic visualization and animation tools that combine imagery, sound, and written material into unclassified open source intelligence products. This section likewise requires the Secretary to share these and other open source products with Federal, State, local, tribal, and private sector customers and to ensure that the manner in which open source material is gathered and disseminated complies with the Constitution, the Privacy Act, the E-Government Act and all other relevant laws.

This section further modifies Title II of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 by requiring the Inspector General of the Department to produce a report ensuring compliance with the National Open Source Enterprise coordinated by the Director of National Intelligence. It likewise defines `open source information' and authorizes appropriations for the Department's open source program.

The Committee believes that progress and efficacy of the Department of Homeland Security's open source program should be assessed on: (1) its inclusion of customer input into the open source intelligence production process; (2) the degree to which it is creating products that are easily accessible through appropriate dissemination channels and recognizable as open source; (3) the extent to which its products receive positive feedback from the Department's customers at all levels of government and in the private sector; (4) the actual role the products are having in prevention and preparedness efforts, including any role in preventing or responding to a terrorist attack or other disaster; and (5) the extent to which privacy and civil liberties safeguards are incorporated into the production process.

Section 4. Privacy and civil liberties impact assessment

This section modifies Title II of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296) by requiring the Privacy Officer and the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a privacy and civil liberties impact assessment of the Department's open source program within 90 days of enactment.

Section 5. Definitions

This section defines terms used in this measure.

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