Hire To Secure our Nation Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4812 To provide the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State with temporary direct hire authority for certain positions, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 20 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 Mr. BRAUN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To provide the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State with temporary direct hire authority for certain positions, 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 ‘‘Hire To Secure our 4 Nation Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN POSITIONS 6 IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND THE 7 DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 8 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered 9 position’’— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4812 IS (1) means— 1 (A) a position requiring expertise with re- 2 spect to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Peo- 3 ple’s Republic of China, or the Russian Federa- 4 tion; or 5 (B) a position as a linguist with respect 6 to— 7 (i) Farsi (or another language that is 8 the primary language spoken in a Middle 9 Eastern country); 10 (ii) Mandarin, Cantonese, or another 11 language that is primarily spoken in the 12 People’s Republic of China; or 13 (iii) Russian; and 14 (2) does not include a position in the Foreign 15 Service. 16 (b) AUTHORITY.— 17 (1) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—The Sec- 18 retary of Defense may use the authority provided 19 under section 9905 of title 5, United States Code, 20 to appoint qualified candidates to covered positions 21 in the competitive service in the Department of De- 22 fense. 23 (2) DEPARTMENT OF STATE.—The Secretary of 24 State may appoint, without regard to the provisions 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4812 IS of subchapter I of chapter 33 of title 5, United 1 States Code (other than sections 3303 and 3328 of 2 that title), qualified candidates to covered positions 3 in the competitive service in the Department of 4 State. 5 (c) CITIZENSHIP REQUIREMENT.—A candidate ap- 6 pointed to a covered position under subsection (b) shall 7 be a citizen of the United States. 8 (d) EXPIRATION; EXTENSIONS.— 9 (1) EXPIRATION.—Subject to paragraph (2) of 10 this subsection, the authority provided to the Sec- 11 retary of Defense and the Secretary of State under 12 paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b), respec- 13 tively, shall expire on the date that is 3 years after 14 the date of enactment of this Act. 15 (2) EXTENSIONS.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authority provided 17 to the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of 18 State under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection 19 (b), respectively, shall be extended for an addi- 20 tional 3-year period that begins on date on 21 which that authority expires under paragraph 22 (1) of this subsection if, before that expiration 23 date, the applicable Secretary submits to Con- 24 gress a notification describing the ways in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4812 IS which the Islamic Republic of Iran, the People’s 1 Republic of China, and the Russian Federation 2 continue to threaten the national security of the 3 United States. 4 (B) ADDITIONAL EXTENSIONS.—If the 5 Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State 6 has received an extension under subparagraph 7 (A), the authority of the Secretary under para- 8 graph (1) or (2) of subsection (b), as applica- 9 ble, shall be extended for an additional 3-year 10 period that begins on the date on which the ex- 11 tension expires if, before the date on which the 12 extension expires, the Secretary submits to 13 Congress the notification required under sub- 14 paragraph (A). 15 (C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 16 this paragraph may be construed to limit the 17 number of extensions of authority that the Sec- 18 retary of Defense or the Secretary of State may 19 receive under this paragraph. 20 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE 21 PROFESSIONALS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.— 23 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 24 the Department of Defense and the Department of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4812 IS State the National Security and Foreign Language 1 Professionals Fellowship Program (referred to in 2 this section as the ‘‘Program’’). 3 (2) ROTATIONS.—Under the Program— 4 (A) the applicable agency that appoints an 5 individual to a position under the Program shall 6 provide the individual with— 7 (i) developmental or professional expe- 8 riences relating to the national security of 9 the United States; and 10 (ii) training for the position that re- 11 lates to the national security of the United 12 States; and 13 (B) the Secretary of Defense and the Sec- 14 retary of State (referred to collectively in this 15 section as the ‘‘Secretaries’’) shall seek to re- 16 cruit experienced practitioners and academics to 17 apply for senior-level positions within the appli- 18 cable agency. 19 (b) ELIGIBILITY.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to apply for a posi- 21 tion under the Program, an individual— 22 (A) shall have— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4812 IS (i) a professional or graduate degree 1 in an area that is relevant to the national 2 security of the United States; or 3 (ii) significant professional experience 4 in a position or a subject area relating to 5 the national security of the United States; 6 (B) may be a student in a graduate or pro- 7 fessional school if the individual expects to ob- 8 tain the degree described in paragraph (A)(i) 9 not later than August 31 of the academic year 10 in which the individual is applying; and 11 (C) shall have not less than 10 years of 12 professional experience, which may include time 13 spent towards obtaining the degree described in 14 subparagraph (A)(i). 15 (2) PREFERENCE.—In making appointments 16 under the Program, the applicable Secretary shall 17 give preference to— 18 (A) individuals with language proficiency 19 that the Secretary of Defense determines is 20 critical to the national security of the United 21 States; and 22 (B) cyber security professionals. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4812 IS (c) ANNOUNCEMENT; SELECTION OF FINALISTS.— 1 The Director of the Office of Personnel Management 2 shall— 3 (1) announce the opportunity to apply for a po- 4 sition under the Program; 5 (2) select finalists for the Program; and 6 (3) publish, and provide to the Secretaries, a 7 list of the finalists selected under paragraph (2) for 8 consideration by the Secretaries with respect to ap- 9 pointments under the Program. 10 (d) LENGTH OF APPOINTMENT.—An appointment 11 made under the Program shall be for a period that is not 12 less than 2 years and not more than 4 years. 13 (e) MOVEMENT BETWEEN AGENCIES.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—At any time during an ap- 15 pointment of an individual under the Program, the 16 individual may move to the other agency partici- 17 pating in the Program if— 18 (A) the individual separates from the origi- 19 nal agency; and 20 (B) the new employing agency appoints the 21 individual without a break in service. 22 (2) REIMBURSEMENT.—If a move described in 23 paragraph (1) occurs during the 180-day period be- 24 ginning on the date on which an individual is ap- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4812 IS pointed by the original employing agency, the origi- 1 nal employing agency may request reimbursement of 2 1⁄4 of the placement fee with respect to the indi- 3 vidual from the new appointing agency. 4 (f) TERMINATION.—The head of the applicable agen- 5 cy may terminate an individual serving in an appointment 6 under the Program— 7 (1) for reasons relating to misconduct, poor 8 performance, or suitability; and 9 (2) if the agency head submits to the Director 10 of the Office of Personnel Management written noti- 11 fication regarding the termination. 12 (g) CONVERSION TO THE COMPETITIVE SERVICE.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not earlier than 2 years 14 after the date on which an individual is appointed 15 under the Program, the applicable agency may non- 16 competitively convert the individual, without a break 17 in service, to a position in the competitive service. 18 (2) NUMBER OF POSITIONS AVAILABLE.—The 19 Chief Human Capital Officers Council, in consulta- 20 tion with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary 21 of State, shall determine the number of individuals 22 who may be converted under paragraph (1). 23 (3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 24 subsection may be construed as granting any indi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4812 IS vidual appointed under the Program a right to a 1 noncompetitive conversion to a position in the com- 2 petitive service. 3 (h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 4 tion may be construed to replace— 5 (1) the Presidential Management Fellows Pro- 6 gram established under subpart D of part 362 of 7 title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 8 cessor regulation; or 9 (2) any provision of title 5, United States Code, 10 regarding appointive positions in the civil service. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Oct 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4812.IS S4812 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS