HR-4401 : Still Just a Bill

Amplifying Local Efforts to Root out Terror Act of 2016 or the ALERT Act of 2016

This bill authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide training at state and major urban area fusion centers for the purpose of administering community awareness briefings and related activities in furtherance of its efforts to counter violent extremism, identify and report suspicious activities, and increase awareness of and more quickly identify terrorism threats, including the travel or attempted travel of individuals from the United States to support a foreign terrorist organization abroad. (A "fusion center" serves as a focal point within the state and local environment for the receipt, analysis, gathering, and sharing of threat-related information between the federal government and state, local, tribal, territorial and private sector partners.)

The bill directs DHS to assess its efforts to support countering violent extremism at the state, local, tribal, and territorial levels. Such assessment shall include:

• a cataloging of DHS efforts to assist state, local, tribal, and territorial governments in countering violent extremism;
• a review of cooperative agreements between DHS and such governments relating to countering violent extremism; and
• an evaluation of DHS plans and any potential opportunities to better support such governments that are in furtherance of DHS's countering violent extremism objectives and consistent with all relevant constitutional, legal, and privacy protections.

DHS shall notify Congress of the number of employees of state, local, tribal, and territorial governments with security clearances sponsored by DHS, including a detailed list of the agencies that employ such employees, the level of clearance held, and whether such employees are assigned as representatives to state and major urban area fusion centers.