Homeland Security Science and Technology Authorization Act of 2010

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Ms. CLARKE. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who work day in and day out to protect our communities and our Nation. They perform a wide range of services for the country, responding to emergencies, screening bags and cargo, watching our borders. They are outstanding public servants, and we thank them for their service. We know that without them we are less secure. They know that without science and technology they can't accomplish their mission.

So today we consider H.R. 4842, to acknowledge the importance of science and technology research, development, testing and evaluation, to ensuring the safety and security of the American people and our Nation.

H.R. 4842, the Homeland Security Science and Technology Authorization Act of 2010, reauthorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, and Domestic Nuclear Detection Office through fiscal year 2012. Since 2003, S&T has been responsible for developing technologies to address Homeland Security capability gaps as identified by DHS and its operational components, most notably Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. DNDO was established in 2006 to develop detection technologies for nuclear and radiological devices, a high-consequence terrorist threat.

This bipartisan legislation reauthorizes the activities of S&T and DNDO and puts these two DHS components on a path to greater effectiveness and efficiency by requiring strategic plans, benchmarking, and accountability systems.

For nearly a year, Mr. LUNGREN and I worked with my colleagues on the committee to craft this bipartisan authorization bill, which would ensure that the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate has the right tools available to be successful. Success in this context means delivering products into the hands of our first responders, law enforcement officials, or critical infrastructure owners, to help them achieve their mission and make America more secure.

In conducting our review, we examined the Homeland Security Act and the Department's use of the authorities the Congress has vested in it. We have also received insight and information from DHS leadership, stakeholders, the R&D community, private sector leaders, and independent analysts.

I believe that by reaching out to key stakeholders, we developed a very good bill that will authorize important management functions and programs within the S&T Directorate while emphasizing efficiency and cost savings.

Within this legislation, we institutionalize the process by which research and development is identified, prioritized, and funded within DHS. We emphasize the importance of strategic planning and require DHS S&T to do so every 2 years.

We establish training programs for developing technology requirements at DHS. We authorize an Office of Testing and Evaluation designed to prevent problems that occurred in major acquisition programs like SBInet, the infamous virtual fence, which will help curb wasteful spending in the Department.

We create an Office of Public-Private Partnerships and establish within S&T a streamlined review process for unsolicited proposals. We authorize twice the current amount of funding for cybersecurity R&D.

We explore alternatives for ASP technologies for detecting nuclear and radiological materials, and we affirm the committee's support for university programs and small businesses.

I look forward to discussing these and other matters with my colleagues today.

Finally, I want to express my appreciation and thanks to our chairman, Mr. Thompson, and Ranking Member King for their support of this important legislation.

Mr. LUNGREN was very instrumental in crafting the bill, and I thank him for working with me on it. I want to also thank the majority and minority committee and personal office staffs for their efforts.

We often say that Homeland Security is not a partisan issue, and that is evidenced today by this bipartisan legislation.

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Ms. CLARKE. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important Homeland Security legislation. This legislation authorizes a program that has been very instrumental in keeping the City of New York and its environs safe, and that is securing the city. This initiative has proven to be an effective tool, and we are looking forward to a whole range of other important R&D programs to come forth as a result of this reauthorization. Securing the city should be expanded and will be expanded through this authorization to other environs throughout this Nation that could use that level of security through our efforts, as has been the case with securing the cities.

So I am urging my colleagues, once again, to make sure that this authorization passes.

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