Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act

What this does

This bill requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and the DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology, to submit a plan to Congress within 180 days for identifying, integrating, and deploying emerging or advanced technologies in border security operations. The plan must cover technologies that may use artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, fiber-optic sensing, nanotechnology, radar, LIDAR, and imaging systems, among others. The plan's required contents include how CBP uses Innovation Team authority, technologies used by other agencies that CBP could adopt, an analysis of CBP's procurement authorities, an assessment of the privacy and security impact on border communities, a review of legacy programs that could be phased out with cost estimates, and an identification of recent advances in areas such as drones and counter-drone systems, surveillance towers, tunnel detection, and non-intrusive inspection. The bill also authorizes the CBP Commissioner to maintain one or more CBP Innovation Teams to research and adapt commercial technologies and assess their potential outcomes, sets operating-procedure and strategic-goal requirements for those teams, and requires the Commissioner to report on team activities within 180 days and annually thereafter.

House vote · 406-9

Democrats197–7

Republicans209–2

Independents0–0

How we know · 6 sourced claims

The bill requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the CBP Commissioner and the DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology, to submit a plan to Congress within 180 days to identify, integrate, and deploy emerging or advanced technologies to enhance or address capability gaps in border security operations.Source: Sec. 2(a), In general
The plan must cover technologies that may incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, fiber-optic sensing, nanotechnology, radar, LIDAR, and imaging and identification systems, among others.Source: Sec. 2(a), In general
Required plan contents include how CBP uses Innovation Team authority, technologies used by other agencies that CBP could adopt, an analysis of CBP procurement authorities, an assessment of the privacy and security impact on border communities, and a review of legacy programs that could be phased out with cost estimates.Source: Sec. 2(b), Contents
The plan must identify recent technological advances in areas including manned aircraft sensors, unmanned aerial systems and counter-drone technology, surveillance towers and sensors, non-intrusive inspection, and tunnel detection.Source: Sec. 2(b)(12)
The bill authorizes the CBP Commissioner to maintain one or more CBP Innovation Teams to research and adapt commercial emerging technologies and to assess their potential outcomes, including negative consequences.Source: Sec. 2(c)(1), In general
The Commissioner must require each team to establish operating procedures and strategic goals, and must report to Congress on team activities within 180 days and annually thereafter.Source: Sec. 2(c)(2)-(3)

Read the bill on congress.gov ↗

Your representatives

How did your member vote on this?

House roll call

The full roll call

R204–2D193–7I1–0

Position

Party

State

Republicans

213

Democrats

208

Independents

YeaKevin KileyCA · District 3