Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Redress Act of 2008

FAIR, ACCURATE, SECURE, AND TIMELY REDRESS ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 18, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4179, the Fair, Accurate, Secure and Timely Redress Act or FAST Redress Act was introduced last year by a relatively new member of the Homeland Security Committee, Congresswoman YVETTE CLARKE. Representative Clarke is to be commended for the yeoman's job she has done.

Everyone complains about the lack of sanity in the watch-listing process, but few have dared to wade into all the ins and outs of the system. Representative Clarke has done just that, and this legislation is the product of that thoughtful undertaking.

H.R. 4179 was marked up and approved on a bipartisan basis by the committees's Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee in early May. On May 20, 2008, the bill was marked up and adopted unanimously by the full committee.

This legislation, like other Homeland Security Committee bills that will be considered today, builds on the solid provisions in H.R. 1684, the Department of Homeland Security authorization bill that has been pending in the Senate since May of 2007.

Certainly, the practice of watch-listing individuals plays an important role in identifying possible terrorist suspects.

[Time: 10:45]

It is important to keep in mind that the watch list is only as good as the information on it. Without accurate, complete and reliable information, the purpose of the watch list is frustrated, the database becomes unreliable, and misidentifications persist.

Getting the watch list fixed and reducing misidentifications is a particularly difficult challenge. To do so, all the intelligence and law enforcement components that populate the list would need to come together and agree to clean it up. Unfortunately, this has not happened. Therefore, redress is the only real recourse for an American who is repeatedly stopped or delayed at airports and border crossings because one is misidentified as a terrorist threat.

Presently, there is a redress process available at DHS. Since February 2007, over 32,000 Americans have sought redress through DHS Traveler and Redress Inquiry Program, also known as DHS TRIP. Each individual voluntarily provided personal information to establish their identity. When there is a determination that this person is not a

[Page: H5493]

threat, their names are placed on a ``cleared list'' that is maintained by the Transportation Security Administration.

This cleared list is populated with names of individuals who have the same or similar name as someone on the ``no fly'' or ``selectee'' lists, but have proven that they are not the person on the list. The cleared list is then shared with only the airlines for screening purposes.

Under H.R. 4179, it will be shared throughout DHS and with other Federal agencies that use the terrorist watch list database. This would assure that individuals that go through the redress process are not stopped as potential terrorists by other Federal agencies.

Specifically, H.R. 4179 requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish the Office of Appeals and Redress to provide a timely and fair redress process. The Office of Appeals and Redress is directed to maintain a ``comprehensive cleared list'' that contains the names of individuals who have been misidentified and have corrected erroneous information.

The comprehensive cleared list would be made available to other Federal, State, local and Tribal authorities and others that use the terrorist watch list or database to resolve misidentification.

The bill directs TSA, CBP, the Coast Guard and other DHS components to reference the comprehensive cleared list when assessing the security risk of an individual. This would assure that individuals like our esteemed colleague, the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. JOHN LEWIS, would not be repeatedly stopped or delayed or have to seek redress from components in the same Federal agency.

H.R. 4179 also authorizes the DHS to enter into memoranda of understanding with other Federal agencies to enhance the redress process.

Importantly, the measure includes protections to assure that personally identifiable information is handled in accordance with privacy laws.

Once enacted, individuals that go through the trouble of clearing their names will not have to repeat the exercise again and again and again.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of every John Lewis and James Smith, I urge passage of this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source