II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5463 

To establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern Border Mission 

Center. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 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 establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern 

Border Mission Center. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

4 NORTHERN BORDER MISSION CENTER. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

7 establish the Department of Homeland Security Northern 

8 Border Mission Center. 

9 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Center shall be 

10 to serve as the Department’s forward deployed centralized 


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1 operations support center for domain awareness, informa2 tion sharing, intelligence, training, and stakeholder en3 gagement with Federal, State, tribal, local, and inter4 national government partners along the northern border 

5 of the United States. 

6 (c) LOCATION.—The Center shall be placed along the 

7 northern border at a location that is collocated with an 

8 existing U.S. Border Patrol sector headquarters, an Air 

9 and Marine Operations branch, and a United States Coast 

10 Guard air station, and other existing Department activi11 ties. 

12 (d) COMPONENTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall collocate 

14 personnel and activities of— 

15 (A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 

16 (B) the United States Coast Guard; 

17 (C) U.S. Immigration and Customs En18 forcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; 

19 and 

20 (D) other components and offices of the 

21 Department that the Secretary determines to be 

22 necessary, including to support the training, 

23 technology testing, and development described 

24 in subsection (e). 


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1 (2) ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL.—Additional Fed2 eral, State, tribal, local, and international govern3 ment partners may be collocated as the Secretary 

4 determines to be necessary and appropriate to sup5 port the operations described in this section. 

6 (e) FUNCTIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall perform 

8 the functions described in this subsection in addition 

9 to any other functions assigned by the Secretary. In 

10 carrying out these functions, the Center shall sup11 port the Department’s northern border security op12 erations. 

13 (2) NORTHERN BORDER STRATEGY.—The Cen14 ter, in collaboration with relevant offices and compo15 nents of the Department, shall— 

16 (A) serve as a coordination mechanism for 

17 operational components for the implementation 

18 of the Department of Homeland Security 

19 Northern Border Strategy and any successor 

20 strategy and support appropriate offices of the 

21 Department in the evaluation and updating of 

22 the Department of Homeland Security North23 ern Border Strategy and any successor strat24 egy; and 


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1 (B) support the development of best prac2 tices and policies for personnel at the northern 

3 border to support such implementation. 

4 (3) TRAINING.—The Center shall serve as a 

5 training location to support the delivery of training 

6 or exercises for Department personnel and Federal, 

7 State, tribal, local, and international government 

8 partners. 

9 (4) RESOURCE AND TECHNOLOGICAL NEEDS

10 AND CHALLENGES.—The Center, in collaboration 

11 with relevant offices and components of the Depart12 ment, shall— 

13 (A) identify resource and technological 

14 needs or challenges affecting security along the 

15 northern border; and 

16 (B) serve as a testing ground and dem17 onstration location for the testing of border se18 curity technology, including determining such 

19 technology’s suitability and performance in the 

20 northern border and maritime environments. 

21 (5) AIR AND MARINE OPERATIONS.— 

22 (A) QUICK REACTION CAPABILITIES.—In 

23 support of the Center, U.S. Customs and Bor24 der Protection’s Air and Marine Operations 

25 shall establish and maintain capability that is 


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1 collocated with the Center and available for 

2 quick deployment in support of the northern 

3 border missions, U.S. Customs and Border Pro4 tection, and the Department, including missions 

5 in the Great Lakes region. 

6 (B) NORTHERN BORDER DOMAIN AWARE7 NESS.—In order to coordinate with the Center 

8 and support its operations, the Air and Marine 

9 Operations Center shall collocate personnel and 

10 resources with the Center to enhance the De11 partment’s capabilities to— 

12 (i) support air and maritime domain 

13 awareness and information sharing efforts 

14 along the northern border; 

15 (ii) provide dedicated monitoring of 

16 northern border systems; and 

17 (iii) lead, in coordination with other 

18 U.S. Customs and Border Protection com19 ponents, Federal, State, tribal, local, and 

20 international governments, and private sec21 tor partners, the Center’s efforts to track 

22 and monitor legitimate cross-border traffic 

23 involving unmanned aircraft and un24 manned aircraft systems. 


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1 (6) COUNTER-UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYS2 TEMS.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to policies es4 tablished by the Secretary, consistent with sec5 tion 210G of the Homeland Security Act of 

6 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124n), the Center shall support 

7 counter-unmanned aircraft systems operations 

8 along the northern border to respond to the in9 creased use of unmanned aircraft systems. 

10 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

11 this section may be construed to provide addi12 tional authority related to detection, mitigation, 

13 research, development, or testing of unmanned 

14 aircraft systems or counter-unmanned aircraft 

15 systems. 

16 (7) PRIVACY AND CIVIL RIGHTS.—The Center, 

17 in collaboration with the Chief Privacy Officer and 

18 the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the 

19 Department, shall ensure that operations and prac20 tices of the Center comply with the privacy and civil 

21 rights policies of the Department and its compo22 nents, and as necessary, ensure there are resources 

23 or personnel available to support the Center’s mis24 sion onsite. 


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1 (8) NONCONTIGUOUS NORTHERN BORDER.— 

2 The Center, in collaboration with relevant offices 

3 and components of the Department, shall identify 

4 the specific challenges that exist along the non5 contiguous international land border with Canada 

6 and the maritime border with Russia, including re7 source, technological challenges, and domain aware8 ness. 

9 (f) ANNUAL REPORTING.—Not later than 180 days 

10 after the establishment of the Center, and annually there11 after, the Secretary shall submit a report, that may in12 clude a classified annex or a sensitive but unclassified 

13 annex, to the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov14 ernmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on For15 eign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Com16 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the 

17 Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep18 resentatives, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

19 House of Representatives, and the Committee on Trans20 portation and Infrastructure of the House of Representa21 tives that describes the activities of the Center during the 

22 most recently concluded fiscal year, including— 

23 (1) personnel levels; 


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1 (2) additional resources that are needed to sup2 port the operations of the Center and northern bor3 der operations of the Department; and 

4 (3) any additional assets or authorities that are 

5 needed to increase security and domain awareness 

6 along the northern border. 

7 (g) TEMPORARY DUTY ASSIGNMENTS.—The Sec8 retary shall submit a quarterly report to the Committee 

9 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

10 Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

11 House of Representatives regarding temporary duty as12 signments of U.S. Border Patrol agents during the report13 ing period, including— 

14 (1) the number of agents on temporary duty as15 signment; 

16 (2) the duration of the temporary duty assign17 ment; 

18 (3) the sectors from which the agents were as19 signed; and 

20 (4) the sectors to which the agents were as21 signed. 

22 (h) REPORT ON LARGE UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYS23 TEMS OPERATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

24 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

25 Security shall submit a report to the Committee on HomeVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:15 Jan 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5463.IS S5463

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1 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the 

2 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

3 the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

4 House of Representatives, and the Committee on Trans5 portation and Infrastructure of the House of Representa6 tives on the Department’s operation of large unmanned 

7 aircraft systems. The report shall include information on 

8 existing large unmanned aircraft systems, as well as rec9 ommendations on how to enable the operations of large 

10 unmanned aircraft systems based at the Center estab11 lished pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. 

12 (i) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

13 (1) AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH CENTER.—The 

14 Center established pursuant to subsection (a) shall 

15 be established separate and distinct from the Sec16 retary’s authorities under section 708 of the Home17 land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 348). 

18 (2) COMMANDANT AUTHORITY.—Nothing in 

19 this section shall be construed to affect, impinge, or 

20 alter any authority of the Commandant of the Coast 

21 Guard under title 14 or title 46, United States 

22 Code, or limit the Commandant’s discretion and 

23 ability to deploy Coast Guard assets and personnel. 

24 (j) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to be effective 

25 beginning on October 1, 2027. 


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1 (k) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—No additional funds 

2 are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of car3 rying out this section. 

4 (l) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) CENTER.—The term ‘‘Center’’ means the 

6 Department of Homeland Security Northern Border 

7 Mission Center established pursuant to subsection 

8 (a). 

9 (2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

10 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

11 (3) NORTHERN BORDER.—The term ‘‘northern 

12 border’’ means— 

13 (A) the international border between the 

14 United States and Canada; and 

15 (B) the maritime border between Alaska 

16 and the Russian Federation. 

17 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

Æ 


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