H.R. 2443 (115^th): Department of Homeland Security Classified Facility Inventory Act

H.R. 2433, requires the Chief Security Officer of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to maintain and update an inventory of all facilities certified by DHS to host infrastructure or systems classified above the Secret level, and may share part of all of the inventory in accordance with standard information sharing procedures and policies with appropriate Departmental and State and local personnel. The inventory should include the location, operating entities, and date of establishment of such facilities.

A report by the Inspectors General of the Intelligence Community, DHS, and the Department of Justice found that, while counterterrorism information is usually classified at the Top Secret level, DHS personnel lack sufficient access to Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) where this information can be shared in the field.[1]

H.R. 2433 seeks to address this issue by ensuring all physical locations of DHS-certified SCIFs are known and accessible to DHS personnel. This bill calls for greater transparency in locations of SCIFs as well as reduces wasteful spending by ensuring that DHS does no unnecessarily invest in new facilities in an area that may be already covered by pre-existing facilities.

Similar language to this bill was included in H.R. 2825, which passed the House of Representatives on July 20, 2017 by a vote of 386-41.

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress, and was published on Sep 12, 2017.

Department of Homeland Security Classified Facility Inventory Act

(Sec. 2) This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to: (1) maintain an inventory of DHS facilities that DHS certifies to house classified infrastructure or systems at the secret level and above; (2) update such inventory on a regular basis; and (3) share part or all of such inventory with DHS personnel who have been granted the appropriate security clearance, non-federal governmental personnel who have been granted a Top Secret security clearance, and other personnel as deemed appropriate by DHS. The inventory may include the location, attributes, operating entities, and date of establishment of such facilities.