IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5094 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2018 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to improve 

suspicious activity reporting to prevent acts of terrorism, 

and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancing Suspicious 

3 Activity Reporting Initiative Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ENHANCING DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECU5 RITY SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTING OP6 ERATIONS. 

7 (a) STRATEGY REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

9 of Homeland Security, in consultation with other appro10 priate Federal officials, shall develop a strategy to improve 

11 the operations and activities of the Department of Home12 land Security related to training, outreach, and informa13 tion sharing for suspicious activity reporting to prevent 

14 acts of terrorism. 

15 (b) CONTENTS OF STRATEGY.—The strategy re16 quired under subsection (a) shall include the following: 

17 (1) A description and examples of the types of 

18 information that would meet the definition of critical 

19 information for the purpose of suspicious activity re20 porting as well as information, including information 

21 associated with racial, religious or national origin, 

22 that would not meet the definition of critical infor23 mation. 

24 (2) Training for appropriate personnel of State 

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1 sponse providers, and, as appropriate, the private 

2 sector on— 

3 (A) methods for identifying, analyzing, and 

4 disseminating critical information, including the 

5 indicators of terrorism; 

6 (B) methods to protect privacy and civil 

7 liberties, including preventing racial, religious, 

8 or national origin discrimination; and 

9 (C) response protocols for submitting sus10 picious activity reports. 

11 (3) Methods to improve outreach to appropriate 

12 State and major urban area fusion centers, emer13 gency response providers, and the private sector re14 lated to suspicious activity reporting to prevent acts 

15 of terrorism. 

16 (4) A plan to ensure that critical information is 

17 shared in a timely manner with State and major 

18 urban area fusion centers, emergency response pro19 viders, and the private sector, as appropriate, includ20 ing nationwide trend analysis and other information 

21 related to terrorist threats. 

22 (5) Methods to measure the effectiveness of the 

23 activities conducted under the strategy with respect 

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1 tion sharing to prevent acts of terrorism that have 

2 been validated through peer-reviewed empirical stud3 ies to the extent practicable. 

4 (c) WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS.—In de5 veloping the strategy required under subsection (a) the 

6 Secretary shall take into consideration the recommenda7 tions of the working group established under section 3. 

8 (d) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Not less than 

9 30 days before the release of the strategy required pursu10 ant to subsection (a), the Secretary shall provide to the 

11 Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep12 resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 

13 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a notification of 

14 the release of the strategy and a copy of the strategy. Such 

15 notification shall include the recommendations provided by 

16 the working group established under section 3 and how 

17 such recommendations were incorporated into the strat18 egy. 

19 SEC. 3. SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTING WORKING 

20 GROUP. 

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

23 Security shall establish a working group on sus24 picious activity reporting. 


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1 (2) DEPARTMENT LIAISONS.—The Secretary 

2 shall appoint as liaisons to the working group— 

3 (A) the Chief Privacy Officer of the De4 partment of Homeland Security; 

5 (B) the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 

6 Liberties of the Department; and 

7 (C) such other officials of the Department 

8 as the Secretary determines appropriate. 

9 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The working group estab10 lished under subsection (a) shall carry out the following 

11 responsibilities: 

12 (1) Provide advice to the Secretary regarding 

13 improvements to the operations and activities related 

14 to suspicious activity reporting to prevent acts of 

15 terrorism. 

16 (2) At the request of the Secretary, for pur17 poses of section 2(c), develop recommendations to 

18 improve suspicious activity reporting to prevent acts 

19 of terrorism with respect to— 

20 (A) outreach to relevant stakeholders; 

21 (B) information sharing; 

22 (C) protecting personally identifiable infor23 mation; 

24 (D) protecting the privacy, civil rights, and 

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1 picious activity and individuals who are the sub2 jects of such reports; 

3 (E) preventing racial, religious, or national 

4 origin discrimination; 

5 (F) training for emergency response pro6 viders and the private sector; and 

7 (G) other matters, as determined by the 

8 Secretary. 

9 (c) WORKING GROUP MEMBERSHIP.—Not later than 

10 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

11 Secretary shall seek the voluntary participation of not 

12 more than 20 individuals representing at least 12 diverse 

13 regions of the United States to serve as members of the 

14 working group. Members of the working group shall serve 

15 without pay. The Secretary shall seek to ensure that the 

16 working group includes members who are representatives 

17 from each of the following: 

18 (1) State and major urban area fusion centers. 

19 (2) State, local, tribal, and territorial law en20 forcement agencies. 

21 (3) Firefighters. 

22 (4) Emergency medical services. 

23 (5) Private sector security professionals. 

24 (6) Nongovernmental privacy and civil liberty 

25 organizations. 


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1 (7) Any other group the Secretary determines 

2 appropriate. 

3 (d) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING.—Upon request, the 

4 Secretary shall provide to the Committee on Homeland Se5 curity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

6 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

7 Senate a briefing on the operations and activities of the 

8 Department of Homeland Security related to training, 

9 outreach, and information sharing for suspicious activity 

10 reporting to prevent acts of terrorism, including copies of 

11 materials developed under this section. 

12 (e) TERMINATION.—The working group under this 

13 section shall terminate on the date that is 2 years after 

14 the date of the enactment of this Act, except that the Sec15 retary may extend such working group if the Secretary 

16 determines necessary. 

17 (f) NONAPPLICABILITY OF FACA.—The Federal Ad18 visory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to 

19 the working group established under this section. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 25, 2018. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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