II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 159 

To improve the operation of the Department of Homeland Security’s 

Unmanned Aircraft System Program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 13, 2015 

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself, Mr. FLAKE, and Ms. AYOTTE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To improve the operation of the Department of Homeland 

Security’s Unmanned Aircraft System Program. 

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

3 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) ILLEGAL BORDER ACTIVITIES.—The term 

6 ‘‘illegal border activities’’ means the illegal traf7 ficking or smuggling of an individual or controlled 

8 substances or activities to further a Federal crime 

9 relating to United States immigration, customs, conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jan 23, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S159.IS S159

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1 trolled substances, agriculture, monetary instru2 ments, or other border controls. 

3 (2) SOUTHERN BORDER.—The term ‘‘Southern 

4 border’’ means the international border between the 

5 United States and Mexico. 

6 (3) UAS.—The term ‘‘UAS’’ means unmanned 

7 aircraft systems. 

8 SEC. 2. PERSISTENT SURVEILLANCE ALONG THE SOUTH9 ERN BORDER. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Department of Homeland Se11 curity shall fully utilize surveillance and detection capabili12 ties developed or used by the various Federal departments 

13 and agencies for the purpose of enhancing the functioning 

14 and operational capability to conduct continuous and inte15 grated manned or unmanned, monitoring, sensing, or sur16 veillance of 100 percent of Southern border mileage or the 

17 immediate vicinity of the Southern border. 

18 (b) PROCUREMENT OF ADDITIONAL UNMANNED AIR19 CRAFT SYSTEMS.— 

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

21 Security may not procure any additional UAS until 

22 after the Secretary provides Congress with written 

23 certification that the Department of Homeland Se24 curity successfully operated its current fleet of UAS 


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1 at least 23,000 hours during the preceding calendar 

2 year. 

3 (2) EXEMPTION.—The limitation set forth in 

4 paragraph (1) shall not apply to the procurement of 

5 unmanned aircraft that do not weigh more than 150 

6 pounds. 

7 (c) USE OF BEST AVAILABLE RADAR AND SURVEIL8 LANCE TECHNOLOGY.—The Department of Homeland Se9 curity shall use the best available radar and surveillance 

10 technology— 

11 (1) to increase awareness of illegal border ac12 tivities along the Southern border; and 

13 (2) to identify gaps in surveillance capabilities. 

14 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

15 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, and biannually thereafter, the Secretary 

17 of Homeland Security shall submit a report to the Com18 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

19 of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security 

20 of the House of Representatives that contains, for the re21 porting period— 

22 (1) the total number of UAS hours required to 

23 provide persistent surveillance along the Southern 

24 border; 


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1 (2) the total number of UAS flight hours 

2 planned in support of any Federal or State depart3 ment or agency; 

4 (3) the number of planned UAS flight hours in 

5 support of the goal referred to in paragraph (1); 

6 (4) the number of hours in which UAS were 

7 flown in support of the goal referred to in paragraph 

8 (1); 

9 (5) the number of planned UAS flight hours in 

10 support of the goal referred to in paragraph (1) that 

11 were cancelled before takeoff, including the reason 

12 for such cancellations; 

13 (6) performance measures regarding— 

14 (A) the number of hours flown by the cur15 rent fleet of UAS operated by the Department 

16 of Homeland Security; 

17 (B) the number of subjects detected 

18 though the use of UAS; 

19 (C) the number of apprehensions assisted 

20 by the use of UAS; and 

21 (D) the number and quantity of illicit drug 

22 seizures assisted by the use of UAS; and 

23 (7) all accumulated cost associated with the 

24 Unmanned Aircraft System Program within the De25 partment of Homeland Security, including— 


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1 (A) salaries of pilots; and 

2 (B) costs associated with radar and sur3 veillance technology. 

4 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY COLLABORATION. 

5 The Secretary of Homeland Security shall consult 

6 with the Secretary of Defense to identify the best practices 

7 used by the Department of Defense that could also be used 

8 by the Department of Homeland Security to improve the 

9 security of the Southern border by enhancing wide aerial 

10 surveillance and fulfilling the requirements set forth in 

11 section 2. 

12 SEC. 5. SUNSET. 

13 This Act shall be repealed on the date that is 5 years 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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