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Union Calendar No. 268 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3490 

[Report No. 114–345, Parts I and II] 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the National 

Computer Forensics Institute, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 

Mr. RATCLIFFE (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, and Mr. PALMER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

NOVEMBER 19, 2015 

Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

NOVEMBER 30, 2015 

Additional sponsor: Mr. RICHMOND

NOVEMBER 30, 2015 

Reported from the Committee on Homeland Security with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in boldface roman] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on September 11, 2015] 


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•HR 3490 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize 

the National Computer Forensics Institute, and for other 

purposes. 


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•HR 3490 RH

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 ‘‘Strengthening State and 

5 Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL COMPUTER 

7 FORENSICS INSTITUTE OF THE DEPARTMENT 

8 OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of title VIII of the 

10 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 381 et seq.) is 

11 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 822. NATIONAL COMPUTER FORENSICS INSTITUTE. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the Depart14 ment a National Computer Forensics Institute (in this sec15 tion referred to as the ‘Institute’), to be operated by the 

16 United States Secret Service, for the dissemination of home17 land security information related to the investigation and 

18 prevention of cyber and electronic crime and related threats 

19 to educate, train, and equip State, local, tribal, and terri20 torial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges. 

21 ‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the Institute shall 

22 include the following: 

23 ‘‘(1) Educating State, local, tribal, and terri24 torial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and 

25 judges on current— 


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•HR 3490 RH

1 ‘‘(A) cyber and electronic crimes and related 

2 threats; 

3 ‘‘(B) methods for investigating cyber and 

4 electronic crime and related threats and con5 ducting computer and mobile device forensic ex6 aminations; and 

7 ‘‘(C) prosecutorial and judicial challenges 

8 related to cyber and electronic crime and related 

9 threats, and computer and mobile device forensic 

10 examinations. 

11 ‘‘(2) Training State, local, tribal, and territorial 

12 law enforcement officers to— 

13 ‘‘(A) conduct cyber and electronic crime and 

14 related threat investigations; 

15 ‘‘(B) conduct computer and mobile device 

16 forensic examinations; and 

17 ‘‘(C) respond to network intrusion inci18 dents. 

19 ‘‘(3) Training State, local, tribal, and territorial 

20 law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges on 

21 methods to obtain, process, store, and admit digital 

22 evidence in court. 

23 ‘‘(c) PRINCIPLES.—In carrying out the functions 

24 under subsection (b), the Institute shall ensure, to the extent 

25 practicable, that timely, actionable, and relevant expertise 


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•HR 3490 RH

1 and homeland security information related to cyber and 

2 electronic crime and related threats is shared with State, 

3 local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers, pros4 ecutors, and judges. 

5 ‘‘(d) EQUIPMENT.—The Institute is authorized to pro6 vide State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement of7 ficers, prosecutors, and judges with computer equipment, 

8 hardware, software, manuals, and tools necessary to con9 duct cyber and electronic crime and related threats inves10 tigations and computer and mobile device forensic examina11 tions. 

12 ‘‘(e) ELECTRONIC CRIME TASK FORCES.—The Insti13 tute shall facilitate the expansion of the Secret Service’s net14 work of Electronic Crime Task Forces through the addition 

15 of task force officers of State, local, tribal, and territorial 

16 law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges educated 

17 and trained at the Institute, in addition to academia and 

18 private sector stakeholders. 

19 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION WITH FEDERAL LAW ENFORCE20 MENT TRAINING CENTER.—The Institute shall seek oppor21 tunities to coordinate with the Federal Law Enforcement 

22 Training Center within the Department to help enhance, 

23 to the extent practicable, the training provided by the Cen24 ter to stakeholders, including by helping to ensure that such 

25 training reflects timely, actionable, and relevant expertise 


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•HR 3490 RH

1 in homeland security information related to cyber and elec2 tronic crime and related threats.’’. 

3 (b) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—No additional funds 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act and 

5 the amendment made by this Act. This Act and such 

6 amendment shall be carried out using amounts otherwise 

7 available for such purposes. 

8 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents of 

9 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by inserting 

10 after the item relating to section 821 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 822. National Computer Forensics Institute.’’. 

11 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

12 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strength13 ening State and Local Cyber Crime Fighting 

14 Act’’. 

15 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL COMPUTER 

16 FORENSICS INSTITUTE OF THE DEPARTMENT 

17 OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of title VIII of 

19 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 

20 381 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

21 the following new section: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 822. NATIONAL COMPUTER FORENSICS INSTITUTE. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in 

24 the Department a National Computer 

25 Forensics Institute (in this section referred to 


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•HR 3490 RH

1 as the ‘Institute’), to be operated by the 

2 United States Secret Service, for the dissemi3 nation of homeland security information re4 lated to the investigation and prevention of 

5 cyber and electronic crime and related 

6 threats to educate, train, and equip State, 

7 local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement 

8 officers, prosecutors, and judges. 

9 ‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the In10 stitute shall include the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) Educating State, local, tribal, and 

12 territorial law enforcement officers, pros13 ecutors, and judges on current— 

14 ‘‘(A) cyber and electronic crimes 

15 and related threats; 

16 ‘‘(B) methods for investigating 

17 cyber and electronic crime and re18 lated threats and conducting com19 puter and mobile device forensic ex20 aminations; and 

21 ‘‘(C) prosecutorial and judicial 

22 challenges related to cyber and elec23 tronic crime and related threats, and 

24 computer and mobile device forensic 

25 examinations. 


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•HR 3490 RH

1 ‘‘(2) Training State, local, tribal, and 

2 territorial law enforcement officers to— 

3 ‘‘(A) conduct cyber and electronic 

4 crime and related threat investiga5 tions; 

6 ‘‘(B) conduct computer and mo7 bile device forensic examinations; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(C) respond to network intrusion 

10 incidents. 

11 ‘‘(3) Training State, local, tribal, and 

12 territorial law enforcement officers, pros13 ecutors, and judges on methods to obtain, 

14 process, store, and admit digital evidence 

15 in court. 

16 ‘‘(c) PRINCIPLES.—In carrying out the func17 tions under subsection (b), the Institute shall 

18 ensure, to the extent practicable, that timely, 

19 actionable, and relevant expertise and home20 land security information related to cyber 

21 and electronic crime and related threats is 

22 shared with State, local, tribal, and territorial 

23 law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and 

24 judges. 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
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•HR 3490 RH

1 ‘‘(d) EQUIPMENT.—The Institute is author2 ized to provide State, local, tribal, and terri3 torial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, 

4 and judges with computer equipment, hard5 ware, software, manuals, and tools necessary 

6 to conduct cyber and electronic crime and re7 lated threats investigations and computer 

8 and mobile device forensic examinations. 

9 ‘‘(e) ELECTRONIC CRIME TASK FORCES.—The 

10 Institute shall facilitate the expansion of the 

11 Secret Service’s network of Electronic Crime 

12 Task Forces through the addition of task 

13 force officers of State, local, tribal, and terri14 torial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, 

15 and judges educated and trained at the Insti16 tute, in addition to academia and private sec17 tor stakeholders. 

18 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION WITH FEDERAL LAW EN19 FORCEMENT TRAINING CENTER.—The Institute 

20 shall seek opportunities to coordinate with 

21 the Federal Law Enforcement Training Cen22 ter within the Department to help enhance, to 

23 the extent practicable, the training provided 

24 by the Center to stakeholders, including by 

25 helping to ensure that such training reflects 


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•HR 3490 RH

1 timely, actionable, and relevant expertise in 

2 homeland security information related to 

3 cyber and electronic crime and related 

4 threats.’’. 

5 (b) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—No addi6 tional funds are authorized to be appro7 priated to carry out this Act and the amend8 ment made by this Act. This Act and such 

9 amendment shall be carried out using 

10 amounts otherwise available for such pur11 poses. 

12 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of 

13 contents of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

14 is amended by inserting after the item relat15 ing to section 821 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 822. National Computer Forensics Institute.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. TRAINING MATERIALS. 

17 Not later than six months after the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act, the Director of 

19 the United States Secret Service shall report 

20 to the appropriate congressional oversight 

21 committees on plans to incorporate best prac22 tices into training materials on chain of cus23 tody for digital evidence, including physical 

24 devices and the digital evidence that may be 

25 contained on such devices. 


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•HR 3490 RH

1 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 Nothing in this Act may be construed to 

3 abridge the rights afforded by the Fourth and 

4 Fifth Amendments to the United States Con5 stitution. 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 268 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3490 

[Report No. 114–345, Parts I and II] 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to 

tute, and for other purposes. authorize the National Computer Forensics InstiNOVEMBER 30, 2015 

Reported from the Committee on Homeland Security 

with an amendment 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS