II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 669 To provide for the appropriate balance of empowering diplomats to pursue vital diplomatic goals and mitigating security risks at United States diplomatic posts, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 10, 2021 Mr. MURPHY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To provide for the appropriate balance of empowering dip- lomats to pursue vital diplomatic goals and mitigating security risks at United States diplomatic posts, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expeditionary Diplo- 4 macy Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 669 IS (1) A robust overseas diplomatic presence is the 1 sine qua non of an effective foreign policy, particu- 2 larly in unstable environments where a flexible and 3 timely diplomatic response can be decisive in pre- 4 venting and addressing violent conflict. 5 (2) Diplomats routinely put themselves and 6 their families at great personal risk to serve their 7 country overseas where they increasingly face 8 threats related to international terrorism, violent 9 conflict, and public health, among others. 10 (3) The Department of State has a remarkable 11 record of protecting personnel while enabling an 12 enormous amount of global diplomatic activity, often 13 in insecure and remote places and facing a variety 14 of evolving risks and threats, from terrorism to sonic 15 attacks. With support from Congress, the Depart- 16 ment of State has revised policy, improved physical 17 security through retrofitting and replacing old facili- 18 ties, deployed additional security personnel and ar- 19 mored vehicles, and greatly enhanced training re- 20 quirements and facilities, including the new Foreign 21 Affairs Security Training Center in Blackstone, Vir- 22 ginia. 23 (4) However, there is broad consensus that the 24 pendulum has swung too far toward eliminating risk, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 669 IS excessively inhibiting diplomatic activity; instead of 1 protecting diplomats that authorize calculated risks, 2 human psychology combined with Department of 3 State policy incentivize extending embassy closures, 4 reducing footprints, and postponing or denying trav- 5 el requests. 6 (5) Congress must accept responsibility for its 7 part in perpetuating a risk-averse culture, as its 8 oversight too often promotes the myth that all secu- 9 rity incidents are avoidable and appears more fo- 10 cused on finding scapegoats than improving policy; 11 the Accountability Review Board requirement in the 12 Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.) 13 particularly furthers this perception. 14 (6) The impact of reduced diplomatic engage- 15 ment is both difficult to distill and undeniable; while 16 the cost of an embassy closure or cancelled meeting 17 is hard to measure, diplomatic missions rely on ro- 18 bust staffing and ambitious external engagement to 19 advance United States interests as diverse as fight- 20 ing terrorism and transnational organized crime, 21 preventing and addressing violent conflict and hu- 22 manitarian disasters, promoting United States busi- 23 nesses and trade, protecting the rights of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 669 IS marginalized groups, addressing climate change, and 1 preventing pandemic disease. 2 (7) Despite the fact that Congress currently 3 provides annual appropriations in excess of 4 $1,900,000,000 for embassy security, construction, 5 and maintenance, the Department of State is unable 6 to fully transform this considerable investment into 7 true overseas presence given excessive restrictions 8 that inhibit the ability of diplomats to— 9 (A) meet with foreign leaders to explain, 10 defend, and advance United States priorities; 11 (B) understand and report on foreign po- 12 litical, social, and economic conditions; 13 (C) provide United States citizen services 14 that are often a matter of life and death in in- 15 secure places; and 16 (D) collaborate and, at times, compete 17 with other diplomatic missions. 18 (8) Such restrictions present a clear and 19 present danger to the core interests of the United 20 States and contribute to the larger militarization of 21 our national security, as military and intelligence 22 agencies benefit from fewer security restrictions, 23 greater risk tolerance, and less congressional scru- 24 tiny in the wake of security incidents. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 669 IS (9) Given these stakes, Congress has a respon- 1 sibility to empower, support, and hold the Depart- 2 ment of State accountable for implementing an ag- 3 gressive presence strategy that mitigates potential 4 risks and adequately considers the myriad direct and 5 indirect consequences of a lack of presence. 