AIM Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8238 To establish the Office of Intelligence in the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 Mr. CRAWFORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Permanent Select Com- mittee on Intelligence, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To establish the Office of Intelligence in the Department of Agriculture, 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 ‘‘Agricultural Intel- 4 ligence Measures Act’’ or the ‘‘AIM Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:30 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8238.IH H8238 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8238 IH SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE IN 1 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subtitle A of the Department 3 of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6901 4 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 225A. OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE. 6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 7 Department an Office of Intelligence. The Office shall be 8 under the National Intelligence Program. 9 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be headed 11 by the Director of the Office of Intelligence, who 12 shall be an employee in the Senior Executive Service 13 and who shall be appointed by the Secretary. The 14 Director shall report directly to the Secretary. 15 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary shall se- 16 lect an individual to serve as the Director from 17 among individuals who have significant experience 18 serving in the intelligence community. 19 ‘‘(3) STAFF.—The Director may appoint and 20 fix the compensation of such staff as the Director 21 considers appropriate, except that the Director may 22 not appoint more than 5 full-time equivalent posi- 23 tions at an annual rate of pay equal to or greater 24 than the maximum rate of basic pay for GS–15 of 25 the General Schedule. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:30 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8238.IH H8238 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8238 IH ‘‘(4) DETAIL OF PERSONNEL OF INTELLIGENCE 1 COMMUNITY.—Upon the request of the Director, the 2 head of an element of the intelligence community 3 may detail any of the personnel of such element to 4 assist the Office in carrying out its duties. Any per- 5 sonnel detailed to assist the Office shall not be taken 6 into account in determining the number of full-time 7 equivalent positions of the Office under paragraph 8 (3). 9 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The Office shall carry out the fol- 10 lowing duties: 11 ‘‘(1) The Office shall be responsible for leverag- 12 ing the capabilities of the intelligence community 13 and National Laboratories intelligence-related re- 14 search, to ensure that the Secretary is fully informed 15 of threats by foreign actors to United States agri- 16 culture. 17 ‘‘(2) The Office shall focus on understanding 18 foreign efforts to— 19 ‘‘(A) steal United States agriculture knowl- 20 edge and technology; and 21 ‘‘(B) develop or implement biological war- 22 fare attacks, cyber or clandestine operations, or 23 other means of sabotaging and disrupting 24 United States agriculture. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:30 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8238.IH H8238 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8238 IH ‘‘(3) The Office shall conduct or facilitate intel- 1 ligence briefings for the Secretary and appropriate 2 officials of the Department of Agriculture. 3 ‘‘(4) The Office shall operate as the liaison be- 4 tween the Secretary and the intelligence community, 5 with the authority to request intelligence collection 6 and analysis on matters related to United States ag- 7 riculture. 8 ‘‘(5) The Office shall collaborate with the intel- 9 ligence community to downgrade intelligence assess- 10 ments for broader dissemination within the Depart- 11 ment. 12 ‘‘(6) The Office shall facilitate sharing informa- 13 tion on foreign activities related to agriculture, as 14 acquired by the Department with the intelligence 15 community. 16 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 17 is authorized to be appropriated for the Office $970,000 18 for fiscal year 2021. 19 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 20 definitions apply: 21 ‘‘(1) The term ‘Director’ means the Director of 22 the Office of Intelligence appointed under subsection 23 (b). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:30 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8238.IH H8238 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8238 IH ‘‘(2) The terms ‘intelligence community’ and 1 ‘National Intelligence Program’ have the meaning 2 given such terms in section 3 of the National Secu- 3 rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003). 4 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Office’ means the Office of In- 5 telligence of the Department of Agriculture estab- 6 lished under subsection (a).’’. 7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO EX- 8 ISTING FUNCTIONS AND AUTHORITIES.— 9 (1) EXISTING FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE OF HOME- 10 LAND SECURITY OF DEPARTMENT RELATING TO IN- 11 TELLIGENCE ON THREATS TO FOOD AND AGRI- 12 CULTURE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 221(d) of such 14 Act (7 U.S.C. 6922(d)) is amended— 15 (i) by striking paragraphs (4) and (5); 16 and 17 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (6) 18 through (8) as paragraphs (4) through (6). 19 (B) TRANSFER OF RELATED PERSONNEL 20 AND ASSETS OF OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECU- 21 RITY.—The functions which the Office of 22 Homeland Security of the Department of Agri- 23 culture exercised under paragraphs (4) and (5) 24 of section 221(d) of the Department of Agri- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:30 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8238.IH H8238 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8238 IH culture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 1 6922(d)) before the effective date of this para- 2 graph, together with the funds, assets, and 3 other resources used by the Director of the Of- 4 fice of Homeland Security of the Department to 5 carry out such functions before the effective 6 date of this paragraph, are transferred to the 7 Director of the Office of Intelligence of the De- 8 partment. 9 (2) CARRYING OUT INTERAGENCY EXCHANGE 10 PROGRAM FOR DEFENSE OF FOOD AND AGRI- 11 CULTURE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.— 12 Section 221(e) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 6922(e)) is 13 amended by adding at the end the following new 14 paragraph: 15 ‘‘(3) AUTHORITY OF DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF 16 INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE.—The 17 Secretary shall carry out this subsection acting 18 through the Director of the Office of Intelligence of 19 the Department.’’. 20 (3) COORDINATING WITH INTELLIGENCE COM- 21 MUNITY ON POTENTIAL THREATS TO AGRI- 22 CULTURE.—Section 335(a)(3) of the Public Health 23 Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Re- 24 sponse Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 3354(a)(3)) is amend- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:30 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8238.IH H8238 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8238 IH ed by striking ‘‘strengthen coordination’’ and insert- 1 ing ‘‘acting through the Director of the Office of In- 2 telligence in the Department of Agriculture, 3 strengthen coordination’’. 4 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection and the 5 amendments made by this subsection shall take ef- 6 fect upon the appointment of the Director of the Of- 7 fice of Intelligence in the Department of Agriculture 8 under section 225A(b) of the Department of Agri- 9 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 (as added by 10 subsection (a)). 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:30 Sep 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8238.IH H8238 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS