Sponsor
Bennie Thompson
Representative · D-MS
Representative · D-MS
The bill improves oversight and speed of correcting erroneous watchlistings—strengthening protections and transparency for U.S. persons and oversight bodies—while risking slower inclusion of legitimate threats, higher administrative costs, and potential unequal protection for some non‑citizen groups.
U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who are wrongly placed on terror watchlists are more likely to be identified and corrected sooner because DHS must perform quality-assurance reviews and audits.
Law enforcement, congressional homeland-security committees, and oversight bodies gain more timely transparency and correction data because DHS must notify the FBI/NCTC within 24 hours of errors and provide annual disaggregated reports to Congress.
Law enforcement and the public could face increased risk if more stringent QA and audit procedures slow DHS nominations and delay adding legitimate threats to watchlists.
Taxpayers may bear higher costs because the increased administrative workload could raise DHS operating expenses, requiring budget reallocations or additional funding.
Non‑citizen immigrants and border communities may still face unequal treatment if narrow definitions or implementation exclude some groups from the same review protections, leaving disparities in correction timeliness.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires DHS QA reviews and monthly random audits of nominations to federal terrorist watchlists and annual congressional reporting on corrections and recalls.
Official title: To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to improve the accuracy of the Department of Homeland Security's terrorism screening information, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 15, 2025 by Bennie Thompson · Last progress August 15, 2025
Requires the Department of Homeland Security to perform quality-assurance reviews and audits of its nominations to federal terrorist watchlists and related terrorism databases, and to report annually to two congressional committees on corrections and recalls. Specifies timelines for reviews, a monthly random audit program, rapid notification and correction procedures for erroneous nominations, and definitions for covered terms. Mandates DHS include a review determination with each initial nomination to the FBI Terrorist Screening Center and the National Counterterrorism Center, start routine reviews within 90 days, and provide annual reporting to oversight committees with disaggregated counts for U.S. persons and non-U.S. persons.