Higher Education Research Protection Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8164 To establish a Higher Education Initiative in the Office of Private Sector of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 Mr. BARR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To establish a Higher Education Initiative in the Office of Private Sector of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 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 ‘‘Higher Education Re- 4 search Protection Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION INITIA- 6 TIVE. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 28, United 8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 9 lowing: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Sep 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8164.IH H8164 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8164 IH ‘‘§ 540D. Higher Education Initiative 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 2 Office of Private Sector of the Intelligence Branch of the 3 Federal Bureau of Investigation a Higher Education Ini- 4 tiative, which shall be headed by the Assistant Director 5 of the Office of Private Sector (in this Act referred to as 6 ‘the Assistant Director’). 7 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.— 8 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DUTIES.—The As- 9 sistant Director shall investigate and report to the 10 Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation any 11 suspected incidents of individuals participating in 12 federally funded research as agents of a foreign gov- 13 ernment in institutions of higher education and Na- 14 tional Academies. 15 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR DUTIES.—The Director of the 16 Federal Bureau of Investigation shall instruct Fed- 17 eral Bureau of Investigation field offices to conduct 18 proactive outreach to institutions of higher education 19 and National Academies within the office’s area of 20 responsibility. 21 ‘‘(c) FOREIGN TRADE STATISTICAL PROGRAM AC- 22 CESS.—For the purpose of carrying out the duties de- 23 scribed in subsection (b), the Federal Bureau of Investiga- 24 tion shall have full access to any information collected by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Sep 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8164.IH H8164 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8164 IH the Foreign Trade Statistical Program of the Bureau of 1 the Census. 2 ‘‘(d) HIRING.—The Attorney General, acting through 3 the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall 4 hire 56 investigative agents to carry out this section. 5 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—In this section: 6 ‘‘(1) FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘for- 7 eign government’ includes the People’s Republic of 8 China or any component thereof, including the Chi- 9 nese Communist Party, the Central Committee of 10 the Communist Party of China, the Central Military 11 Commission of China, the Chinese People’s Political 12 Consultative Conference, the National People’s Con- 13 gress of China, or the State Council of China. 14 ‘‘(2) HIGHER EDUCATION.—The term ‘institu- 15 tion of higher education’ has the meaning given the 16 term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act 17 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 18 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘Na- 19 tional Academies’ means the National Academies of 20 Science, Engineering, and Medicine.’’. 21 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 22 for chapter 33 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 23 by adding at the end the following: 24 ‘‘540D. Higher Education Initiative.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Sep 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8164.IH H8164 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS