8 U.S.C. § 1712: Authorization of appropriations for improvements in technology and infrastructure

making improvements in technology (including infrastructure support, computer security, and information technology development) for improving border security; expanding, utilizing, and improving technology to improve border security; and facilitating the flow of commerce and persons at ports of entry, including improving and expanding programs for preenrollment and preclearance. Federal agencies involved in border security may waive all or part of enrollment fees for technology-based programs to encourage participation by United States citizens and aliens in such programs. Any agency that waives any part of any such fee may establish its fees for other services at a level that will ensure the recovery from other users of the amounts waived. The Attorney General may, to the extent reasonable, increase land border fees for the issuance of arrival-departure documents to offset technology costs. There are authorized to be appropriated to the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of State such sums as may be necessary to improve and expand facilities for use by the personnel of those agencies. consider various current and proposed ground surveillance technologies that could be utilized to enhance the border security of the United States; assess the threats to the border security of the United States that could be addressed by the utilization of such technologies; and assess the feasibility and advisability of utilizing such technologies to address such threats, including an assessment of the technologies considered best suited to address such threats. the significance of previous experiences with such technologies in homeland security or critical infrastructure protection for the utilization of such technologies for border security; the cost, utility, and effectiveness of such technologies for border security; and liability, safety, and privacy concerns relating to the utilization of such technologies for border security. Video camera technology. Sensor technology. Motion detection technology. The Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Border and Transportation Security shall implement the pilot program developed under this section. Not later than 1 year after implementing the pilot program under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall submit a report on the program to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the House of Representatives Committee on Science [now Committee on Science, Space, and Technology], the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, and the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. The Under Secretary shall include in the report a description of the program together with such recommendations as the Under Secretary finds appropriate, including recommendations for terminating the program, making the program permanent, or enhancing the program.” “The Secretary of Homeland Security may carry out a pilot program to test various advanced technologies that will improve border security between ports of entry along the northern border of the United States. Use of advanced technological systems, including sensors, video, and unmanned aerial vehicles, for border surveillance. evaluation of data indicating border incursions; assessment of threat potential; and rapid real-time communication, monitoring, intelligence gathering, deployment, and response. Testing of advanced technology systems and software to determine best and most cost-effective uses of advanced technology to improve border security. Operation of the program in remote stretches of border lands with long distances between 24-hour ports of entry with a relatively small presence of United States border patrol officers. Capability to expand the program upon a determination by the Secretary that expansion would be an appropriate and cost-effective means of improving border security. is coordinated among United States, State, local, and Canadian law enforcement and border security agencies; and includes ongoing communication among such agencies. The Secretary of Homeland Security may enter into contracts for the procurement or use of such advanced technologies as the Secretary determines appropriate for the pilot program under this subtitle. In carrying out the pilot program under this subtitle, the Secretary of Homeland Security may provide for the establishment of cooperative arrangements for participation in the pilot program by such participants as law enforcement and border security agencies referred to in section 5102(b), institutions of higher education, and private sector entities. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act [ Dec. 17, 2004 ], the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to Congress a report on the pilot program under this subtitle. A discussion of the implementation of the pilot program, including the experience under the pilot program. A recommendation regarding whether to expand the pilot program along the entire northern border of the United States and a timeline for the implementation of the expansion. “There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the pilot program under this subtitle.”