The U.S. House of Representatives advanced this week a bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis to evaluate the terrorist threat to the homeland for each of the next five fiscal years.
“The 9/11 Commission revealed that a “failure of imagination” contributed to our country’s inability to identify the emerging threat posed by al Qaeda,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), who introduced the bill, said. “As a result, we were blind to the approaching tragedy. Sixteen years later, our ability to accurately identify and evaluate threats to the Homeland remains stunted. Though talented professionals across federal agencies and at the State and local level are hard at work gathering and analyzing threat information, there is not a formalized process that evaluates homeland threats in a meaningful, comprehensive way.”
The Homeland Threat Assessment Act (H.R. 2470) would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to include a requirement for the assessments. The reports would be required to include evaluations of terrorist activities and incidents, terrorist tactics, terrorist financing, terrorist propaganda, messaging and recruitment and threats including cybersecurity threats and threats to the transportation sector.
“H.R. 2470 closes this gap by requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release an annual, comprehensive homeland security threat assessment,” Rogers said. “This will provide a common threat picture across DHS and for Federal, State and local partners. I believe the best way to honor the memory of those who lost their lives that day and since in the fight against terrorism is to hold our government to a high standard.”