[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
[January 30, 2004]
[Pages 173-177]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-9--Defense of United 
States Agriculture and Food
January 30, 2004

Subject: Defense of United States Agriculture and Food

Purpose

    (1) This directive establishes a national policy to defend the 
agriculture and food system against terrorist attacks, major disasters, 
and other emergencies.

Background

    (2) The United States agriculture and food systems are vulnerable to 
disease, pest, or poisonous agents that occur naturally, are 
unintentionally introduced, or are intentionally delivered by acts of 
terrorism. America's agriculture and food system is an extensive, open, 
interconnected, diverse, and complex structure providing potential 
targets for terrorist attacks. We should provide the best protection 
possible against a successful attack on the United States agriculture 
and food system, which could have catastrophic health and economic 
effects.

Definitions

    (3) In this directive:
       (a)   The term ``critical infrastructure'' has the meaning given 
            to that term in section 1016(e) of the USA PATRIOT Act of 
            2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
       (b)   The term ``key resources'' has the meaning given that term 
            in section 2(9) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
            U.S.C. 101(9)).
       (c)   The term ``Federal departments and agencies'' means those 
            executive departments enumerated in 5 U.S.C. 101, and the 
            Department of Homeland Security; independent establishments 
            as defined by 5 U.S.C. 104(1); Government corporations as 
            defined by 5 U.S.C. 103(1); and the United States Postal 
            Service.
       (d)   The terms ``State,'' and ``local government,'' when used in 
            a geographical sense, have the same meanings given to those 
            terms in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
            U.S.C. 101).
       (e)   The term ``Sector-Specific Agency'' means a Federal 
            department or agency responsible for infrastructure 
            protection activities in a designated critical 
            infrastructure sector or key resources category.

Policy

    (4) It is the policy of the United States to protect the agriculture 
and food system from terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other 
emergencies by:
       (a)   identifying and prioritizing sector-critical infrastructure 
            and key resources for establishing protection requirements;
       (b)   developing awareness and early warning capabilities to 
            recognize threats;
       (c)   mitigating vulnerabilities at critical production and 
            processing nodes;
       (d)   enhancing screening procedures for domestic and imported 
            products; and
       (e)   enhancing response and recovery procedures.
    (5) In implementing this directive, Federal departments and agencies 
will ensure

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that homeland security programs do not diminish the overall economic 
security of the United States.

Roles and Responsibilities

    (6) As established in Homeland Security Presidential Directive-7 
(HSPD-7), the Secretary of Homeland Security is responsible for 
coordinating the overall national effort to enhance the protection of 
the critical infrastructure and key resources of the United States. The 
Secretary of Homeland Security shall serve as the principal Federal 
official to lead, integrate, and coordinate implementation of efforts 
among Federal departments and agencies, State and local governments, and 
the private sector to protect critical infrastructure and key resources. 
This directive shall be implemented in a manner consistent with HSPD-7.
    (7) The Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and 
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency will perform 
their responsibilities as Sector-Specific Agencies as delineated in 
HSPD-7.

Awareness and Warning

    (8) The Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Health and Human 
Services, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and 
the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies shall 
build upon and expand current monitoring and surveillance programs to:
       (a)   develop robust, comprehensive, and fully coordinated 
            surveillance and monitoring systems, including international 
            information, for animal disease, plant disease, wildlife 
            disease, food, public health, and water quality that 
            provides early detection and awareness of disease, pest, or 
            poisonous agents;
       (b)   develop systems that, as appropriate, track specific 
            animals and plants, as well as specific commodities and 
            food; and
       (c)   develop nationwide laboratory networks for food, 
            veterinary, plant health, and water quality that integrate 
            existing Federal and State laboratory resources, are 
            interconnected, and utilize standardized diagnostic 
            protocols and procedures.
    (9) The Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and 
the Director of Central Intelligence, in coordination with the 
Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall develop and 
enhance intelligence operations and analysis capabilities focusing on 
the agriculture, food, and water sectors. These intelligence 
capabilities will include collection and analysis of information 
concerning threats, delivery systems, and methods that could be directed 
against these sectors.
    (10) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall coordinate with the 
Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the heads of 
other appropriate Federal departments and agencies to create a new 
biological threat awareness capacity that will enhance detection and 
characterization of an attack. This new capacity will build upon the 
improved and upgraded surveillance systems described in paragraph 8 and 
integrate and analyze domestic and international surveillance and 
monitoring data collected from human health, animal health, plant 
health, food, and water quality systems. The Secretary of Homeland 
Security will submit a report to me through the Homeland Security 
Council within 90 days of the date of this directive on specific options 
for establishing this capability, including recommendations for its 
organizational location and structure.

Vulnerability Assessments

    (11) The Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and 
Homeland Security shall expand and continue vulnerability assessments of 
the agriculture

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and food sectors. These vulnerability assessments should identify 
requirements of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan developed by 
the Secretary of Homeland Security, as appropriate, and shall be updated 
every 2 years.

Mitigation Strategies

    (12) The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General, 
working with the Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, 
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Director 
of Central Intelligence, and the heads of other appropriate Federal 
departments and agencies shall prioritize, develop, and implement, as 
appropriate, mitigation strategies to protect vulnerable critical nodes 
of production or processing from the introduction of diseases, pests, or 
poisonous agents.
    (13) The Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and 
Homeland Security shall build on existing efforts to expand development 
of common screening and inspection procedures for agriculture and food 
items entering the United States and to maximize effective domestic 
inspection activities for food items within the United States.

Response Planning and Recovery

    (14) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the 
Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, the Attorney 
General, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 
will ensure that the combined Federal, State, and local response 
capabilities are adequate to respond quickly and effectively to a 
terrorist attack, major disease outbreak, or other disaster affecting 
the national agriculture or food infrastructure. These activities will 
be integrated with other national homeland security preparedness 
activities developed under HSPD-8 on National Preparedness.
    (15) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the 
Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, the Attorney 
General, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 
shall develop a coordinated agriculture and food-specific standardized 
response plan that will be integrated into the National Response Plan. 
This plan will ensure a coordinated response to an agriculture or food 
incident and will delineate the appropriate roles of Federal, State, 
local, and private sector partners, and will address risk communication 
for the general public.
    (16) The Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, 
in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall enhance 
recovery systems that are able to stabilize agriculture production, the 
food supply, and the economy, rapidly remove and effectively dispose of 
contaminated agriculture and food products or infected plants and 
animals, and decontaminate premises.
    (17) The Secretary of Agriculture shall study and make 
recommendations to the Homeland Security Council, within 120 days of the 
date of this directive, for the use of existing, and the creation of 
new, financial risk management tools encouraging self-protection for 
agriculture and food enterprises vulnerable to losses due to terrorism.
    18) The Secretary of Agriculture, in coordination with the Secretary 
of Homeland Security, and in consultation with the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, shall work with State and local governments and the private 
sector to develop:
       (a)   A National Veterinary Stockpile (NVS) containing sufficient 
            amounts of animal vaccine, antiviral, or therapeutic 
            products to appropriately respond to

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            the most damaging animal diseases affecting human health and 
            the economy and that will be capable of deployment within 24 
            hours of an outbreak. The NVS shall leverage where 
            appropriate the mechanisms and infrastructure that have been 
            developed for the management, storage, and distribution of 
            the Strategic National Stockpile.
       (b)   A National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS) capable of 
            responding to a high-consequence plant disease with pest 
            control measures and the use of resistant seed varieties 
            within a single growing season to sustain a reasonable level 
            of production for economically important crops. The NPDRS 
            will utilize the genetic resources contained in the U.S. 
            National Plant Germplasm System, as well as the scientific 
            capabilities of the Federal-State-industry agricultural 
            research and extension system. The NPDRS shall include 
            emergency planning for the use of resistant seed varieties 
            and pesticide control measures to prevent, slow, or stop the 
            spread of a high-consequence plant disease, such as wheat 
            smut or soybean rust.

Outreach and Professional Development

    (19) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the 
Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and the heads of 
other appropriate Federal departments and agencies, shall work with 
appropriate private sector entities to establish an effective 
information sharing and analysis mechanism for agriculture and food.
    (20) The Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, 
in consultation with the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Education, 
shall support the development of and promote higher education programs 
for the protection of animal, plant, and public health. To the extent 
permitted by law and subject to availability of funds, the program will 
provide capacity building grants to colleges and schools of veterinary 
medicine, public health, and agriculture that design higher education 
training programs for veterinarians in exotic animal diseases, 
epidemiology, and public health as well as new programs in plant 
diagnosis and treatment.
    (21) The Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, 
in consultation with the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Education, 
shall support the development of and promote a higher education program 
to address protection of the food supply. To the extent permitted by law 
and subject to the availability of funds, the program will provide 
capacity-building grants to universities for interdisciplinary degree 
programs that combine training in food sciences, agriculture sciences, 
medicine, veterinary medicine, epidemiology, microbiology, chemistry, 
engineering, and mathematics (statistical modeling) to prepare food 
defense professionals.
    (22) The Secretaries of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and 
Homeland Security shall establish opportunities for professional 
development and specialized training in agriculture and food protection, 
such as internships, fellowships, and other post-graduate opportunities 
that provide for homeland security professional workforce needs.

Research and Development

    (23) The Secretaries of Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Health 
and Human Services, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, and the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and 
agencies, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy, will accelerate and expand development of current and 
new countermeasures against the intentional introduction or natural 
occurrence of catastrophic animal, plant, and zoonotic diseases. The 
Secretary of Homeland Security will coordinate these activities. This 
effort will include

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countermeasure research and development of new methods for detection, 
prevention technologies, agent characterization, and dose response 
relationships for high-consequence agents in the food and the water 
supply.
    (24) The Secretaries of Agriculture and Homeland Security will 
develop a plan to provide safe, secure, and state-of-the-art agriculture 
biocontainment laboratories that research and develop diagnostic 
capabilities for foreign animal and zoonotic diseases.
    (25) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the 
Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, shall 
establish university-based centers of excellence in agriculture and food 
security.

Budget

    (26) For all future budgets, the Secretaries of Agriculture, Health 
and Human Services, and Homeland Security shall submit to the Director 
of the Office of Management and Budget, concurrent with their budget 
submissions, an integrated budget plan for defense of the United States 
food system.

Implementation

    (27) Nothing in this directive alters, or impedes the ability to 
carry out, the authorities of the Federal departments and agencies to 
perform their responsibilities under law and consistent with applicable 
legal authorities and Presidential guidance.
    (28) This directive is intended only to improve the internal 
management of the executive branch of the Federal Government, and it is 
not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive 
or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, against the United 
States, its departments, agencies, or other entities, its officers or 
employees, or any other person.

                                                          George W. Bush

Note: This directive was released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on February 3.