Counterterrorism Advisory Board Act of 2016
Floor Speech
I rise in support of H.R. 4407, the Counterterrorism Advisory Board Act of 2016.
H.R. 4407 authorizes, within the Department of Homeland Security, the Counterterrorism Advisory Board, or CTAB, to coordinate and integrate Departmental intelligence, activities, and policy related to counterterrorism.
Since 2010, the internal body, which is comprised of top DHS officials, has helped to harmonize counterterrorism programs and activities across the DHS. H.R. 4407 directs the CTAB to meet on a regular basis to coordinate and integrate the Department's counterterrorism efforts, and it sets forth the leadership and composition of the Board. H.R. 4407 also requires the DHS to report to Congress on the Board's status and activities.
This legislation is a product of the House Committee on Homeland Security's bipartisan Task Force on Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel, which learned that the CTAB, which has operated for 6 years, was never authorized in law.
To ensure that the board remains an integral part of counterterrorism policy recommendations and responses across the Department, the task force recommended that the board be codified in law. Codification of the board is consistent with the task force's finding that information sharing is critical to preventing foreign fighter travel.
I believe that the CTAB should be a permanent fixture in the Department to help inform the counterterrorism decisionmaking of future Department Secretaries. As such, I support this legislation, which tackles an important task force recommendation and finding, and commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko) for introducing it as well as making it here for the hearing of this bill today.
Again, H.R. 4407 will authorize within the Department of Homeland Security the counterterrorism advisory board to coordinate and integrate departmental intelligence activities and policies related to counterterrorism. The board already plays a central and necessary role within DHS.
Enactment of H.R. 4407 will ensure that, no matter what happens in the upcoming election or who is the head of the Department, the counterterrorism advisory board will remain intact.
I urge passage of H.R. 4407.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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