Surveillance contracts
Surveillance contracts at Homeland Security would pause
Representative Daniel S. Goldman’s bill would freeze certain DHS tech buys until the agency has public audit and reporting rules for surveillance and data-analytics tools.
A House bill from Representative Daniel S. Goldman would slow some Department of Homeland Security contracts tied to surveillance and data analytics. The hold would stay in place until public audit and reporting requirements are set.
- Certain Homeland Security tech contracts would be put on hold.
- The pause would last until audit and reporting rules exist.
- The bill focuses on surveillance and data analytics, not every DHS purchase.
- Goldman has six Democratic cosponsors on the measure.
- In the House, a bill from Rep
In the House, a bill from Rep. Daniel S. Goldman of New York would put a hold on some Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, contracts for surveillance and data-analytics technology. The pause is aimed at tools that can watch, sort and assess people at scale, and it would stay in place until public audit and reporting requirements are ready.
For ordinary people, the stakes are not buried in procurement language. The question is whether a federal agency can keep buying systems that gather and analyze personal data before there is a clear public accounting of how those tools are used.
What gets held back
The bill does not freeze every DHS purchase. It targets contracts tied to the use and implementation of surveillance and data-analytics technologies, which narrows the focus to a specific class of tools rather than the department’s broader budget. Goldman introduced the measure with six Democratic cosponsors.