6 SEC. 3. ENCOURAGING EXPEDITIONARY DIPLOMACY. 7 (a) PURPOSE.—Subsection (b) of section 102 of the 8 Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4801(b)) is amend- 9 ed— 10 (1) by amending paragraph (3) to read as fol- 11 lows: 12 ‘‘(3) to promote strengthened security meas- 13 ures, institutionalize a culture of learning, and, in 14 the case of apparent gross negligence or breach of 15 duty, recommend the Director General of the For- 16 eign Service investigate accountability for United 17 States Government personnel with security-related 18 responsibilities;’’; 19 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as 20 paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and 21 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol- 22 lowing new paragraph: 23 ‘‘(4) to support a culture of risk management, 24 instead of risk avoidance, that enables to Depart- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 669 IS ment of State to pursue its vital goals with full 1 knowledge that it is not desirable nor possible for 2 the Department to avoid all risks;’’. 3 (b) BRIEFINGS ON EMBASSY SECURITY.—Section 4 105(a) of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 5 4804(a)) is amended— 6 (1) by striking ‘‘monthly briefings’’ and insert- 7 ing ‘‘quarterly briefings’’; and 8 (2) in paragraph (1)— 9 (A) by striking ‘‘any plans to open or re- 10 open a high risk, high threat post’’ and insert- 11 ing ‘‘progress towards opening or reopening 12 high risk, high threat posts, the risk to national 13 security of the continued closure and remaining 14 barriers to doing so’’; 15 (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘the 16 type and level of security threats such post 17 could encounter’’ and inserting ‘‘the risk to na- 18 tional security of the post’s continued closure’’; 19 and 20 (C) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘the 21 type and level of security threats such post 22 could encounter, and’’ before ‘‘security 23 ‘tripwires’ ’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 669 IS SEC. 4. REPLACEMENT OF ACCOUNTABILITY REVIEW 1 BOARD WITH SECURITY REVIEW COMMITTEE. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301 of the Diplomatic Se- 3 curity Act (22 U.S.C. 4831) is amended— 4 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AC- 5 COUNTABILITY REVIEW BOARDS’’ and inserting 6 ‘‘SECURITY REVIEW COMMITTEES’’; 7 (2) in subsection (a)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘shall 9 convene an Accountability Review Board (in 10 this title referred to as the ‘Board’). The Sec- 11 retary shall not convene the Board’’ and insert- 12 ing ‘‘shall convene the Security Review Com- 13 mittee (in this title referred to as the ‘SRC’). 14 The Secretary shall not convene the SRC’’; 15 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Board’’ 16 and inserting ‘‘SRC’’; and 17 (C) in paragraph (3)(A)— 18 (i) in the subparagraph heading, by 19 striking ‘‘BOARD’’ and inserting ‘‘SRCS’’; 20 and 21 (ii) by striking ‘‘Board’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘SRC’’; 23 (3) in subsection (b)— 24 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 25 ‘‘BOARDS’’ and inserting ‘‘SRCS’’; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:48 Apr 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 669 IS (B) by striking ‘‘Board’’ each place it ap- 1 pears and inserting ‘‘SRC’’; and 2 (4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘Board’’ each 3 place it appears and inserting ‘‘SRC’’. 4 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Section 302 of the Diplomatic 5 Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4832) is amended— 6 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AC- 7 COUNTABILITY REVIEW BOARD’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘SECURITY REVIEW COMMITTEE’’; 9 (2) in subsection (a)— 10 (A) by striking ‘‘MEMBERSHIP.—’’ and all 11 that follows through ‘‘Chairperson of the 12 Board. Members of the Board’’ and inserting 13 the following: ‘‘MEMBERSHIP.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall deter- 15 mine the composition of the SRC and designate a 16 Chairperson. Members of the SRC’’; 17 (B) by striking ‘‘vested in the Board. 