| WASHINGTON – Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, today applauded House passage of two Homeland Security Republican bills: Rep. Pete King’s (R-N.Y.) H.R. 1313, the Transit Security Grant Program Flexibility Act and Rep. Mike Gallagher’s (R-Wis.) H.R. 2066, the DHS Intelligence Rotational Assignment Program Act of 2019.
“The Transit Security Grant Program Flexibility Act streamlines and improves the Transit Security Grant Program, which helps secure our nation’s transportation infrastructure,” Rogers said. “I applaud Rep. King for introducing this bill, which will help keep our communities safe against threats of terrorism.
Rogers continued, “The DHS Intelligence Rotational Assignment Program Act aims to improve intelligence sharing across DHS’s nine intelligence programs by establishing rotations for senior level employees across the department. As a former intelligence officer, Rep. Gallagher understandings the importance of intelligence coordination and I thank him for his leadership on this piece of legislation.”
“This legislation will ensure that public transportation systems and transit infrastructure that are in final design or still under construction will still qualify for security grant assistance,” King said. “It is imperative to address any threats to these transportation projects. This legislation will allow just that.”
“Evidence shows that a lack of intra-agency communication can lead to major security breaches,” said Gallagher. “I know first-hand that success in the field requires information sharing at all levels, and we must do all we can to strengthen participation in programs that seek to encourage this type of cross pollination.
Gallagher continued, “By requiring DHS to incentivize and promote participation in its current rotational program, my legislation will not only increase involvement, but ensure that intelligence analysts are rewarded for taking steps to better understand the DHS intelligence enterprise. I’m grateful to my House colleagues for supporting this bill, and urge my Senate colleagues to pass this legislation.”
H.R. 1313 streamlines and improves the Transit Security Grant Program by standardizing performance periods at 36 months for most projects and 55 months for large scale projects and allowing program recipients to use grants to pay for associated backfill of personnel attending security trainings.
H.R. 2066 authorizes an Intelligence Rotational Analyst Program (IRAP) within the DHS to facilitate education and cross training of DHS component intelligence analysts with the goal of improving collaboration across different intelligence offices. It passed the House last Congress with unanimous support.
The House also passed H.R. 1437, the Securing DHS Firearms Act of 2019, H.R. 1594 the First Responder Access to Innovative Technologies Act, and H.R. 1912 the DHS Acquisition Documentation Integrity Act of 2019, all of which Rogers supported.
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