---
kind: "section"
citation: "6 U.S.C. § 481"
title: "6"
title_heading: "Domestic Security"
number: "481"
heading: "Short title; findings; and sense of Congress"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/6/481"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — Homeland Security Organization"
  - "Subchapter VIII — Coordination with Non-Federal Entities; Inspector General; United States Secret Service; Coast Guard; General Provisions"
  - "Part I — Information Sharing"
---

# §481. Short title; findings; and sense of Congress

- (a) **Short title—** This part may be cited as the “[Homeland](/usc/6/101.md?p=1) Security Information Sharing Act”.
- (b) **Findings—** Congress finds the following:
  - (1) The Federal Government is required by the Constitution to provide for the common defense, which includes terrorist attack.
  - (2) The Federal Government relies on [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17) and local [personnel](/usc/6/101.md?p=15) to protect against terrorist attack.
  - (3) The Federal Government collects, creates, manages, and protects classified and sensitive but unclassified information to enhance [homeland](/usc/6/101.md?p=1) security.
  - (4) Some [homeland](/usc/6/101.md?p=1) security information is needed by the [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17) and local [personnel](/usc/6/101.md?p=15) to prevent and prepare for terrorist attack.
  - (5) The needs of [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17) and local [personnel](/usc/6/101.md?p=15) to have access to relevant [homeland](/usc/6/101.md?p=1) security information to combat [terrorism](/usc/6/101.md?p=18) must be reconciled with the need to preserve the protected status of such information and to protect the sources and methods used to acquire such information.
  - (6) Granting security clearances to certain [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17) and local [personnel](/usc/6/101.md?p=15) is one way to facilitate the sharing of information regarding specific terrorist threats among Federal, [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17), and local levels of government.
  - (7) Methods exist to declassify, redact, or otherwise adapt classified information so it may be shared with [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17) and local [personnel](/usc/6/101.md?p=15) without the need for granting additional security clearances.
  - (8) [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17) and local [personnel](/usc/6/101.md?p=15) have capabilities and opportunities to gather information on suspicious activities and terrorist threats not possessed by [Federal agencies](/usc/6/677a.md?p=4).
  - (9) The Federal Government and [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17) and [local governments](/usc/6/101.md?p=13) and [agencies](/usc/6/311.md?p=2) in other jurisdictions may benefit from such information.
  - (10) Federal, [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17), and [local governments](/usc/6/101.md?p=13) and intelligence, law enforcement, and other [emergency](/usc/6/701.md?p=6) preparation and response [agencies](/usc/6/311.md?p=2) must act in partnership to maximize the benefits of information gathering and analysis to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks.
  - (11) Information systems, including the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System and the Terrorist Threat Warning System, have been established for rapid sharing of classified and sensitive but unclassified information among Federal, [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17), and local [entities](/usc/6/301c.md?p=2).
  - (12) Increased efforts to share [homeland](/usc/6/101.md?p=1) security information should avoid duplicating existing information systems.
- (c) **Sense of Congress—** It is the sense of Congress that Federal, [State](/usc/6/101.md?p=17), and local [entities](/usc/6/301c.md?p=2) should share [homeland](/usc/6/101.md?p=1) security information to the maximum extent practicable, with special emphasis on hard-to-reach urban and rural communities.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 107–296, title VIII, § 891, Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2252.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

This part, referred to in subsec. (a), was in the original “This subtitle”, meaning subtitle I (§§ 891–899) of title VIII of Pub. L. 107–296, Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2252, which enacted this part, amended section 2517 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, set out in the Appendix to Title 18, and sections 1806, 1825, and 3365 of Title 50, War and National Defense, and amended provisions set out as a note under section 2517 of Title 18. For complete classification of subtitle I to the Code, see Tables.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Reports to Congress

Pub. L. 110–28, title III, May 25, 2007, 121 Stat. 139, provided in part: “That starting July 1, 2007, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit quarterly reports to the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives detailing the information required in House Report 110–107.”