HR2261-119

Passed House

Strengthening Oversight of DHS Intelligence Act

119th Congress Introduced Mar 21, 2025

Summary

What This Bill Does

The Strengthening Oversight of DHS Intelligence Act adds privacy, civil-rights, and civil-liberties safeguards to Department of Homeland Security intelligence work. It amends section 201(d) of the Homeland Security Act so intelligence information under the Act must be shared, retained, and disseminated consistently with privacy rights, civil rights, and civil liberties as determined by the Chief Privacy Officer and the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. It amends section 222 so the Chief Privacy Officer coordinates with the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis to ensure intelligence information is handled consistently with privacy rights and to train intelligence personnel on the Privacy Act of 1974, privacy regulations, information practices, and other relevant laws. It amends section 705 so the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties coordinates with the Under Secretary to protect civil rights and civil liberties and train intelligence personnel who disseminate or review DHS intelligence information.

Who Benefits and How

American citizens subject to DHS intelligence activities, immigrants and travelers whose information may be analyzed by DHS, privacy advocates, civil-rights organizations, civil-liberties organizations, the DHS Chief Privacy Officer, the DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, congressional homeland-security overseers, and DHS personnel who need clearer guidance benefit from statutory safeguards, officer coordination, and focused training on privacy, civil-rights, and civil-liberties rules.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, DHS intelligence personnel, DHS information-dissemination staff, DHS intelligence reviewers, Chief Privacy Officer staff, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties staff, DHS training teams, and program managers responsible for section 201(d) intelligence analysis must revise handling practices, coordinate reviews, attend or provide training, and ensure intelligence sharing, retention, and dissemination meets the statutory protections.

Key Provisions

  • Requires DHS intelligence information sharing, retention, and dissemination to protect privacy rights, civil rights, and civil liberties.
  • Directs the Chief Privacy Officer to coordinate with Intelligence and Analysis on privacy-consistent intelligence handling.
  • Requires privacy-rights and Privacy Act training for DHS intelligence personnel who disseminate or review intelligence information.
  • Directs the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to coordinate with Intelligence and Analysis on civil-rights and civil-liberties safeguards.
  • Requires civil-rights and civil-liberties training for covered DHS intelligence personnel.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Amends the Homeland Security Act to require DHS intelligence information sharing, retention, and dissemination to protect privacy rights, civil rights, and civil liberties, and requires DHS privacy and civil-rights officers to coordinate with Intelligence and Analysis on training for personnel who disseminate or review intelligence information.

Key Policy Areas

Homeland Security, Civil Rights, Privacy

Primary Purpose

Amends the Homeland Security Act to require DHS intelligence information sharing, retention, and dissemination to protect privacy rights, civil rights, and civil liberties, and requires DHS privacy and civil-rights officers to coordinate with Intelligence and Analysis on training for personnel who disseminate or review intelligence information.

Policy Domains

Homeland Security Civil Rights Privacy

Substantive provisions

Identified Gains
  • American citizens subject to DHS intelligence activities
  • Immigrants and travelers whose information may be analyzed by DHS
  • Privacy advocates
  • Civil-rights organizations
  • Civil-liberties organizations
  • DHS Chief Privacy Officer
  • DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
  • Congressional homeland-security overseers
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: eh
Privacy advocates:
DHS Chief Privacy Officer:
Civil-rights organizations:
Civil-liberties organizations:
Congressional homeland-security overseers:
DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties:
American citizens subject to DHS intelligence activities:
Immigrants and travelers whose information may be analyzed by DHS:
Identified Costs
  • Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis
  • DHS intelligence personnel
  • DHS information-dissemination staff
  • DHS intelligence reviewers
  • Chief Privacy Officer staff
  • Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties staff
  • DHS training teams
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: eh
DHS training teams:
DHS intelligence personnel:
DHS intelligence reviewers:
Chief Privacy Officer staff:
DHS information-dissemination staff:
Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis:
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties staff:

Legislative Progress

Passed House
Introduced Committee Passed
Nov 18, 2025

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland …

Nov 18, 2025

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to …

Nov 18, 2025 (inferred)

Passed House (inferred from eh version)

Nov 17, 2025

Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without …

Nov 17, 2025

Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H4690-4691)

Nov 17, 2025

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill …

Nov 17, 2025

DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate …

Nov 17, 2025

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules …

Nov 17, 2025

Mr. Garbarino moved to suspend the rules and pass the …

Nov 12, 2025

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
8 mentions across 2 clauses
+4 positive -4 negative

DHS Chief Privacy Officer, DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, DHS intelligence personnel

Positive-direction: DHS Chief Privacy Officer, DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Negative-direction: DHS intelligence personnel, Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis

Nonprofits
4 mentions across 2 clauses
+4 positive

Civil-liberties organizations, Privacy advocates

General Public
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+2 positive

American citizens subject to DHS intelligence activities

1/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Homeland Security Civil Rights Privacy
Actor Mappings
"crcl"
→ DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
"under_secretary"
→ Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis
"chief_privacy_officer"
→ DHS Chief Privacy Officer

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology