Standards

The Amendment requires that all standards activities of the Department of Homeland Security be conducted in accordance with the National Technology Transfer Advancement Act of 1995 and OMB Circular A-119. The Committee wants to assure that any standards-setting functions transferred to the Department continue to conform to the voluntary, consensus-based standards development process that is the norm for most standards activities in the U.S. By requiring conformity with the Act and with the OMB Circular, the Committee is assuring that the private sector will maintain its leading role in developing standards.

By law and under OMB Circular A-119, the Federal government is required to use voluntary consensus standards in its regulations and in its procurement activities and is encouraged to lend expertise to, but not to dominate, the standards development process. Our private sector-led standards development process has given the U.S. the world's most robust standards.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

The Amendment strikes section 202(4) transferring the Computer Security Division of NIST to the Department of Homeland Security. The NIST Computer Security Division develops information security standards, testing and evaluation tools for use in federal agencies and the private sector. The effectiveness of the Division is directly related to its tight integration with other NIST laboratories, including the other divisions of the Information Technology Laboratory, the Physics Laboratory, and the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory. The effectiveness of the Computer Security Division is further enhanced by its close relationship with NIST's industrial customers. For example, the Advanced Encryption Standard, recently certified by NIST and widely used in both government and industry, was developed largely through the coordinated efforts of private sector and academic computer security experts with the NIST Computer Security Division acting as an honest broker that also provided technical support and test and evaluation services. The Committee has received extensive comments from the information technology community expressing concern that the Computer Security Division's close working relationship with industry likely would not survive if the division were transferred out of NIST. In addition, a bipartisan group of 16 Members of Congress, led by Representatives Goodlatte and Boucher, wrote to the Committee to express their opposition to the transfer. It is the view of the Committee that the expertise of the Computer Security Division could best be harnessed in the service of homeland security if the division remains within NIST.

Energy Security and Assurance Program

The Amendment transfers the Energy Security and Assurance (ESA) program of the Department of Energy (DOE) to the Department of Homeland Security under the management of the Undersecretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (Title II), rather than to the Undersecretary for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Countermeasures (Title III), as proposed by the Administration, or the new Undersecretary for Science and Technology (Title VII), established by the Amendment. Both ESA and the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC) are components of the DOE's Energy Security program. H.R. 5005 proposes to transfer NISAC into Title II but would transfer the ESA program into Title III. Keeping the ESA and NISAC programs together will maintain program coherence, since ESA provides analysis and support for NISAC. Furthermore, ESA's mission of providing threat and vulnerability assessment, response planning, emergency support, and multi-sector coordination for the nation's critical energy infrastructure is an operational role that fits more closely with the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection mission outlined in Title II.

Information Security

The Science Committee views the vulnerability of critical information and communication systems as being one of the most serious security threats facing the United States, yet cybersecurity is not specifically addressed in H.R. 5005. The Amendment adds a new section 205 on information security that gives the Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection explicit responsibility and authority to address information threats directed at non-military information and communications systems in federal agencies. The Committee believes that the Under Secretary should establish an Office of Cyber Security to fulfill these responsibilities (although the Amendment does not set up such an office).

Section 205 also requires NIST to develop information security standards that would be promulgated to civilian federal agencies by the Department. In elaborating NIST's responsibilities for developing technology-neutral information security standards, the new section includes most of the relevant provisions of H.R. 1259, the Computer Security Enhancement Act, that was approved by the House of Representatives on November 27, 2001.

NET Guard

The Committee recognizes that most of the nation's expertise in information security and information infrastructure protection resides within the private sector. The Amendment establishes a mechanism whereby technical experts in academia and the private sector can volunteer their services to state and local governments to assist them in responding to natural disasters or terrorist attacks that disrupt information and communications systems. The Amendment emphasizes that this is a volunteer program and that participating experts may not be compelled to participate in any given response effort. In addition, the Department need not pay any of the volunteers for their services.

Behavioral Science

The Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response will aid the recovery from terrorist attacks and major disasters. The Committee adopted an amendment that explicitly authorizes the Under Secretary to provide interventions to treat the psychological consequences of these events and provide for appropriate training for mental health workers who must deal with the aftermath of these events.

U.S. Fire Administration

The Committee expects that the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) will play an important role in the homeland security effort. However, many of USFA's most important activities are not directly related to homeland security. These activities include: 1) educating the public on fire and fire prevention issues; 2) supporting technological advancement through the development and testing of new tools that result in improved fire suppression technology and equipment; 3) compiling and maintaining a comprehensive database for publication, analysis, and dissemination of information related to fire prevention and control; and 4) conducting research on all aspects of fire with the aim of reducing the loss of life and property from fires.

The Committee believes it is important that these activities, as well as the Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program currently administered by USFA, continue to be performed by USFA. The Amendment requires that USFA be preserved as a distinct entity in the Homeland Security Department, retaining its responsibilities as outlined in the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 as amended.

National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program

The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, an interagency research effort led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and established under P.L. 95-124, plays an important role in the effort to better understand earthquakes and thus reduce the damage to life and property caused by them. The Committee expects that FEMA will continue to fulfill this responsibility after it is transferred to the Department of Homeland Security. The Committee will carefully review this situation next year when the program is reauthorized.

Organization of Research and Development

The Committee believes strongly that securing the homeland will depend upon science and technology. As in past wars, maintaining a technological edge against the enemy will be critical. Recognizing the important role that will be played by science and technology in detecting and countering chemical, biological, nuclear, or radiological weapons, H.R. 5005 included significant research and development activities within the Under Secretariat for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Countermeasures.

The Committee believes, however, that science and technology will have an important role to play in virtually every aspect of homeland security-not just in countering tools of mass destruction such as chemical or biological weapons. For example, borders will be made more secure when biometric technologies can be reliably used to identify bad actors from good. New technologies for detecting explosives and other weapons will make travel safer. 'Data mining' technologies that enable the rapid identification of important data from among the vast quantities collected will help law enforcement identify terrorist activities. Advances in cyber security will help protect the nation's critical infrastructures, as they are intrinsically intertwined with, and dependent on, networks such as the Internet. Technologies that enable first responders to communicate more effectively during a crisis will improve disaster response.

To ensure that science and technology are effectively mobilized in all aspects of the war against terrorism, the Committee believes that the Department must have, at its core, a robust research and development enterprise headed up by an Under Secretary whose expertise and primary responsibilities will be science and technology. As such, the Committee believes that research and development should be centrally organized and placed at a high level within the Department. The Amendment places primary responsibility for research and development in a distinct unit, overseen by an Under Secretary for Science and Technology who is responsible for basic and applied research, development, demonstration, testing and evaluation relevant to any and all of the missions of the Department.

The Amendment moves most of the research and development functions transferred from existing agencies to the new Department in the Under Secretariat for Science and Technology. At the same time, however, the Committee believes that certain functions, such as the Department of Energy's nuclear assessment program and the Department of Defense's National Bio-Weapons Defense Analysis Center, should be retained within Title III, given their clear links to the operations of that unit.

The organizational changes recommended by the Committee will maximize the effectiveness of the Department's overall science and technology development efforts while still allowing each unit to conduct some research and development efforts on activities closely related to the unit's specific function.

Department of Energy (DOE) Programs

The Amendment accepts the President's proposed transfers of DOE research programs to the Department even though the Administration has been unable to answer several fundamental questions about the impact and mechanics of these transfers.

The Committee has accepted the proposed transfers because the Department will clearly need some laboratory facilities and related research programs from which to build the research and development programs it will need to carry out its mission. However, the Committee was unwilling to see those transfers proceed before basic questions about them can be answered.

Therefore, the Amendment requires reports before the transfers can occur that must address such fundamental issues as how the transfer will affect the contractual relationships between the national labs and DOE; how scientists who work on both homeland security matters and other issues will be affected by the transfer; and how the transfer will affect the physical plant of the labs. In the report, DOE should describe the effect of the transfer not only on the laboratories from which programs are being transferred, but also on any other DOE labs whose mission and work may be affected because of the transfer.

The Committee retained language in H.R. 5005 that leaves some of the transfers up to the President, but the Amendment requires the President to notify Congress of his decision. Also, because the programs described in H.R. 5005 do not correspond exactly to program names used in DOE budgets or other documents, the Amendment requires notification of all DOE transfers so Congress can know precisely what is being transferred. The Committee believes that the President should not transfer programs that primarily support destruction of foreign weapons of mass destruction or intelligence analysis of weapons of mass destruction because such programs are not directly related to homeland security.

The Committee expects, however, that the Department will continue to interact with many national labs on a wide variety of research matters, regardless of whether their programs are transferred to the Department.

Homeland Security Institute

The Committee adopted an amendment that establishes a Homeland Security Institute, as recommended in the National Research Council's June 2002 report entitled Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism. The Secretary should create the Institute as a federally funded research and development center administered separately from the Department. The Institute would provide technical analysis and support for the Secretary including in areas such as bioterrorism agents.

The Committee intends for the Institute to be a dedicated, contract, not-for-profit organization funded by the Department. This type of structure is necessary because the depth and breadth of technical expertise needed cannot be supplied by the new Department or other existing federal agencies. The primary advantage to this type of quasi-governmental organization is a structure and management that can quickly provide deep understanding of technical issues for decision-making by government officials. Another advantage is its ability to hire highly specialized talent required to perform its duties.

Fields of Research

The Committee intends that the research activities supported by the Department not be limited to the physical and biological sciences and engineering, but also include the behavioral and social sciences. Relevant topics of inquiry would include research on psychological stresses on victims of, and responders to terrorist acts, human factors associated with the interface between technology and human behavior, the root causes of terrorism, and decision-making and management under extreme conditions.

