I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3875 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish within the Department of Homeland Security a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, 

and Explosives Office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2015 

Mr. MCCAUL (for himself, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. RATCLIFFE, and Ms. JACKSON

LEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 

within the Department of Homeland Security a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Home5 land Security CBRNE Defense Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CBRNE OFFICE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Homeland Security Act of 

3 2002 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

4 title: 

5 ‘‘TITLE XXII—CHEMICAL, BIO6 LOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NU7 CLEAR, AND EXPLOSIVES OF8 FICE 

9 ‘‘SEC. 2201. CBRNE OFFICE. 

10 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

11 Department a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, 

12 and Explosives Office (referred to in this title as the 

13 ‘CBRNE Office’). 

14 ‘‘(b) MISSION OF OFFICE.—The mission of the 

15 CBRNE Office is to coordinate, strengthen, and provide 

16 chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives 

17 (CBRNE) capabilities in support of homeland security. 

18 ‘‘(c) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The Office shall be 

19 headed by an Assistant Secretary for the Chemical, Bio20 logical, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office (re21 ferred to in this title as the ‘Assistant Secretary’), who 

22 shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice 

23 and consent of the Senate. 

24 ‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Assistant Secretary 

25 shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) develop, coordinate, and maintain overall 

2 CBRNE strategy and policy for the Department; 

3 ‘‘(2) develop, coordinate, and maintain for the 

4 Department periodic CBRNE risk assessments; 

5 ‘‘(3) serve as the primary Department rep6 resentative for coordinating CBRNE activities with 

7 other Federal departments and agencies; 

8 ‘‘(4) provide oversight for the Department’s 

9 preparedness for CBRNE threats; 

10 ‘‘(5) provide support for operations during 

11 CBRNE threats or incidents; and 

12 ‘‘(6) carry out such other responsibilities as the 

13 Secretary determines appropriate, consistent with 

14 this title. 

15 ‘‘(e) OTHER OFFICERS.—The Chief Medical Officer 

16 and the Director for Domestic Nuclear Detection shall re17 port directly to the Assistant Secretary. The Secretary 

18 shall appoint appropriate officers to be responsible for co19 ordinating departmental policy and strategy relating to 

20 chemical, biological, and explosives threats. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 2202. COMPOSITION OF THE CBRNE OFFICE. 

22 ‘‘The Secretary shall transfer to the CBRNE Office, 

23 the functions, personnel, budget authority, and assets of 

24 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) The Office of Health Affairs as in exist2 ence on the day before the date of the enactment of 

3 this title, including the Chief Medical Officer author4 ized under section 516, and the National Biosurveil5 lance Integration Center authorized under section 

6 316. 

7 ‘‘(2) The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office 

8 authorized under title XIX. 

9 ‘‘(3) CBRNE threat awareness and risk assess10 ment activities of the Science and Technology Direc11 torate. 

12 ‘‘(4) The CBRNE functions of the Office of 

13 Policy and the Office of Operations Coordination. 

14 ‘‘(5) The Office for Bombing Prevention of the 

15 National Protection and Programs Directorate as in 

16 existence on the day before the date of the enact17 ment of this title. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 2203. HIRING AUTHORITY. 

19 ‘‘In hiring personnel for the CBRNE Office, the Sec20 retary shall have the hiring and management authorities 

21 provided in section 1101 of the Strom Thurmond National 

22 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (5 U.S.C. 

23 3104 note; Public Law 105–261), except that the term 

24 of appointments for employees under subsection (c)(1) of 


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1 such section may not exceed five years before granting any 

2 extension under subsection (c)(2) of such section. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 2204. GRANTS, COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS, AND 

4 OTHER TRANSACTIONS AND CONTRACTS. 

5 ‘‘The Assistant Secretary, in carrying out the respon6 sibilities under this title, may distribute funds through 

7 grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions 

8 and contracts. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 2205. TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENTS. 

10 ‘‘(a) TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary 

12 shall, in coordination with relevant Department com13 ponents and other appropriate Federal departments 

14 and agencies, develop, coordinate, and update peri15 odically terrorism risk assessments of chemical, bio16 logical, radiological, and nuclear threats. 

17 ‘‘(2) COMPARISON.—The Assistant Secretary 

18 shall develop, coordinate, and update periodically an 

19 integrated terrorism risk assessment that assesses 

20 all of the threats referred to in paragraph (1) and, 

21 as appropriate, explosives threats, and compares 

22 each such threat against one another according to 

23 their relative risk. 

24 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION IN ASSESSMENT.—Each ter25 rorism risk assessment under this subsection shall 


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1 include a description of the methodology used for 

2 each such assessment. 

3 ‘‘(4) UPDATES.—Each terrorism risk assess4 ment under this subsection shall be updated not less 

5 often than once every two years. 

6 ‘‘(5) PROVISION TO CONGRESS.—The Assistant 

7 Secretary shall provide a copy of each risk assess8 ment under this subsection to the Committee on 

9 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 

10 and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov11 ernmental Affairs of the Senate not later than 30 

12 days after completion of each such assessment. 

13 ‘‘(b) METHODOLOGY.—In developing the terrorism 

14 risk assessments under subsection (a), the Assistant Sec15 retary, in consultation with appropriate Federal depart16 ments and agencies, shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) assess the proposed methodology to be 

18 used for such assessments; and 

19 ‘‘(2) consider the evolving threat to the United 

20 States as indicated by the intelligence community 

21 (as such term is defined in section 3(4) of the Na22 tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4))). 

23 ‘‘(c) USAGE.—The terrorism risk assessments re24 quired under subsection (a) shall be used to inform and 


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1 guide allocation of resources for chemical, biological, radi2 ological, and nuclear threat activities of the Department. 

3 ‘‘(d) INPUT AND SHARING.—The Assistant Secretary 

4 shall, for each terrorism risk assessment under subsection 

5 (a)— 

6 ‘‘(1) seek input from national stakeholders and 

7 other Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial of8 ficials involved in efforts to counter chemical, bio9 logical, radiological, and nuclear threats; 

10 ‘‘(2) ensure that written procedures are in place 

11 to guide the development of such assessments, in12 cluding for input, review, and implementation pur13 poses, among relevant Federal partners; 

14 ‘‘(3) share such assessments with Federal, 

15 State, local, tribal, and territorial officials with ap16 propriate security clearances and a need for the in17 formation in the classified versions of such assess18 ments; and 

19 ‘‘(4) to the maximum extent practicable, make 

20 available an unclassified version of such assessments 

21 for Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial offi22 cials involved in prevention and preparedness for 

23 chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 2206. CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NU2 CLEAR, AND EXPLOSIVES INTELLIGENCE AND 

3 INFORMATION SHARING. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary of Intel5 ligence and Analysis of the Department shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) support homeland security-focused intel7 ligence analysis of terrorist actors, their claims, and 

8 their plans to conduct attacks involving chemical, bi9 ological, radiological, or nuclear materials or explo10 sives against the United States; 

11 ‘‘(2) support homeland security-focused intel12 ligence analysis of global infectious diseases, public 

13 health, food, agricultural, and veterinary issues; 

14 ‘‘(3) support homeland security-focused risk 

15 analysis and risk assessments of the homeland secu16 rity hazards described in paragraphs (1) and (2) by 

17 providing relevant quantitative and nonquantitative 

18 threat information; 

19 ‘‘(4) leverage existing and emerging homeland 

20 security intelligence capabilities and structures to 

21 enhance prevention, protection, response, and recov22 ery efforts with respect to a chemical, biological, ra23 diological, nuclear, or explosives attack; 

24 ‘‘(5) share appropriate information regarding 

25 such threats to appropriate State, local, tribal, and 


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1 territorial authorities, as well as other national bio2 security and biodefense stakeholders; and 

3 ‘‘(6) perform other responsibilities, as assigned 

4 by the Secretary. 

5 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION.—Where appropriate, the Under 

6 Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis shall coordinate 

7 with the heads of other relevant Department components, 

8 including the Assistant Secretary, members of the intel9 ligence community, including the National Counter Pro10 liferation Center and the National Counterterrorism Cen11 ter, and other Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial 

12 authorities, including officials from high-threat areas, to 

13 enable such entities to provide recommendations on opti14 mal information sharing mechanisms, including expedi15 tious sharing of classified information, and on how such 

16 entities can provide information to the Department. 

17 ‘‘(c) REPORT.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

19 after the date of the enactment of this section and 

20 annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to 

21 the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 

22 of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 

23 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a 

24 report on— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the intelligence and information shar2 ing activities under subsections (a) and (b) and 

3 of all relevant entities within the Department to 

4 prevent, protect against, prepare for, respond 

5 to, mitigate, and recover from terrorist attacks 

6 and other high consequence events utilizing 

7 chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear 

8 agents or explosives that pose a high risk to 

9 homeland security; and 

10 ‘‘(B) the Department’s activities in accord11 ance with relevant intelligence strategies. 

12 ‘‘(2) ASSESSMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION.— 

13 Each report required under paragraph (1) shall also 

14 include— 

15 ‘‘(A) a description of methods established 

16 to assess progress of the Office of Intelligence 

17 and Analysis in implementing this section; and 

18 ‘‘(B) such assessment of such progress. 

19 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 ‘‘(1) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

21 ‘intelligence community’ has the meaning given such 

22 term in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 

23 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 

24 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL BIOSECURITY AND BIODEFENSE

25 STAKEHOLDERS.—The term ‘national biosecurity 


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1 and biodefense stakeholders’ means officials from 

2 Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial authori3 ties and individuals from the private sector who are 

4 involved in efforts to prevent, protect against, pre5 pare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from a 

6 biological attack or other phenomena that may have 

7 serious health consequences for the United States, 

8 including infectious disease outbreaks.’’. 

9 (b) EFFICIENCIES REVIEW.—Not later than one year 

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

11 of Homeland Security, acting through the Assistant Sec12 retary for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, 

13 and Explosives Office of the Department of Homeland Se14 curity (established pursuant to section 2201 of the Home15 land Security Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a) of 

16 this section), shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 

17 Security of the House of Representatives and the Com18 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

19 of the Senate a report that— 

20 (1) reviews the functions and responsibilities of 

21 the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and 

22 Explosives Defense Office of the Department (estab23 lished pursuant to section 2201 of the Homeland Se24 curity Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a) of 


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1 this section) to identify and eliminate areas of un2 necessary duplication; 

3 (2) provides a detailed accounting of the man4 agement and administrative expenditures and activi5 ties of the Office and identifies any potential cost 

6 savings and efficiencies for such expenditures and 

7 activities of each sub-office; and 

8 (3) makes recommendations for adjustments in 

9 the management and administration of the Office to 

10 improve operational impact and enhance efficiencies. 

11 (c) CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NU12 CLEAR AND EXPLOSIVES RESEARCH AND DEVELOP13 MENT.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

15 Security shall assess the organizational structure of 

16 the management and execution of the Department of 

17 Homeland Security’s chemical, biological, radio18 logical, nuclear, and explosives research and develop19 ment activities, and shall develop and submit to the 

20 Committee on Homeland Security and the Com21 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Represent22 atives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 

23 Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Appro24 priations of the Senate at the time the President 

25 submits the budget for fiscal year 2020 under secVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Nov 03, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3875.IH H3875

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1 tion 1105 of title 31, United States Code, a pro2 posed organizational structure for the management 

3 and execution of such chemical, biological, radio4 logical, nuclear, and explosives research and develop5 ment activities. 

6 (2) ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTIFICATION.—The 

7 Secretary of Homeland Security shall include in the 

8 assessment required under paragraph (1) a thorough 

9 justification and rationalization for the proposed or10 ganizational structure for management and execu11 tion of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and 

12 explosives research and development activities, in13 cluding the following: 

14 (A) A discussion of the methodology for 

15 determining such proposed organizational struc16 ture. 

17 (B) A comprehensive inventory of chem18 ical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explo19 sives research and development activities of the 

20 Department of Homeland Security and where 

21 each such activity will be located within or out22 side such proposed organizational structure. 

23 (C) Information relating to how such pro24 posed organizational structure will facilitate and 


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1 promote coordination and requirements genera2 tion with customers. 

3 (D) Information relating to how such pro4 posed organizational structure will support the 

5 development of chemical, biological, radiological, 

6 nuclear, and explosives research and develop7 ment priorities across the Department. 

8 (E) If the chemical, biological, radiological, 

9 nuclear, and explosives research and develop10 ment activities of the Department are not co-lo11 cated in such proposed organizational structure, 

12 a justification for such separation. 

13 (F) The strategy for coordination between 

14 the Under Secretary for Science and Tech15 nology and the Assistant Secretary for the 

16 Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and 

17 Explosives Office on chemical, biological, radio18 logical, nuclear, and explosives research and de19 velopment activities. 

20 (G) Recommendations for necessary statu21 tory changes. 

22 (3) LIMITATION ON ACTION.—The Secretary of 

23 Homeland Security may not take any action to reor24 ganize the structure referred to in paragraph (1) un25 less the Secretary receives prior authorization from 


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1 the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 

2 of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 

3 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 

4 permitting any such action. 

5 (d) CONCURRENT GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

6 OFFICE REVIEW OF CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIO7 LOGICAL, NUCLEAR, AND EXPLOSIVES RESEARCH AND

8 DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

10 the United States shall conduct a review of the De11 partment of Homeland Security’s management and 

12 execution of chemical, biological, radiological, nu13 clear, and explosives research and development ac14 tivities. 

15 (2) SCOPE.—The review required under para16 graph (1) shall include the following: 

17 (A) An assessment of the management and 

18 execution of chemical, biological, radiological, 

19 nuclear, and explosives research and develop20 ment activities of the Department of Homeland 

21 Security, including identification of any overlap 

22 or duplication of effort. 

23 (B) Recommendations to streamline and 

24 improve the Department’s management and 

25 execution of chemical, biological, radiological, 


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1 nuclear, and explosives research and develop2 ment activities. 

3 (3) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

5 General shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 

6 Security of the House of Representatives and the 

7 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

8 Affairs of the Senate a report on the review required 

9 under this subsection. 

10 (e) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

11 The Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (2) of section 103(a) (6 

13 U.S.C. 113(a)), by striking ‘‘Assistant Secretary for 

14 Health Affairs, the Assistant Secretary for Legisla15 tive Affairs, or the Assistant Secretary for Public 

16 Affairs,’’ and inserting ‘‘Assistant Secretary for Leg17 islative Affairs or the Assistant Secretary for Public 

18 Affairs,’’; 

19 (2) in section 302 (6 U.S.C. 182)— 

20 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (13) and 

21 (14) as paragraphs (14) and (15), respectively; 

22 and 

23 (B) by inserting after paragraph (12) the 

24 following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(13) collaborating with the Assistant Secretary 

2 for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, 

3 and Explosives Office on all activities related to 

4 chemical, biological, and explosives research and de5 velopment activities;’’; 

6 (3) in subsection (b) of section 307 (6 U.S.C. 

7 187), by adding at the end the following new para8 graph: 

9 ‘‘(8) CBRNE RESEARCH AND DEVELOP10 MENT.—The Director shall coordinate with the As11 sistant Secretary for the Chemical, Biological, Radi12 ological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office on all activi13 ties related to chemical, biological, and explosives re14 search and development activities.’’; 

15 (4) in subsection (c) of section 516 (6 U.S.C. 

16 321e)— 

17 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

18 by inserting ‘‘, including the health impacts of 

19 chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear 

20 agents and explosives’’ after ‘‘disasters’’; 

21 (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 

22 follows: 

23 ‘‘(2) coordinating the Department’s policy, 

24 strategy, and preparedness for pandemics and 

25 emerging infectious diseases;’’; and 


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1 (C) in paragraph (6) of section 516(c) (6 

2 U.S.C. 321e(c)), by striking ‘‘Under Secretary 

3 for Science and Technology’’ and inserting ‘‘As4 sistant Secretary for the Chemical, Biological, 

5 Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office’’; 

6 (5) by repealing section 1903 (6 U.S.C. 593); 

7 and 

8 (6) in section 1907 (6 U.S.C. 596a)— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘Annual’’ each place it ap10 pears and inserting ‘‘Biennial’’; 

11 (B) by striking ‘‘each year’’ each place it 

12 appears and inserting ‘‘every two years’’; 

13 (C) by striking ‘‘previous year’’ each place 

14 it appears and inserting ‘‘previous two years’’; 

15 and 

16 (D) in subsection (b)— 

17 (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting 

18 ‘‘odd-numbered’’ after ‘‘each’’; and 

19 (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘an20 nual’’ and inserting ‘‘biennial’’. 

21 SEC. 3. SAVINGS PROVISION. 

22 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

23 Act shall change the authority of the Administrator of the 

24 Federal Emergency Management Agency to lead the emer25 gency management system of the United States. 


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1 SEC. 4. CLERICAL AMENDMENTS. 

2 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland 

3 Security Act of 2002 is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

‘‘TITLE XXII—CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NUCLEAR, 

AND EXPLOSIVES OFFICE 

‘‘Sec. 2201. CBRNE Office. 

‘‘Sec. 2202. Composition of the CBRNE Office. 

‘‘Sec. 2203. Hiring authority. 

‘‘Sec. 2204. Grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions and contracts. 

‘‘Sec. 2205. Terrorism risk assessments. 

‘‘Sec. 2206. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives intelligence and information sharing.’’. 

Æ 


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