IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1437 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY 15, 2019 
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 Under Secretary for Management of the Department 
of Homeland Security to achieve security of sensitive 
assets among the components of the Department of 
Homeland Security, 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 ‘‘Securing Department 
of Homeland Security Firearms Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Se-
curing DHS Firearms Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 
means the Department of Homeland Security. 
(2) LOST.—The term ‘‘lost’’ includes loss by 
theft. 
(3) SENSITIVE
ASSETS.—The term ‘‘sensitive 
assets’’ means any asset, regardless of value— 
(A) that the Department of Homeland Se-
curity issues to a Department employee; and 
(B) that either the Under Secretary for 
Management of the Department or a compo-
nent head determines requires special control 
and accounting. 
(4) UNDER SECRETARY FOR MANAGEMENT.— 
The term ‘‘Under Secretary for Management’’ 
means the Under Secretary for Management of the 
Department of Homeland Security. 
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SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF SECURING FIREARMS AND OTHER 
SENSITIVE ASSETS IN RESPONSIBILITIES OF 
UNDER SECRETARY FOR MANAGEMENT. 
Section 701 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 
(6 U.S.C. 341) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(6), by inserting ‘‘(includ-
ing firearms and other sensitive assets)’’ after 
‘‘equipment’’; 
(2) by redesignating the second subsection (e) 
(relating to the definition of interoperable commu-
nications) as subsection (f); and 
(3) by amending such redesignated subsection 
(f) to read as follows: 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS.—The 
term ‘interoperable communications’ has the mean-
ing given such term in section 7303(g) of the Intel-
ligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 
2004 (6 U.S.C. 194(g)). 
‘‘(2) SENSITIVE ASSETS.—The term ‘sensitive 
assets’ means any asset, regardless of value— 
‘‘(A) that the Department issues to a De-
partment employee; and 
‘‘(B) that either the Under Secretary for 
Management of the Department or a compo-
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nent head determines requires special control 
and accounting.’’. 
SEC. 4. MANAGEMENT DIRECTIVE. 
(a) SAFEGUARDING FIREARMS AND SENSITIVE AS-
SETS DIRECTIVE.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Under Secretary for Management shall develop and 
disseminate a Department-wide directive for achiev-
ing adequate security over firearms and other sen-
sitive assets across the Department. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The directive required under 
subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, include the fol-
lowing: 
(A) Descriptions of what equipment, in ad-
dition to firearms, is classified as a sensitive 
asset for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 
(B) Requirements for securing Depart-
ment-issued firearms and other sensitive assets. 
(C) A classification system for all cat-
egories of Department-issued badges and cor-
responding requirements for safeguarding such 
assets. 
(D) Reporting requirements for lost fire-
arms and other sensitive assets, including 
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timelines for such reporting, to supervisors, 
local law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation’s National Crime Information 
Center, and Department headquarters. 
(E) Recordkeeping requirements for lost 
firearms and other sensitive assets in inventory 
systems, including a timeline for recording such 
losses. 
(3) REVIEW AND UPDATE OF DIRECTIVE.—Not 
later than 1 year after the issuance of the directive 
required under subsection (a), the Under Secretary 
for Management shall review and update, as nec-
essary, such directive, including adding a require-
ment relating to recording in the inventory systems 
maintained by each component of the Department 
the acceptance or transfer of a firearm or other sen-
sitive asset by such component. 
(b) PERSONAL
PROPERTY
ASSET
MANAGEMENT 
PROGRAM MANUAL.—Together with the issuance of the 
directive pursuant to subsection (a), the Under Secretary 
for Management shall disseminate a revised version of the 
Personal Property Asset Management Program Manual 
that includes the following: 
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(1) Requirements for component heads to de-
velop procedures to safeguard firearms and other 
sensitive assets during on and off-duty time. 
(2) Requirements for the issuance of safety 
locking devices and policies on the use of such as-
sets, as applicable. 
(3) Requirements for initial, recurrent, and re-
medial training on safeguarding such assets. 
(4) Examples, with detail, of how to report and 
record lost sensitive assets across components of the 
Department, and an enforcement mechanism to en-
sure supervisors maintain such records. 
(5) A requirement that the file maintained on 
a lost firearm or other sensitive asset contains both 
the corresponding police report and the Department 
report detailing the circumstances surrounding such 
loss, including information on adherence to safe-
guarding procedures. 
SEC. 5. COMPONENT RESPONSIBILITIES. 
Department component heads shall— 
(1) comply with Federal law, Federal regula-
tions, executive branch guidance, and Department 
policy, including directives required by this Act, re-
lating to the management and oversight of securing 
firearms and other sensitive assets; 
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(2) review the need for non-law enforcement 
badges; 
(3) require component personnel to safeguard 
firearms and other sensitive assets in accordance 
with the directive issued by the Under Secretary for 
Management under section 4; 
(4) require that component personnel adhere to 
the procedures and timelines for properly reporting 
to supervisors lost firearms and other sensitive as-
sets; 
(5) require that lost firearms and other sen-
sitive assets are reported to local law enforcement, 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National 
Crime Information Center, and Department head-
quarters in the timeframe established in such direc-
tive; and 
(6) require that lost firearms and other sen-
sitive assets are recorded in inventory systems in the 
timeframe established by such directive. 
SEC. 6. INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW. 
The Inspector General of the Department of Home-
land Security shall, on an ongoing basis, review implemen-
tation of this Act and, not later than 180 days after 
issuance of the directive under section 4, submit to the 
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep-
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resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a review of the 
progress and effectiveness of such directive, including an 
assessment of the adequacy of such directive, as well as 
the level of compliance among the components of the De-
partment to achieve adequate security of sensitive assets 
across Department components. 
Passed the House of Representatives May 14, 2019. 
Attest: 
CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 
Clerk. 
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