II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2170 

To provide for global pathogen surveillance and response. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 21, 2005 

Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. BIDEN, and Mr. LUGAR) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice 

DECEMBER 22 (legislative day, DECEMBER 21), 2005 

Considered, read the third time, and passed 

A BILL 

To provide for global pathogen surveillance and response. 

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 ‘‘Global Pathogen Sur5 veillance Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

9 (1) The frequency of the occurrence of biologi10 cal events that could threaten the national security 
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1 of the United States has increased and is likely in2 creasing. The threat to the United States from such 

3 events includes threats from diseases that infect hu4 mans, animals, or plants regardless of if such dis5 eases are introduced naturally, accidentally, or inten6 tionally. 

7 (2) The United States lacks an effective and 

8 real-time system to detect, identify, contain, and re9 spond to global threats and also lacks an effective 

10 mechanism to disseminate information to the na11 tional response community if such threats arise. 

12 (3) Bioterrorism poses a grave national security 

13 threat to the United States. The insidious nature of 

14 a bioterrorist attack, the likelihood that the recogni15 tion of such an attack would be delayed, and the 

16 underpreparedness of the domestic public health in17 frastructure to respond to such an attack could re18 sult in catastrophic consequences following a biologi19 cal weapons attack against the United States. 

20 (4) The ability to recognize that a country or 

21 organization is carrying out a covert biological weap22 ons programs is dependent on a number of indica23 tions and warnings. A critical component of this rec24 ognition is the timely detection of sentinel events 

25 such as laboratory accidents and community-level 
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1 outbreaks that could be the earliest indication of an 

2 emerging bioterrorist program in a foreign country. 

3 Early detection of such events may enable earlier 

4 counterproliferation intervention. 

5 (5) A contagious pathogen engineered as a bio6 logical weapon and developed, tested, produced, or 

7 released in a foreign country could quickly spread to 

8 the United States. Considering the realities of inter9 national travel, trade, and migration patterns, a 

10 dangerous pathogen appearing naturally, acciden11 tally, or intentionally anywhere in the world can 

12 spread to the United States in a matter of days, be13 fore any effective quarantine or isolation measures 

14 could be implemented. 

15 (6) To combat bioterrorism effectively and en16 sure that the United States is fully prepared to pre17 vent, recognize, and contain a biological weapons at18 tack, or emerging infectious disease, measures to 

19 strengthen the domestic public health infrastructure 

20 and improve domestic event detection, surveillance, 

21 and response, while absolutely essential, are not suf22 ficient. 

23 (7) The United States should enhance coopera24 tion with the World Health Organization, regional 

25 international health organizations, and individual 
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1 countries, including data sharing with appropriate 

2 agencies and departments of the United States, to 

3 help detect and quickly contain infectious disease 

4 outbreaks or a bioterrorism agent before such a dis5 ease or agent is spread. 

6 (8) The World Health Organization has done 

7 an impressive job in monitoring infectious disease 

8 outbreaks around the world, particularly with the es9 tablishment in April 2000 of the Global Outbreak 

10 Alert and Response Network. 

11 (9) The capabilities of the World Health Orga12 nization depend on the quality of the data and infor13 mation the Organization receives from the countries 

14 that are members of the Organization and is further 

15 limited by the narrow list of diseases (such as 

16 plague, cholera, and yellow fever) on which such sur17 veillance and monitoring is based and by the con18 sensus process used by the Organization to add new 

19 diseases to the list. Developing countries, in par20 ticular, often are unable to devote the necessary re21 sources to build and maintain public health infra22 structures. 

23 (10) In particular, developing countries could 

24 benefit from— 
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1 (A) better trained public health profes2 sionals and epidemiologists to recognize disease 

3 patterns; 

4 (B) appropriate laboratory equipment for 

5 diagnosis of pathogens; 

6 (C) disease reporting systems that— 

7 (i) are based on disease and syndrome 

8 surveillance; and 

9 (ii) could enable an effective response 

10 to a biological event to begin at the earliest 

11 possible opportunity; 

12 (D) a narrowing of the existing technology 

13 gap in disease and syndrome surveillance capa14 bilities, based on reported symptoms, and real15 time information dissemination to public health 

16 officials; and 

17 (E) appropriate communications equip18 ment and information technology to efficiently 

19 transmit information and data within national, 

20 international regional, and international health 

21 networks, including inexpensive, Internet-based 

22 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and rel23 evant telephone-based systems for early recogni24 tion and diagnosis of diseases. 
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1 (11) An effective international capability to de2 tect, monitor, and quickly diagnose infectious disease 

3 outbreaks will offer dividends not only in the event 

4 of biological weapons development, testing, produc5 tion, and attack, but also in the more likely cases of 

6 naturally occurring infectious disease outbreaks that 

7 could threaten the United States. Furthermore, a 

8 robust surveillance system will serve to deter, pre9 vent, or contain terrorist use of biological weapons, 

10 mitigating the intended effects of such malevolent 

11 uses. 

12 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol13 lows: 

14 (1) To provide the United States with an effec15 tive and real-time system to detect biological threats 

16 that— 

17 (A) utilizes classified and unclassified in18 formation to detect such threats; and 

19 (B) may be utilized by the human or the 

20 agricultural domestic disease response commu21 nity. 

22 (2) To enhance the capability of the inter23 national community, through the World Health Or24 ganization and individual countries, to detect, iden25 tify, and contain infectious disease outbreaks, wheth-
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1 er the cause of those outbreaks is intentional human 

2 action or natural in origin. 

3 (3) To enhance the training of public health 

4 professionals and epidemiologists from eligible devel5 oping countries in advanced Internet-based disease 

6 and syndrome surveillance systems, in addition to 

7 traditional epidemiology methods, so that such pro8 fessionals and epidemiologists may better detect, di9 agnose, and contain infectious disease outbreaks, es10 pecially such outbreaks caused by the pathogens that 

11 may be likely to be used in a biological weapons at12 tack. 

13 (4) To provide assistance to developing coun14 tries to purchase appropriate communications equip15 ment and information technology to detect, analyze, 

16 and report biological threats, including— 

17 (A) relevant computer equipment, Internet 

18 connectivity mechanisms, and telephone-based 

19 applications to effectively gather, analyze, and 

20 transmit public health information for infec21 tious disease surveillance and diagnosis; and 

22 (B) appropriate computer equipment and 

23 Internet connectivity mechanisms— 

24 (i) to facilitate the exchange of Geo25 graphic Information Systems-based disease 
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1 and syndrome surveillance information; 

2 and 

3 (ii) to effectively gather, analyze, and 

4 transmit public health information for in5 fectious disease surveillance and diagnosis. 

6 (5) To make available greater numbers of pub7 lic health professionals who are employed by the 

8 Government of the United States to international re9 gional and international health organizations, inter10 national regional and international health networks, 

11 and United States diplomatic missions, as appro12 priate. 

13 (6) To expand the training and outreach activi14 ties of United States laboratories located in foreign 

15 countries, including the Centers for Disease Control 

16 and Prevention or Department of Defense labora17 tories, to enhance the public health capabilities of 

18 developing countries. 

19 (7) To provide appropriate technical assistance 

20 to existing international regional and international 

21 health networks and, as appropriate, seed money for 

22 new international regional and international net23 works. 

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 
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1 (1) ELIGIBLE DEVELOPING COUNTRY.—The 

2 term ‘‘eligible developing country’’ means any devel3 oping country that— 

4 (A) has agreed to the objective of fully 

5 complying with requirements of the World 

6 Health Organization on reporting public health 

7 information on outbreaks of infectious diseases; 

8 (B) has not been determined by the Sec9 retary, for purposes of section 40 of the Arms 

10 Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780), section 

11 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

12 (22 U.S.C. 2371), or section 6(j) of the Export 

13 Administration Act of 1979 (as in effect pursu14 ant to the International Emergency Economic 

15 Powers Act; 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), to have 

16 repeatedly provided support for acts of inter17 national terrorism, unless the Secretary exer18 cises a waiver certifying that it is in the na19 tional interest of the United States to provide 

20 assistance under the provisions of this Act; and 

21 (C) is a party to the Convention on the 

22 Prohibition of the Development, Production and 

23 Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and 

24 Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, done 
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1 at Washington, London, and Moscow April 10, 

2 1972 (26 UST 583). 

3 (2) ELIGIBLE NATIONAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 

4 national’’ means any citizen or national of an eligible 

5 developing country who— 

6 (A) does not have a criminal background; 

7 (B) is not on any immigration or other 

8 United States watch list; and 

9 (C) is not affiliated with any foreign ter10 rorist organization. 

11 (3) INTERNATIONAL HEALTH ORGANIZATION.— 

12 The term ‘‘international health organization’’ in13 cludes the World Health Organization, regional of14 fices of the World Health Organization, and inter15 national health organizations, such as the Pan 

16 American Health Organization. 

17 (4) LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘laboratory’’ 

18 means a facility for the biological, microbiological, 

19 serological, chemical, immuno-hematological, 

20 hematological, biophysical, cytological, pathological, 

21 or other medical examination of materials derived 

22 from the human body for the purpose of providing 

23 information for the diagnosis, prevention, or treat24 ment of any disease or impairment of, or the assess25 ment of the health of, human beings. 
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1 (5) SECRETARY.—Unless otherwise provided, 

2 the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of State. 

3 (6) DISEASE AND SYNDROME SURVEILLANCE.— 

4 The term ‘‘disease and syndrome surveillance’’ 

5 means the recording of clinician-reported symptoms 

6 (patient complaints) and signs (derived from phys7 ical examination and laboratory data) combined with 

8 simple geographic locators to track the emergence of 

9 a disease in a population. 

10 SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

12 (b), assistance may be provided to an eligible developing 

13 country under any provision of this Act only if the govern14 ment of the eligible developing country— 

15 (1) permits personnel from the World Health 

16 Organization and the Centers for Disease Control 

17 and Prevention to investigate outbreaks of infectious 

18 diseases within the borders of such country; and 

19 (2) provides pathogen surveillance data to the 

20 appropriate agencies and departments of the United 

21 States and to international health organizations. 

22 (b) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the prohibi23 tion set out in subsection (a) if the Secretary determines 

24 that it is in the national interest of the United States to 

25 provide such a waiver. 
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1 SEC. 5. RESTRICTION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi3 sion of this Act, no foreign national participating in a pro4 gram authorized under this Act shall have access, during 

5 the course of such participation, to a select agent or toxin 

6 described in section 73.4 of title 42, Code of Federal Reg7 ulations (or any corresponding similar regulation) or an 

8 overlap select agent or toxin described in section 73.5 of 

9 such title (or any corresponding similar regulation) that 

10 may be used as, or in, a biological weapon, except in a 

11 supervised and controlled setting. 

12 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO REGULATIONS.—The restric13 tion set out in subsection (a) may not be construed to limit 

14 the ability of the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

15 to prescribe, through regulation, standards for the han16 dling of a select agent or toxin or an overlap select agent 

17 or toxin described in such subsection. 

18 SEC. 6. FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a fellow20 ship program under which the Secretary, in consultation 

21 with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and 

22 subject to the availability of appropriations, shall award 

23 fellowships to eligible nationals to pursue public health 

24 education or training, as follows: 

25 (1) MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH DEGREE.— 

26 Graduate courses of study leading to a master of 
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1 public health degree with a concentration in epidemi2 ology from an institution of higher education in the 

3 United States with a Center for Public Health Pre4 paredness, as determined by the Director of the Cen5 ters for Disease Control and Prevention. 

6 (2) ADVANCED PUBLIC HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY

7 TRAINING.—Advanced public health training in epi8 demiology for public health professionals from eligi9 ble developing countries to be carried out at the 

10 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an ap11 propriate facility of a State, or an appropriate facil12 ity of another agency or department of the United 

13 States (other than a facility of the Department of 

14 Defense or a national laboratory of the Department 

15 of Energy) for a period of not less than 6 months 

16 or more than 12 months. 

17 (b) SPECIALIZATION IN BIOTERRORISM.—In addition 

18 to the education or training specified in subsection (a), 

19 each recipient of a fellowship under this section (in this 

20 section referred to as a ‘‘fellow’’) may take courses of 

21 study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

22 or at an equivalent facility on diagnosis and containment 

23 of likely bioterrorism agents. 

24 (c) FELLOWSHIP AGREEMENT.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—A fellow shall enter into an 

2 agreement with the Secretary under which the fellow 

3 agrees— 

4 (A) to maintain satisfactory academic 

5 progress, as determined in accordance with reg6 ulations issued by the Secretary and confirmed 

7 in regularly scheduled updates to the Secretary 

8 from the institution providing the education or 

9 training on the progress of the fellow’s edu10 cation or training; 

11 (B) upon completion of such education or 

12 training, to return to the fellow’s country of na13 tionality or last habitual residence (so long as 

14 it is an eligible developing country) and com15 plete at least 4 years of employment in a public 

16 health position in the government or a non17 governmental, not-for-profit entity in that coun18 try or, with the approval of the Secretary, com19 plete part or all of this requirement through 

20 service with an international health organiza21 tion without geographic restriction; and 

22 (C) that, if the fellow is unable to meet the 

23 requirements described in subparagraph (A) or 

24 (B), the fellow shall reimburse the United 

25 States for the value of the assistance provided 
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1 to the fellow under the fellowship program, to2 gether with interest at a rate that— 

3 (i) is determined in accordance with 

4 regulations issued by the Secretary; and 

5 (ii) is not higher than the rate gen6 erally applied in connection with other 

7 Federal loans. 

8 (2) WAIVERS.—The Secretary may waive the 

9 application of subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph 

10 (1) if the Secretary determines that it is in the na11 tional interest of the United States to provide such 

12 a waiver. 

13 (d) AGREEMENT.—The Secretary, in consultation 

14 with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is au15 thorized to enter into an agreement with the government 

16 of an eligible developing country under which such govern17 ment agrees— 

18 (1) to establish a procedure for the nomination 

19 of eligible nationals for fellowships under this sec20 tion; 

21 (2) to guarantee that a fellow will be offered a 

22 professional public health position within the devel23 oping country upon completion of the fellow’s stud24 ies; and 
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1 (3) to submit to the Secretary a certification 

2 stating that a fellow has concluded the minimum pe3 riod of employment in a public health position re4 quired by the fellowship agreement, including an ex5 planation of how the requirement was met. 

6 (e) PARTICIPATION OF UNITED STATES CITIZENS.— 

7 On a case-by-case basis, the Secretary may provide for the 

8 participation of a citizen of the United States in the fel9 lowship program under the provisions of this section if— 

10 (1) the Secretary determines that it is in the 

11 national interest of the United States to provide for 

12 such participation; and 

13 (2) the citizen of the United States agrees to 

14 complete, at the conclusion of such participation, at 

15 least 5 years of employment in a public health posi16 tion in an eligible developing country or at an inter17 national health organization. 

18 (f) USE OF EXISTING PROGRAMS.—The Secretary, 

19 with the concurrence of the Secretary of Health and 

20 Human Services, may elect to use existing programs of 

21 the Department of Health and Human Services to provide 

22 the education and training described in subsection (a) if 

23 the requirements of subsections (b), (c), and (d) will be 

24 substantially met under such existing programs. 
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1 SEC. 7. IN-COUNTRY TRAINING IN LABORATORY TECH2 NIQUES AND DISEASE AND SYNDROME SUR3 VEILLANCE. 

4 (a) LABORATORY TECHNIQUES.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, after con6 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human 

7 Services and in conjunction with the Director of the 

8 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the 

9 Secretary of Defense, and subject to the availability 

10 of appropriations, shall provide assistance for short 

11 training courses for eligible nationals who are lab12 oratory technicians or other public health personnel 

13 in laboratory techniques relating to the identifica14 tion, diagnosis, and tracking of pathogens respon15 sible for possible infectious disease outbreaks. 

16 (2) LOCATION.—The training described in 

17 paragraph (1) shall be held outside the United 

18 States and may be conducted in facilities of the Cen19 ters for Disease Control and Prevention located in 

20 foreign countries or in Overseas Medical Research 

21 Units of the Department of Defense, as appropriate. 

22 (3) COORDINATION WITH EXISTING PRO23 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall coordinate the training 

24 described in paragraph (1), where appropriate, with 

25 existing programs and activities of international 

26 health organizations. 
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1 (b) DISEASE AND SYNDROME SURVEILLANCE.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, after con3 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human 

4 Services and in conjunction with the Director of the 

5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the 

6 Secretary of Defense and subject to the availability 

7 of appropriations, shall establish and provide assist8 ance for short training courses for eligible nationals 

9 who are health care providers or other public health 

10 personnel in techniques of disease and syndrome 

11 surveillance reporting and rapid analysis of syn12 drome information using Geographic Information 

13 System (GIS) tools. 

14 (2) LOCATION.—The training described in 

15 paragraph (1) shall be conducted via the Internet or 

16 in appropriate facilities located in a foreign country, 

17 as determined by the Secretary. 

18 (3) COORDINATION WITH EXISTING PRO19 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall coordinate the training 

20 described in paragraph (1), where appropriate, with 

21 existing programs and activities of international re22 gional and international health organizations. 
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1 SEC. 8. ASSISTANCE FOR THE PURCHASE AND MAINTE2 NANCE OF PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY 

3 EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES. 

4 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The President is authorized to 

5 provide, on such terms and conditions as the President 

6 may determine, assistance to eligible developing countries 

7 to purchase and maintain the public health laboratory 

8 equipment and supplies described in subsection (b). 

9 (b) EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES COVERED.—The 

10 equipment and supplies described in this subsection are 

11 equipment and supplies that are— 

12 (1) appropriate, to the extent possible, for use 

13 in the intended geographic area; 

14 (2) necessary to collect, analyze, and identify 

15 expeditiously a broad array of pathogens, including 

16 mutant strains, which may cause disease outbreaks 

17 or may be used in a biological weapon; 

18 (3) compatible with general standards set forth 

19 by the World Health Organization and, as appro20 priate, the Centers for Disease Control and Preven21 tion, to ensure interoperability with international re22 gional and international public health networks; and 

23 (4) not defense articles, defense services, or 

24 training, as such terms are defined in the Arms Ex25 port Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.). 
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1 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion shall be construed to exempt the exporting of goods 

3 and technology from compliance with applicable provisions 

4 of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (as in effect 

5 pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Pow6 ers Act; 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 

7 (d) LIMITATION.—Amounts appropriated to carry 

8 out this section shall not be made available for the pur9 chase from a foreign country of equipment or supplies 

10 that, if made in the United States, would be subject to 

11 the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) 

12 or likely be barred or subject to special conditions under 

13 the Export Administration Act of 1979 (as in effect pursu14 ant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; 

15 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 

16 (e) PROCUREMENT PREFERENCE.—In the use of 

17 grant funds authorized under subsection (a), preference 

18 should be given to the purchase of equipment and supplies 

19 of United States manufacture. The use of amounts appro20 priated to carry out this section shall be subject to section 

21 604 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

22 2354). 

23 (f) COUNTRY COMMITMENTS.—The assistance pro24 vided under this section for equipment and supplies may 

25 be provided only if the eligible developing country that re-
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1 ceives such equipment and supplies agrees to provide the 

2 infrastructure, technical personnel, and other resources re3 quired to house, maintain, support, secure, and maximize 

4 use of such equipment and supplies. 

5 SEC. 9. ASSISTANCE FOR IMPROVED COMMUNICATION OF 

6 PUBLIC HEALTH INFORMATION. 

7 (a) ASSISTANCE FOR PURCHASE OF COMMUNICATION

8 EQUIPMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.—The 

9 President is authorized to provide, on such terms and con10 ditions as the President may determine, assistance to eligi11 ble developing countries to purchase and maintain the 

12 communications equipment and information technology 

13 described in subsection (b), and the supporting equipment, 

14 necessary to effectively collect, analyze, and transmit pub15 lic health information. 