Inquiries

The Amendment provides for establishment of an office to serve as a point of entry for those seeking guidance on how to pursue proposals to develop or deploy products that would contribute to homeland security. The Committee adopted an amendment that further refined this idea and directs the Department, in conjunction with the existing inter-agency group known as the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), to screen promising unsolicited ideas or white papers; assess their feasibility, technical merits, and costs; pursue proposals that adapt and deploy existing technologies; and match promising technologies with appropriate acquisition personnel. The provision will help eliminate bottlenecks that thwart the development and deployment of new homeland security technologies.

Classification

The Committee believes that research conducted or supported by the Department should, "to the maximum extent possible," be unclassified. This policy was implemented by President Ronald Reagan in National Security Decision Directive 189 in 1985, and it has mediated the tension between the need for openness as a fundamental principle of scientific research and the need to keep secret certain information that can be employed to support attacks on the U.S.

Consistent with this Directive, the Committee adopted an amendment that requires the Under Secretary, before issuing research and development grants, contracts or other agreements, to determine whether the research should be classified. The Under Secretary must also use existing statutes when deciding whether to reclassify an existing research program. Finally, the Under Secretary must review the Department's classified research programs at regular intervals to determine whether classification continues to be necessary. These additional provisions are intended give researchers some certainty as to whether their research will be classified before the grant is awarded.

Student visas/IPASS

The U.S. depends on foreign graduate students in many science and technology fields. The Committee believes it is important that procedures for granting student visas balance the need to improve homeland security with the benefits that are gained when talented students from other countries study in the U.S.

Earlier this year, draft plans for new security rules for student visas caused concern among academic institutions. However, an implementation plan for improving the security of the student visa process by establishing an Interagency Panel on Advanced Science Security (IPASS), relieved most of these concerns. Recognizing the role that the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) played in creating IPASS, the Amendment requires the OSTP Director to report to Congress regarding how the provisions of section 403 will affect procedures for the issuance of student visas.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

The Committee adopted an amendment expressing the Sense of Congress that the Secretary should consult NASA on matters related to computer security systems and processes. The Committee recognizes that NASA has developed significant expertise in this area that could be of value in the fight against terrorism. In addition, NASA has recently partnered with computer companies and Carnegie Mellon University in an initiative to develop software that will meet the higher standards of reliability and security that the Nation will need in the future. The Committee believes that the new Department could benefit from the computer security expertise resident in NASA and encourages the Secretary to seek it out as appropriate.

Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee

The Committee adopted an amendment establishing an advisory committee to review and make recommendations with respect to general policy issues (including budget priorities) within the purview of the Undersecretary for Science and Technology. The 20-member Advisory Committee will consist of experts in science and technology. One or more of those members must be a representative of the users of the Department's research activities such as emergency responders. In addition, one or more members must be representative of citizen groups, including groups from economically disadvantaged communities.

The Committee feels that it is important to include the end-user community on the Advisory Committee. Inclusion of the emergency response and citizen group communities will help ensure that research agendas are firmly tied to the actual needs of those who will be on the front lines if the nation is subjected to a terrorist attack.

The Committee believes that the Advisory Committee can play a significant role in strengthening the Department of Homeland Security's research agenda and focus. The Advisory Committee will provide an independent and unbiased review by which the Department and Congress can assess the efficacy and utility of its science and technology activities.

OSTP

The Amendment changes the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act to add homeland security to the list of issues on which the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) should advise the President and adds the Office of Homeland Security to the list of offices with which OSTP is required to coordinate.

OSTP has responsibility for overall coordination of Federal science and technology programs. When coordinating science and technology activities that may benefit homeland security, the Committee believes OSTP should consult with the Office of Homeland Security and the Under Secretary for Science and Technology in the Department of Homeland Security.

National Oceanic Partnership Program

National Ocean Research Leadership Council of the National Oceanic Partnership Program coordinates ocean research, a significant portion of which is relevant to coastal and port security. The Science Committee believes the Under Secretary for Science and Technology should be a statutory member of the Council.

NIST Organic Act

The Committee adopted an amendment that changes the NIST Organic Act to allow that agency to use its expertise to assist the Department. Section 1010 requires NIST, working through a cooperative agreement with the Secretary of Homeland Security to (1) carry out measurement and standards activities related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threats and (2) support the development of standards and guidelines with respect to border and transportation security technologies. This section requires an annual report to Congress of the activities carried out under this section.

Section 1011 requires the new Department and NIST to engage in a systematic review and upgrading of voluntary consensus standards related to homeland security. In consultation with standards development organizations (SDO), NIST and the Department shall prepare a list of homeland security-related voluntary consensus standards. It further requires NIST to develop a research plan to aid in the development of the necessary standards while requiring the Secretary to develop a Government-wide plan to help SDOs accelerate the development, revision, and promulgation of these standards.