[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 887 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 887

   To establish a moratorium on the Foreign Visitors Program at the 
   Department of Energy nuclear laboratories, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 27, 1999

  Mr. Shelby introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish a moratorium on the Foreign Visitors Program at the 
   Department of Energy nuclear laboratories, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Energy Sensitive 
Country Foreign Visitors Moratorium Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON FOREIGN VISITORS PROGRAM.

    (a) Moratorium.--The Secretary of Energy may not admit to any 
facility of a national laboratory any individual who is a citizen of a 
nation that is named on the current Department of Energy sensitive 
countries list.
    (b) Waiver Authority.--(1) The Secretary of Energy may waive the 
prohibition in subsection (a) on a case-by-case basis with respect to 
specific individuals whose admission to a national laboratory is 
determined by the Secretary to be necessary for the national security 
of the United States.
    (2) Before any such waiver takes effect, the Secretary shall submit 
to the Committee on Armed Services and the Select Committee on 
Intelligence of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services and the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
Representatives a report in writing providing notice of the proposed 
waiver. The report shall identify each individual for whom such a 
waiver is proposed and, with respect to each such individual, provide a 
detailed justification for the waiver and the Secretary's certification 
that the admission of that individual to a national laboratory is 
necessary for the national security of the United States.
    (3)(A) A waiver under paragraph (1) may not take effect until a 
period of 10 days of continuous session of Congress has expired after 
the date of the submission of the report under paragraph (2) providing 
notice of that waiver.
    (B) For purposes of subparagraph (A)--
            (i) the continuity of a session of Congress is broken only 
        by an adjournment of the Congress sine die; and
            (ii) there shall be excluded from the computation of the 
        10-day period specified in that subparagraph Saturdays, 
        Sundays, legal public holidays, and any day on which either 
        House of Congress in not in session because of adjournment of 
        more than three days to a day certain.
    (4) The authority of the Secretary under paragraph (1) may not be 
delegated.

SEC. 3. BACKGROUND CHECKS ON ALL FOREIGN VISITORS TO NATIONAL 
              LABORATORIES.

    Before an individual who is a citizen of a foreign nation is 
allowed to enter a national laboratory, the Secretary of Energy shall 
require that a security clearance investigation (known as a 
``background check'') be carried out on that individual.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``national laboratory'' means any of the 
        following:
                    (A) The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 
                Livermore, California.
                    (B) The Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, 
                New Mexico.
                    (C) The Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, 
                New Mexico.
            (2) The term ``sensitive countries list'' means the list 
        prescribed by the Secretary of Energy known as the Department 
        of Energy List of Sensitive Countries.
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