The Global Pandemic NIE Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7225 To direct the Director of National Intelligence to produce a National Intel- ligence Estimate on the threat of global pandemic disease, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 15, 2020 Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. HIMES, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. WELCH, Mr. HECK, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Ms. SPEIER, and Mrs. DEMINGS) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Director of National Intelligence to produce a National Intelligence Estimate on the threat of global pandemic disease, 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 ‘‘The Global Pandemic 4 NIE Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7225 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE ON THREAT 1 OF GLOBAL PANDEMIC DISEASE. 2 (a) NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE.— 3 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Director of National 4 Intelligence, acting through the National Intelligence 5 Council, shall produce a National Intelligence Esti- 6 mate on the threat of global pandemic disease, in- 7 cluding with respect to the following: 8 (A) An assessment of the possible courses 9 of the COVID–19 pandemic during the 18 10 months following the date of the Estimate, in- 11 cluding— 12 (i) the projected spread of the 2019 13 novel coronavirus outside the United 14 States and the likelihood of a potential sec- 15 ond wave of the virus; 16 (ii) the capacity of countries and 17 international organizations to combat the 18 further spread of the virus, including risks 19 and opportunities for further global co- 20 operation; and 21 (iii) the risks to the national security 22 and health security of the United States if 23 the disease is not contained abroad. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7225 IH (B) An assessment of the global public 1 health system and the responses of the system 2 to the COVID–19 pandemic, including— 3 (i) prospects for an effective global 4 disease surveillance and response system, 5 opportunities to advance the development 6 of such a system, and signposts for evalu- 7 ating whether or not an effective system 8 has been developed before a disease out- 9 break occurs; and 10 (ii) an assessment of health system 11 capacity. 12 (C) An assessment of— 13 (i) the humanitarian and economic 14 implications of the COVID–19 pandemic; 15 and 16 (ii) the consequences of the pandemic 17 with respect to political stability, armed 18 conflict, democratization, and the global 19 leadership by the United States of the 20 post-World War II international system. 21 (D) An assessment of— 22 (i) likely threats by viruses during the 23 10-year period following the date of the 24 Estimate; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7225 IH (ii) global readiness to avert a future 1 global pandemic; 2 (iii) challenges and opportunities for 3 the policy of the United States to advance 4 global pandemic preparedness; and 5 (iv) the potential role of non-state and 6 state-backed global influence activities or 7 disinformation campaigns involving 8 COVID–19 or future potential pandemics. 9 (E) Any other matters the Director deter- 10 mines appropriate. 11 (2) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.— 12 (A) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 90 days 13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 14 Director shall submit to the Permanent Select 15 Committee on Intelligence of the House of Rep- 16 resentatives and the Select Committee on Intel- 17 ligence of the Senate the National Intelligence 18 Estimate produced under paragraph (1), includ- 19 ing all intelligence reporting underlying the Es- 20 timate. 21 (B) NOTICE REGARDING SUBMISSION.—If 22 before the end of the 90-day period specified in 23 subparagraph (A) the Director determines that 24 the National Intelligence Estimate under para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7225 IH graph (1) cannot be submitted by the end of 1 that period, the Director shall (before the end 2 of that period)— 3 (i) submit to the Permanent Select 4 Committee on Intelligence of the House of 5 Representatives and the Select Committee 6 on Intelligence of the Senate a report set- 7 ting forth— 8 (I) the reasons why the National 9 Intelligence Estimate cannot be sub- 10 mitted by the end of that period; and 11 (II) an estimated date for the 12 submission of the National Intel- 13 ligence Estimate; and 14 (ii) testify before such committees on 15 the issues that will be covered by the Na- 16 tional Intelligence Estimate. 17 (C) FORM.—The National Intelligence Es- 18 timate shall be submitted under subparagraph 19 (A) in classified form. 20 (3) PUBLIC VERSION.—Consistent with the pro- 21 tection of intelligence sources and methods, at the 22 same time as the Director submits to the congres- 23 sional intelligence committees the National Intel- 24 ligence Estimate under paragraph (2), the Director 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7225 IH shall submit to the congressional committees speci- 1 fied in paragraph (4), and make publicly available 2 on the internet website of the Director, an unclassi- 3 fied version of the National Intelligence Estimate. 4 (4) CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES SPECI- 5 FIED.—The congressional committees specified in 6 this paragraph are the following: 7 (A) The Committee on Appropriations, the 8 Committee on Armed Services, the Committee 9 on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on 10 Financial Services, the Committee on Foreign 11 Affairs, the Committee on Homeland Security, 12 and the Permanent Select Committee on Intel- 13 ligence of the House of Representatives. 14 (B) The Committee on Appropriations, the 15 Committee on Armed Services, the Committee 16 on Finance, the Committee on Foreign Rela- 17 tions, the Committee on Health, Education, 18 Labor, and Pensions, the Committee on Home- 19 land Security and Governmental Affairs, and 20 the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 21 Senate. 22 (5) CONSULTATION.—The Director shall pre- 23 pare the National Intelligence Estimate under para- 24 graph (1) in consultation with the Secretary of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7225 IH Health and Human Services, the Director of the 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and any 2 other head of an element of the Federal Government 3 the Director of National Intelligence determines ap- 4 propriate. 5 (b) FUTURE PANDEMIC PLAN.— 6 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 90 days 7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 8 President shall transmit to the congressional com- 9 mittees specified in paragraph (3), and make pub- 10 licly available on the internet website of the Presi- 11 dent, a report containing a whole-of-government 12 plan for an effective response to a potential second 13 wave of the COVID–19 pandemic and for other fu- 14 ture pandemic diseases. 15 (2) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The plan under 16 paragraph (1) shall address how to improve the fol- 17 lowing: 18 (A) Pandemic planning. 19 (B) Homeland preparedness. 20 (C) International disease surveillance. 21 (D) Testing. 22 (E) Contact tracing. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7225 IH (F) The role of the Federal Government 1 with respect to the regulation, acquisition, and 2 disbursement of essential equipment. 3 (G) The provision of personal protective 4 equipment. 5 (H) Early domestic response to future 6 pandemic diseases in the United States. 7 (3) CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES SPECI- 8 FIED.—The congressional committees specified in 9 this paragraph are the following: 10 (A) The Committee on Appropriations, the 11 Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Com- 12 mittee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on 13 Homeland Security, and the Permanent Select 14 Committee on Intelligence of the House of Rep- 15 resentatives. 16 (B) The Committee on Appropriations, the 17 Committee on Foreign Relations, the Com- 18 mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen- 19 sions, the Committee on Homeland Security 20 and Governmental Affairs, and the Select Com- 21 mittee on Intelligence of the Senate. 22 (c) GLOBAL STRATEGY.— 23 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 90 days 24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7225 IH President, in coordination with the Director of Na- 1 tional Intelligence, shall transmit to the congres- 2 sional committees specified in paragraph (2), and 3 make publicly available on the internet website of 4 the President, a report containing a global strategy 5 for mobilizing international institutions to combat 6 the COVID–19 pandemic. 7 (2) CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES SPECI- 8 FIED.—The congressional committees specified in 9 this paragraph are the following: 10 (A) The Committee on Appropriations, the 11 Committee on Armed Services, the Committee 12 on Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Select 13 Committee on Intelligence of the House of Rep- 14 resentatives. 15 (B) The Committee on Appropriations, the 16 Committee on Armed Services, the Committee 17 on Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee 18 on Intelligence of the Senate. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7225.IH H7225 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS