I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7942 

To establish the Open Translation Center, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 11, 2024 

Mr. CASTRO of Texas (for himself and Mr. GALLAGHER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish the Open Translation Center, 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 ‘‘Open Translation Cen5 ter Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The success of United States foreign policy 

9 depends on the ability to accurately perceive and un10 derstand other countries’ foreign and domestic poli11 cies. 


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1 (2) Open source materials published by the 

2 People’s Republic of China and other nations offer 

3 a uniquely valuable window into the politics, policy, 

4 ideology, intentions, and activities of those countries. 

5 (3) A lack of foreign language speakers greatly 

6 hinders United States policymakers, journalists, aca7 demics, students, and others’ ability to understand 

8 the People’s Republic of China and other nations 

9 and governments. 

10 (4) During the Cold War, the Foreign Broad11 cast Information Service provided translations and 

12 open source analysis that nourished generations of 

13 diplomats, journalists, academics, students, and oth14 ers. 

15 (5) Today, a public translation and analysis or16 ganization is needed to support the development of 

17 United States foreign policy and to enrich public un18 derstanding. 

19 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT. 

20 There is established a federally funded research and 

21 development center to be known as the ‘‘Open Translation 

22 Center’’ (referred to in this section as ‘‘OTC’’). 

23 SEC. 4. INCORPORATION. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—OTC shall be— 


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1 (1) administered as a separate entity by an or2 ganization managing a federally funded research and 

3 development center on the date of the enactment of 

4 this Act; or 

5 (2) incorporated as a nonprofit membership 

6 corporation. 

7 (b) BOARD.—OTC shall be headed by a board that 

8 consists of five members to be appointed as follows: 

9 (1) Two members shall be appointed by the 

10 Secretary of State. 

11 (2) Two members shall be appointed by the Di12 rector of National Intelligence. 

13 (3) One member shall be appointed by the Reg14 ister of Copyrights. 

15 (c) TERM; QUALIFICATIONS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each member appointed to 

17 the board of OTC in accordance with subsection (b) 

18 shall serve for a term of 3 years, and may be re-ap19 pointed to consecutive terms. 

20 (2) INITIAL TERM.—Notwithstanding sub21 section (c), the initial term of one the two members 

22 first appointed by the Secretary of State in accord23 ance with subsection (b) and one of the two mem24 bers first so appointed by the Director of National 

25 Intelligence shall be 2 years. 


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1 (3) QUALIFICATIONS.—Members of the board 

2 shall be appointed from among individuals with ex3 pertise in translation, publishing, domestic and 

4 international copyright law, media, foreign lan5 guages, area studies, or international relations, and 

6 shall make all decisions independently from the 

7 United States Government. No member of the board 

8 may be an employee or official of the United States 

9 during the term served by such member. 

10 (d) CHAIR.—The Chair of the board of OTC shall 

11 be elected from among the members of the board. 

12 SEC. 5. PURPOSE AND MISSION. 

13 The purpose and mission of OTC is the following: 

14 (1) The translation, analysis, and public dis15 semination of foreign language government and 

16 other documents from designated countries, for the 

17 purposes of enhancing the understanding of such 

18 countries’ governments, governing organizations, 

19 militaries, economies, and cultures. 

20 (2) To provide proper context and explanations 

21 of translated foreign-language material to enhance 

22 the ability of consumers to understand the meaning 

23 and significance of such translated material. 

24 (3) To strive to make as much translated for25 eign-language material publicly available as possible, 


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1 and to provide summaries of important foreign-lan2 guage material that cannot be made public. 

3 (4) To train and develop exceptional analysts 

4 and linguists with specialization regarding des5 ignated countries. 

