H.R. 8309

Keep America Secure Act

This bill provides for a two-year reauthorization of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) activities for FY2021-FY2022.

Specifically, the bill sets forth provisions to address

• management reform and accountability, including the establishment of an Office of Biometric Identity Management within the Management Directorate of DHS;
• intelligence and information sharing, including requiring annual assessments of the terrorist threat to the homeland;
• cybersecurity, including the establishment of a Cybersecurity Advisory Committee within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency;
• border and visa security, including directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to hire specified numbers of agents and authorizing an immigration advisory program to assist air carriers and security employees at foreign airports with review of traveler information during the processing of U.S.-bound flights;
• transportation security, including requiring the Transportation Security Administration to establish a task force to analyze emerging and potential future threats and requiring DHS to prioritize the research and facilitation of next generation technologies to detect explosives in the nation's surface transportation systems;
• emergency preparedness, response, and recovery, including modifying specified grant programs and reauthorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and
• pandemic preparedness, including establishing a medical countermeasures program to facilitate personnel readiness and protection for DHS employees and working animals and individuals in its care and custody, in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosives attack, naturally occurring disease outbreak, or pandemic, and to support DHS mission continuity.