Offices of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction and Health Security Act of 2023

II Calendar No. 268 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1798 [Report No. 118–124] To establish a Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office and an Office of Health Security in the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 1, 2023 Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu- rity and Governmental Affairs DECEMBER 11, 2023 Reported by Mr. PETERS, with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To establish a Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office and an Office of Health Security in the Depart- ment of Homeland Security, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1798 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2 ‘‘Offices of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction and 3 Health Security Act of 2023’’. 4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 5 this Act is as follows: 6 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—COUNTERING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION OFFICE Sec. 101. Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office. Sec. 102. Rule of construction. TITLE II—OFFICE OF HEALTH SECURITY Sec. 201. Office of Health Security. Sec. 202. Confidentiality of medical quality assurance records. Sec. 203. Technical and conforming amendments. TITLE I—COUNTERING WEAP- 7 ONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION 8 OFFICE 9 SEC. 101. COUNTERING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION 10 OFFICE. 11 (a) HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002.—Title XIX 12 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 590 et 13 seq.) is amended— 14 (1) in section 1901 (6 U.S.C. 591)— 15 (A) in subsection (c), by striking para- 16 graphs (1) and (2) and inserting the following: 17 ‘‘(1) matters and strategies pertaining to— 18 ‘‘(A) weapons of mass destruction; and 19 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1798 RS ‘‘(B) non-medical aspects of chemical, bio- 1 logical, radiological, nuclear, and other related 2 emerging threats; 3 ‘‘(2) coordinating the efforts of the Department 4 to counter— 5 ‘‘(A) weapons of mass destruction; and 6 ‘‘(B) non-medical aspects of chemical, bio- 7 logical, radiological, nuclear, and other related 8 emerging threats; and 9 ‘‘(3) enhancing the ability of Federal, State, 10 local, and Tribal partners to prevent, detect, protect 11 against, and mitigate the impacts of terrorist at- 12 tacks in the United States to counter— 13 ‘‘(A) weapons of mass destruction; and 14 ‘‘(B) non-medical aspects of use of unau- 15 thorized chemical, biological, radiological, and 16 nuclear materials, devices, or agents and other 17 related emerging threats.’’; and 18 (B) by striking subsection (e); 19 (2) by amending section 1921 (6 U.S.C. 591g) 20 to read as follows: 21 ‘‘SEC. 1921. MISSION OF THE OFFICE. 22 ‘‘The Office shall be responsible for— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1798 RS ‘‘(1) coordinating the efforts of the Department 1 and with other Federal departments and agencies to 2 counter— 3 ‘‘(A) weapons of mass destruction; and 4 ‘‘(B) chemical, biological, radiological, nu- 5 clear, and other related emerging threats; and 6 ‘‘(2) enhancing the ability of Federal, State, 7 local, and Tribal partners to prevent, detect, protect 8 against, and mitigate the impacts of attacks using— 9 ‘‘(A) weapons of mass destruction against 10 the United States; and 11 ‘‘(B) unauthorized chemical, biological, ra- 12 diological, nuclear materials, devices, or agents 13 and other related emerging threats against the 14 United States.’’; 15 (3) in section 1922 (6 U.S.C. 591h)— 16 (A) by striking subsection (b); and 17 (B) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub- 18 section (b); 19 (4) in section 1923 (6 U.S.C. 592)— 20 (A) by redesignating subsections (a) and 21 (b) as subsections (b) and (d), respectively; 22 (B) by inserting before subsection (b), as 23 so redesignated, the following: 24 ‘‘(a) OFFICE RESPONSIBILITIES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1798 RS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of coordi- 1 nating the efforts of the Department to counter 2 weapons of mass destruction and chemical, biologi- 3 cal, radiological, nuclear, and other related emerging 4 threats, the Office shall— 5 ‘‘(A) provide expertise and guidance to De- 6 partment leadership and components on non- 7 medical aspects of chemical, biological, radio- 8 logical, nuclear, and other related emerging 9 threats, subject to the research, development, 10 testing, and evaluation coordination require- 11 ment described in subparagraph (G); 12 ‘‘(B) in coordination with the Office for 13 Strategy, Policy, and Plans, lead development 14 of policies and strategies to counter weapons of 15 mass destruction and chemical, biological, radi- 16 ological, nuclear, and other related emerging 17 threats on behalf of the Department; 18 ‘‘(C) identify, assess, and prioritize capa- 19 bility gaps relating to the strategic and mission 20 objectives of the Department for weapons of 21 mass destruction and chemical, biological, radi- 22 ological, nuclear, and other related emerging 23 threats; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1798 RS ‘‘(D) in coordination with the Office of In- 1 telligence and Analysis, support components of 2 the Department, and Federal, State, local, and 3 Tribal partners by providing intelligence and in- 4 formation analysis and reports on weapons of 5 mass destruction and chemical, biological, radi- 6 ological, nuclear, and other related emerging 7 threats; 8 ‘‘(E) in consultation with the Science and 9 Technology Directorate, assess risk to the 10 United States from weapons of mass destruc- 11 tion and chemical, biological, radiological, nu- 12 clear, and other related emerging threats; 13 ‘‘(F) lead development and prioritization of 14 Department requirements to counter weapons 15 of mass destruction and chemical, biological, ra- 16 diological, nuclear, and other related emerging 17 threats, subject to the research, development, 18 testing, and evaluation coordination require- 19 ment described in subparagraph (G), which re- 20 quirements shall be— 21 ‘‘(i) developed in coordination with 22 end users; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1798 RS ‘‘(ii) reviewed by the Joint Require- 1 ments Council, as directed by the Sec- 2 retary; 3 ‘‘(G) in coordination with the Science and 4 Technology Directorate, direct, fund, and co- 5 ordinate capability development activities to 6 counter weapons of mass destruction and chem- 7 ical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and other 8 related emerging threats research, development, 9 test, and evaluation matters, including research, 10 development, testing, and evaluation expertise, 11 threat characterization, technology maturation, 12 prototyping, and technology transition; 13 ‘‘(H) acquire, procure, and deploy capabili- 14 ties to counter weapons of mass destruction and 15 chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and 16 other related emerging threats, and serve as the 17 lead advisor of the Department on component 18 acquisition, procurement, and deployment of 19 counter-weapons of mass destruction capabili- 20 ties; 21 ‘‘(I) in coordination with the Office of 22 Health Security, support components of the De- 23 partment, and Federal, State, local, and Tribal 24 partners on chemical, biological, radiological, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1798 RS nuclear, and other related emerging threats 1 health matters; 2 ‘‘(J) provide expertise on weapons of mass 3 destruction and non-medical aspects of chem- 4 ical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and other 5 related emerging threats to Departmental and 6 Federal partners to support engagements and 7 efforts with international partners subject to 8 the research, development, testing, and evalua- 9 tion coordination requirement under subpara- 10 graph (G); and 11 ‘‘(K) carry out any other duties assigned 12 to the Office by the Secretary. 13 ‘‘(2) DETECTION AND REPORTING.—For pur- 14 poses of the detection and reporting responsibilities 15 of the Office for weapons of mass destruction and 16 chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and other 17 related emerging threats, the Office shall— 18 ‘‘(A) in coordination with end users, in- 19 cluding State, local, and Tribal partners, as ap- 20 propriate— 21 ‘‘(i) carry out a program to test and 22 evaluate technology, in consultation with 23 the Science and Technology Directorate, to 24 detect and report on weapons of mass de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1798 RS struction and chemical, biological, radio- 1 logical, nuclear, and other related emerging 2 threats, in coordination with other Federal 3 agencies, as appropriate, and establish per- 4 formance metrics to evaluate the effective- 5 ness of individual detectors and detection 6 systems in detecting those weapons of 7 mass