I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3774

To improve homeland security by providing for national resilience in 

preparation for, and in the event of, a terrorist attack, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2004

Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island (for himself, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, 

Mr. TURNER of Texas, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. FROST, and Mr. 

THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 

the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Judiciary, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL

To improve homeland security by providing for national resilience in preparation for, and in the event of, a terrorist 

attack, 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 ‘‘National Resilience 

5 Development Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 
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1 (1) According to the Institute of Medicine of 

2 the National Academy of Sciences, the Department 

3 of Health and Human Services and the Department 

4 of Homeland Security should analyze terrorism pre5 paredness to ensure that the public health infra6 structure is prepared to respond to the psychological 

7 consequences of terrorism, and Federal, State, and 

8 local disaster planners should address these psycho9 logical consequences in their planning and prepared10 ness for terrorist attacks. 

11 (2) Research concerning the psychological im12 pact of ongoing terrorism in Israel published in the 

13 Journal of the American Medical Association and 

14 ongoing research undertaken by the National Insti15 tutes of Health demonstrate that there are effective 

16 ways to enhance resilience and minimize the dam17 aging psychological impact of terrorism. 

18 (3) According to the New England Journal of 

19 Medicine, after September 11, 2001, Americans 

20 across the country, including children, had substan21 tial symptoms of stress. Even clinicians who practice 

22 in regions that are far from the sites of the attacks 

23 should be prepared to assist people with trauma-re24 lated symptoms of stress. 
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1 (4) According to Military Medicine, experiences 

2 from the 1995 chemical weapons attack by terrorists 

3 in the Tokyo subway system suggest that psycho4 logical casualties from a chemical attack will out5 number physical casualties by approximately 4 to 1. 

6 (5) According to the Journal of the American 

7 Medical Association, the lessons learned from the 

8 2001 anthrax attacks should motivate local health 

9 departments, health care organizations, and clini10 cians to engage in collaborative programs to enhance 

11 their communications and local preparedness and re12 sponse capabilities. 

13 (6) According to the National Advisory Com14 mittee on Children and Terrorism, it is important to 

15 recognize that the means through which the effects 

16 of terrorism are propagated are largely psychological 

17 and that it will generally be the terror generated by 

18 a major event, not the event itself, that will have the 

19 greatest long-term negative impact on children and 

20 families throughout the Nation. There is a great 

21 need for increased attention to the promotion of 

22 family and community resilience in terror and dis23 aster planning. 

24 (7) According to ‘‘Schools and Terrorism: A 

25 Supplement to the National Advisory Committee on
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1 Children and Terrorism Recommendations to the 

2 Secretary’’, schools may or may not be the targets 

3 of terrorism, but they are certain to be affected by 

4 terrorism, because on any given weekday more than 

5 one-fifth of the United States population can be 

6 found in schools. Although the United States De7 partment of Education strongly encourages every 

8 school to have an emergency management plan, few 

9 plans address how the school fits in with the larger 

10 public health and emergency management response 

11 to a community-wide event, such as a terrorist at12 tack. 

13 (8) According to a national study by leading 

14 health care foundations, in this time of growing 

15 threats of terrorism, many doctors and other pri16 mary care providers are increasingly being con17 fronted with patients who complain of aches and 

18 pains, or more serious symptoms, which mask seri19 ous anxiety or depression. 

20 (9) Substantial effort and funding are still 

21 needed to adequately understand and prepare for the 

22 psychological consequences associated with bioter23 rorism. 

24 (10) The integration of mental health into pub25 lic health efforts, including integration and coopera-
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1 tion across Federal agencies and State public health 

2 and mental health authorities, is critical in address3 ing the psychological needs of the Nation with re4 gard to terrorism. 

5 SEC. 3. GOALS. 

6 The goals of this Act are as follows: 

7 (1) To identify effective strategies to respond to 

8 the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of 

9 terrorism and their implications for disaster man10 agement and to integrate these strategies into the 

11 United States’ plans to mitigate, plan for, respond 

12 to, and recover from potential and actual terrorist 

13 attacks. 

