II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 669 

To provide for the appropriate balance of empowering diplomats to pursue 

vital diplomatic goals and mitigating security risks at United States 

diplomatic posts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2021 

Mr. MURPHY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To provide for the appropriate balance of empowering diplomats to pursue vital diplomatic goals and mitigating 

security risks at United States diplomatic posts, 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 ‘‘Expeditionary Diplo5 macy Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) A robust overseas diplomatic presence is the 

2 sine qua non of an effective foreign policy, particu3 larly in unstable environments where a flexible and 

4 timely diplomatic response can be decisive in pre5 venting and addressing violent conflict. 

6 (2) Diplomats routinely put themselves and 

7 their families at great personal risk to serve their 

8 country overseas where they increasingly face 

9 threats related to international terrorism, violent 

10 conflict, and public health, among others. 

11 (3) The Department of State has a remarkable 

12 record of protecting personnel while enabling an 

13 enormous amount of global diplomatic activity, often 

14 in insecure and remote places and facing a variety 

15 of evolving risks and threats, from terrorism to sonic 

16 attacks. With support from Congress, the Depart17 ment of State has revised policy, improved physical 

18 security through retrofitting and replacing old facili19 ties, deployed additional security personnel and ar20 mored vehicles, and greatly enhanced training re21 quirements and facilities, including the new Foreign 

22 Affairs Security Training Center in Blackstone, Vir23 ginia. 

24 (4) However, there is broad consensus that the 

25 pendulum has swung too far toward eliminating risk, 


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1 excessively inhibiting diplomatic activity; instead of 

2 protecting diplomats that authorize calculated risks, 

3 human psychology combined with Department of 

4 State policy incentivize extending embassy closures, 

5 reducing footprints, and postponing or denying trav6 el requests. 

7 (5) Congress must accept responsibility for its 

8 part in perpetuating a risk-averse culture, as its 

9 oversight too often promotes the myth that all secu10 rity incidents are avoidable and appears more fo11 cused on finding scapegoats than improving policy; 

12 the Accountability Review Board requirement in the 

13 Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.) 

14 particularly furthers this perception. 

15 (6) The impact of reduced diplomatic engage16 ment is both difficult to distill and undeniable; while 

17 the cost of an embassy closure or cancelled meeting 

18 is hard to measure, diplomatic missions rely on ro19 bust staffing and ambitious external engagement to 

20 advance United States interests as diverse as fight21 ing terrorism and transnational organized crime, 

22 preventing and addressing violent conflict and hu23 manitarian disasters, promoting United States busi24 nesses and trade, protecting the rights of 


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1 marginalized groups, addressing climate change, and 

2 preventing pandemic disease. 

3 (7) Despite the fact that Congress currently 

4 provides annual appropriations in excess of 

5 $1,900,000,000 for embassy security, construction, 

6 and maintenance, the Department of State is unable 

7 to fully transform this considerable investment into 

8 true overseas presence given excessive restrictions 

9 that inhibit the ability of diplomats to— 

10 (A) meet with foreign leaders to explain, 

11 defend, and advance United States priorities; 

12 (B) understand and report on foreign po13 litical, social, and economic conditions; 

14 (C) provide United States citizen services 

15 that are often a matter of life and death in in16 secure places; and 

17 (D) collaborate and, at times, compete 

18 with other diplomatic missions. 

19 (8) Such restrictions present a clear and 

20 present danger to the core interests of the United 

21 States and contribute to the larger militarization of 

22 our national security, as military and intelligence 

23 agencies benefit from fewer security restrictions, 

24 greater risk tolerance, and less congressional scru25 tiny in the wake of security incidents. 


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1 (9) Given these stakes, Congress has a respon2 sibility to empower, support, and hold the Depart3 ment of State accountable for implementing an ag4 gressive presence strategy that mitigates potential 

5 risks and adequately considers the myriad direct and 

6 indirect consequences of a lack of presence. 

7 SEC. 3. ENCOURAGING EXPEDITIONARY DIPLOMACY. 

8 (a) PURPOSE.—Subsection (b) of section 102 of the 

9 Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4801(b)) is amend10 ed— 

11 (1) by amending paragraph (3) to read as fol12 lows: 

13 ‘‘(3) to promote strengthened security meas14 ures, institutionalize a culture of learning, and, in 

15 the case of apparent gross negligence or breach of 

16 duty, recommend the Director General of the For17 eign Service investigate accountability for United 

18 States Government personnel with security-related 

19 responsibilities;’’; 

20 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as 

21 paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and 

22 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol23 lowing new paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(4) to support a culture of risk management, 

25 instead of risk avoidance, that enables to DepartVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669

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1 ment of State to pursue its vital goals with full 

2 knowledge that it is not desirable nor possible for 

3 the Department to avoid all risks;’’. 

4 (b) BRIEFINGS ON EMBASSY SECURITY.—Section 

5 105(a) of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 

6 4804(a)) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘monthly briefings’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘quarterly briefings’’; and 

9 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘any plans to open or re11 open a high risk, high threat post’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘progress towards opening or reopening 

13 high risk, high threat posts, the risk to national 

14 security of the continued closure and remaining 

15 barriers to doing so’’; 

16 (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘the 

17 type and level of security threats such post 

18 could encounter’’ and inserting ‘‘the risk to na19 tional security of the post’s continued closure’’; 

20 and 

21 (C) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘the 

22 type and level of security threats such post 

23 could encounter, and’’ before ‘‘security 

24 ‘tripwires’ ’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. REPLACEMENT OF ACCOUNTABILITY REVIEW 

2 BOARD WITH SECURITY REVIEW COMMITTEE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301 of the Diplomatic Se4 curity Act (22 U.S.C. 4831) is amended— 

5 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AC6 COUNTABILITY REVIEW BOARDS’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘SECURITY REVIEW COMMITTEES’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (a)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘shall 

10 convene an Accountability Review Board (in 

11 this title referred to as the ‘Board’). The Sec12 retary shall not convene the Board’’ and insert13 ing ‘‘shall convene the Security Review Com14 mittee (in this title referred to as the ‘SRC’). 

15 The Secretary shall not convene the SRC’’; 

16 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Board’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘SRC’’; and 

18 (C) in paragraph (3)(A)— 

19 (i) in the subparagraph heading, by 

20 striking ‘‘BOARD’’ and inserting ‘‘SRCS’’; 

21 and 

22 (ii) by striking ‘‘Board’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘SRC’’; 

24 (3) in subsection (b)— 

25 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

26 ‘‘BOARDS’’ and inserting ‘‘SRCS’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘Board’’ each place it ap2 pears and inserting ‘‘SRC’’; and 

3 (4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘Board’’ each 

4 place it appears and inserting ‘‘SRC’’. 

5 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Section 302 of the Diplomatic 

6 Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4832) is amended— 

7 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘AC8 COUNTABILITY REVIEW BOARD’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘SECURITY REVIEW COMMITTEE’’; 

10 (2) in subsection (a)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘MEMBERSHIP.—’’ and all 

12 that follows through ‘‘Chairperson of the 

13 Board. Members of the Board’’ and inserting 

14 the following: ‘‘MEMBERSHIP.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall deter16 mine the composition of the SRC and designate a 

17 Chairperson. Members of the SRC’’; 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘vested in the Board. 

19 Members of the Board’’ and inserting ‘‘vested 

20 in the SRC. Members of the SRC’’; and 

21 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

22 paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of State 

24 shall promulgate regulations defining the member25 ship and operating procedures for the SRC and proVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Apr 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S669.IS S669

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1 vide to the Chairmen and ranking members of the 

2 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 

3 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 

4 Representatives, in writing, a description of how the 

5 SRC will be structured with respect to any other 

6 standing committees.’’; and 

7 (3) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘Board’’ each 

8 place it appears and inserting ‘‘SRC’’. 

9 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

10 Section 303 of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 

11 4833) is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘Board’’ each place it appears 

13 and inserting ‘‘SRC’’; and 

14 (2) in the subsection heading for subsection (d), 

15 by striking ‘‘BOARDS’’ and inserting ‘‘SRCS’’. 

16 SEC. 5. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF SECURITY 

17 REVIEW COMMITTEE. 

18 Section 304 of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 

19 U.S.C. 4834) is amended— 

20 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘A

21 BOARD’’ and inserting ‘‘THE SECURITY REVIEW

22 COMMITTEE’’; 

23 (2) by striking ‘‘A Board’’ both places it ap24 pears and inserting ‘‘The Security Review Com25 mittee’’; 


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1 (3) by striking ‘‘Board’’ each place it appears 

2 and inserting ‘‘Security Review Committee’’; 

3 (4) in subsection (a)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (2), by inserting after 

5 ‘‘were adequate’’ the following: ‘‘, in the context 

6 of the inherent security risks, mitigation efforts, 

7 and what was known at the time of the incident 

8 in question, including— 

9 ‘‘(A) if the attack was against a diplomatic 

10 compound, motorcade, residence, or other mis11 sion facility, whether the security systems, secu12 rity countermeasures, and security procedures 

13 operated as intended, and whether such systems 

14 worked to materially mitigate the attack or 

15 were found to be inadequate to mitigate the 

16 threat and attack; 

17 ‘‘(B) if the attack was on any personnel 

18 conducting an approved operation outside the 

19 mission, if a valid process was followed in evalu20 ating the requested operation and weighing the 

21 risk and diplomatic value of the operation; and 

22 ‘‘(C) if gross negligence or serious breach 

23 of duty by an individual described in section 

24 303(a)(1)(B) may have been a factor.’’; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

2 and inserting a semicolon; 

3 (C) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 

4 paragraph (6); and 

5 (D) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

6 following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(5) the diplomatic value of operations or phys8 ical presence relating to the incident in question, in9 cluding a counterfactual for the impact of not under10 taking the type of operation or physical presence re11 lated to the incident; and’’; 

12 (5) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘and to pro13 mote a culture of risk management, rather than risk 

14 avoidance for valuable diplomatic activity’’ after 

15 ‘‘has reviewed’’; 

16 (6) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol17 lows: 

18 ‘‘(c) PERSONNEL RECOMMENDATIONS.—If the SRC 

19 suspects that an individual described in section 

20 303(a)(1)(B) has engaged in gross negligence or serious 

21 breach of duty, and such misconduct has significantly con22 tributed to the serious injury, loss of life, or significant 

23 destruction of property, or the serious breach of security 

24 that is the subject of the SRC’s examination as described 

25 in subsection (a), the SRC shall report to the Director 


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1 General of the Foreign Service for any appropriate ac2 tion.’’; and 

3 (7) in subsection (d)— 

4 (A) by striking ‘‘REPORTS.—’’ and all that 

5 follows through ‘‘(1) PROGRAM RECOMMENDA6 TIONS.—In any case’’ and inserting ‘‘RE7 PORTS.—In any case’’; 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘Congress’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘Chairmen and ranking members of the Com10 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 

11 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 

12 of Representatives’’; and 

13 (C) by striking paragraph (2). 

14 SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

15 Not later than 150 days after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall provide a 

17 report and oral briefing to the Chairmen and ranking 

18 members of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

19 Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

20 House of Representatives on the regulations promulgated 

21 under paragraph (2) of section 302(a) of the Diplomatic 

22 Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4832(a)), as added by section 

23 4(b)(2)(C) of this Act. 

Æ 


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