House advances 12 bills to strengthen defenses against terrorism

The House of Representatives recently advanced 12 legislative proposals derived from recommendations from the Homeland Security Committee’s Task Force on Denying Terrorists Entry to the United States final report.

The legislation included various initiating designed to prevent terrorists from around the country. The house is also considering bills from the committee on transportation security and border security operations as well as other issues this week.

“Given the nature of this evolving threat, I established the Task Force on Denying Terrorists Entry in to the United States to examine terrorist infiltration, identify challenges with current U.S. government information-sharing and vetting procedures, and review our screening agencies’ structure and bureaucracy,” House Committee on Homeland Security Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) said. “Legislation to address the challenges we identified is critical as we work to better secure the homeland against those who seek to do us harm.”

The bills included the Counterterrorism Information Sharing Improvement Act of 2017, which would ensure that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can access biographic and biometric data collected by the U.S. government on individuals associated with terrorist organizations. The DHS Interagency Counterterrorism Task Force Act of 2017 authorizes the DHS Secretary to assign DHS personnel to take part in overseas interagency counterterrorism task forces to enhance information sharing.

Several bills aimed to enhance screening and vetting of travelers through the development of best practices for utilizing Advanced Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record data and establishing a domestic explosives detection canine breeding program that will enable the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to increase its use of explosives detection canines.