II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3996 

To amend the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1979, relating 

to the conduct of knowledge diplomacy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 18, 2020 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Mr. CARPER, Mr. BARRASSO, Mrs. BLACKBURN, 

Mr. BRAUN, Mr. COONS, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. 

HAWLEY, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. RISCH, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, 

Mrs. SHAHEEN, and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 

Year 1979, relating to the conduct of knowledge diplomacy. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AGREEMENTS. 

4 The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 

5 Year 1979 (Public Law 95–426) is amended— 

6 (1) in section 502 (22 U.S.C. 2656b), by 

7 amending paragraph (5) to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(5) Federally supported international science 

2 and technology agreements should serve United 

3 States national security and economic interests by— 

4 ‘‘(A) properly protecting intellectual prop5 erty rights; 

6 ‘‘(B) providing United States researchers 

7 with access to research and development oppor8 tunities and facilities; 

9 ‘‘(C) ensuring that the flow of scientific 

10 and technological information between the 

11 United States and foreign countries, inter12 national organizations, and commissions of 

13 which the United States and 1 or more foreign 

14 countries are members is equitable and recip15 rocal, to the maximum extent practicable; 

16 ‘‘(D) requiring foreign countries, inter17 national organizations, and commissions of 

18 which the United States and 1 or more foreign 

19 countries are members to adhere to United 

20 States scientific values, including openness, 

21 transparency, reciprocity, integrity, and merit22 based competition; and 

23 ‘‘(E) ensuring that the exchange of sci24 entific and technological information between 

25 the United States and foreign countries, interVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3996.IS S3996

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1 national organizations, and commissions of 

2 which the United States and 1 or more foreign 

3 countries are members is not contrary to 

4 United States foreign policy interests.’’; and 

5 (2) in section 504(a) (22 U.S.C. 2656d(a))— 

6 (A) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 

7 follows: 

8 ‘‘(2) In coordinating and overseeing agreements 

9 described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall con10 sider— 

11 ‘‘(A) scientific merit; 

12 ‘‘(B) equity of access (as described in sec13 tion 502(5)); 

14 ‘‘(C) possible commercial or trade linkages 

15 with the United States that may flow from the 

16 agreement or activity; 

17 ‘‘(D) national security concerns; and 

18 ‘‘(E) any other factors that the Secretary 

19 deems appropriate.’’; and 

20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(4) In furtherance of sections 501(3) and 502, 

22 the Secretary shall provide Federal science agencies, 

23 Federal law enforcement agencies, the Office of 

24 Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Man25 agement and Budget, and the Director of National 


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1 Intelligence with access to a digital repository of 

2 United States Government bilateral and multilateral 

3 science and technology agreements, subagreements, 

4 and other unclassified or sensitive information pro5 vided by Federal agencies, in accordance with sec6 tion 503(a)(1). 

7 ‘‘(5) The Secretary, in coordination with the 

8 Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Depart9 ment of Defense, the Department of Homeland Se10 curity, the Director of National Intelligence, Federal 

11 science agencies, Federal law enforcement agencies, 

12 and other appropriate Federal agencies, shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) identify United States vulnerabilities 

14 in international cooperation that may place re15 search funded by the United States Government 

16 at risk; 

17 ‘‘(B) strengthen the security and integrity 

18 of United States scientific and research collabo19 rations with key foreign partners; and 

20 ‘‘(C) encourage the international scientific 

21 community to adopt and adhere to United 

22 States scientific values, including openness, 

23 transparency, reciprocity, integrity, and merit24 based competition. 


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1 ‘‘(6) As used in this subsection, the term ‘Fed2 eral science agency’ means any Federal department 

3 or agency to which more than $100,000,000 in re4 search and development funds were appropriated for 

5 fiscal year 2020.’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COORDINATION OF INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND 

7 TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS BIENNIAL RE8 PORT. 

9 Subsection (e) of the International Science and Tech10 nology Cooperation Act of 2016 (42 U.S.C. 6625) is 

11 amended by striking the period at the end and inserting 

12 the following: ‘‘, which shall include— 

13 ‘‘(1) an assessment of whether United States 

14 science and technology agreements are in compliance 

15 with section 502(5) of the Foreign Relations Author16 ization Act, Fiscal Year 1979 (22 U.S.C. 2656b(5)); 

17 ‘‘(2) a summary of science and technology 

18 agreements that are not in compliance with such 

19 section 502(5), and actions the United States Gov20 ernment has taken to bring such agreements into 

21 compliance; and 

22 ‘‘(3) a description of the measures that have 

23 been taken by the United States Government, in ac24 cordance with section 504(a)(5) of the Foreign RelaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3996.IS S3996

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1 tions Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1979 (22 

2 U.S.C. 2656d(a)(5)).’’. 

Æ 


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