Part 1 (1/2)
Homeland Security Act of 2002.
by Committee on Homeland Security, U.S. House of Representatives.
In this Act, the following definitions apply: (1) Each of the terms ''American homeland'' and ''homeland'' means the United States.
(2) The term ''appropriate congressional committee'' means any committee of the House of Representatives or the Senate having legislative or oversight jurisdiction under the Rules of the House of Representatives or the Senate, respectively, over the matter concerned.
(3) The term ''a.s.sets'' includes contracts, facilities, property, records, un.o.bligated or unexpended balances of appropriations, and other funds or resources (other than personnel).
(4) The term ''critical infrastructure'' has the meaning given that term in section 1016(e) of Public Law 107-56 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
(5) The term ''Department'' means the Department of Homeland Security.
(6) The term ''emergency response providers''
includes Federal, State, and local governmental and nongovernmental emergency public safety, fire, law enforcement, emergency response, emergency medical (including hospital emergency facilities), and related personnel, agencies, and authorities.
(7) The term ''executive agency'' means an executive agency and a military department, as defined, respectively, in sections 105 and 102 of t.i.tle 5, United States Code.
(8) The term ''functions'' includes authorities, powers, rights, privileges, immunities, programs, projects, activities, duties, and responsibilities.
(9) The term ''intelligence component of the Department'' means any element or ent.i.ty of the Department that collects, gathers, processes, a.n.a.lyzes, produces, or disseminates intelligence information within the scope of the information sharing environment, including homeland security information, terrorism information, and weapons of ma.s.s destruction information, or national intelligence, as defined under section 3(5) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a(5)), except-- (A) the United States Secret Service; and (B) the Coast Guard, when operating under the direct authority of the Secretary of Defense or Secretary of the Navy pursuant to section 3 of t.i.tle 14, United States Code, except that nothing in this paragraph shall affect or diminish the authority and responsibilities of the Commandant of the Coast Guard to command or control the Coast Guard as an armed force or the authority of the Director of National Intelligence with respect to the Coast Guard as an element of the intelligence community (as defined under section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C.
401a(4)).
(10) The term ''key resources'' means publicly or privately controlled resources essential to the minimal operations of the economy and government.
(11) The term ''local government'' means-- (A) a county, munic.i.p.ality, city, town, towns.h.i.+p, local public authority, school district, special district, intrastate district, council of governments (regardless of whether the council of governments is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law), regional or interstate government ent.i.ty, or agency or instrumentality of a local government; (B) an Indian tribe or authorized tribal organization, or in Alaska a Native village or Alaska Regional Native Corporation; and (C) a rural community, unincorporated town or village, or other public ent.i.ty.
(12) The term ''major disaster'' has the meaning given in section 102(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency a.s.sistance Act (42 U.S.C.
5122).
(13) The term ''personnel'' means officers and employees.
(14) The term ''Secretary'' means the Secretary of Homeland Security.
(15) The term ''State'' means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession of the United States.
(16) The term ''terrorism'' means any activity that-- (A) involves an act that-- (i) is dangerous to human life or potentially destructive of critical infrastructure or key resources; and (ii) is a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State or other subdivision of the United States; and (B) appears to be intended-- (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by ma.s.s destruction, a.s.sa.s.sination, or kidnapping.
(17)(A) The term ''United States'', when used in a geographic sense, means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, any possession of the United States, and any waters within the jurisdiction of the United States.
(B) Nothing in this paragraph or any other provision of this Act shall be construed to modify the definition of ''United States'' for the purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act or any other immigration or nationality law.
(18) The term ''voluntary preparedness standards''
means a common set of criteria for preparedness, disaster management, emergency management, and business continuity programs, such as the American National Standards Inst.i.tute's National Fire Protection a.s.sociation Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs (ANSI/NFPA 1600).
SEC. 3. [6 U.S.C. 102] CONSTRUCTION; SEVERABILITY.
Any provision of this Act held to be invalid or unenforceable by its terms, or as applied to any person or circ.u.mstance, shall be construed so as to give it the maximum effect permitted by law, unless such holding shall be one of utter invalidity or unenforceability, in which event such provision shall be deemed severable from this Act and shall not affect the remainder thereof, or the application of such provision to other persons not similarly situated or to other, dissimilar circ.u.mstances.
SEC. 4. [6 U.S.C. 101 NOTE] EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect 60 days after the date of enactment.
t.i.tLE I--DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
SEC. 101. [6 U.S.C. 111] EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT; MISSION.
(a) Establishment.--There is established a Department of Homeland Security, as an executive department of the United States within the meaning of t.i.tle 5, United States Code.
(b) Mission.-- (1) In general.--The primary mission of the Department is to-- (A) prevent terrorist attacks within the United States; (B) reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism; (C) minimize the damage, and a.s.sist in the recovery, from terrorist attacks that do occur within the United States; (D) carry out all functions of ent.i.ties transferred to the Department, including by acting as a focal point regarding natural and manmade crises and emergency planning; (E) ensure that the functions of the agencies and subdivisions within the Department that are not related directly to securing the homeland are not diminished or neglected except by a specific explicit Act of Congress; (F) ensure that the overall economic security of the United States is not diminished by efforts, activities, and programs aimed at securing the homeland; (G) ensure that the civil rights and civil liberties of persons are not diminished by efforts, activities, and programs aimed at securing the homeland; and (H) monitor connections between illegal drug trafficking and terrorism, coordinate efforts to sever such connections, and otherwise contribute to efforts to interdict illegal drug trafficking.
(2) Responsibility for investigating and prosecuting terrorism.--Except as specifically provided by law with respect to ent.i.ties transferred to the Department under this Act, primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting acts of terrorism shall be vested not in the Department, but rather in Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction over the acts in question.
SEC. 102. [6 U.S.C. 112] SECRETARY; FUNCTIONS.
(a) Secretary.-- (1) In general.--There is a Secretary of Homeland Security, appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(2) Head of department.--The Secretary is the head of the Department and shall have direction, authority, and control over it.
(3) Functions vested in secretary.--All functions of all officers, employees, and organizational units of the Department are vested in the Secretary.
(b) Functions.--The Secretary-- (1) except as otherwise provided by this Act, may delegate any of the Secretary's functions to any officer, employee, or organizational unit of the Department; (2) shall have the authority to make contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements, and to enter into agreements with other executive agencies, as may be necessary and proper to carry out the Secretary's responsibilities under this Act or otherwise provided by law; and (3) shall take reasonable steps to ensure that information systems and databases of the Department are compatible with each other and with appropriate databases of other Departments.
(c) Coordination With Non-Federal Ent.i.ties.--With respect to homeland security, the Secretary shall coordinate through the Office of State and Local Coordination (established under section 801) (including the provision of training and equipment) with State and local government personnel, agencies, and authorities, with the private sector, and with other ent.i.ties, including by-- (1) coordinating with State and local government personnel, agencies, and authorities, and with the private sector, to ensure adequate planning, equipment, training, and exercise activities; (2) coordinating and, as appropriate, consolidating, the Federal Government's communications and systems of communications relating to homeland security with State and local government personnel, agencies, and authorities, the private sector, other ent.i.ties, and the public; and (3) distributing or, as appropriate, coordinating the distribution of, warnings and information to State and local government personnel, agencies, and authorities and to the public.
(d) Meetings of National Security Council.--The Secretary may, subject to the direction of the President, attend and partic.i.p.ate in meetings of the National Security Council.