II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5407 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a plan to identify, 

integrate, and deploy new, innovative, disruptive, or other emerging or 

advanced technologies that are safe and secure to enhance U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection’s capabilities to meet its mission needs along 

international borders and at ports of entry. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 2, 2024 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop 

a plan to identify, integrate, and deploy new, innovative, 

disruptive, or other emerging or advanced technologies 

that are safe and secure to enhance U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection’s capabilities to meet its mission needs 

along international borders and at ports of entry. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emerging Innovative 

5 Border Technologies Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INNOVATIVE AND EMERGING BORDER TECH2 NOLOGY PLAN. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home5 land Security, acting through the Commissioner for U.S. 

6 Customs and Border Protection (referred to in this section 

7 as ‘‘CBP’’) and the Under Secretary for Science and 

8 Technology of the Department of Homeland Security, in 

9 consultation with the Department’s Chief Information Of10 ficer, Chief Procurement Officer, Privacy Officer, Civil 

11 Right and Civil Liberties Officer, General Counsel, and 

12 any other relevant offices and components of the Depart13 ment of Homeland Security, shall submit a plan to the 

14 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af15 fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Secu16 rity of the House of Representatives for identifying, inte17 grating, and deploying new, innovative, disruptive, or 

18 other emerging or advanced technologies that are safe and 

19 secure to enhance CBP capabilities to meet its mission 

20 needs along international borders or at ports of entry. 

21 (b) CONTENTS.—The plan required under subsection 

22 (a) shall include— 

23 (1) information regarding how CBP utilizes the 

24 CBP Innovation Team authority under subsection 

25 (c) and other mechanisms to carry out the purposes 

26 described in subsection (a); 


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1 (2) an assessment of the contributions directly 

2 attributable to such utilization; 

3 (3) information regarding— 

4 (A) the composition of each CBP Innova5 tion Team; and 

6 (B) how each CBP Innovation Team co7 ordinates and integrates efforts with the CBP 

8 acquisition program office and other partners 

9 within CBP and the Department of Homeland 

10 Security; 

11 (4) the identification of technologies used by 

12 other Federal departments or agencies not in use by 

13 CBP that could assist in enhancing mission needs 

14 along international borders or at ports of entry; 

15 (5) an analysis of authorities available to CBP 

16 to procure technologies referred to in subsection (a); 

17 (6) an assessment of whether additional or al18 ternative authorities are needed to carry out the 

19 purposes described in subsection (a); 

20 (7) an explanation of how CBP plans to scale 

21 existing programs related to emerging or advanced 

22 technologies that are safe and secure into programs 

23 of record; 


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1 (8) a description of each planned security-re2 lated technology program, including objectives, goals, 

3 and timelines for each such program; 

4 (9) an assessment of the potential privacy, civil 

5 rights, civil liberties, and safety impacts of these 

6 technologies on individuals, and potential mitigation 

7 measures; 

8 (10) an assessment of CBP legacy border tech9 nology programs that could be phased out and re10 placed with technologies referred to in subsection 

11 (a), including cost estimates relating to such phase 

12 out and replacement; 

13 (11) information relating to how CBP is coordi14 nating with the Department of Homeland Security’s 

15 Science and Technology Directorate— 

16 (A) to research and develop new, innova17 tive, disruptive, or other emerging or advanced 

18 technologies that are safe and secure to carry 

19 out the purposes described in subsection (a); 

20 (B) to identify new, innovative, disruptive, 

21 or other emerging or advanced technologies that 

22 are safe and secure and that are in development 

23 or have been deployed by the private and public 

24 sectors and may satisfy the mission needs of 

25 CBP, with or without adaptation; 


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1 (C) to incentivize the private sector to de2 velop technologies, including privacy enhancing 

3 technologies, that may help CBP meet mission 

4 needs to enhance, or address capability gaps in, 

5 border security operations; and 

6 (D) to identify and assess ways to increase 

7 opportunities for communication and collabora8 tion with the private sector, small, and dis9 advantaged businesses, intra-governmental enti10 ties, university centers of excellence, and Fed11 eral laboratories to leverage emerging tech12 nology and research within the public and pri13 vate sectors; 

14 (12) information relating to CBP’s coordination 

15 with the Department of Homeland Security official 

16 responsible for artificial intelligence policy to ensure 

17 the plan complies with the Department’s policies and 

18 measures promoting responsible use of artificial in19 telligence; 

20 (13) information regarding metrics and key 

21 performance parameters for evaluating the effective22 ness of efforts to identify, integrate, and deploy new, 

23 innovative, disruptive, or other emerging or ad24 vanced technologies that are safe and secure to carry 

25 out the purposes described in subsection (a); 


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1 (14) the identification of recent technological 

2 advancements relating to— 

3 (A) manned aircraft sensor, communica4 tion, and common operating picture technology; 

5 (B) unmanned aerial systems and related 

6 technology, including counter-unmanned aerial 

7 system technology; 

