I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1417 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a comprehensive 

strategy to gain and maintain operational control of the international 

borders of the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 9, 2013 

Mr. MCCAUL (for himself, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Ms. JACKSON LEE, and 

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop 

a comprehensive strategy to gain and maintain operational control of the international borders of the United 

States, 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 ‘‘Border Security Re5 sults Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPORTS ON CURRENT BORDER SECURITY STATUS. 

7 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act and every 180 days thereafter, the SecVerDate Mar 15 2010 19:25 Apr 11, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417

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1 retary of Homeland Security shall submit to the appro2 priate congressional committees a report that assesses and 

3 describes, as of such date, the state of operational control 

4 of the international borders of the United States. 

5 SEC. 3. STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE OPERATIONAL CONTROL 

6 OF THE BORDER. 

7 (a) STRATEGY TO SECURE THE BORDER.—Not later 

8 than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

9 the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to the 

10 appropriate congressional committees a comprehensive 

11 strategy for gaining and maintaining operational control 

12 of high traffic areas of the international borders of the 

13 United States by the date that is not later than two years 

14 after the date of the submission of the implementation 

15 plan required under subsection (b). The strategy shall in16 clude, at a minimum, a consideration of the following: 

17 (1) An assessment of principal border security 

18 threats. 

19 (2) Efforts to analyze and disseminate border 

20 security and border threat information between De21 partment of Homeland Security border security com22 ponents. 

23 (3) Efforts to increase situational awareness. 

24 (4) A comprehensive border security technology 

25 plan for detection technology capabilities, including a 


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1 documented justification and rationale for tech2 nology choices, deployment locations, fixed versus 

3 mobile assets, and a timetable for procurement and 

4 deployment. 

5 (5) Surveillance capabilities developed or uti6 lized by the Department of Defense, including any 

7 technology determined to be excess by the Depart8 ment of Defense. 

9 (6) Use of manned aircraft and unmanned aer10 ial systems, including the camera and sensor tech11 nology deployed on such assets. 

12 (7) Technology required to enhance security at 

13 ports of entry, including the installation of nonintru14 sive detection equipment, radiation portal monitors, 

15 biometric technology, and other sensors and tech16 nology that the Secretary determines necessary. 

17 (8) Operational coordination of Department of 

18 Homeland Security border security components. 

19 (9) Cooperative agreements with State, local, 

20 tribal, and other Federal law enforcement agencies 

21 that have jurisdiction on the northern border, south22 ern border, and in the maritime environment. 

23 (10) Agreements with foreign governments that 

24 support the border security efforts of the United 

25 States. 


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1 (11) Staffing requirements for all border secu2 rity functions. 

3 (12) Metrics required under subsections (e), (f), 

4 and (g). 

5 (b) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

7 the submission of the strategy under subsection (a), 

8 the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to 

9 the appropriate congressional committees an imple10 mentation plan for each of the Department of 

11 Homeland Security border security components to 

12 carry out such strategy. 

13 (2) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE RE14 VIEW.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of 

16 Homeland Security shall make available to the 

17 Government Accountability Office the imple18 mentation plan required under paragraph (1). 

19 (B) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 

20 after receiving the implementation plan in ac21 cordance with subparagraph (A), the Comp22 troller General of the United States shall sub23 mit to the appropriate congressional committees 

24 a report on such plan. 


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1 (c) SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.—Not later than two 

2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec3 retary of Homeland Security shall achieve situational 

4 awareness of the international borders of the United 

5 States. 

6 (d) PERIODIC UPDATES.—Not later than 180 days 

7 after the submission of each Quadrennial Homeland Secu8 rity Review required under section 707 of the Homeland 

9 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 347) beginning with the 

10 first such Review that is due after the implementation 

11 plan is submitted under subsection (b), the Secretary of 

12 Homeland Security shall submit to the appropriate con13 gressional committees an updated— 

14 (1) strategy under subsection (a); and 

15 (2) implementation plan under subsection (b). 

16 (e) METRICS FOR SECURING THE BORDER BETWEEN

17 PORTS OF ENTRY.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

19 Security shall implement metrics to measure the effective20 ness of security between ports of entry, which shall in21 clude, at a minimum, the following: 

22 (1) An effectiveness rate which measures the 

23 number of illegal border crossers who are turned 

24 back, and the amount of narcotics seized, against 

25 the total estimated number of illegal border crossers 


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1 and amount of narcotics the Department of Home2 land Security’s border security components fail to 

3 apprehend or seize, as the case may be. 

4 (2) Estimates, using alternate methodologies, 

5 including recidivism and survey data, of total at6 tempted illegal border crossings, the rate of appre7 hension of attempted illegal border crossings, and 

8 the inflow into the United States of illegal border 

9 crossers who evade apprehension. 

10 (3) Estimates of the impacts of the Border Pa11 trol’s Consequence Delivery System on the rate of 

12 recidivism of illegal border crossers. 

13 (4) An understanding of the current level of sit14 uational awareness. 

15 (5) Amount of narcotics seized between ports of 

16 entry. 

17 (f) METRICS FOR SECURING THE BORDER AT PORTS

18 OF ENTRY.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the 

19 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 

20 shall implement metrics to measure the effectiveness of se21 curity at ports of entry, which shall include, at a min22 imum, the following: 

23 (1) An effectiveness rate which measures the 

24 number of illegal border crossers who are turned 

25 back, and the amount of narcotics seized, against 


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1 the total estimated number of illegal border crossers 

2 and amount of narcotics the Department of Home3 land Security’s border security components fail to 

4 apprehend or seize, as the case may be. 

5 (2) The number of infractions related to per6 sonnel and cargo committed by major violators who 

7 are apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Pro8 tection at such ports of entry. 

