IIB 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3815 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 31, 2008 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require 
the Secretary of Homeland Security to make full and 
efficient use of open source information to develop and 
disseminate open source homeland security information 
products, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Homeland Security 
Open Source Information Enhancement Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Internet has profoundly expanded the 
amount, significance, and accessibility of all types of 
information, but the Department of Homeland Secu-
rity has not sufficiently expanded its use of such in-
formation to produce analytical products. 
(2) Open source products can be shared with 
Federal, State, local, and tribal law enforcement, the 
American public, the private sector, and foreign al-
lies because of their unclassified nature. 
(3) The Department of Homeland Security is 
responsible for providing open source products to 
consumers consistent with existing Federal open 
source information guidelines. 
SEC. 3. FULL AND EFFICIENT USE OF OPEN SOURCE INFOR-
MATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title II of the Home-
land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121 et seq.) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 210F. FULL AND EFFICIENT USE OF OPEN SOURCE IN-
FORMATION. 
‘‘(a) RESPONSIBILITIES OF SECRETARY.—The Sec-
retary shall establish an open source collection, analysis, 
and dissemination program within the Department. This 
program shall make full and efficient use of open source 
information to develop and disseminate open source intel-
ligence products. 
‘‘(b) OPEN SOURCE PRODUCTS.—The Secretary shall 
ensure that among the open source products that the De-
partment generates, there shall be a specific focus on open 
source products that— 
‘‘(1) analyze news and developments related to 
foreign terrorist organizations including how the 
threat of such organizations is relevant to homeland 
security; 
‘‘(2) analyze the risks and vulnerabilities to the 
Nation’s critical infrastructure; 
‘‘(3) analyze terrorist tactics and techniques to 
include recommendations on how to identify patterns 
of terrorist activity and behavior allowing State, 
local and tribal first responders to allocate resources 
appropriately; and 
‘‘(4) utilize, as appropriate, computer-based 
electronic visualization and animation tools that 
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combine imagery, sound, and written material into 
unclassified open source intelligence products. 
‘‘(c) SHARING RESULTS OF ANALYSIS.—The Sec-
retary shall share the unclassified results of such analysis 
with appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, and private- 
sector officials. 
‘‘(d) PROTECTION OF PRIVACY.—The Secretary shall 
ensure that the manner in which open source information 
is gathered and disseminated by the Department complies 
with the Constitution, section 552a of title 5, United 
States Code (popularly known as the Privacy Act of 
1974), provisions of law enacted by the E-Government Act 
of 2002 (Public Law 107–347), and all other relevant 
Federal laws. 
‘‘(e) INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT.—The Inspector 
General of the Department shall audit the use and dis-
semination of open source information by the Department 
to evaluate the effectiveness of the Department’s activities 
and to ensure that it is consistent with the procedures es-
tablished by the Secretary or a designee of the Secretary 
for the operation of the Department’s open source pro-
gram and with Federal open source information and intel-
ligence guidelines promulgated by the Director of National 
Intelligence. 
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‘‘(f) OPEN SOURCE INFORMATION DEFINED.—In 
this section the term ‘open source information’ means in-
formation that is publicly available and that can be used 
and disseminated in a timely manner to an appropriate 
audience for the purpose of addressing a specific homeland 
requirement. 
‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 
2009 through 2013 such sums as may be necessary to 
carry out this section.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the 
end of the items relating to such subtitle the following: 
‘‘Sec. 210F. Full and efficient use of open source information.’’. 
SEC. 4. PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES IMPACT ASSESS-
MENT. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Privacy Officer and the Officer for 
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department of 
Homeland Security, in consultation with the Chief Privacy 
Officer and Civil Liberties Protection Officer of the Office 
of the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to 
the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of Na-
tional Intelligence, the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee 
on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, 
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and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a 
privacy and civil liberties impact assessment of the De-
partment of Homeland Security’s open source program, 
including information on the collection, analysis, and dis-
semination of any information on United States persons. 
SEC. 5. OPEN SOURCE INFORMATION DEFINED. 
In this Act the term ‘‘open source information’’ has 
the meaning that term has in section 203 of Homeland 
Security Act of 2002, as amended by this Act. 
Passed the House of Representatives July 30, 2008. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
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