Sponsors
The bill improves accuracy and transparency of terrorism watchlists—reducing wrongful watchlisting and improving security—but does so at added administrative cost and with residual risks that people may remain harmed while reviews and interagency coordination proceed.
U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and immigrants (especially racial/ethnic minorities) will face fewer wrongful watchlist harms because DHS must correct erroneous entries more quickly, reducing wrongful travel, employment, and civil‑liberties impacts.
Federal investigators and homeland security partners will get more accurate terrorism watchlist data through required monthly and annual reviews, lowering false positives and improving allocation of national security investigative resources.
Congress and the public will receive regular data on corrections and retractions, increasing transparency and accountability over DHS watchlist practices.
Individuals subject to watchlisting (notably immigrants and racial/ethnic minorities) may still experience continued travel, employment, or other civil‑liberties harms while reviews and corrections proceed.
DHS, FBI, and NCTC staff may face strained interagency coordination and potential delays because the bill requires sharing determinations and consultation within set timelines.
Taxpayers will bear higher administrative costs because DHS must run more frequent reviews and audits, increasing agency workload and budgetary outlays.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced August 15, 2025 by Bennie Thompson · Last progress August 15, 2025
Requires the Department of Homeland Security to run quality-assurance reviews and regular audits of any DHS nominations to the federal terrorist watchlist and related terrorism databases before those nominations are sent to the FBI Terrorist Screening Center and the National Counterterrorism Center. Establishes an initial review within 90 days of enactment and annual reviews thereafter, plus a monthly random-audit program; sets timelines for DHS to notify FBI/NCTC of errors, seek corrections, consult if corrections are not made, and report annually to relevant congressional committees.