16 (b) COVERED EQUIPMENT.—The communications 

17 equipment and information technology described in this 

18 subsection are communications equipment and informa19 tion technology that— 

20 (1) are suitable for use under the particular 

21 conditions of the area of intended use; 

22 (2) meet the standards set forth by the World 

23 Health Organization and, as appropriate, the Sec24 retary of Health and Human Services, to ensure 
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1 interoperability with like equipment of other coun2 tries and international organizations; and 

3 (3) are not defense articles, defense services, or 

4 training, as those terms are defined in the Arms Ex5 port Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.). 

6 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec7 tion shall be construed to exempt the exporting of goods 

8 and technology from compliance with applicable provisions 

9 of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (as in effect 

10 pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Pow11 ers Act; 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 

12 (d) LIMITATION.—Amounts appropriated to carry 

13 out this section shall not be made available for the pur14 chase from a foreign country of communications equip15 ment or information technology that, if made in the 

16 United States, would be subject to the Arms Export Con17 trol Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) or likely be barred or 

18 subject to special conditions under the Export Administra19 tion Act of 1979 (as in effect pursuant to the Inter20 national Emergency Economic Powers Act; 50 U.S.C. 

21 1701 et seq.). 

22 (e) PROCUREMENT PREFERENCE.—In the use of 

23 grant funds under subsection (a), preference should be 

24 given to the purchase of communications equipment and 

25 information technology of United States manufacture. The 
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1 use of amounts appropriated to carry out this section shall 

2 be subject to section 604 of the Foreign Assistance Act 

3 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2354). 

4 (f) ASSISTANCE FOR STANDARDIZATION OF REPORT5 ING.—The President is authorized to provide, on such 

6 terms and conditions as the President may determine, 

7 technical assistance and grant assistance to international 

8 health organizations to facilitate standardization in the re9 porting of public health information between and among 

10 developing countries and international health organiza11 tions. 

12 (g) COUNTRY COMMITMENTS.—The assistance pro13 vided under this section for communications equipment 

14 and information technology may be provided only if the 

15 eligible developing country that receives such equipment 

16 and technology agrees to provide the infrastructure, tech17 nical personnel, and other resources required to house, 

18 maintain, support, secure, and maximize use of such 

19 equipment and technology. 

20 SEC. 10. ASSIGNMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH PERSONNEL TO 

21 UNITED STATES MISSIONS AND INTER22 NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Upon the request of the chief of 

24 a diplomatic mission of the United States or of the head 

25 of an international regional or international health organi-
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1 zation, and with the concurrence of the Secretary and of 

2 the employee concerned, the head of an agency or depart3 ment of the United States may assign to the mission or 

4 the organization any officer or employee of the agency or 

5 department that occupies a public health position within 

6 the agency or department for the purpose of enhancing 

7 disease and pathogen surveillance efforts in developing 

8 countries. 

9 (b) REIMBURSEMENT.—The costs incurred by an 

10 agency or department of the United States by reason of 

11 the detail of personnel under subsection (a) may be reim12 bursed to that agency or department out of the applicable 

13 appropriations account of the Department of State if the 

14 Secretary determines that the agency or department may 

15 otherwise be unable to assign such personnel on a non16 reimbursable basis. 

17 SEC. 11. EXPANSION OF CERTAIN UNITED STATES GOVERN18 MENT LABORATORIES ABROAD. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap20 propriations, the Director of the Centers for Disease Con21 trol and Prevention and the Secretary of Defense shall 

22 each— 

23 (1) increase the number of personnel assigned 

24 to laboratories of the Centers for Disease Control 

25 and Prevention or the Department of Defense, as 
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1 appropriate, located in eligible developing countries 

2 that conduct research and other activities with re3 spect to infectious diseases; and 

4 (2) expand the operations of such laboratories, 

5 especially with respect to the implementation of on6 site training of foreign nationals and activities af7 fecting the region in which the country is located. 

