[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8045 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8045

  To require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a threat 
     assessment on the potential homeland security vulnerabilities 
    associated with genome modification and editing, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 14, 2020

 Mr. Joyce of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. Trone) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a threat 
     assessment on the potential homeland security vulnerabilities 
    associated with genome modification and editing, 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 ``Genome Editing Threat Assessment 
Act''.

SEC. 2. GENOME EDITING THREAT ASSESSMENT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary for the Countering 
Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of the Department of Homeland 
Security, in coordination with the Under Secretary for Intelligence and 
Analysis of the Department, the Under Secretary for the Science and 
Technology Directorate of the Department, and other Federal partners, 
as appropriate, shall develop a threat assessment on the potential 
homeland security vulnerabilities associated with genome modification 
and editing. Such threat assessment shall include information relating 
to the following:
            (1) The dual-use of emerging biotechnology.
            (2) The ability of gene editing to maliciously proliferate 
        infectious diseases and pandemics on human, animal, and plant 
        populations.
            (3) The cybersecurity vulnerabilities in computer systems 
        analyzing genomic data.
            (4) Privacy concerns associated with analyzing genomic 
        data.
    (b) Recommendations.--Upon completion of the threat assessment 
required under subsection (a), the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
make a determination if any changes to future operations of the 
Department of Homeland Security are required to address security 
vulnerabilities identified in such assessment.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the completion of the 
threat assessment required under subsection (a), the Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall, consistent with the protection of classified 
information, report to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate on the findings of such threat 
assessment, any identified recommendations, plans for incorporating 
such recommendations into future operations of the Department of 
Homeland Security, and any proposed legislative changes informed by 
such threat assessment.
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