6 SEC. 6. DUTIES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of the purpose and 

8 mission specified in section 5, OTC shall— 

9 (1) translate into the English language docu10 ments and information from designated countries; 

11 (2) provide analyses, summaries, and important 

12 context for material translated pursuant to para13 graph (1), and other untranslated material, includ14 ing— 

15 (A) biographical sketches and information 

16 on important leaders; 

17 (B) descriptions and background on polit18 ical processes, important bodies, companies, 

19 economic systems, and military weapons sys20 tems and doctrines; 

21 (C) definitions and analysis of important 

22 concepts and phrases; 

23 (D) information regarding changes over 

24 time in the policies and intentions of governVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Apr 23, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7942.IH H7942

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1 ments, militaries, and governing organizations; 

2 and 

3 (E) other issues that are of significance for 

4 understanding designated countries; 

5 (3) cooperate with other relevant Federal agen6 cies regarding any effort consistent with such pur7 pose and mission; 

8 (4) make available on a publicly accessible 

9 website— 

10 (A) all analyses and summaries created 

11 pursuant to subsection (a)(2); and 

12 (B) except for any material that OTC de13 termines not to make available pursuant to sub14 section (b)(1)(F), all translated materials under 

15 subsection (a); and 

16 (5) with respect to translated materials that 

17 OTC determines not to make available pursuant to 

18 subsection (b)(1)(F)— 

19 (A) to the extent possible, provide such 

20 materials free of charge to all United States 

21 Government employees, Members of Congress, 

22 and congressional staff, as well as to organiza23 tions and individuals who have relevant con24 tracts or grants with the United States Govern25 ment or any part thereof; or 


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1 (B) as appropriate, provide summaries and 

2 analyses of such materials to the persons de3 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

4 (b) METHODOLOGY.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this section 

6 and section 5, OTC shall— 

7 (A) establish the capabilities to acquire, re8 tain, train, and develop exceptional analytical 

9 and linguistic expertise in designated countries 

10 and designated languages; 

11 (B) use software, programs, artificial intel12 ligence, and other technologies to ensure timely 

13 translations; 

14 (C) seek input from technical, regional, 

15 and subject matter experts from a wide range 

16 of relevant disciplines, to review, provide feed17 back, and evaluate translations and analyses; 

18 (D) maximize cooperation with the public 

19 and private sectors in the United States, includ20 ing Federal agencies, as well as with United 

21 States allies and partners, to maximize effi22 ciencies, acquire source materials, and eliminate 

23 duplication of efforts; 


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1 (E) select materials, such as the materials 

2 described in paragraph (2), to translate and 

3 analyze on the basis of— 

4 (i) the significance of the material for 

5 United States policymakers as well as for 

6 journalists, academics, and the general 

7 public; and 

8 (ii) the ability of such material to en9 hance the understanding of the politics, 

10 policies, intentions, ideologies, militaries, 

11 businesses, technologies, science, or cul12 tures of designated countries; and 

13 (F) in selecting material to translate under 

14 subparagraph (E) and in making material avail15 able under subsection (a)(4), consider whether 

16 the translation or dissemination of such mate17 rial would be consistent with domestic and 

18 international commitments on copyright, includ19 ing title 17, United States Code. 

20 (2) EXAMPLES OF MATERIALS TO BE TRANS21 LATED.—The materials described in this paragraph 

22 are the following materials from a designated coun23 try: 


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1 (A) Official and unofficial government, 

2 governing organization, and military documents 

3 and reports. 

4 (B) Speeches of relevant government, polit5 ical, governing organization, and military offi6 cials. 

7 (C) Official and semiofficial government, 

8 governing organization, and military journals. 

9 (D) News articles and commentary from 

10 government, governing organization, or other 

11 quasi-official sources. 

12 (E) Documents and other information by 

13 state-owned businesses and entities. 

14 (F) Other information, including internet 

15 and social media posts. 

16 (c) COPYRIGHTS.— 

17 (1) TRANSLATIONS DEEMED GOVERNMENT

18 WORKS.—A work prepared by an employee or con19 tractor of the OTC for the purpose of the dissemina20 tion of such work by OTC shall be deemed a work 

21 of the United States Government under section 

22 105(a) of title 17, United States Code. 

23 (2) NO LESS FAVORABLE TREATMENT.—In ac24 cordance with the Agreement on Trade-Related As25 pects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World 


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1 Trade Organization, the Berne Convention for the 

2 Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, other 

3 World Intellectual Property Organization regulations 

4 and treaties, and other relevant international trea5 ties and agreements, OTC shall treat foreign mate6 rial no less favorably than national materials are 

7 treated for purpose of copyrights. 

8 (d) LIMITATION.—OTC may not publish any trans9 lation until such translation has been reviewed and ap10 proved for accuracy by OTC. 

11 SEC. 7. COOPERATION AND CONSULTATION. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the duties de13 scribed in section 6, OTC may consult and cooperate 

14 with— 

15 (1) relevant Federal agencies and grantees of 

16 the U.S. Agency for Global Media, regarding any ef17 fort consistent with the purposes of this Act, includ18 ing— 

19 (A) collecting source material; 

20 (B) avoiding duplication of effort; 

21 (C) details of employees; and 

22 (D) training; and 

23 (2) other relevant stakeholders, including— 

24 (A) nonprofit research institutes; 

25 (B) institutions of higher education; and 


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1 (C) media organizations. 

2 (b) FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.—OTC is authorized to 

3 consult and cooperate with any foreign government begin4 ning on the date that is 14 days after— 

5 (1) the Secretary of State certifies that it is in 

6 the national interest for OTC to cooperate and con7 sult with that foreign government; and 

8 (2) the Secretary of State provides to the rel9 evant congressional committees such certification. 

10 SEC. 8. SPONSORSHIP. 

11 (a) SPONSORS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 

13 be the primary sponsor of OTC. 

14 (2) AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary of State may 

15 enter into agreements with other relevant Federal 

16 agencies to provide additional sponsors of OTC. 

17 (3) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary of State 

18 shall notify the relevant congressional committees of 

19 any additional sponsors for OTC not later than 15 

20 days after entering into an agreement under para21 graph (2). 

22 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con23 gress that the Secretary of State should enter into a spon24 sorship agreement pursuant to subsection (a)(2) with the 

25 Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. 


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1 (c) AGREEMENT.— 

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

3 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec4 retary of State shall seek to enter into a sponsoring 

5 agreement with respect to OTC that requires OTC 

6 to carry out the duties described in sections 5 and 

7 6. 

8 (2) CONSISTENCY WITH REQUIREMENTS PRE9 SCRIBED BY ADMINISTRATOR FOR FEDERAL PRO10 CUREMENT POLICY.—The Administrator for Federal 

11 Procurement Policy shall prescribe general require12 ments for the sponsoring agreement entered into 

13 under paragraph (1). 

14 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

15 For the purposes of this Act: 

16 (1) The term ‘‘governing organization’’ means 

17 any national body separate from a foreign govern18 ment that maintains ultimate control over such gov19 ernment, including political parties that exercise 

20 functions normally reserved for governments. 

21 (2) The term ‘‘designated countries’’ means— 

22 (A) the People’s Republic of China; and 

23 (B) other countries as determined by the 

24 board established under section 4(b), in con25 sultation with the Secretary of State. 


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1 (3) The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit2 tees’’ means— 

3 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

4 the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

5 of the House of Representatives; and 

6 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

7 and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

8 Senate. 

9 (4) The term ‘‘designated languages’’ means— 

10 (A) languages identified as critical lan11 guages by the Department of State’s Critical 

12 Language Scholarship Program; and 

13 (B) other languages as determined by the 

14 board established pursuant to section 4, in con15 sultation with the Secretary of State. 

16 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

17 There are authorized to be appropriated for OTC— 

18 (1) $85,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 

19 (2) $80,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 

20 through 2028; and 

21 (3) such sums as may be necessary for each fis22 cal year thereafter. 

Æ 


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