8 (C) surveillance technology, including— 

9 (i) mobile surveillance vehicles; 

10 (ii) associated electronics, including 

11 cameras, sensor technology, and radar; 

12 (iii) tower-based surveillance tech13 nology; 

14 (iv) advanced unattended surveillance 

15 sensors; and 

16 (v) deployable, lighter-than-air, 

17 ground surveillance equipment; 

18 (D) nonintrusive inspection technology, in19 cluding non-X-ray devices utilizing muon to20 mography and other advanced detection tech21 nology; 

22 (E) tunnel detection technology; and 

23 (F) communications equipment, includ24 ing— 

25 (i) radios; 


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1 (ii) long-term evolution broadband; 

2 and 

3 (iii) miniature satellites; 

4 (15) information relating to how CBP is coordi5 nating with the Department of Homeland Security’s 

6 Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, 

7 Privacy Officer, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Offi8 cer, General Counsel, and other relevant offices and 

9 components of the Department in researching, devel10 oping, acquiring, or scaling new, innovative, disrup11 tive, or other emerging or advanced technologies 

12 that are safe and secure; and 

13 (16) any other information the Secretary deter14 mines to be relevant. 

15 (c) CBP INNOVATION TEAM AUTHORITY.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner for CBP 

17 is authorized to maintain 1 or more CBP Innovation 

18 Teams to research and adapt commercial tech19 nologies that are new, innovative, disruptive, privacy 

20 enhancing, or otherwise emerging or advanced and 

21 may be used by CBP— 

22 (A) to enhance mission needs along inter23 national borders and at ports of entry; and 

24 (B) to assess potential outcomes, including 

25 any negative consequences, of the introduction 


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1 of emerging or advanced technologies with re2 spect to which documented capability gaps in 

3 border security operations are yet to be deter4 mined. 

5 (2) FUNCTIONS.—Each CBP Innovation Team 

6 shall— 

7 (A) operate consistent with the Depart8 ment of Homeland Security’s and CBP’s— 

9 (i) procurement and acquisition man10 agement policy; and 

11 (ii) policies pertaining to responsible 

12 use of artificial intelligence; and 

13 (B) consult with the Officer for Civil 

14 Rights and Civil Liberties and the Privacy Offi15 cer of the Department of Homeland Security to 

16 ensure programs, policies, and procedures in17 volving civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy 

18 considerations are addressed in an integrated 

19 and comprehensive manner. 

20 (3) OPERATING PROCEDURES, PLANNING, STRA21 TEGIC GOALS.—The Commissioner for CBP shall re22 quire each CBP Innovation Team maintained pursu23 ant to paragraph (1) to establish, in coordination 

24 with other appropriate offices of the Department of 

25 Homeland Security— 


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1 (A) operating procedures, which shall in2 clude— 

3 (i) specificity regarding roles and re4 sponsibilities within each such team and 

5 with respect to Department of Homeland 

6 Security and non-Federal partners; and 

7 (ii) protocols for entering into agree8 ments to rapidly transition such tech9 nologies to existing or new programs of 

10 record to carry out the purposes described 

11 in subsection (a); 

12 (B) planning and strategic goals for each 

13 such team that includes projected costs, time 

14 frames, metrics, and key performance param15 eters relating to the achievement of identified 

16 strategic goals, including a metric to measure 

17 the rate at which technologies described in sub18 section (a) are transitioned to existing or new 

19 programs of record in accordance with subpara20 graph (A); and 

21 (C) operating procedures that ensure each 

22 such team is in compliance with all applicable 

23 laws, rules, and regulations and with the De24 partment of Homeland Security’s policies per25 taining to procurement and acquisition manageVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Dec 07, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5407.IS S5407

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1 ment, privacy, civil rights and civil liberties, and 

2 the responsible use of artificial intelligence, in3 cluding risk assessments and ongoing moni4 toring to ensure accuracy and reliability. 

5 (4) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act and an7 nually thereafter, the Commissioner for CBP shall 

8 submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

9 Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Com10 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep11 resentatives information relating to the activities of 

12 CBP Innovation Teams, including— 

13 (A) copies of operating procedures and 

14 protocols required under paragraph (2)(A) and 

15 planning and strategic goals required under 

16 paragraph (2)(B); 

17 (B) descriptions of the technologies piloted 

18 by each such team during the immediately pre19 ceding fiscal year, including— 

20 (i) information regarding which such 

21 technologies are determined to have been 

22 successful; and 

23 (ii) the identification of documented 

24 capability gaps that are being addressed; 

25 and 


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1 (C) information regarding the status of ef2 forts to rapidly transition technologies deter3 mined successful to existing or new programs of 

4 record. 

5 (d) COST-BENEFIT.—Before initiating the large-scale 

6 deployment of any new technology contained in the plan 

7 required under subsection (a), the Secretary of Homeland 

8 Security shall consider the costs and benefits to the Gov9 ernment to ensure that the deployment of such technology 

10 will provide quantifiable improvements to border security. 

Æ 


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