IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9668 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 11, 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To establish in the Department of Homeland Security a 

working group relating to countering terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port security, and transportation security threats posed to the United States by the Chinese 

Communist Party, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strategic Homeland 

3 Intelligence and Enforcement Legislation to Defend 

4 against the CCP Act’’ or the ‘‘SHIELD Against CCP 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WORKING GROUP TO COUNTER CERTAIN THREATS 

7 POSED TO THE UNITED STATES BY THE CHI8 NESE COMMUNIST PARTY. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

11 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec12 retary of Homeland Security shall establish in the 

13 Department of Homeland Security a working group 

14 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Working 

15 Group’’), which shall carry out the duties specified 

16 in subsection (b) relating to countering terrorist, cy17 bersecurity, border and port security, and transpor18 tation security threats posed to the United States by 

19 the Chinese Communist Party. 

20 (2) DIRECTOR.— 

21 (A) APPOINTMENT.—The head of the 

22 Working Group shall be a Director (in this sec23 tion referred to as the ‘‘Director’’), who shall be 

24 appointed by the Secretary of Homeland Secu25 rity. 


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1 (B) REPORTING.—The Director shall re2 port to the Secretary of Homeland Security re3 garding all administrative, operational, and se4 curity matters of the Working Group. 

5 (3) STAFFING.—The Secretary of Homeland 

6 Security shall ensure the Working Group is provided 

7 with the following: 

8 (A) A sufficient number of employees to 

9 perform required duties. 

10 (B) Not fewer than one employee dedicated 

11 to ensuring compliance with privacy laws and 

12 regulations. 

13 (4) DETAILEES.—The Working Group may ac14 cept and employ detailees with expertise in coun15 tering terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port secu16 rity, and transportation security threats posed by 

17 the Chinese Communist Party to the United States, 

18 or in related fields, from any element of the intel19 ligence community or any other Federal agency the 

20 Director determines appropriate, with or without re21 imbursement, consistent with applicable laws and 

22 regulations regarding such employees. 

23 (b) DUTIES.—The Working Group shall carry out the 

24 following: 


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1 (1) Examine, assess, and report upon efforts by 

2 the Department of Homeland Security to counter 

3 terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port security, 

4 and transportation security threats posed to the 

5 United States by the Chinese Communist Party, in6 cluding efforts to counter the Chinese Communist 

7 Party’s— 

8 (A) nontraditional tactics and exploitation 

9 of the United States immigration system 

10 through— 

11 (i) identity theft; 

12 (ii) the immigrant and nonimmigrant 

13 visa processes; 

14 (iii) unlawful border crossings; 

15 (iv) human smuggling; and 

16 (v) human trafficking; 

17 (B) predatory economic and trade prac18 tices, including the trafficking of counterfeit 

19 and pirated goods, the use of forced labor, labor 

20 exploitation for financial gain, customs fraud, 

21 and theft of intellectual property and tech22 nology; 

23 (C) direct or indirect support for 

24 transnational criminal organizations trafficking 


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1 in fentanyl, illicit drug precursors, or other con2 trolled substances through— 

3 (i) the United States border; 

4 (ii) international mail shipments; or 

5 (iii) express consignment operations; 

6 and 

7 (D) support for illicit financial activity by 

8 Chinese Money Laundering Organizations, in9 cluding any repatriation to China or any other 

10 country of the proceeds derived from the activi11 ties described in subparagraphs (A) through 

12 (C). 

13 (2) Account for the resources of the Depart14 ment that are dedicated to programs aimed at coun15 tering terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port secu16 rity, and transportation security threats posed to the 

17 United States by the Chinese Communist Party, and 

18 any supporting information as to the efficacy of each 

19 such program. 

20 (3) Build upon existing or ongoing evaluations 

21 and avoid unnecessary duplication by reviewing the 

22 findings, conclusions, and recommendations of other 

23 appropriate working groups, committees, commis24 sions, or entities established by the Department re25 lated to efforts to counter terrorist, cybersecurity, 


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1 border and port security, and transportation security 

2 threats posed to the United States by the Chinese 

3 Communist Party. 

4 (4) Identify gaps in policies, processes, and ac5 tivities of the Department to respond to terrorist, 

6 cybersecurity, border and port security, and trans7 portation security threats posed to the United States 

8 by the Chinese Communist Party. 

9 (5) Facilitate cooperation and coordination 

10 among offices and components of the Department on 

11 a holistic response to countering terrorist, cybersecu12 rity, border and port security, and transportation se13 curity threats posed to the United States by the Chi14 nese Communist Party. 

15 (c) ADDITIONAL DUTY RELATING TO INFORMATION

16 SHARING.—The Working Group shall review, in coordina17 tion with the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the De18 partment of Homeland Security, information relating to 

19 terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port security, and 

20 transportation security threats posed to the United States 

21 by the Chinese Communist Party that is gathered by Fed22 eral, State, local, Tribal, and territorial partners, and the 

23 National Network of Fusion Centers, and incorporate such 

24 information, as appropriate, into the Working Group’s 

25 own information relating to such threats. The Working 


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1 Group, in coordination with the Office of Intelligence and 

2 Analysis, shall also ensure the dissemination to Federal, 

3 State, local, Tribal, and territorial partners, and the Na4 tional Network of Fusion Centers, of information related 

5 to such threats. 

6 (d) ANNUAL ASSESSMENTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

8 after the date of the enactment of this section and 

9 annually thereafter for five years, the Secretary of 

10 Homeland Security, in coordination with the Under 

11 Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis of the De12 partment of Homeland Security, the Director of the 

13 Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of 

14 National Intelligence, shall submit to the appro15 priate congressional committees a report that as16 sesses terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port secu17 rity, and transportation security threats posed to the 

18 United States by the Chinese Communist Party dur19 ing the immediately preceding 12 months. 

20 (2) CONTENTS.—Each assessment under para21 graph (1) shall also include the following: 

22 (A) A description of the activities and op23 erations of the Working Group undertaken pur24 suant to subsection (b). 


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1 (B) Any other matters the Secretary of 

2 Homeland Security determines relevant. 

3 (3) FORM.—Each assessment under paragraph 

4 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

5 include a classified annex. The Secretary of Home6 land Security shall post on a publicly available 

7 website of the Department of Homeland Security the 

8 unclassified portion of each assessment. 

9 (4) BRIEFING.—Not later than 30 days after 

10 the submission of each assessment under paragraph 

11 (1), the Secretary of Homeland Security shall pro12 vide to the appropriate congressional committees a 

13 briefing on such assessment and the progress and 

14 challenges of the Working Group. 

15 (e) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW.—Not later 

16 than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

17 the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 

18 to the appropriate congressional committees a report on 

19 the implementation of this section. 

20 (f) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—Not later than 

21 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

22 Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the 

23 Director and the Under Secretary for Science and Tech24 nology of the Department of Homeland Security, shall, to 

25 the extent practicable, carry out research and developVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:56 Dec 12, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9668.RFS H9668

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1 ment, including operational testing, of technologies and 

2 techniques for enhancing the Department’s security and 

3 situational awareness relating to countering terrorist, cy4 bersecurity, border and port security, and transportation 

5 security threats posed to the United States by the Chinese 

6 Communist Party. 

7 (g) IMPLEMENTATION.—All activities carried out 

8 pursuant to this section— 

9 (1) shall be carried out in accordance with ap10 plicable constitutional, privacy, civil rights, and civil 

11 liberties protections; and 

12 (2) may not infringe upon the lawful exercise of 

13 free speech by United States persons. 

14 (h) SUNSET.—The Working Group shall terminate on 

15 the date that is seven years after the establishment of the 

16 Working Group under subsection (a)(1). 

17 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT19 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com20 mittees’’ means— 

21 (A) in the House of Representatives— 

22 (i) the Committee on Homeland Secu23 rity; 

24 (ii) the Committee on Ways and 

25 Means; 


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1 (iii) the Committee on Financial Serv2 ices; 

3 (iv) the Committee on the Judiciary; 

4 and 

5 (v) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; 

6 and 

7 (B) in the Senate— 

8 (i) the Committee on Homeland Secu9 rity and Governmental Affairs; 

10 (ii) the Committee on Banking, Hous11 ing, and Urban Affairs; 

12 (iii) the Committee on Finance; 

13 (iv) the Committee on the Judiciary; 

14 and 

15 (v) the Committee on Foreign Rela16 tions. 

17 (2) FUSION CENTER.—The term ‘‘fusion cen18 ter’’ has the meaning given such term in subsection 

19 (k) of section 210A of the Homeland Security Act 

20 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h). 

21 (3) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

22 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 

23 such term in section 3(4) of the National Security 

24 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 


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1 (4) NATIONAL NETWORK OF FUSION CEN2 TERS.—The term ‘‘National Network of Fusion Cen3 ters’’ means a decentralized arrangement of fusion 

4 centers intended to enhance individual State and 

5 urban area fusion centers’ ability to leverage the ca6 pabilities and expertise of all such fusion centers for 

7 the purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland se8 curity information sharing nationally. 

9 (5) UNITED STATES PERSONS.—The term 

10 ‘‘United States person’’ has the meaning given such 

11 term in section 1637(d)(10) of the Carl Levin and 

12 Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Au13 thorization Act for Fiscal year 2015 (50 U.S.C. 

14 1708(d)(10)). 

Passed the House of Representatives December 10, 

2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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