Strengthening Oversight of Dhs Intelligence Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of my bill H.R. 2261, the Strengthening Oversight of DHS Intelligence Act.

One of the lessons of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, was that the United States Government needed to improve coordination and information sharing between law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The 9/11 Commission found that prior to September 11, the United States Government failed to connect the dots between pieces of information it had that could have prevented the attacks of that fateful day. The Department of Homeland Security was created to fill the critical gaps identified by the 9/11 Commission.

To this day, DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis, or I&A, is the lone member of the intelligence community tasked with delivering homeland security information and intelligence to State, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement.

Every day, our State, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers work on the front lines to keep America safe. It is critical that they receive reliable intelligence to do the best job possible.

Just as critical as keeping Americans safe is upholding their constitutional rights. My bill ensures that the information and intelligence distributed by DHS to protect our communities does not infringe upon Americans' constitutional rights. It requires that all DHS intelligence products be reviewed by the DHS chief privacy officer and the DHS officer for civil rights and civil liberties.

Additionally, my bill would require training senior DHS intelligence personnel on privacy rights, civil rights, and civil liberties protections.

Put simply, under my bill, DHS intelligence information that is shared, retained, and disseminated must be done in a manner consistent with the protection of Americans' rights.

It is a principal duty for Congress to simultaneously protect our national security and preserve our privacy and our civil rights as well as our civil liberties.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Colorado, Congressman Gabe Evans, for his collaboration on this bipartisan bill.

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Mr. HERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, earlier I referenced the 9/11 Commission, which called for unifying our information-sharing systems and intelligence coordination to ensure that a 9/11-like attack would never happen again on U.S. soil. The commission also recognized, however, that we must at the same time improve oversight of those information-sharing networks to prevent overreach and civil rights and privacy abuses.

This bipartisan bill establishes oversight mechanisms and safeguards to protect the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of Americans in the production and dissemination of DHS intelligence.

As a personal note, I appreciate the fact that, as Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner, we are able to consider a bill of my authorship in the first year of my term, an uncommon practice, and I am grateful to this committee for considering the bill in a bipartisan manner. It is proof that, despite my inability to vote on the final passage of bills, I can be a contributing Member of Congress, submitting legislation, debating legislation in committees, and then debating it on the floor.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this commonsense, bipartisan bill, and I thank my colleagues for their support.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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