8 (b) COOPERATION AND COORDINATION BETWEEN

9 LABORATORIES.—Subsection (a) shall be carried out in 

10 such a manner as to foster cooperation and avoid duplica11 tion between and among laboratories. 

12 (c) RELATION TO CORE MISSIONS AND SECURITY.— 

13 The expansion of the operations of the laboratories of the 

14 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Depart15 ment of Defense located in foreign countries under this 

16 section may not— 

17 (1) detract from the established core missions 

18 of the laboratories; or 

19 (2) compromise the security of those labora20 tories, as well as their research, equipment, exper21 tise, and materials. 
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1 SEC. 12. ASSISTANCE FOR INTERNATIONAL HEALTH NET2 WORKS AND EXPANSION OF FIELD EPIDEMI3 OLOGY TRAINING PROGRAMS. 

4 (a) AUTHORITY.—The President is authorized, on 

5 such terms and conditions as the President may deter6 mine, to provide assistance for the purposes of— 

7 (1) enhancing the surveillance and reporting ca8 pabilities for the World Health Organization and ex9 isting international regional and international health 

10 networks; and 

11 (2) developing new international regional and 

12 international health networks. 

13 (b) EXPANSION OF FIELD EPIDEMIOLOGY TRAINING

14 PROGRAMS.—The Secretary of Health and Human Serv15 ices is authorized to establish new country or regional 

16 international Field Epidemiology Training Programs in el17 igible developing countries. 

18 SEC. 13. FOREIGN BIOLOGICAL THREAT DETECTION AND 

19 WARNING. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall establish the 

21 Office of Foreign Biological Threat Detection and Warn22 ing within either the Department of Defense, the Central 

23 Intelligence Agency, or the Centers for Disease Control 

24 and Prevention with the technical ability to conduct event 

25 detection and rapid threat assessment related to biological 

26 threats in foreign countries. 
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1 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Office of For2 eign Biological Threat Detection and Warning shall be— 

3 (1) to integrate public health, medical, agricul4 tural, societal, and intelligence indications and warn5 ings to identify in advance the emergence of a 

6 transnational biological threat; 

7 (2) to provide rapid threat assessment capa8 bility to the appropriate agencies or departments of 

9 the United States that is not dependent on access 

10 to— 

11 (A) a specific biological agent; 

12 (B) the area in which such agent is 

13 present; or 

14 (C) information related to the means of in15 troduction of such agent; and 

16 (3) to build the information visibility and deci17 sion support activities required for appropriate and 

18 timely information distribution and threat response. 

19 (c) TECHNOLOGY.—The Office of Foreign Biological 

20 Threat Detection and Warning shall employ technologies 

21 similar to, but no less capable than, those used by the In22 telligence Technology Innovation Center (ITIC) within the 

23 Directorate of Science and Technology of the Central In24 telligence Agency to conduct real-time, prospective, auto-
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1 mated threat assessments that employ social disruption 

2 factors. 

3 (d) EVENT DETECTION DEFINED.—In this section, 

4 the term ‘‘event detection’’ refers to the real-time and 

5 rapid recognition of a possible biological event that has 

6 appeared in a community and that could have national se7 curity implications, regardless of whether the event is 

8 caused by natural, accidental, or intentional means and 

9 includes scrutiny of such possible biological event by ana10 lysts utilizing classified and unclassified information. 

11 SEC. 14. REPORTS. 

12 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

13 of this Act, the Secretary, in conjunction with the Sec14 retary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary 

15 of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report on the im16 plementation of programs under this Act, including an es17 timate of the level of funding required to carry out such 

18 programs at a sufficient level. 

19 SEC. 15. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Subject 

21 to subsection (c), there is authorized to be appropriated 

22 for fiscal year 2006 such sums as may be necessary to 

23 carry out this Act. 
29 

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1 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—The amount appro2 priated pursuant to subsection (a) is authorized to remain 

3 available until expended. 

4 (c) LIMITATION ON OBLIGATION OF FUNDS.—Not 

5 more than 10 percent of the amount appropriated pursu6 ant to subsection (a) may be obligated before the date on 

7 which a report is submitted, or required to be submitted, 

8 whichever first occurs, under section 14. 

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