AIM Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4768 To establish the Office of Intelligence in the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 Mr. COTTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 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 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE IN 6 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of the Depart- 9 ment of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4768.IS S4768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4768 IS U.S.C. 6912 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 1 end the following: 2 ‘‘SEC. 224B. OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE. 3 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 4 Department an Office of Intelligence. The Office shall be 5 under the National Intelligence Program. 6 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be headed 8 by the Director of the Office of Intelligence, who 9 shall be an employee in the Senior Executive Service 10 and who shall be appointed by the Secretary. The 11 Director shall report directly to the Secretary. 12 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary shall se- 13 lect an individual to serve as the Director from 14 among individuals who have significant experience 15 serving in the intelligence community. 16 ‘‘(3) STAFF.—The Director may appoint and 17 fix the compensation of such staff as the Director 18 considers appropriate, except that the Director may 19 not appoint more than 5 full-time equivalent posi- 20 tions at an annual rate of pay equal to or greater 21 than the maximum rate of basic pay for GS–15 of 22 the General Schedule. 23 ‘‘(4) DETAIL OF PERSONNEL OF INTELLIGENCE 24 COMMUNITY.—Upon the request of the Director, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4768.IS S4768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4768 IS head of an element of the intelligence community 1 may detail any of the personnel of such element to 2 assist the Office in carrying out its duties. Any per- 3 sonnel detailed to assist the Office shall not be taken 4 into account in determining the number of full-time 5 equivalent positions of the Office under paragraph 6 (3). 7 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The Office shall carry out the fol- 8 lowing duties: 9 ‘‘(1) The Office shall be responsible for 10 leveraging the capabilities of the intelligence commu- 11 nity and National Laboratories intelligence-related 12 research, to ensure that the Secretary is fully in- 13 formed of threats by foreign actors to United States 14 agriculture. 15 ‘‘(2) The Office shall focus on understanding 16 foreign efforts to— 17 ‘‘(A) steal United States agriculture knowl- 18 edge and technology; and 19 ‘‘(B) develop or implement biological war- 20 fare attacks, cyber or clandestine operations, or 21 other means of sabotaging and disrupting 22 United States agriculture. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4768.IS S4768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4768 IS ‘‘(3) The Office shall prepare, conduct, and fa- 1 cilitate intelligence briefings for the Secretary and 2 appropriate officials of the Department. 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 23:41 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4768.IS S4768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4768 IS ‘‘(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 established under sub- 6 section (a).’’. 7 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 8 (A) Subtitle A of the Department of Agri- 9 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 is amended 10 by redesignating section 225 (7 U.S.C. 6925) 11 as section 224A. 12 (B) Section 296(b) of the Department of 13 Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 14 U.S.C. 7014(b)) is amended by adding at the 15 end the following: 16 ‘‘(11) The authority of the Secretary to carry 17 out section 224B.’’. 18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO EX- 19 ISTING FUNCTIONS AND AUTHORITIES.— 20 (1) EXISTING FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE OF HOME- 21 LAND SECURITY OF DEPARTMENT RELATING TO IN- 22 TELLIGENCE ON THREATS TO FOOD AND AGRI- 23 CULTURE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4768.IS S4768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4768 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 221(d) of such 1 Act (7 U.S.C. 6922(d)) is amended— 2 (i) by striking paragraphs (4) and (5); 3 and 4 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (6) 5 through (8) as paragraphs (4) through (6), 6 respectively. 7 (B) TRANSFER OF RELATED PERSONNEL 8 AND ASSETS OF OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECU- 9 RITY.—The functions which the Office of 10 Homeland Security of the Department of Agri- 11 culture exercised under paragraphs (4) and (5) 12 of section 221(d) of the Department of Agri- 13 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 14 6922(d)) before the effective date of this para- 15 graph, together with the funds, assets, and 16 other resources used by the Director of the Of- 17 fice of Homeland Security of the Department of 18 Agriculture to carry out such functions before 19 the effective date of this paragraph, are trans- 20 ferred to the Director of the Office of Intel- 21 ligence of the Department of Agriculture. 22 (2) CARRYING OUT INTERAGENCY EXCHANGE 23 PROGRAM FOR DEFENSE OF FOOD AND AGRI- 24 CULTURE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4768.IS S4768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4768 IS Section 221(e) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 6922(e)) is 1 amended by adding at the end the following new 2 paragraph: 3 ‘‘(3) AUTHORITY OF DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF 4 INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE.—The 5 Secretary shall carry out this subsection acting 6 through the Director of the Office of Intelligence of 7 the Department.’’. 8 (3) COORDINATING WITH INTELLIGENCE COM- 9 MUNITY ON POTENTIAL THREATS TO AGRI- 10 CULTURE.—Section 335(a)(3) of the Public Health 11 Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Re- 12 sponse Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 3354(a)(3)) is amend- 13 ed by striking ‘‘strengthen coordination’’ and insert- 14 ing ‘‘acting through the Director of the Office of In- 15 telligence in the Department of Agriculture, 16 strengthen coordination’’. 17 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection and the 18 amendments made by this subsection shall take ef- 19 fect upon the appointment of the Director of the Of- 20 fice of Intelligence in the Department of Agriculture 21 under section 224B(b) of the Department of Agri- 22 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 (as added by 23 subsection (a)(1)). 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4768.IS S4768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS