II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4793 

To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to certain activities 

that threaten the national security, foreign policy, public health, economic 

health, or financial stability of the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 1, 2020 

Mr. TILLIS (for himself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to 

certain activities that threaten the national security, foreign policy, public health, economic health, or financial 

stability of the United States, 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 ‘‘Defend COVID Re5 search from Hackers Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS 

2 WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN ACTIVITIES 

3 THAT THREATEN THE NATIONAL SECURITY, 

4 FOREIGN POLICY, PUBLIC HEALTH, ECO5 NOMIC HEALTH, OR FINANCIAL STABILITY OF 

6 THE UNITED STATES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President may impose sanc8 tions described in subsection (b) with respect to any for9 eign person determined by the President— 

10 (1) to have engaged in, directly or indirectly, or 

11 to be responsible for or complicit in, activities, in12 cluding cyber-enabled activities, that— 

13 (A)(i) are reasonably likely to result in a 

14 significant threat to the national security, for15 eign policy, public health, economic health, or 

16 financial stability of the United States; or 

17 (ii) originate from or are directed by for18 eign persons that have materially contributed to 

19 such a threat; and 

20 (B) that have the purpose or effect of— 

21 (i) harming, or otherwise significantly 

22 compromising, the provision of services by 

23 a computer or network of computers that 

24 support one or more entities in a critical 

25 infrastructure sector; 


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1 (ii) significantly compromising the 

2 provision of services by one or more enti3 ties in a critical infrastructure sector; 

4 (iii) causing a significant disruption to 

5 the availability of a computer or network 

6 of computers; or 

7 (iv) causing a significant misappro8 priation of funds or other economic re9 sources, trade secrets, personal identifiers, 

10 intellectual property, or financial informa11 tion for commercial or competitive advan12 tage or private financial gain; 

13 (2) to have engaged in, to be responsible for or 

14 complicit in, or to have knowingly and materially 

15 benefitted from, the receipt or use for commercial or 

16 competitive advantage or private financial gain of 

17 funds or other economic resources, trade secrets, 

18 personal identifiers, intellectual property, or finan19 cial information misappropriated through cyber-en20 abled activities, if such misappropriation is reason21 ably likely to result in, or to have materially contrib22 uted to, a significant threat described in paragraph 

23 (1)(A)(i); 

24 (3) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or 

25 provided financial, material, or technological support 


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1 for, or goods or services in support of any activity 

2 or person described in paragraph (1) or (2); 

3 (4) to be owned or controlled by, to be an offi4 cer or director of, or to have otherwise acted or pur5 ported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indi6 rectly, any person described in paragraph (1) or (2); 

7 or 

8 (5) to have attempted to engage in any activity 

9 described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3). 

10 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de11 scribed in this subsection are the following: 

12 (1) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The President 

13 shall exercise all of the powers granted to the Presi14 dent by the International Emergency Economic 

15 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except that 

16 the requirements of section 202 of such Act (50 

17 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply) to the extent nec18 essary to block and prohibit all transactions in prop19 erty and interests in property of a foreign person de20 scribed in subsection (a) if such property and inter21 ests in property are in the United States, come with22 in the United States, or are or come within the pos23 session or control of a United States person. 

24 (2) INADMISSIBILITY OF CERTAIN INDIVID25 UALS.— 


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1 (A) INELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, 

2 OR PAROLE.—An alien described in subsection 

3 (a) is— 

4 (i) inadmissible to the United States; 

5 (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 

6 documentation to enter the United States; 

7 and 

8 (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 

9 or paroled into the United States or to re10 ceive any other benefit under the Immigra11 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 

12 seq.). 

13 (B) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 

14 (i) IN GENERAL.—The visa or other 

15 entry documentation of an alien described 

16 in subsection (a) shall be revoked, regard17 less of when such visa or other entry docu18 mentation is or was issued. 

19 (ii) IMMEDIATE EFFECT.—A revoca20 tion under clause (i) shall— 

21 (I) take effect immediately; and 

22 (II) automatically cancel any 

23 other valid visa or entry documenta24 tion that is in the alien’s possession. 

25 (c) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 


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1 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex2 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

3 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

4 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to the ex5 tent necessary to carry out this section. 

6 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at7 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

8 violation of subsection (b)(1), or any regulation, li9 cense, or order issued to carry out that subsection, 

10 shall be subject to the penalties set forth in sub11 sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter12 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

13 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that 

14 commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) 

15 of that section. 

16 (d) EXCEPTIONS.— 

17 (1) INTELLIGENCE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

18 ACTIVITIES.—The following activities shall be ex19 empt from sanctions under this section: 

20 (A) Activities subject to the reporting re21 quirements under title V of the National Secu22 rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.). 

23 (B) Activities subject to any authorized in24 telligence or law enforcement activities of the 

25 United States. 


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1 (2) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

2 GOODS.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authorities and re4 quirements to impose sanctions under sub5 section (b)(1) shall not include the authority or 

6 a requirement to impose sanctions on the im7 portation of goods. 

8 (B) GOOD DEFINED.—In this paragraph, 

9 the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or 

10 manmade substance, material, supply or manu11 factured product, including inspection and test 

12 equipment, and excluding technical data. 

13 (3) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER14 NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS.—Sanctions under sub15 section (b)(2) shall not apply with respect to an 

16 alien if admitting or paroling the alien into the 

17 United States is necessary to permit the United 

18 States to comply with the Agreement regarding the 

19 Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake 

20 Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force No21 vember 21, 1947, between the United Nations and 

22 the United States, or other applicable international 

23 obligations of the United States. 

24 (e) REPORT ON CYBER-ENABLED ACTIVITIES.— 


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

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec3 retary of State, in consultation with the Director of 

4 National Intelligence, shall submit to the appro5 priate congressional committees a report— 

6 (A) detailing the extent of known cyber-en7 abled activities or attempted cyber-enabled ac8 tivities described in subsection (a) by foreign 

9 persons related to the coronavirus disease 2019 

10 (commonly referred to as ‘‘COVID–19’’) pan11 demic; and 

12 (B) assessing whether such activities qual13 ify for the imposition of sanctions under this 

14 section. 

15 (2) FORM.—The report required by paragraph 

16 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 

17 include a classified annex. 

18 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 (1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 

20 and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given such terms in 

21 section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

22 (8 U.S.C. 1101). 

23 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT24 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com25 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

2 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

3 Urban Affairs of the Senate; and 

4 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

5 the Committee on Financial Services of the 

6 House of Representatives. 

7 (3) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.—The 

8 term ‘‘critical infrastructure sector’’ means any of 

9 the designated critical infrastructure sectors identi10 fied in Presidential Policy Directive 21. 

11 (4) ENTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’ means a part12 nership, association, trust, joint venture, corpora13 tion, group, subgroup, or other organization. 

14 (5) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per15 son’’ means an individual or entity that is not a 

16 United States person. 

17 (6) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 

18 respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 

19 means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 

20 have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 

21 result. 

22 (7) MISAPPROPRIATION.—The term ‘‘misappro23 priation’’ means any taking or obtaining by im24 proper means, without permission or consent, or 

25 under false pretenses. 


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1 (8) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in2 dividual or entity. 

3 (9) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

4 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

5 (A) an individual who is a United States 

6 citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for perma7 nent residence to the United States; 

8 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

9 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 

10 United States, including a foreign branch of 

11 such an entity; or 

12 (C) any person in the United States. 

Æ 


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