[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3875 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3875

  To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish within the 
 Department of Homeland Security a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, 
        Nuclear, and Explosives Office, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 2, 2015

 Mr. McCaul (for himself, Ms. McSally, Mr. Ratcliffe, and Ms. Jackson 
Lee) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Homeland Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish within the 
 Department of Homeland Security a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, 
        Nuclear, and Explosives Office, 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 Homeland Security 
CBRNE Defense Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. CBRNE OFFICE.

    (a) In General.--The Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new title:

    ``TITLE XXII--CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NUCLEAR, AND 
                           EXPLOSIVES OFFICE

``SEC. 2201. CBRNE OFFICE.

    ``(a) Establishment.--There is established in the Department a 
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office 
(referred to in this title as the `CBRNE Office').
    ``(b) Mission of Office.--The mission of the CBRNE Office is to 
coordinate, strengthen, and provide chemical, biological, radiological, 
nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) capabilities in support of homeland 
security.
    ``(c) Assistant Secretary.--The Office shall be headed by an 
Assistant Secretary for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, 
Nuclear, and Explosives Office (referred to in this title as the 
`Assistant Secretary'), who shall be appointed by the President by and 
with the advice and consent of the Senate.
    ``(d) Responsibilities.--The Assistant Secretary shall--
            ``(1) develop, coordinate, and maintain overall CBRNE 
        strategy and policy for the Department;
            ``(2) develop, coordinate, and maintain for the Department 
        periodic CBRNE risk assessments;
            ``(3) serve as the primary Department representative for 
        coordinating CBRNE activities with other Federal departments 
        and agencies;
            ``(4) provide oversight for the Department's preparedness 
        for CBRNE threats;
            ``(5) provide support for operations during CBRNE threats 
        or incidents; and
            ``(6) carry out such other responsibilities as the 
        Secretary determines appropriate, consistent with this title.
    ``(e) Other Officers.--The Chief Medical Officer and the Director 
for Domestic Nuclear Detection shall report directly to the Assistant 
Secretary. The Secretary shall appoint appropriate officers to be 
responsible for coordinating departmental policy and strategy relating 
to chemical, biological, and explosives threats.

``SEC. 2202. COMPOSITION OF THE CBRNE OFFICE.

    ``The Secretary shall transfer to the CBRNE Office, the functions, 
personnel, budget authority, and assets of the following:
            ``(1) The Office of Health Affairs as in existence on the 
        day before the date of the enactment of this title, including 
        the Chief Medical Officer authorized under section 516, and the 
        National Biosurveillance Integration Center authorized under 
        section 316.
            ``(2) The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office authorized 
        under title XIX.
            ``(3) CBRNE threat awareness and risk assessment activities 
        of the Science and Technology Directorate.
            ``(4) The CBRNE functions of the Office of Policy and the 
        Office of Operations Coordination.
            ``(5) The Office for Bombing Prevention of the National 
        Protection and Programs Directorate as in existence on the day 
        before the date of the enactment of this title.

``SEC. 2203. HIRING AUTHORITY.

    ``In hiring personnel for the CBRNE Office, the Secretary shall 
have the hiring and management authorities provided in section 1101 of 
the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
1999 (5 U.S.C. 3104 note; Public Law 105-261), except that the term of 
appointments for employees under subsection (c)(1) of such section may 
not exceed five years before granting any extension under subsection 
(c)(2) of such section.

``SEC. 2204. GRANTS, COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS, AND OTHER TRANSACTIONS AND 
              CONTRACTS.

    ``The Assistant Secretary, in carrying out the responsibilities 
under this title, may distribute funds through grants, cooperative 
agreements, and other transactions and contracts.

``SEC. 2205. TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENTS.

    ``(a) Terrorism Risk Assessments.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Assistant Secretary shall, in 
        coordination with relevant Department components and other 
        appropriate Federal departments and agencies, develop, 
        coordinate, and update periodically terrorism risk assessments 
        of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.
            ``(2) Comparison.--The Assistant Secretary shall develop, 
        coordinate, and update periodically an integrated terrorism 
        risk assessment that assesses all of the threats referred to in 
        paragraph (1) and, as appropriate, explosives threats, and 
        compares each such threat against one another according to 
        their relative risk.
            ``(3) Inclusion in assessment.--Each terrorism risk 
        assessment under this subsection shall include a description of 
        the methodology used for each such assessment.
            ``(4) Updates.--Each terrorism risk assessment under this 
        subsection shall be updated not less often than once every two 
        years.
            ``(5) Provision to congress.--The Assistant Secretary shall 
        provide a copy of each risk assessment under this subsection to 
        the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
        Governmental Affairs of the Senate not later than 30 days after 
        completion of each such assessment.
    ``(b) Methodology.--In developing the terrorism risk assessments 
under subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary, in consultation with 
appropriate Federal departments and agencies, shall--
            ``(1) assess the proposed methodology to be used for such 
        assessments; and
            ``(2) consider the evolving threat to the United States as 
        indicated by the intelligence community (as such term is 
        defined in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 
        (50 U.S.C. 3003(4))).
    ``(c) Usage.--The terrorism risk assessments required under 
subsection (a) shall be used to inform and guide allocation of 
resources for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threat 
activities of the Department.
    ``(d) Input and Sharing.--The Assistant Secretary shall, for each 
terrorism risk assessment under subsection (a)--
            ``(1) seek input from national stakeholders and other 
        Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial officials 
        involved in efforts to counter chemical, biological, 
        radiological, and nuclear threats;
            ``(2) ensure that written procedures are in place to guide 
        the development of such assessments, including for input, 
        review, and implementation purposes, among relevant Federal 
        partners;
            ``(3) share such assessments with Federal, State, local, 
        tribal, and territorial officials with appropriate security 
        clearances and a need for the information in the classified 
        versions of such assessments; and
            ``(4) to the maximum extent practicable, make available an 
        unclassified version of such assessments for Federal, State, 
        local, tribal, and territorial officials involved in prevention 
        and preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological, and 
        nuclear events.

``SEC. 2206. CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NUCLEAR, AND 
              EXPLOSIVES INTELLIGENCE AND INFORMATION SHARING.

    ``(a) In General.--The Under Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis 
of the Department shall--
            ``(1) support homeland security-focused intelligence 
        analysis of terrorist actors, their claims, and their plans to 
        conduct attacks involving chemical, biological, radiological, 
        or nuclear materials or explosives against the United States;
            ``(2) support homeland security-focused intelligence 
        analysis of global infectious diseases, public health, food, 
        agricultural, and veterinary issues;
            ``(3) support homeland security-focused risk analysis and 
        risk assessments of the homeland security hazards described in 
        paragraphs (1) and (2) by providing relevant quantitative and 
        nonquantitative threat information;
            ``(4) leverage existing and emerging homeland security 
        intelligence capabilities and structures to enhance prevention, 
        protection, response, and recovery efforts with respect to a 
        chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosives 
        attack;
            ``(5) share appropriate information regarding such threats 
        to appropriate State, local, tribal, and territorial 
        authorities, as well as other national biosecurity and 
        biodefense stakeholders; and
            ``(6) perform other responsibilities, as assigned by the 
        Secretary.
    ``(b) Coordination.--Where appropriate, the Under Secretary of 
Intelligence and Analysis shall coordinate with the heads of other 
relevant Department components, including the Assistant Secretary, 
members of the intelligence community, including the National Counter 
Proliferation Center and the National Counterterrorism Center, and 
other Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial authorities, 
including officials from high-threat areas, to enable such entities to 
provide recommendations on optimal information sharing mechanisms, 
including expeditious sharing of classified information, and on how 
such entities can provide information to the Department.
    ``(c) Report.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date 
        of the enactment of this section and annually thereafter, the 
        Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of 
        the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 
        Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report on--
                    ``(A) the intelligence and information sharing 
                activities under subsections (a) and (b) and of all 
                relevant entities within the Department to prevent, 
                protect against, prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and 
                recover from terrorist attacks and other high 
                consequence events utilizing chemical, biological, 
                radiological, or nuclear agents or explosives that pose 
                a high risk to homeland security; and
                    ``(B) the Department's activities in accordance 
                with relevant intelligence strategies.
            ``(2) Assessment of implementation.--Each report required 
        under paragraph (1) shall also include--
                    ``(A) a description of methods established to 
                assess progress of the Office of Intelligence and 
                Analysis in implementing this section; and
                    ``(B) such assessment of such progress.
    ``(d) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Intelligence community.--The term `intelligence 
        community' has the meaning given such term in section 3(4) of 
        the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)).
            ``(2) National biosecurity and biodefense stakeholders.--
        The term `national biosecurity and biodefense stakeholders' 
        means officials from Federal, State, local, tribal, and 
        territorial authorities and individuals from the private sector 
        who are involved in efforts to prevent, protect against, 
        prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from a 
        biological attack or other phenomena that may have serious 
        health consequences for the United States, including infectious 
        disease outbreaks.''.
    (b) Efficiencies Review.--Not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting 
through the Assistant Secretary for the Chemical, Biological, 
Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office of the Department of 
Homeland Security (established pursuant to section 2201 of the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a) of this section), 
shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate a report that--
            (1) reviews the functions and responsibilities of the 
        Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives 
        Defense Office of the Department (established pursuant to 
        section 2201 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added by 
        subsection (a) of this section) to identify and eliminate areas 
        of unnecessary duplication;
            (2) provides a detailed accounting of the management and 
        administrative expenditures and activities of the Office and 
        identifies any potential cost savings and efficiencies for such 
        expenditures and activities of each sub-office; and
            (3) makes recommendations for adjustments in the management 
        and administration of the Office to improve operational impact 
        and enhance efficiencies.
    (c) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives 
Research and Development.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
        assess the organizational structure of the management and 
        execution of the Department of Homeland Security's chemical, 
        biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives research and 
        development activities, and shall develop and submit to the 
        Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the Senate at the time the 
        President submits the budget for fiscal year 2020 under section 
        1105 of title 31, United States Code, a proposed organizational 
        structure for the management and execution of such chemical, 
        biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives research and 
        development activities.
            (2) Organizational justification.--The Secretary of 
        Homeland Security shall include in the assessment required 
        under paragraph (1) a thorough justification and 
        rationalization for the proposed organizational structure for 
        management and execution of chemical, biological, radiological, 
        nuclear, and explosives research and development activities, 
        including the following:
                    (A) A discussion of the methodology for determining 
                such proposed organizational structure.
                    (B) A comprehensive inventory of chemical, 
                biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives 
                research and development activities of the Department 
                of Homeland Security and where each such activity will 
                be located within or outside such proposed 
                organizational structure.
                    (C) Information relating to how such proposed 
                organizational structure will facilitate and promote 
                coordination and requirements generation with 
                customers.
                    (D) Information relating to how such proposed 
                organizational structure will support the development 
                of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and 
                explosives research and development priorities across 
                the Department.
                    (E) If the chemical, biological, radiological, 
                nuclear, and explosives research and development 
                activities of the Department are not co-located in such 
                proposed organizational structure, a justification for 
                such separation.
                    (F) The strategy for coordination between the Under 
                Secretary for Science and Technology and the Assistant 
                Secretary for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, 
                Nuclear, and Explosives Office on chemical, biological, 
                radiological, nuclear, and explosives research and 
                development activities.
                    (G) Recommendations for necessary statutory 
                changes.
            (3) Limitation on action.--The Secretary of Homeland 
        Security may not take any action to reorganize the structure 
        referred to in paragraph (1) unless the Secretary receives 
        prior authorization from the Committee on Homeland Security of 
        the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 
        Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate permitting any 
        such action.
    (d) Concurrent Government Accountability Office Review of Chemical, 
Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Research and 
Development Activities.--
            (1) In general.--The Comptroller General of the United 
        States shall conduct a review of the Department of Homeland 
        Security's management and execution of chemical, biological, 
        radiological, nuclear, and explosives research and development 
        activities.
            (2) Scope.--The review required under paragraph (1) shall 
        include the following:
                    (A) An assessment of the management and execution 
                of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and 
                explosives research and development activities of the 
                Department of Homeland Security, including 
                identification of any overlap or duplication of effort.
                    (B) Recommendations to streamline and improve the 
                Department's management and execution of chemical, 
                biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives 
                research and development activities.
            (3) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to 
        the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
        Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report on the review 
        required under this subsection.
    (e) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--The Homeland Security Act 
of 2002 is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2) of section 103(a) (6 U.S.C. 113(a)), 
        by striking ``Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs, the 
        Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, or the Assistant 
        Secretary for Public Affairs,'' and inserting ``Assistant 
        Secretary for Legislative Affairs or the Assistant Secretary 
        for Public Affairs,'';
            (2) in section 302 (6 U.S.C. 182)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (13) and (14) as 
                paragraphs (14) and (15), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (12) the following 
                new paragraph:
            ``(13) collaborating with the Assistant Secretary for the 
        Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives 
        Office on all activities related to chemical, biological, and 
        explosives research and development activities;'';
            (3) in subsection (b) of section 307 (6 U.S.C. 187), by 
        adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(8) CBRNE research and development.--The Director shall 
        coordinate with the Assistant Secretary for the Chemical, 
        Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office on all 
        activities related to chemical, biological, and explosives 
        research and development activities.'';
            (4) in subsection (c) of section 516 (6 U.S.C. 321e)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                inserting ``, including the health impacts of chemical, 
                biological, radiological, and nuclear agents and 
                explosives'' after ``disasters'';
                    (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
            ``(2) coordinating the Department's policy, strategy, and 
        preparedness for pandemics and emerging infectious diseases;''; 
        and
                    (C) in paragraph (6) of section 516(c) (6 U.S.C. 
                321e(c)), by striking ``Under Secretary for Science and 
                Technology'' and inserting ``Assistant Secretary for 
                the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and 
                Explosives Office'';
            (5) by repealing section 1903 (6 U.S.C. 593); and
            (6) in section 1907 (6 U.S.C. 596a)--
                    (A) by striking ``Annual'' each place it appears 
                and inserting ``Biennial'';
                    (B) by striking ``each year'' each place it appears 
                and inserting ``every two years'';
                    (C) by striking ``previous year'' each place it 
                appears and inserting ``previous two years''; and
                    (D) in subsection (b)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``odd-
                        numbered'' after ``each''; and
                            (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking 
                        ``annual'' and inserting ``biennial''.

SEC. 3. SAVINGS PROVISION.

    Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall change 
the authority of the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency to lead the emergency management system of the United States.

SEC. 4. CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.

    The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act 
of 2002 is amended by adding at the end the following:

    ``TITLE XXII--CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NUCLEAR, AND 
                           EXPLOSIVES OFFICE

``Sec. 2201. CBRNE Office.
``Sec. 2202. Composition of the CBRNE Office.
``Sec. 2203. Hiring authority.
``Sec. 2204. Grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions and 
                            contracts.
``Sec. 2205. Terrorism risk assessments.
``Sec. 2206. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and 
                            explosives intelligence and information 
                            sharing.''.
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