18 Members of the Board’’ and inserting ‘‘vested 19 in the SRC. Members of the SRC’’; and 20 (C) by adding at the end the following new 21 paragraph: 22 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of State 23 shall promulgate regulations defining the member- 24 ship and operating procedures for the SRC and pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 669 IS vide to the Chairmen and ranking members of the 1 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 2 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 3 Representatives, in writing, a description of how the 4 SRC will be structured with respect to any other 5 standing committees.’’; and 6 (3) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘Board’’ each 7 place it appears and inserting ‘‘SRC’’. 8 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 9 Section 303 of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 10 4833) is amended— 11 (1) by striking ‘‘Board’’ each place it appears 12 and inserting ‘‘SRC’’; and 13 (2) in the subsection heading for subsection (d), 14 by striking ‘‘BOARDS’’ and inserting ‘‘SRCS’’. 15 SEC. 5. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF SECURITY 16 REVIEW COMMITTEE. 17 Section 304 of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 18 U.S.C. 4834) is amended— 19 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘A 20 BOARD’’ and inserting ‘‘THE SECURITY REVIEW 21 COMMITTEE’’; 22 (2) by striking ‘‘A Board’’ both places it ap- 23 pears and inserting ‘‘The Security Review Com- 24 mittee’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 669 IS (3) by striking ‘‘Board’’ each place it appears 1 and inserting ‘‘Security Review Committee’’; 2 (4) in subsection (a)— 3 (A) in paragraph (2), by inserting after 4 ‘‘were adequate’’ the following: ‘‘, in the context 5 of the inherent security risks, mitigation efforts, 6 and what was known at the time of the incident 7 in question, including— 8 ‘‘(A) if the attack was against a diplomatic 9 compound, motorcade, residence, or other mis- 10 sion facility, whether the security systems, secu- 11 rity countermeasures, and security procedures 12 operated as intended, and whether such systems 13 worked to materially mitigate the attack or 14 were found to be inadequate to mitigate the 15 threat and attack; 16 ‘‘(B) if the attack was on any personnel 17 conducting an approved operation outside the 18 mission, if a valid process was followed in evalu- 19 ating the requested operation and weighing the 20 risk and diplomatic value of the operation; and 21 ‘‘(C) if gross negligence or serious breach 22 of duty by an individual described in section 23 303(a)(1)(B) may have been a factor.’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 669 IS (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 1 and inserting a semicolon; 2 (C) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 3 paragraph (6); and 4 (D) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 5 following new paragraph: 6 ‘‘(5) the diplomatic value of operations or phys- 7 ical presence relating to the incident in question, in- 8 cluding a counterfactual for the impact of not under- 9 taking the type of operation or physical presence re- 10 lated to the incident; and’’; 11 (5) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘and to pro- 12 mote a culture of risk management, rather than risk 13 avoidance for valuable diplomatic activity’’ after 14 ‘‘has reviewed’’; 15 (6) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol- 16 lows: 17 ‘‘(c) PERSONNEL RECOMMENDATIONS.—If the SRC 18 suspects that an individual described in section 19 303(a)(1)(B) has engaged in gross negligence or serious 20 breach of duty, and such misconduct has significantly con- 21 tributed to the serious injury, loss of life, or significant 22 destruction of property, or the serious breach of security 23 that is the subject of the SRC’s examination as described 24 in subsection (a), the SRC shall report to the Director 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 669 IS General of the Foreign Service for any appropriate ac- 1 tion.’’; and 2 (7) in subsection (d)— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘REPORTS.—’’ and all that 4 follows through ‘‘(1) PROGRAM RECOMMENDA- 5 TIONS.—In any case’’ and inserting ‘‘RE- 6 PORTS.—In any case’’; 7 (B) by striking ‘‘Congress’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘Chairmen and ranking members of the Com- 9 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 10 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 11 of Representatives’’; and 12 (C) by striking paragraph (2). 13 SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 14 Not later than 150 days after the date of the enact- 15 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall provide a 16 report and oral briefing to the Chairmen and ranking 17 members of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 18 Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]