I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5839 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to assess technology needs 

along the maritime border and develop a strategy to address such needs, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023 

Mrs. GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N (for herself, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. SOTO, 

Mr. GUEST, Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. VICENTE

GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. WALTZ, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. MAST, and Mr. 

JAMES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to assess 

technology needs along the maritime border and develop 

a strategy to address such needs, 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 ‘‘Maritime Border Secu5 rity Technology Improvement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MARITIME BORDER SECURITY TECHNOLOGY NEEDS 

2 ANALYSIS AND UPDATES. 

3 (a) TECHNOLOGY NEEDS ANALYSIS.—Not later than 

4 two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

6 committees a technology needs analysis for operational 

7 and border security technology along the maritime border. 

8 (b) CONTENTS.—The analysis required under sub9 section (a) shall include an assessment of— 

10 (1) the operational and border security tech11 nology needs along the maritime border— 

12 (A) to prevent terrorists and instruments 

13 of terror from entering the United States; 

14 (B) to combat and reduce criminal activity 

15 related to the maritime border, including— 

16 (i) the transport of illegal goods, such 

17 as illicit drugs; and 

18 (ii) human smuggling and human 

19 trafficking; 

20 (C) to enhance maritime domain aware21 ness; 

22 (D) to enhance maritime detection and 

23 interdiction capabilities; 

24 (E) to enhance presence in the maritime 

25 domain; 


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1 (F) to facilitate the flow of legal trade 

2 across the maritime border; 

3 (G) to strengthen the security of maritime 

4 critical infrastructure and counter evolving mar5 itime cybersecurity risks; and 

6 (H) to preserve and uphold United States 

7 prosperity and economic security by safe8 guarding the domestic maritime transportation 

9 system and maritime resources; 

10 (2) recent technological advancements in— 

11 (A) manned aircraft sensor, communica12 tion, and common operating picture technology; 

13 (B) unmanned aircraft systems, sensors, 

14 and related technology with maritime surveil15 lance capability, including counter-UAS sys16 tems; 

17 (C) unmanned maritime vessels with sur18 face and subsurface surveillance, detection, and 

19 tracking capabilities; 

20 (D) maritime surveillance and detection 

21 sensing capabilities for both emitting and non22 emitting threat vessels; 

23 (E) coastal radar surveillance systems; 


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1 (F) nonintrusive inspection technology, in2 cluding non-X-ray devices and other advanced 

3 detection technology; 

4 (G) maritime signals intelligence capabili5 ties; 

6 (H) voice and data communications, com7 mand and control capabilities, and information 

8 management and sharing capabilities; and 

9 (I) maritime port and waterway infrastruc10 ture systems to counter physical and cyber 

11 threats; 

12 (3) any other technological advancements that 

13 the Secretary determines to be critical to the De14 partment’s mission along the maritime border; 

15 (4) whether the use of the technological ad16 vances described in paragraphs (2) and (3) will— 

17 (A) improve maritime border security and 

18 establish persistent wide area maritime surveil19 lance; 

20 (B) improve the capability of the Depart21 ment to accomplish its mission along the mari22 time border; 

23 (C) reduce operational and security gaps 

24 along the maritime border; 


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1 (D) enhance the safety of any officer or 

2 agent of the Department or any other Federal 

3 agency; and 

4 (E) improve deployment of high demand 

5 resources and improve data sharing between 

6 technology systems and the Homeland Security 

7 Enterprise; 

8 (5) the Department’s ongoing maritime border 

9 security technology development efforts, including ef10 forts by— 

11 (A) the U.S. Coast Guard; 

12 (B) U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 

13 (C) the Science and Technology Direc14 torate of the Department; and 

15 (D) the technology assessment office of 

16 any other operational component of the Depart17 ment; 

18 (6) any other technological needs or factors, in19 cluding maritime border security and shoreside in20 frastructure, that the Secretary determines should 

21 be considered; and 

22 (7) currently deployed technology or new tech23 nology that would improve the Department’s abil24 ity— 


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1 (A) to reasonably achieve operational con2 trol and situational awareness along the mari3 time border; and 

4 (B) to collect metrics for securing the mar5 itime border, as required under subsection (d) 

6 of section 1092 of division A of the National 

7 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 

8 (6 U.S.C. 223). 

9 (c) UPDATES.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than two years 

11 after the submission of the analysis required under 

12 subsection (a) and biannually thereafter for the fol13 lowing four years, the Secretary shall submit to the 

14 appropriate congressional committees an update to 

15 such analysis. 

16 (2) CONTENTS.—Each update required under 

17 paragraph (1) shall include a plan for utilizing the 

18 resources of the Department to satisfy operational 

19 and border security technology needs identified pur20 suant to subsection (b), including developing or ac21 quiring technologies not currently in use by the De22 partment that would allow the Department to bridge 

23 existing operational and border security needs along 

24 the maritime border. 


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1 (d) ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED.—In compiling the 

2 operational and border security technology needs analysis 

3 and updates required under this section, the Secretary 

4 shall consider and examine— 

5 (1) technology that is deployed and is sufficient 

6 for the Department’s use along the maritime border; 

7 (2) technology that is deployed, but is insuffi8 cient for the Department’s use along the maritime 

9 border; 

10 (3) technology that is not deployed, but is nec11 essary for the Department’s use along the maritime 

12 border; 

13 (4) current formal departmental requirements 

14 examining maritime border security threats and 

15 challenges faced by any component of the Depart16 ment; 

17 (5) trends and forecasts regarding migration 

18 and the transport of illegal goods, such as illicit 

19 drugs, across the maritime border; 

20 (6) the impact on projected staffing and deploy21 ment needs for the Department, including staffing 

22 needs that may be fulfilled through the use of tech23 nology; 


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1 (7) the needs and challenges faced by employees 

2 of the Department who are deployed along the mari3 time border; 

4 (8) the needs to improve cooperation among 

5 Federal, State, territorial, Tribal, local, and appro6 priate international law enforcement entities to en7 hance security along the maritime border; 

8 (9) the impact of any natural disaster or ongo9 ing public health emergency that impacts Depart10 ment operations along the maritime border; and 

11 (10) the ability of, and the needs for, the De12 partment to assist with search and rescue efforts for 

13 individuals or groups that may be in physical danger 

14 or in need of medical assistance along the maritime 

15 border. 

16 (e) CLASSIFIED FORM.—To the extent possible, the 

17 Secretary shall submit the technology needs analysis and 

18 updates required under this section in unclassified form, 

19 but may submit such documents, or portions of such docu20 ments, in classified form if the Secretary determines such 

21 is appropriate. 

22 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT24 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com25 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

2 of the House of Representatives; 

3 (B) the Committee on Transportation and 

4 Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; 

5 (C) the Committee on Homeland Security 

6 and Government Affairs of the Senate; and 

7 (D) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

8 and Transportation of the Senate. 

9 (2) COUNTER-UAS SYSTEM.—The term 

10 ‘‘counter-UAS system’’ has the meaning given such 

11 term in section 44801 of title 49, United States 

12 Code. 

13 (3) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 

14 ‘‘critical infrastructure’’ has the meaning given such 

15 term in section 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 (42 

16 U.S.C. 5195c(e)). 

17 (4) CYBERSECURITY RISK.—The term ‘‘cyberse18 curity risk’’ has the meaning given such term in sec19 tion 2200 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 

20 U.S.C. 650). 

21 (5) HOMELAND SECURITY ENTERPRISE.—The 

22 term ‘‘Homeland Security Enterprise’’ has the 

23 meaning given such term in section 2200 of the 

24 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 650). 


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1 (6) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

2 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

3 (7) MARITIME BORDER.—The term ‘‘maritime 

4 border’’ means— 

5 (A) the coastal areas of the United States, 

6 including California, Florida, Puerto Rico, the 

7 United States Virgin Islands, Washington, the 

8 Great Lakes, Maine, and the Gulf Coast; 

9 (B) the maritime approaches to the areas 

10 described in subparagraph (A), including, if ap11 plicable, the waters extending from the United 

12 States territorial sea baseline to the outer edge 

13 of the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic 

14 Zone; 

15 (C) the ports of entry along the areas de16 scribed in subparagraph (A); and 

17 (D) the transit zone. 

18 (8) PERSISTENT WIDE AREA MARITIME SUR19 VEILLANCE (PWAMS).—The term ‘‘persistent wide 

20 area maritime surveillance’’ means a system of sen21 sors that provide surveillance and detection to aid in 

22 the classification and identification of surface and 

23 subsurface vessels of diverse sizes out to 200 nau24 tical miles from shore to prevent terrorism, enhance 


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1 security, secure the United States border, and en2 force immigration laws. 

3 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

5 (10) TRANSIT ZONE.—The term ‘‘transit zone’’ 

6 has the meaning given such term in section 

7 1092(a)(8) of the National Defense Authorization 

8 Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (6 U.S.C. 223(a)(8)). 

9 (11) UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM.—The term 

10 ‘‘unmanned aircraft system’’ has the meaning given 

11 such term in section 44801 of title 49, United 

12 States Code. 

Æ 


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