II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4768 

To establish the Office of Intelligence in the Department of Agriculture, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 

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

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To establish the Office of Intelligence in the Department 

of Agriculture, 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 ‘‘Agricultural Intel5 ligence Measures Act’’ or the ‘‘AIM Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE IN 

7 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of the Depart10 ment of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 


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1 U.S.C. 6912 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

2 end the following: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 224B. OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE. 

4 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

5 Department an Office of Intelligence. The Office shall be 

6 under the National Intelligence Program. 

7 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be headed 

9 by the Director of the Office of Intelligence, who 

10 shall be an employee in the Senior Executive Service 

11 and who shall be appointed by the Secretary. The 

12 Director shall report directly to the Secretary. 

13 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary shall se14 lect an individual to serve as the Director from 

15 among individuals who have significant experience 

16 serving in the intelligence community. 

17 ‘‘(3) STAFF.—The Director may appoint and 

18 fix the compensation of such staff as the Director 

19 considers appropriate, except that the Director may 

20 not appoint more than 5 full-time equivalent posi21 tions at an annual rate of pay equal to or greater 

22 than the maximum rate of basic pay for GS–15 of 

23 the General Schedule. 

24 ‘‘(4) DETAIL OF PERSONNEL OF INTELLIGENCE

25 COMMUNITY.—Upon the request of the Director, the 


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1 head of an element of the intelligence community 

2 may detail any of the personnel of such element to 

3 assist the Office in carrying out its duties. Any per4 sonnel detailed to assist the Office shall not be taken 

5 into account in determining the number of full-time 

6 equivalent positions of the Office under paragraph 

7 (3). 

8 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The Office shall carry out the fol9 lowing duties: 

10 ‘‘(1) The Office shall be responsible for 

11 leveraging the capabilities of the intelligence commu12 nity and National Laboratories intelligence-related 

13 research, to ensure that the Secretary is fully in14 formed of threats by foreign actors to United States 

15 agriculture. 

16 ‘‘(2) The Office shall focus on understanding 

17 foreign efforts to— 

18 ‘‘(A) steal United States agriculture knowl19 edge and technology; and 

20 ‘‘(B) develop or implement biological war21 fare attacks, cyber or clandestine operations, or 

22 other means of sabotaging and disrupting 

23 United States agriculture. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The Office shall prepare, conduct, and fa2 cilitate intelligence briefings for the Secretary and 

3 appropriate officials of the Department. 

4 ‘‘(4) The Office shall operate as the liaison be5 tween the Secretary and the intelligence community, 

6 with the authority to request intelligence collection 

7 and analysis on matters related to United States ag8 riculture. 

9 ‘‘(5) The Office shall collaborate with the intel10 ligence community to downgrade intelligence assess11 ments for broader dissemination within the Depart12 ment. 

13 ‘‘(6) The Office shall facilitate sharing informa14 tion on foreign activities related to agriculture, as 

15 acquired by the Department with the intelligence 

16 community. 

17 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

18 is authorized to be appropriated for the Office $970,000 

19 for fiscal year 2021. 

20 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

21 definitions apply: 

22 ‘‘(1) The term ‘Director’ means the Director of 

23 the Office of Intelligence appointed under subsection 

24 (b). 


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1 ‘‘(2) The terms ‘intelligence community’ and 

2 ‘National Intelligence Program’ have the meaning 

3 given such terms in section 3 of the National Secu4 rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003). 

5 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Office’ means the Office of In6 telligence of the Department established under sub7 section (a).’’. 

8 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

9 (A) Subtitle A of the Department of Agri10 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 is amended 

11 by redesignating section 225 (7 U.S.C. 6925) 

12 as section 224A. 

13 (B) Section 296(b) of the Department of 

14 Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 

15 U.S.C. 7014(b)) is amended by adding at the 

16 end the following: 

17 ‘‘(11) The authority of the Secretary to carry 

18 out section 224B.’’. 

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO EX20 ISTING FUNCTIONS AND AUTHORITIES.— 

21 (1) EXISTING FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE OF HOME22 LAND SECURITY OF DEPARTMENT RELATING TO IN23 TELLIGENCE ON THREATS TO FOOD AND AGRI24 CULTURE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 221(d) of such 

2 Act (7 U.S.C. 6922(d)) is amended— 

3 (i) by striking paragraphs (4) and (5); 

4 and 

5 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (6) 

6 through (8) as paragraphs (4) through (6), 

7 respectively. 

8 (B) TRANSFER OF RELATED PERSONNEL

9 AND ASSETS OF OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECU10 RITY.—The functions which the Office of 

11 Homeland Security of the Department of Agri12 culture exercised under paragraphs (4) and (5) 

13 of section 221(d) of the Department of Agri14 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 

15 6922(d)) before the effective date of this para16 graph, together with the funds, assets, and 

17 other resources used by the Director of the Of18 fice of Homeland Security of the Department of 

19 Agriculture to carry out such functions before 

20 the effective date of this paragraph, are trans21 ferred to the Director of the Office of Intel22 ligence of the Department of Agriculture. 

23 (2) CARRYING OUT INTERAGENCY EXCHANGE

24 PROGRAM FOR DEFENSE OF FOOD AND AGRI25 CULTURE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.— 


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1 Section 221(e) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 6922(e)) is 

2 amended by adding at the end the following new 

3 paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(3) AUTHORITY OF DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF

5 INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE.—The 

6 Secretary shall carry out this subsection acting 

7 through the Director of the Office of Intelligence of 

8 the Department.’’. 

9 (3) COORDINATING WITH INTELLIGENCE COM10 MUNITY ON POTENTIAL THREATS TO AGRI11 CULTURE.—Section 335(a)(3) of the Public Health 

12 Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Re13 sponse Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 3354(a)(3)) is amend14 ed by striking ‘‘strengthen coordination’’ and insert15 ing ‘‘acting through the Director of the Office of In16 telligence in the Department of Agriculture, 

17 strengthen coordination’’. 

18 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection and the 

19 amendments made by this subsection shall take ef20 fect upon the appointment of the Director of the Of21 fice of Intelligence in the Department of Agriculture 

22 under section 224B(b) of the Department of Agri23 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 (as added by 

24 subsection (a)(1)). 

Æ 


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