14 (2) To coordinate the efforts of different gov15 ernment agencies in researching, developing, and im16 plementing programs and protocols designed to in17 crease the psychological resilience and mitigate dis18 tress reactions and maladaptive behaviors of the 

19 American public as they relate to terrorism. 

20 (3) To facilitate the work of the Department of 

21 Homeland Security and other departments and 

22 agencies by incorporating programs and protocols 

23 designed to increase the psychological resilience of 

24 the American public and respond to the behavioral, 

25 cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and 
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1 their implications for disaster management, into 

2 those Departments’ and agencies’ efforts in reducing 

3 the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism. 

4 (4) To enable the States and localities to effec5 tively respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emo6 tional impacts of terrorism and their implications for 

7 disaster management and to integrate appropriate 

8 strategies into their terrorism planning, prepared9 ness, and response efforts. 

10 (5) To integrate mental health and public 

11 health emergency preparedness and response efforts 

12 in the United States.

13 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON NATIONAL RESIL14 IENCE. 

15 Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

16 241 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 319K 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 319L. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON NATIONAL RE19 SILIENCE. 

20 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall convene 

21 and lead an interagency task force for the purpose of in22 creasing the psychological resilience of the American pub23 lic and improving the ability of Federal, State, and local 

24 governments to respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and 
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1 emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for 

2 disaster management. 

3 ‘‘(b) MEMBERS.—The task force convened under this 

4 section shall include the Director of the Centers for Dis5 ease Control and Prevention, the Director of the National 

6 Institute of Mental Health, the Administrator of the Sub7 stance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 

8 the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 

9 Administration, the Director of the Office of Public 

10 Health Emergency Preparedness, the Surgeon General of 

11 the Public Health Service, and such other members as the 

12 Secretary deems appropriate. 

13 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The duties of the task force convened 

14 under this section shall include the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) Coordinating and facilitating the efforts of 

16 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 

17 National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance 

18 Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 

19 the Health Resources and Services Administration, 

20 the Office of Public Health Emergency Prepared21 ness, and the Office of the Surgeon General of the 

22 Public Health Service in their endeavors to develop 

23 and implement programs and protocols designed to 

24 increase the psychological resilience of the American 

25 public and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and 
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1 emotional impacts of terrorism and their implica2 tions for disaster management, including by inte3 grating appropriate strategies into the Department 

4 of Health and Human Service’s terrorism prepared5 ness, response, and recovery efforts. 

6 ‘‘(2) Consulting with, and providing guidance 

7 to, the Department of Homeland Security to inte8 grate into its efforts in reducing the vulnerability of 

9 the United States to terrorism, programs and proto10 cols designed to increase the psychological resilience 

11 of the American public and respond to the behav12 ioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism 

13 and their implications for disaster management. 

14 ‘‘(3) Consulting with the Department of De15 fense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the De16 partment of Labor, the American Red Cross, na17 tional organizations of health care and health care 

18 providers, national organizations representing public 

19 safety officials, and such other organizations and 

20 agencies as the task force deems appropriate to ad21 vance understanding of successful strategies to re22 spond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional im23 pacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster 

24 management and to coordinate implementation of 

25 such strategies.
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1 ‘‘(4) Consulting with the Department of Edu2 cation on the impact of terrorism on children and 

3 schools’ role in the development, implementation, 

4 and coordination of strategies to increase children’s 

5 psychological resilience and respond to the behav6 ioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism. 

7 ‘‘(5) Consulting with and providing guidance to 

8 the States and local governments for the purpose of 

9 enabling them to effectively respond to the behav10 ioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism 

11 and their implications for disaster management. 

