Citation[]
Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 110-53, §1101, 121 Stat. 266, 375 (2007), codified at 6 U.S.C. §195b (full-text).
Overview[]
This Act requires the implementation of some of the recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission, to include requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to: (1) establish department-wide procedures to receive and analyze intelligence from State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector; and (2) establish a system that screens 100% of maritime and passenger cargo.
The Act also established grants to support high-risk urban areas and State, local, and tribal governments in preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to acts of terrorism, and to assist States in carrying out initiatives to improve international emergency communications.
Title IX of the Act requires DHS to establish a common set of criteria for private sector preparedness in disaster management, emergency management, and business continuity. These Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Standards will be accredited and certified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society for Quality (ASQ) National Accreditation Board (ANAB).
The Act formally authorized the establishment of the National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC), which serves as the hub of operations and personnel to which the NBIS community contributes information.
The Act requires that beginning in fiscal year 2009 and every four years thereafter the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conduct a review that provides a comprehensive examination of the homeland security strategy of the United States.
Designating senior privacy official[]
The Act instructed the heads of the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Treasury, Department of Health and Human Services, and State Department, as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency to designate no less than one senior officer to serve as a privacy and civil liberties officer. The senior privacy official is to perform the following functions:
- assisting the agency head in considering privacy and civil liberties issues with regard to anti-terrorism efforts;
- investigating and reviewing agency actions to ensure adequate consideration of privacy and civil liberties;
- ensuring that the agency has adequate redress procedures,
- considering privacy and civil liberties when deciding to retain or enhance a governmental power;
- coordinating activities, when relevant, with the agency Inspector General; and
- preparing periodic reports, not less than quarterly, to the agency head, Congress, and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.[1]
The Act grants the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board authority to require any other agency or element of the executive branch to establish a privacy and civil liberties officer. Further, this law specifies that if covered agencies have another statutorily designated privacy officer, this officer must also undertake the responsibilities described in the Act.
Agencies covered under this act are also required to establish a direct reporting relationship between the senior privacy official and the agency head.
References[]
- ↑ This board was created by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to review executive branch anti-terrorism activities and to ensure that privacy and civil liberties are adequately protected.