H.R. 3875 — what changed

removed This Act may be cited as the “Department of Homeland Security CBRNE Defense Act of 2015”.

changed “XXII Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives CBRNE Office

changed “2201. CBRNE “A Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office

changed “(a) Establishment—There is established in the Department a “2201. Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office (referred to in this title as the “CBRNE Office”).Office

added “(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”). The CBRNE Office shall be comprised of the Chemical Division, the Biological Division, the Nuclear Division, and the Explosives Division. The CBRNE Office may include a Health Division.

“(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.

added “(e) Other officers—The Director of the Chemical Division, the Director of the Biological Division, the Director of the Nuclear Division, and the Director of the Explosives Division shall report directly to the Assistant Secretary.

removed “(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.

“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.

added “(2) The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office authorized under title XIX, as in existence on the date before the date of the enactment of this title (and redesignated as the Nuclear Division).

removed “(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.

added “(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.

removed “(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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

added “2206. CBRNE communications and public messaging

added “(a) In general—The Secretary, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary, shall develop an overarching risk communication strategy for 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 shall—

added “(1) develop threat-specific risk communication plans, in coordination with appropriate Federal departments and agencies;

added “(2) develop risk communication messages, including pre-scripted messaging to the extent practicable;

added “(3) develop clearly defined interagency processes and protocols to assure coordinated risk and incident communications and information sharing during incident response;

added “(4) engage private and nongovernmental entities in communications planning, as appropriate;

added “(5) identify ways to educate and engage the public about CBRNE threats and consequences;

added “(6) develop strategies for communicating using social and new media; and

added “(7) provide guidance on risk and incident communications for CBRNE events to State, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and other stakeholders, as appropriate.

added “(b) Communication during response—The Secretary shall provide appropriate timely, accurate information to the public, governmental partners, the private sector, and other appropriate stakeholders in the event of a suspected or confirmed terrorist attack or other high consequence event utilizing chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agents or explosives that pose a high risk to homeland security.

added “(c) Reports

added “(1) Development efforts—Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this title, 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 current and future efforts of the Department to develop the communication strategy required under subsection (a).

added “(2) Finalization—Not later than two years after the date the report required under paragraph (1) is submitted, 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 the communication strategy required under subsection (a).

added “2207. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives intelligence and information sharing

removed “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.”

added “(13) collaborating with the Assistant Secretary for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office on all chemical, biological, and explosives research and development activities;”

removed “(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;”

added “(8) CBRNE defense—The Director shall coordinate with the Assistant Secretary for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office on all chemical, biological, and explosives research and development activities.”

removed “(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.”

“(2) coordinating the Department’s policy, strategy, and preparedness for pandemics and emerging infectious diseases;”

added “B Chemical Division

added “2211. Chemical Division

added “(a) Establishment—There is established in the CBRNE Office a Chemical Division, headed by a Director of the Chemical Division (in this subtitle referred to as the “Director”).

added “(b) Mission and responsibilities—The Director shall be responsible for coordinating departmental strategy and policy relating to terrorist attacks and other high-consequence events utilizing chemical agents that pose a high risk to homeland security, including the following:

added “(1) Developing and maintaining the Department’s strategy against chemical threats.

added “(2) Serving as the Department representative for chemical threats and related activities with other Federal departments and agencies.

added “(3) Providing oversight of the Department’s preparedness, including operational requirements, for chemical threats.

added “(4) Enhancing the capabilities of Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and private entities as appropriate, against chemical threats.

added “(5) Evaluating and providing guidance to Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and private entities as appropriate, on detection and communication technology that could be effective in terrorist attacks and other high-consequence events utilizing chemical agents.

added “(6) Supporting and enhancing the effective sharing and use of appropriate information generated 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))), law enforcement agencies, other Federal, State, local tribal, and territorial governments, and foreign governments, on chemical threats.

added “2212. Demonstration projects

added “(a) In general—The Director may, subject to the availability of appropriations for such purpose, partner with high-risk urban areas or facilities to conduct demonstration projects to enhance, through Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and private entities, capabilities of the United States to counter terrorist attacks and other high-consequence events utilizing chemical agents that pose a high risk to homeland security.

added “(b) Goals—The Director may provide guidance and evaluations for all situations and venues at risk of terrorist attacks and other high-consequence events utilizing chemical agents, such as at ports, areas of mass gathering, and transit facilities, and may—

added “(1) ensure all high-risk situations and venues are studied; and

added “(2) ensure key findings and best practices are made available to State, local, tribal, and territorial governments and the private sector.

added “(c) Congressional notification—The Director shall notify 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 before initiating a new demonstration project.”

removed 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.

changed The table of contents in section 1(b) Title XXII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 2002, as added by section 2 of this Act and as amended by section 3 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following:following new subtitle:

added “C Biological Division

added “2221. Biological Division

added “(a) Establishment—There is established in the CBRNE Office a Biological Division, headed by a Director of the Biological Division (in this subtitle referred to as the “Director”).

added “(b) Mission and responsibilities—The Office shall be responsible for coordinating departmental strategy and policy relating to terrorist attacks and other high-consequence events utilizing biological agents that pose a high risk to homeland security, including the following:

added “(1) Developing and maintaining the Department’s strategy against biological threats.

added “(2) Serving as the Department representative for biological threats and related activities with other Federal departments and agencies.

added “(3) Providing oversight for the Department’s preparedness, including operational requirements, for biological threats.

added “(4) Enhancing the capabilities of Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and private entities as appropriate, against biological threats.

added “(5) Supporting and enhancing the effective sharing and use of appropriate information generated 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))), law enforcement agencies, other Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and foreign governments, on biological threats.

added “(6) Achieving a biological detection program.

added “(7) Maintaining the National Biosurveillance Integration Center, authorized under section 316.”