United States HR 5406: Biological Intelligence Organization and Attribution Act

Bill Text

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117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 5406
To require the development of a plan for the establishment of an interagency
biodefense task force on the attribution of certain biological events,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 28, 2021
Mr. SWALWELL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on
Armed Services, Homeland Security, Natural Resources, Foreign Affairs,
Financial Services, Ways and Means, Veterans’ Affairs, the Judiciary, In-
telligence (Permanent Select), and Agriculture, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the development of a plan for the establishment
of an interagency biodefense task force on the attribution
of certain biological events, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Biological Intelligence 4
Organization and Attribution Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PLAN FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY BIO-1
DEFENSE TASK FORCE ON BIOLOGICAL AT-2
TRIBUTION. 3
(a) PLAN REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days after 4
the date of the enactment of this Act, the officials de-5
scribed in subsection (e) shall jointly develop a plan for 6
the establishment of an interagency biodefense task force 7
to support and inform decision making based on biological 8
attribution. 9
(b) ELEMENTS.—The plan developed under sub-10
section (a) shall include the following: 11
(1) A description of the biological attribution 12
duties of the task force, including an identification 13
of the following: 14
(A) The extent and nature of involvement, 15
if any, of the task force (or the member agen-16
cies of the task force) in the collection, analysis, 17
or distribution of intelligence, or other informa-18
tion, relevant to the attribution of biological 19
events, including any interagency coordination 20
functions related to such collection, analysis, or 21
distribution. 22
(B) The level and type of biological events 23
that may trigger an attribution determination 24
by the task force (or the member agencies of 25
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the task force) regarding the source, cause, or 1
origin of the event. 2
(C) The process of the task force for mak-3
ing an attribution determination as specified in 4
subparagraph (B). 5
(D) In making such an attribution deter-6
mination, the extent to which the task force 7
shall— 8
(i) ensure the accuracy, reliability, 9
timeliness, credibility, and defensibility of 10
such intelligence, information, and evi-11
dence, including by meeting applicable evi-12
dentiary standards; and 13
(ii) address national security consider-14
ations. 15
(E) The reporting structure for the task 16
force following such a determination, including 17
the reporting structure if the task force has de-18
termined the source, cause, or origin of a bio-19
logical event to be an act of biological warfare 20
or bioterrorism. 21
(F) The extent and nature of involvement 22
of the task force in national security decision 23
making following such a determination, includ-24
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ing a description of how the task force shall 1
support and inform the decision making. 2
(G) Any other coordination functions to be 3
carried out by the task force, including— 4
(i) functions relating to intelligence 5
and information sharing with agencies 6
other than member agencies with respon-7
sibilities for biodefense; and 8
(ii) the conduct of coordinated exer-9
cises relating to biological attribution de-10
terminations, decision making following 11
such determinations, and ensuring that 12
such decisions are defensible. 13
(2) A description of the specific roles of each 14
member agency of the task force in carrying out the 15
duties under paragraph (2). 16
(3) A description of any additional authorities 17
or resources that may be necessary for the task 18
force to carry out such duties. 19
(4) A description of how the national biodefense 20
strategy and implementation plan under section 21
1086 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 22
Fiscal Year 2017 (6 U.S.C. 104), including any up-23
dates to such plan made pursuant to section 364 of 24
the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense 25
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