Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 2022”.
Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 2022
A BILL
To enhance security at United States diplomatic facilities, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress makes the following findings:
The Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 (title VI of division A of appendix G of Public Law 106–113) was a necessary response to bombings on August 7, 1998, at the United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that were destroyed by simultaneously exploding bombs. The resulting explosions killed 220 persons and injured more than 4,000 others. Twelve Americans and 40 Kenyan and Tanzanian employees of the United States Foreign Service were killed in the attacks.
Those bombings, followed by the expeditionary diplomatic efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrated the need to prioritize the security of United States posts and personnel abroad above other considerations.
Between 1999 and 2022, the risk calculus of the Department of State has swung too far toward the elimination of risk, leading to a marked decrease in the ability of United States diplomats around the world to advance the interests of the United States through access to local populations, leaders, and places.
America’s competitors and adversaries do not have the same restrictions that United States diplomats have, especially in critically important medium-threat and high-threat posts.
The Department of State’s 2021 Overseas Security Panel report states that—
the requirement for setback and collocation of diplomatic posts under paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 606(a) of the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 has led to sky-rocketing costs of new embassies and consulates; and
the locations of such posts have become less desirable, creating an extremely suboptimal nexus that further hinders United States diplomats who are willing to accept more risk in order to advance United States interests.
Sec. 3 Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that—
the setback and collocation requirements referred to in section 2(5)(A), even with available waivers, no longer provide the security such requirements used to provide because of advancement in technologies, such as remote controlled drones, that can evade walls and other such static barriers;
the Department of State should focus on creating performance security standards that—
attempt to keep the setback requirements of diplomatic posts as limited as possible; and
provide diplomats access to local populations as much as possible, while still providing a necessary level of security;
collocation of diplomatic facilities is often not feasible or advisable, particularly for public diplomacy spaces in countries with repressive governments, since such spaces are required to permit the foreign public to enter and exit the space easily and openly;
the Bureau of Diplomatic Security should—
fully utilize the waiver process provided under paragraphs (2)(B) and (3)(B) of section 606(a) of the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999; and
appropriately exercise such waiver process as a tool to right-size the appropriate security footing at each diplomatic post rather than only approving waivers in extreme circumstances;
the return of great power competition requires—
United States diplomats to do all they can to outperform our adversaries; and
the Department of State to better utilize taxpayer funding to advance United States national interests; and
this Act will rebalance the Department of State’s risk and provide United States diplomats the tools they need to compete in the 21st century, while saving United States taxpayers potentially billions of dollars in reduced property and maintenance costs at embassies and consulates abroad.
Sec. 4 Definition of United States diplomatic facility
Section 603 of the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 (title VI of division A of appendix G of Public Law 106–113) is amended to read as follows:
“603. United States diplomatic facility defined
“In this title, the terms United States diplomatic facility and diplomatic facility—
“(1) mean any chancery, consulate, or other office considered diplomatic or consular premises, consistent with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, done at Vienna April 18, 1961, and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, done at Vienna April 24, 1963, or otherwise subject to a publicly available bilateral agreement with the host government (contained in the records of the United States Department of State) that recognizes the official status of the United States Government personnel present at the facility; and
“(2) do not include—
“(A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance facilities, as established pursuant to section 629 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1629) and section 103(a)(7) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1103(a)(7)) and Open Source Centers;
“(B) contractor-owned facilities; and
“(C) facilities at which United States Government personnel will be present not more than 60 consecutive days and where the Secretary determines that operational conditions, security considerations, and mission goals support exclusion.”
Sec. 5 Security requirements for United States diplomatic facilities
Section 606(a) of the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 (title VI of division A of appendix G of Public Law 106–113) is amended—
in paragraph (1)(A), by striking “the threat” and inserting “a range of threats, including that”;
in paragraph (2)—
in subparagraph (A)—
by striking “abroad” and inserting “in a high risk, high threat post”; and
by inserting “and Voice of America correspondents on official assignment” after “military commander”; and
in subparagraph (B)—
in clause (i), by inserting “if applicable,” after “at the site,”;
in clause (ii)—
in subclause (I), by inserting “at a post designated as high risk, high threat under section 104 of the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 (22 U.S.C. 4803)” before the period at the end; and
in subclause (II), by inserting “at a post designated as high risk, high threat under such section 104” after “consulate building”; and
in clause (iii), by striking “waivers” and inserting “instances of split operations in which United States diplomatic facilities are not colocated”; and
in paragraph (3)—
by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows:
“(A) Requirement
“(i) In general—Each newly acquired United States diplomatic facility shall be constructed or modified to meet the measured building blast performance standard applicable to a facility sited not less than 100 feet from the perimeter.
“(ii) Leased facilities—If the Department of State is required to commence or restart diplomatic operations in a country or city without a previously constructed diplomatic facility and there is insufficient time to construct a facility before such commencement, the Secretary of State—
“(I) shall make every effort to lease an existing facility with the maximum setback and security features that can be reasonably expected; and
“(II) shall submit a setback waiver, with a period of 1 year after leased occupancy to process the setback waiver.”
in subparagraph (B)(ii)—
in subclause (I), by inserting “at a post designated as high risk, high threat under section 104 of the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 (22 U.S.C. 4803)” before the period at the end;
in subclause (II), by inserting “at a post designated as high risk, high threat under such section 104” after “consulate building”; and
in subclause (III), by striking “an annual” and inserting “a quarterly”.