I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1616 

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

Computer Forensics Institute, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2017 

Mr. RATCLIFFE (for himself 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 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize 

the National Computer Forensics Institute, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening State 

5 and Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL COMPUTER 

2 FORENSICS INSTITUTE OF THE DEPARTMENT 

3 OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 

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

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

6 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

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

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is in the Department a 

9 National Computer Forensics Institute (in this section re10 ferred to as the ‘Institute’), to be operated by the United 

11 States Secret Service. The Institute shall disseminate 

12 homeland security information related to the investigation 

13 and prevention of cyber and electronic crime and related 

14 threats, and educate, train, and equip State, local, tribal, 

15 and territorial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and 

16 judges. 

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

18 shall include the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) Educating State, local, tribal, and terri20 torial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and 

21 judges on current— 

22 ‘‘(A) cyber and electronic crimes and re23 lated threats; 

24 ‘‘(B) methods for investigating cyber and 

25 electronic crime and related threats and conVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Mar 22, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1616.IH H1616

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1 ducting computer and mobile device forensic ex2 aminations; and 

3 ‘‘(C) prosecutorial and judicial challenges 

4 related to cyber and electronic crime and re5 lated threats, and computer and mobile device 

6 forensic examinations. 

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

8 law enforcement officers to— 

9 ‘‘(A) conduct cyber and electronic crime 

10 and related threat investigations; 

11 ‘‘(B) conduct computer and mobile device 

12 forensic examinations; and 

13 ‘‘(C) respond to network intrusion inci14 dents. 

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

16 law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges on 

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

18 evidence in court. 

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

20 specified in subsection (b), the Institute shall ensure, to 

21 the extent practicable, that timely, actionable, and rel22 evant expertise and homeland security information related 

23 to cyber and electronic crime and related threats is shared 

24 with State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement 

25 officers and prosecutors. 


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1 ‘‘(d) EQUIPMENT.—The Institute may provide State, 

2 local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers with 

3 computer equipment, hardware, software, manuals, and 

4 tools necessary to conduct cyber and electronic crime and 

5 related threat investigations and computer and mobile de6 vice forensic examinations. 

7 ‘‘(e) ELECTRONIC CRIME TASK FORCES.—The Insti8 tute shall facilitate the expansion of the network of Elec9 tronic Crime Task Forces of the United States Secret 

10 Service through the addition of State, local, tribal, and 

11 territorial law enforcement officers educated and trained 

12 at the Institute. 

13 ‘‘(f) SAVINGS PROVISION.—All activities and func14 tions carried out by the Institute at any location as of 

15 the day before the date of the enactment of this section 

16 are authorized to continue to be carried out at any such 

17 location on and after such date.’’. 

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

19 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 

20 and the amendments made by this Act. This Act and such 

21 amendments shall be carried out using amounts otherwise 

22 available for such purposes. 

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

24 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 


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1 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the item 

2 relating to section 821 the following new item: 

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

Æ 


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