12 ‘‘(6) Developing strategies for encouraging 

13 State and local public health and mental health 

14 agencies to closely collaborate in the development of 

15 integrated, science-based programs and protocols de16 signed to increase the psychological resilience of the 

17 American public and respond to the behavioral, cog18 nitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their 

19 implications for disaster management. 

20 ‘‘(7) Preparing and presenting to the Secretary 

21 of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of 

22 Homeland Security specific recommendations on how 

23 their respective departments, agencies, and offices 

24 can strengthen existing and planned terrorism pre25 paredness, response, recovery, and mitigation initia-
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1 tives by integrating programs and protocols designed 

2 to increase the psychological resilience of the Amer3 ican public and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, 

4 and emotional impacts of terrorism and their impli5 cations for disaster management. 

6 ‘‘(d) MEETINGS.—The task force convened under this 

7 section shall meet not less than 4 times each year. 

8 ‘‘(e) STAFF.—The Secretary shall staff the task force 

9 as necessary to ensure it is able to perform the duties de10 scribed in subsection (c).’’. 

11 SEC. 5. ACTIVITIES OF STATES, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 

12 AND TERRITORIES REGARDING NATIONAL 

13 RESILIENCE. 

14 (a) PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT.—Subsection (d) 

15 of section 319C–1 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

16 U.S.C. 247d–3a) is amended by inserting after paragraph 

17 (18) the following: 

18 ‘‘(19) To enable State mental health authori19 ties, in close collaboration with the respective State 

20 public health authorities and the interagency task 

21 force convened under section 319L, to better under22 stand and manage human emotional, behavioral, and 

23 cognitive responses to disasters, including by in24 creasing the psychological resilience of the public 

25 and mitigating distress reactions and maladaptive 
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1 behaviors that could occur in response to a conven2 tional, biological, chemical, or radiological attack on 

3 the United States.’’. 

4 (b) USA PATRIOT ACT.—Subsection (b) of section 

5 1014 of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Pro6 viding Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Ob7 struct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001 (42 

8 U.S.C. 3714) is amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘may be used to purchase’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘may be used for the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) To purchase’’; 

12 (2) by striking ‘‘In addition, grants under this 

13 section may be used to construct’’ and inserting the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(2) To construct’’; and 

16 (3) by inserting at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(3) To enable State mental health authorities, 

18 in close collaboration with the respective State public 

19 health authorities and the interagency task force 

20 convened under section 319L of the Public Health 

21 Service Act, to better understand and manage 

22 human emotional, behavioral, and cognitive re23 sponses to disasters, including by increasing the psy24 chological resilience of the public and mitigating dis25 tress reactions and maladaptive behaviors that could 
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1 occur in response to a conventional, biological, chem2 ical, or radiological attack on the United States.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. EFFORTS BY FEMA REGARDING NATIONAL RESIL4 IENCE. 

5 Paragraph (2) of section 507(a) of the Homeland Se6 curity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 317(a)) is amended—

7 (1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, includ8 ing the risk of psychological injury’’ before the semi9 colon; 

10 (2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘and the 

11 psychological consequences of trauma’’ before the 

12 semicolon; and 

13 (3) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘over14 come the psychological consequences of trauma,’’ be15 fore ‘‘life,’’. 

16 SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT BY SECRETARIES OF HHS AND 

17 HOMELAND SECURITY. 

18 Not less than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

19 of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary of 

20 Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Home21 land Security, acting jointly, shall submit a report to the 

22 Congress that includes the following: 

23 (1) The recommendations of the interagency 

24 task force convened under section 319L of the Pub25 lic Health Service Act (as amended by section 4 of 
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1 this Act) that are relevant to the Department of 

2 Health and Human Services or the Department of 

3 Homeland Security. 

4 (2) A description of the steps that have or have 

5 not been taken by each Federal department to im6 plement the recommendations described in para7 graph (1). 

8 (3) Thorough explanations for rejection of any 

9 recommendations made by the interagency task force 

10 convened under section 319L. 

11 (4) Other steps undertaken to meet the goals of 

12 this Act.

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