Details of the Committee Report on the House-Passed FY 2007 DHS Appropriations Bill (Part II)

Committee Report Contains Additional Information and Recommendations

Prior to the passage of H.R. 5441 by the House, the House Appropriations Committee issued a report (H. Rept. 109-476) that contains, among other things, certain additional information and recommendations.¹

This is Part II of a multi-part series of summaries on the Committee's report and focuses on a number of the Committee's CBP-related observations and recommendations. (See ITT's Online Archives or 06/13/06 news, 06061305, for Part I. See future issues of ITT for additional summaries.)

"Highlights" of the Committee's report are summarized below (partial list):

Secure Border Initiative strategic plan requested. In its report the Committee expresses its support for the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) but states that it is concerned about the absence of a strategic plan for an issue that has a history of failed, large-scale procurements.

The Committee believes that the submission and review of a strategic plan should have been the first step in establishing the SBI, rather than a haphazard funding request for FY 2006 followed by a request for a significant increase in funding for FY 2007.

The Committee states that given the recent failures of the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence Systems (ISIS) and America's Shield Initiative (ASI), it remains skeptical of providing huge sums of money at the persistent problem of border control--especially without any strategic justification for why the SBI is any more effective than its predecessors. Therefore, the Committee directs the Secretary to submit the SBI strategic plan no later than November 1, 2006.

Despite the concerns stated above, the Committee remains committed to establishing a comprehensive system within the DHS border security and immigration components to achieve operational control of U.S. borders and reform of the U.S. immigration system. To support this effort, the Committee recommends funding for CBP's Border Security and Control between Ports of Entry.

Funding for SBInet. The Committee combines funds for tactical infrastructure and border technology into a new program, project, and activity entitled Secure Border Initiative Technology and Tactical Infrastructure (SBInet). (See ITT's Online Archives or 04/17/06 news, 06041715, for previous BP summary on SBInet.)

Request to remove expenditure plan requirements from automation funding denied; ACE still considered risky. The Committee states that it has denied the Administration's request to remove requirements on CBP to provide an expenditure plan that has been approved by Office of Management and Budget (OMB), reviewed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and approved by the Committee before resources can be obligated. However, in order to ensure that program management is not disrupted by this expenditure plan requirement, the Committee recommends that certain funding be made available to the program upon enactment of this Act.

The Committee states that it is pleased that CBP has aggressively moved forward with deployments of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) releases. However, the GAO, as part of its review of the FY 2006 expenditure plan, points out that ACE is still considered risky because operational performance of deployed releases has been mixed and the relationships among goals, benefits and desired business outcomes are not visible. The Committee directs CBP to improve oversight by assuring releases are ready to proceed beyond critical design and production readiness review before deployment. Also, CBP shall ensure ACE aligns its goals, benefits, desired business outcomes, and performance metrics. The Committee states that future appropriations decisions will be affected by CBP progress towards these goals over the year.

In-bond cargo container security program should move beyond agricultural shipments. In its report the Committee states that it is pleased to see that CBP is working with the Science and Technology Directorate to address the security and control vulnerability presented by in-bond container shipments that transit the U.S. While the emphasis of the study to date has focused on the 10,000 to 15,000 agricultural shipments that transit the U.S. for delivery outside the U.S., the Committee reminds CBP that the program should address all shipments that enter and move through the U.S. in-bond, not only those carrying agricultural products.

Growth of CBP's IPR workload; report requested. The Committee expresses concern in its report about the growing workload related to the prevention of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement. In FY 2005, CBP reported 8,022 IPR seizures with a domestic value of over $93,200,000. Preliminary statistics for FY 2006 indicate a projected increase in this workload of almost fifty percent.

The Committee recognizes the detrimental impact of IPR infringement upon the U.S. economy and is concerned about CBP's ability to adequately combat this activity. The Committee directs CBP to submit a detailed report to the Committee no later than January 16, 2007, on the resources devoted to the prevention of IPR infringement. This report shall include the funding amounts and FTE devoted to IPR enforcement for FYs 2004 through 2007 (projected) as well as a detailed explanation of how CBP is addressing the growing IPR infringement workload, detailed by port of entry. This report should also include CBP's detailed IPR infringement statistics for fiscal years 2000-2007 (projected).

Report requested on textile transshipment enforcement staffing. The Trade Act of 2002 authorizes funding for Customs textile transshipment enforcement, and specifies how the funds be spent. The Committee recommends funding to continue this effort and directs CBP to provide a report, at the time it transmits the FY 2008 budget, on its actual and projected obligations of this funding, as well as of funds appropriated for this purpose in FY 2006. The report should include staffing levels in FYs 2005-2007, differentiated by position, as authorized in the Trade Act of 2002, and include a five-year enforcement plan.

Report requested on combating nuclear smuggling. The Committee directs CBP to report no later than January 16, 2007 on its process improvements in combating nuclear smuggling, including CBP's documentation verification capabilities (such as licenses and governmental documentation) and container inspection procedures.

The Committee notes that it is very concerned about recent GAO findings, most notably the inability of CBP to verify proper licensing and documentation for handling and transporting radioactive material. (See ITT's Online Archives or 04/26/06 news, 06042630, for BP summary of GAO's congressional testimony on this issue.)

¹According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), such reports do not have statutory force and departments and agencies are not legally bound by their declarations. However, reports do explain congressional intent, and executive branch agencies take them seriously because they must justify their budget requests annually to the Appropriations Committees.

H. Rept. 109-476 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_reports&docid=f:hr476.109.pdf.