9 (3) The estimated number of such infractions 

10 committed by major violators who are not so appre11 hended. 

12 (4) Estimates, using alternate methodologies, 

13 including recidivism and survey data, of total at14 tempted illegal border crossings, the rate of appre15 hension of attempted illegal border crossings, and 

16 the inflow into the United States of illegal border 

17 crossers who evade apprehension. 

18 (g) METRICS FOR SECURING THE MARITIME BOR19 DER.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 

21 implement metrics to measure the effectiveness of security 

22 in the maritime environment, which shall include, at a 

23 minimum, the following: 

24 (1) An effectiveness rate which measures the 

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1 grants turned back, and the amount of narcotics 

2 seized, against the total estimated numbers of mi3 grants and amount of narcotics the Department of 

4 Homeland Security’s maritime security components 

5 fail to apprehend or seize, as the case may be. 

6 (2) An understanding of the current level of sit7 uational awareness. 

8 (3) A response rate which measures the Depart9 ment’s ability to respond to known maritime threats 

10 by placing assets on-scene, compared to the total 

11 number of events with respect to which the Depart12 ment has known threat information. 

13 (4) Partnerships with international, State, local, 

14 tribal, and other Federal law enforcement agencies. 

15 (h) INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT BY A NATIONAL

16 LABORATORY WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND

17 SECURITY LABORATORY NETWORK.—The Secretary of 

18 Homeland Security shall request the head of a national 

19 laboratory within the Department of Homeland Security 

20 laboratory network with prior expertise in border security 

21 to— 

22 (1) provide an independent assessment of the 

23 metrics implemented in accordance with subsections 

24 (e), (f), and (g) to ensure each such metric’s suit25 ability and statistical validity; and 


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1 (2) make recommendations for other suitable 

2 metrics that may be used to measure the effective3 ness of border security. 

4 (i) EVALUATION BY THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT5 ABILITY OFFICE.— 

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

7 Security shall make available to the Government Ac8 countability Office the data and methodology used to 

9 develop the metrics implemented under subsections 

10 (e), (f), and (g) and the independent assessment de11 scribed under subsection (h). 

12 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after re13 ceiving the data and methodology described in para14 graph (1), the Comptroller General of the United 

15 States shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

16 committees a report on the suitability and statistical 

17 validity of such data and methodology. 

18 (j) CERTIFICATIONS RELATING TO OPERATIONAL

19 CONTROL.— 

20 (1) BY THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECU21 RITY.—If the Secretary of Homeland Security deter22 mines that operational control of the international 

23 borders of the United States has been achieved, the 

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1 sional committees and the Comptroller General of 

2 the United States a certification that so attests. 

3 (2) BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.— 

4 (A) REVIEW.—The Comptroller General of 

5 the United States shall review the certification 

6 of the Secretary of Homeland Security under 

7 paragraph (1) to verify if such certification is 

8 accurate. 

9 (B) VERIFICATION AND SUBMISSION.—If 

10 the Comptroller General of the United States 

11 verifies the accuracy of the certification of the 

12 Secretary of Homeland Security under para13 graph (1), the Comptroller General shall, not 

14 later than 120 days after such verification, sub15 mit to the appropriate congressional committees 

16 a certification that so attests. 

17 (k) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT

18 ON BORDER SECURITY DUPLICATION.—Not later than 

19 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

20 Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to 

21 the appropriate congressional committees a report ad22 dressing areas of overlap in responsibilities within the bor23 der security functions of the Department of Homeland Se24 curity. 


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1 (l) REPORTS.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the 

3 Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to the appro4 priate congressional committee a report on the following: 

5 (1) A resource allocation model for current and 

6 future year staffing requirements that includes opti7 mal staffing levels at all land, air, and sea ports of 

8 entry, and an explanation of U.S. Customs and Bor9 der Protection methodology for aligning staffing lev10 els and workload to threats and vulnerabilities 

11 across all mission areas. 

12 (2) Detailed information on the level of man13 power available at all land, air, and sea ports of 

14 entry and between ports of entry, including the num15 ber of canine and agricultural officers assigned to 

16 each such port of entry. 

17 (3) Detailed information that describes the dif18 ference between the staffing the model suggests and 

19 the actual staffing at each port of entry and between 

20 the ports of entry. 

21 (m) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

22 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu25 rity of the House of Representatives and the ComVerDate Mar 15 2010 19:25 Apr 11, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1417.IH H1417

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1 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af2 fairs of the Senate. 

3 (2) HIGH TRAFFIC AREAS.—The term ‘‘high 

4 traffic areas’’ means locations identified through sit5 uational awareness that are within close proximity of 

6 the northern and southern borders of the United 

7 States that have the most illicit cross-border activity. 

8 (3) MAJOR VIOLATOR.—The term ‘‘major viola9 tor’’ means a person or entity that has engaged in 

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

11 port of entry, including possession of narcotics, 

12 smuggling of prohibited products, human smuggling, 

13 weapons possession, use of fraudulent United States 

14 documents, or other offenses serious enough to re15 sult in arrest. 

16 (4) OPERATIONAL CONTROL.—The term ‘‘oper17 ational control’’ means a condition in which there is 

18 a 90 percent probability that illegal border crossers 

19 are apprehended and narcotics and other contraband 

20 are seized in high traffic areas. 

21 (5) SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.—The term ‘‘sit22 uational awareness’’ means knowledge and an under23 standing of current illicit cross-border activity, in24 cluding cross-border threats and trends concerning 

25 illicit trafficking and unlawful crossings along the 


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1 international borders of the United States and in the 

2 maritime environment, and the ability to predict fu3 ture shifts in such threats and trends. 

Æ 


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