II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1864 

To improve national security by developing metrics to measure the effectiveness of security between ports of entry, at points of entry, and along 

the maritime border. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27, 2015 

Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To improve national security by developing metrics to measure the effectiveness of security between ports of entry, 

at points of entry, and along the maritime border. 

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 ‘‘Department of Home5 land Security Border Security Metrics Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

5 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

6 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 

7 of the House of Representatives; 

8 (C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

9 Senate; and 

10 (D) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

11 House of Representatives. 

12 (2) CONSEQUENCE DELIVERY SYSTEM.—The 

13 term ‘‘Consequence Delivery System’’ means the se14 ries of consequences applied by the Border Patrol to 

15 persons unlawfully entering the United States to 

16 prevent unlawful border crossing recidivism. 

17 (3) GOT AWAY.—The term ‘‘got away’’ means 

18 an unlawful border crosser who— 

19 (A) is directly or indirectly observed mak20 ing an unlawful entry into the United States; 

21 and 

22 (B) is not a turn back and is not appre23 hended. 


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1 (4) KNOWN MIGRANT FLOW.—The term 

2 ‘‘known migrant flow’’ means the sum of the num3 ber of undocumented migrants— 

4 (A) interdicted at sea; 

5 (B) identified at sea, but not interdicted; 

6 (C) that successfully entered the United 

7 States through the maritime border; or 

8 (D) not described in subparagraph (A), 

9 (B), or (C), which were otherwise reported, with 

10 a significant degree of certainty, as having en11 tered, or attempted to enter, the United States 

12 through the maritime border. 

13 (5) MAJOR VIOLATOR.—The term ‘‘major viola14 tor’’ means a person or entity that has engaged in 

15 serious criminal activities at any land, air, or sea 

16 port of entry, including— 

17 (A) possession of illicit drugs; 

18 (B) smuggling of prohibited products; 

19 (C) human smuggling; 

20 (D) weapons possession; 

21 (E) use of fraudulent United States docu22 ments; or 

23 (F) other offenses that are serious enough 

24 to result in arrest. 


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1 (6) SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.—The term ‘‘sit2 uational awareness’’ means knowledge and unified 

3 understanding of current unlawful cross-border ac4 tivity, including— 

5 (A) threats and trends concerning illicit 

6 trafficking and unlawful crossings; 

7 (B) the ability to forecast future shifts in 

8 such threats and trends; 

9 (C) the ability to evaluate such threats and 

10 trends at a level sufficient to create actionable 

11 plans; and 

12 (D) the operational capability to conduct 

13 persistent and integrated surveillance of the 

14 international borders of the United States. 

15 (7) TRANSIT ZONE.—The term ‘‘transit zone’’ 

16 means the sea corridors of the western Atlantic 

17 Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and 

18 the eastern Pacific Ocean through which undocu19 mented migrants and illicit drugs transit, either di20 rectly or indirectly, to the United States. 

21 (8) TURN BACK.—The term ‘‘turn back’’ means 

22 an unlawful border crosser who, after making an un23 lawful entry into the United States, promptly re24 turns to the country from which such crosser en25 tered. 


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1 (9) UNLAWFUL BORDER CROSSING EFFECTIVE2 NESS RATE.—The term ‘‘unlawful border crossing 

3 effectiveness rate’’ means the percentage that results 

4 from dividing— 

5 (A) the number of apprehensions and turn 

6 backs; and 

7 (B) the number of apprehensions, esti8 mated unlawful entries, turn backs, and got 

9 aways. 

10 (10) UNLAWFUL ENTRY.—The term ‘‘unlawful 

11 entry’’ means an unlawful border crosser who enters 

12 the United States and is not apprehended by a bor13 der security component of the Department of Home14 land Security. 

15 SEC. 3. METRICS FOR SECURING THE BORDER BETWEEN 

16 PORTS OF ENTRY. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home19 land Security shall develop metrics, informed by situa20 tional awareness, to measure the effectiveness of security 

21 between ports of entry. The Secretary shall annually im22 plement the metrics developed under this subsection, 

23 which shall include— 


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1 (1) estimates, using alternative methodologies, 

2 including recidivism data, survey data, known-flow 

3 data, and technologically measured data, of— 

4 (A) total attempted unlawful border cross5 ings; 

6 (B) the rate of apprehension of attempted 

7 unlawful border crossers; and 

8 (C) the number of unlawful entries; 

9 (2) a situational awareness achievement metric, 

10 which measures situational awareness achieved in 

11 each Border Patrol sector; 

12 (3) an unlawful border crossing effectiveness 

13 rate; 

14 (4) a probability of detection, which compares 

15 the estimated total unlawful border crossing at16 tempts not detected by the Border Patrol to the un17 lawful border crossing effectiveness rate, as informed 

18 by paragraph (1); 

19 (5) an illicit drugs seizure rate for drugs seized 

20 by the Border Patrol, which compares the ratio of 

21 the amount and type of illicit drugs seized by the 

22 Border Patrol in any fiscal year to the average of 

23 the amount and type of illicit drugs seized by the 

24 Border Patrol in the immediately preceding 5 fiscal 

25 years; 


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1 (6) a weight-to-frequency rate, which compares 

2 the average weight of marijuana seized per seizure 

3 by the Border Patrol in any fiscal year to such 

4 weight-to-frequency rate for the immediately pre5 ceding 5 fiscal years; 

6 (7) estimates of the impact of the Consequence 

7 Delivery System on the rate of recidivism of unlaw8 ful border crossers over multiple fiscal years; and 

9 (8) an examination of each consequence re10 ferred to in paragraph (7), including— 

11 (A) voluntary return; 

12 (B) warrant of arrest or notice to appear; 

13 (C) expedited removal; 

14 (D) reinstatement of removal; 

15 (E) alien transfer exit program; 

16 (F) Operation Streamline; 

17 (G) standard prosecution; and 

18 (H) Operation Against Smugglers Initia19 tive on Safety and Security. 

20 (b) METRICS CONSULTATION.—In developing the 

21 metrics required under subsection (a), the Secretary 

22 shall— 

23 (1) consult with the appropriate components of 

24 the Department of Homeland Security; and 


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1 (2) as appropriate, work with other agencies, 

2 including the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the 

3 Department of Health and Human Services and the 

4 Executive Office for Immigration Review of the De5 partment of Justice, to ensure that authoritative 

6 data sources are utilized. 

7 (c) MANNER OF COLLECTION.—The data used by the 

8 Secretary of Homeland Security shall be collected and re9 ported in a consistent and standardized manner across all 

10 Border Patrol sectors, informed by situational awareness. 

11 SEC. 4. METRICS FOR SECURING THE BORDER AT PORTS 

12 OF ENTRY. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home15 land Security shall develop metrics, informed by situa16 tional awareness, to measure the effectiveness of security 

17 at ports of entry. The Secretary shall annually implement 

18 the metrics developed under this subsection, which shall 

19 include— 

20 (1) estimates, using alternative methodologies, 

21 including survey data and randomized secondary 

22 screening data, of— 

23 (A) total attempted inadmissible border 

24 crossings; 


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1 (B) the rate of apprehension of attempted 

2 inadmissible border crossings; and 

3 (C) the number of unlawful entries; 

4 (2) the amount and type of illicit drugs seized 

5 by the Office of Field Operations of U.S. Customs 

6 and Border Protection at United States land, air, 

7 and sea ports during the previous fiscal year; 

8 (3) an illicit drugs seizure rate for drugs seized 

9 by the Office of Field Operations, which compares 

10 the ratio of the amount and type of illicit drugs 

11 seized by the Office of Field Operations in any fiscal 

12 year to the average of the amount and type of illicit 

13 drugs seized by the Office of Field Operations in the 

14 immediately preceding 5 fiscal years; 

15 (4) in consultation with the Office of National 

16 Drug Control Policy and the United States Southern 

17 Command, a cocaine seizure effectiveness rate, 

18 which is the percentage resulting from dividing— 

19 (A) the amount of cocaine seized by the 

20 Office of Field Operations; and 

21 (B) the total estimated cocaine flow rate at 

22 ports of entry along the land border; 

23 (5) the number of infractions related to trav24 elers and cargo committed by major violators who 

25 are apprehended by the Office of Field Operations at 


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1 ports of entry, and the estimated number of such in2 fractions committed by major violators who are not 

3 apprehended; 

4 (6) a measurement of how border security oper5 ations affect crossing times, including— 

6 (A) a wait time ratio that compares the av7 erage wait times to total commercial and pri8 vate vehicular traffic volumes at each port of 

9 entry; 

10 (B) an infrastructure capacity utilization 

11 rate that measures traffic volume against the 

12 physical and staffing capacity at each port of 

13 entry; 

14 (C) a secondary examination rate that 

15 measures the frequency of secondary examina16 tions at each port of entry; and 

17 (D) an enforcement rate that measures the 

18 effectiveness of secondary examinations at de19 tecting major violators; and 

20 (7) a cargo scanning rate that includes— 

21 (A) a comparison of the number of high22 risk cargo containers scanned by the Office of 

23 Field Operations at each United States seaport 

24 during the fiscal year to the total number of 

25 high-risk cargo containers entering the United 


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1 States at each seaport during the previous fis2 cal year; 

3 (B) the percentage of all cargo that is con4 sidered ‘‘high-risk’’ cargo; and 

5 (C) the percentage of high-risk cargo 

6 scanned— 

7 (i) upon arrival at a United States 

8 seaport before entering United States com9 merce; and 

10 (ii) before being laden on a vessel des11 tined for the United States. 

12 (b) METRICS CONSULTATION.—In developing the 

13 metrics required under subsection (a), the Secretary 

14 shall— 

15 (1) consult with the appropriate components of 

16 the Department of Homeland Security; and 

17 (2) as appropriate, work with other agencies, 

18 including the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the 

19 Department of Health and Human Services and the 

20 Executive Office for Immigration Review of the De21 partment of Justice, to ensure that authoritative 

22 data sources are utilized. 

23 (c) MANNER OF COLLECTION.—The data used by the 

24 Secretary of Homeland Security shall be collected and reVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:43 Jul 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1864.IS S1864

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1 ported in a consistent and standardized manner across all 

2 field offices, informed by situational awareness. 

3 SEC. 5. METRICS FOR SECURING THE MARITIME BORDER. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home6 land Security shall develop metrics, informed by situa7 tional awareness, to measure the effectiveness of security 

8 in the maritime environment. The Secretary shall annually 

9 implement the metrics developed under this subsection, 

10 which shall include— 

11 (1) situational awareness achieved in the mari12 time environment; 

13 (2) an undocumented migrant interdiction rate, 

14 which compares the migrants interdicted at sea to 

15 the total known migrant flow; 

16 (3) an illicit drugs removal rate, for drugs re17 moved inside and outside of a transit zone, which 

18 compares the amount and type of illicit drugs re19 moved, including drugs abandoned at sea, by the 

20 Department of Homeland Security’s maritime secu21 rity components in any fiscal year to the average of 

22 the amount and type of illicit drugs removed by the 

23 Department of Homeland Security’s maritime com24 ponents for the immediately preceding 5 fiscal years; 


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1 (4) in consultation with the Office of National 

2 Drug Control Policy and the United States Southern 

3 Command, a cocaine removal effectiveness rate, for 

4 cocaine removed inside a transit zone and outside a 

5 transit zone; which compares the amount of cocaine 

6 removed by the Department of Homeland Security’s 

7 maritime security components by the total docu8 mented cocaine flow rate, as contained in Federal 

9 drug databases; 

10 (5) a response rate, which compares the ability 

11 of the maritime security components of the Depart12 ment of Homeland Security to respond to and re13 solve known maritime threats, whether inside and 

14 outside a transit zone, by placing assets on-scene, to 

15 the total number of events with respect to which the 

16 Department has known threat information; and 

17 (6) an intergovernmental response rate, which 

18 compares the ability of the maritime security compo19 nents of the Department of Homeland Security or 

20 other United States Government entities to respond 

21 to and resolve actionable maritime threats, whether 

22 inside or outside the Western Hemisphere transit 

23 zone, by targeting maritime threats in order to de24 tect them, and of those threats detected, the total 

25 number of maritime threats interdicted or disrupted. 


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1 (b) METRICS CONSULTATION.—In developing the 

2 metrics required under subsection (a), the Secretary 

3 shall— 

4 (1) consult with the appropriate components of 

5 the Department of Homeland Security; and 

6 (2) as appropriate, work with other agencies, 

7 including the Drug Enforcement Agency, the De8 partment of Defense, and the Department of Jus9 tice, to ensure that authoritative data sources are 

10 utilized. 

11 (c) MANNER OF COLLECTION.—The data used by the 

12 Secretary of Homeland Security shall be collected and re13 ported in a consistent and standardized manner, informed 

14 by situational awareness. 

15 SEC. 6. AIR AND MARINE SECURITY METRICS IN THE LAND 

16 DOMAIN. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Home19 land Security shall develop metrics, informed by situa20 tional awareness, to measure the effectiveness of the avia21 tion assets and operations of the Office of Air and Marine 

22 of U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement. The Secretary 

23 shall annually implement the metrics developed under this 

24 subsection, which shall include— 


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1 (1) an effectiveness rate, which compares Office 

2 of Air and Marine flight hours requirements to the 

3 number of flight hours flown by such Office; 

4 (2) a funded flight hour effectiveness rate, 

5 which compares the number of funded flight hours 

6 appropriated to the Office of Air and Marine to the 

7 number of actual flight hours flown by such Office; 

8 (3) a readiness rate, which compares the num9 ber of aviation missions flown by the Office of Air 

10 and Marine to the number of aviation missions can11 celled by such Office due to maintenance, operations, 

12 or other causes; 

13 (4) the number of missions cancelled by such 

14 Office due to weather compared to the total planned 

15 missions; 

16 (5) the number of subjects detected by the Of17 fice of Air and Marine through the use of unmanned 

18 aerial systems and manned aircrafts; 

19 (6) the number of apprehensions assisted by the 

20 Office of Air and Marine through the use of un21 manned aerial systems and manned aircrafts; 

22 (7) the number and quantity of illicit drug sei23 zures assisted by the Office of Air and Marine 

24 through the use of unmanned aerial systems and 

25 manned aircrafts; and 


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1 (8) the number of times that usable intelligence 

2 related to border security was obtained through the 

3 use of unmanned aerial systems and manned air4 craft. 

5 (b) METRICS CONSULTATION.—In developing the 

6 metrics required under subsection (a), the Secretary 

7 shall— 

8 (1) consult with the appropriate components of 

9 the Department of Homeland Security; and 

10 (2) as appropriate, work with other agencies, 

11 including the Department of Justice, to ensure that 

12 authoritative data sources are utilized. 

13 (c) MANNER OF COLLECTION.—The data used by the 

14 Secretary of Homeland Security shall be collected and re15 ported in a consistent and standardized manner, informed 

16 by situational awareness. 

17 SEC. 7. DATA TRANSPARENCY. 

18 The Secretary of Homeland Security shall— 

19 (1) in accordance with applicable privacy laws, 

20 make data related to apprehensions, inadmissible 

21 aliens, drug seizures, and other enforcement actions 

22 available to the public, academic research, and law 

23 enforcement communities; and 


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1 (2) provide the Office of Immigration Statistics 

2 of the Department of Homeland Security with unfet3 tered access to the data described in paragraph (1). 

4 SEC. 8. EVALUATION BY THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT5 ABILITY OFFICE AND THE SECRETARY OF 

6 HOMELAND SECURITY. 

7 (a) METRICS REPORT.— 

8 (1) MANDATORY DISCLOSURES.—The Secretary 

9 of Homeland Security shall submit an annual report 

10 containing the metrics required under sections 3 

11 through 6 and the data and methodology used to de12 velop such metrics to— 

13 (A) the appropriate congressional commit14 tees; and 

15 (B) the Comptroller General of the United 

16 States. 

17 (2) PERMISSIBLE DISCLOSURES.—The Sec18 retary of Homeland Security, for the purpose of vali19 dation and verification, may submit the annual re20 port described in paragraph (1) to— 

21 (A) the National Center for Border Secu22 rity and Immigration; 

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1 oratory network with prior expertise in border 

2 security; and 

3 (C) a Federally Funded Research and De4 velopment Center sponsored by the Department 

5 of Homeland Security. 

6 (b) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after 

7 receiving the first report under subsection (a)(1), and bi8 annually thereafter for the following 10 years, the Comp9 troller General of the United States, shall submit a report 

10 to the appropriate congressional committees that— 

11 (1) analyzes the suitability and statistical valid12 ity of the data and methodology contained in such 

13 report; and 

14 (2) includes recommendations to Congress on— 

15 (A) the feasibility of other suitable metrics 

16 that may be used to measure the effectiveness 

17 of border security; and 

18 (B) improvements that need to be made to 

19 the metrics being used to measure the effective20 ness of border security. 

21 (c) STATE OF THE BORDER REPORT.—Not later 

22 than 60 days after the end of each fiscal year through 

23 fiscal year 2025, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 

24 submit a ‘‘State of the Border’’ report to the appropriate 

25 congressional committees that— 


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1 (1) provides trends for each metric under sec2 tions 3 through 6 for the last 10 years, to the extent 

3 possible; 

4 (2) provides selected analysis into related as5 pects of illegal flow rates, including legal flows and 

6 stock estimation techniques; and 

7 (3) includes any other information that the Sec8 retary determines appropriate. 

9 (d) METRICS UPDATE.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—After submitting the final 

11 report to the Comptroller General under subsection 

12 (a), the Secretary of Homeland Security may re13 evaluate and update any of the metrics required 

14 under sections 3 through 6 to ensure that such 

15 metrics— 

16 (A) meet the Department of Homeland Se17 curity’s performance management needs; and 

18 (B) are suitable to measure the effective19 ness of border security. 

20 (2) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Not later 

21 than 30 days before updating the metrics under 

22 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall notify the appro23 priate congressional committees of such updates. 

Æ 


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