destruction or chemical, biological, 8 radiological, nuclear, or other related 9 emerging threats— 10 ‘‘(I) under realistic operational 11 and environmental conditions; and 12 ‘‘(II) against realistic adversary 13 tactics and countermeasures; 14 ‘‘(B) in coordination with end users, con- 15 duct, support, coordinate, and encourage a 16 transformational program of research and de- 17 velopment to generate and improve technologies 18 to detect, protect against, and report on the il- 19 licit entry, transport, assembly, or potential use 20 within the United States of weapons of mass 21 destruction and chemical, biological, radio- 22 logical, nuclear, and other related emerging 23 threats, and coordinate with the Under Sec- 24 retary for Science and Technology on research 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1798 RS and development efforts relevant to the mission 1 of the Office and the Under Secretary for 2 Science and Technology; 3 ‘‘(C) before carrying out operational test- 4 ing under subparagraph (A), develop a testing 5 and evaluation plan that articulates the require- 6 ments for the user and describes how these ca- 7 pability needs will be tested in developmental 8 test and evaluation and operational test and 9 evaluation; 10 ‘‘(D) as appropriate, develop, acquire, and 11 deploy equipment to detect and report on weap- 12 ons of mass destruction and chemical, biologi- 13 cal, radiological, nuclear, and other related 14 emerging threats in support of Federal, State, 15 local, and Tribal governments; 16 ‘‘(E) support and enhance the effective 17 sharing and use of appropriate information on 18 weapons of mass destruction and chemical, bio- 19 logical, radiological, nuclear, and other related 20 emerging threats generated by elements of the 21 intelligence community (as defined in section 3 22 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 23 U.S.C. 3003)), law enforcement agencies, other 24 Federal agencies, State, local, and Tribal gov- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1798 RS ernments, and foreign governments, as well as 1 provide appropriate information to those enti- 2 ties; 3 ‘‘(F) consult, as appropriate, with relevant 4 Departmental components and offices, the De- 5 partment of Health and Human Services, and 6 other Federal partners, on weapons of mass de- 7 struction and non-medical aspects of chemical, 8 biological, radiological, nuclear, and other re- 9 lated emerging threats and efforts to mitigate, 10 prepare, and respond to all threats in support 11 of the State, local, and Tribal communities; and 12 ‘‘(G) perform other duties as assigned by 13 the Secretary.’’; 14 (C) in subsection (b), as so redesignated— 15 (i) in the subsection heading, by strik- 16 ing ‘‘MISSION’’ and inserting ‘‘RADIO- 17 LOGICAL AND NUCLEAR RESPONSIBIL- 18 ITIES’’; 19 (ii) in paragraph (1)— 20 (I) by inserting ‘‘deploy,’’ after 21 ‘‘acquire,’’; and 22 (II) by striking ‘‘deployment’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘operations’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1798 RS (iii) by striking paragraphs (6) 1 through (10); 2 (iv) redesignating paragraphs (11) 3 and (12) as paragraphs (6) and (7), re- 4 spectively; 5 (v) in paragraph (6), as so redesig- 6 nated— 7 (I) by striking subparagraph (B); 8 (II) by striking ‘‘activities—’’ 9 and all that follows through ‘‘to en- 10 sure’’ and inserting ‘‘activities to en- 11 sure’’; and 12 (III) by striking ‘‘attacks; and’’ 13 and inserting ‘‘attacks;’’ 14 (vi) in paragraph (7)(C)(v), as so re- 15 designated— 16 (I) in the matter preceding sub- 17 clause (I), by inserting ‘‘except as oth- 18 erwise provided,’’ before ‘‘require’’; 19 and 20 (II) in subclause (II)— 21 (aa) in the matter preceding 22 item (aa), by striking ‘‘death or 23 disability’’ and inserting ‘‘death, 24 disability, or a finding of good 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1798.RS S1798 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1798 RS cause as determined by the As- 1 sistant Secretary (including ex- 2 treme hardship, extreme need, or 3 the needs of the Office) and for 4 which the Assistant Secretary 5 may grant a waiver of the repay- 6 ment obligation’’; and 7 (bb) in item (bb), by adding 8 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 9 (vii) by striking paragraph (13); and 10 (viii) by redesignating paragraph (14) 11 as paragraph (8); and 12 (D) by inserting after subsection (b), as so 13 redesignated, the following: [Text truncated for display. 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