109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 2170

AN ACT

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’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings:

4 (1) The frequency of the occurrence of biologi5 cal events that could threaten the national security

6 of the United States has increased and is likely in7 creasing. The threat to the United States from such

8 events includes threats from diseases that infect hu9 mans, animals, or plants regardless of if such dis10 eases are introduced naturally, accidentally, or inten11 tionally.

12 (2) The United States lacks an effective and

13 real-time system to detect, identify, contain, and re14 spond to global threats and also lacks an effective

15 mechanism to disseminate information to the na16 tional response community if such threats arise.

17 (3) Bioterrorism poses a grave national security

18 threat to the United States. The insidious nature of

19 a bioterrorist attack, the likelihood that the recogni20 tion of such an attack would be delayed, and the

21 underpreparedness of the domestic public health in22 frastructure to respond to such an attack could re23 sult in catastrophic consequences following a biologi24 cal weapons attack against the United States.

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

26 organization is carrying out a covert biological weap-
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1 ons programs is dependent on a number of indica2 tions and warnings. A critical component of this rec3 ognition is the timely detection of sentinel events

4 such as laboratory accidents and community-level

5 outbreaks that could be the earliest indication of an

6 emerging bioterrorist program in a foreign country.

7 Early detection of such events may enable earlier

8 counterproliferation intervention.

9 (5) A contagious pathogen engineered as a bio10 logical weapon and developed, tested, produced, or

11 released in a foreign country could quickly spread to

12 the United States. Considering the realities of inter13 national travel, trade, and migration patterns, a

14 dangerous pathogen appearing naturally, acciden15 tally, or intentionally anywhere in the world can

16 spread to the United States in a matter of days, be17 fore any effective quarantine or isolation measures

18 could be implemented.

19 (6) To combat bioterrorism effectively and en20 sure that the United States is fully prepared to pre21 vent, recognize, and contain a biological weapons at22 tack, or emerging infectious disease, measures to

23 strengthen the domestic public health infrastructure

24 and improve domestic event detection, surveillance,
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1 and response, while absolutely essential, are not suf2 ficient.

3 (7) The United States should enhance coopera4 tion with the World Health Organization, regional

5 international health organizations, and individual

6 countries, including data sharing with appropriate

7 agencies and departments of the United States, to

8 help detect and quickly contain infectious disease

9 outbreaks or a bioterrorism agent before such a dis10 ease or agent is spread.

11 (8) The World Health Organization has done

12 an impressive job in monitoring infectious disease

13 outbreaks around the world, particularly with the es14 tablishment in April 2000 of the Global Outbreak

15 Alert and Response Network.

16 (9) The capabilities of the World Health Orga17 nization depend on the quality of the data and infor18 mation the Organization receives from the countries

19 that are members of the Organization and is further

20 limited by the narrow list of diseases (such as

21 plague, cholera, and yellow fever) on which such sur22 veillance and monitoring is based and by the con23 sensus process used by the Organization to add new

24 diseases to the list. Developing countries, in par25 ticular, often are unable to devote the necessary re-
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1 sources to build and maintain public health infra2 structures.

3 (10) In particular, developing countries could

4 benefit from—

5 (A) better trained public health profes6 sionals and epidemiologists to recognize disease

7 patterns;

8 (B) appropriate laboratory equipment for

9 diagnosis of pathogens;

10 (C) disease reporting systems that—

11 (i) are based on disease and syndrome

12 surveillance; and

13 (ii) could enable an effective response

14 to a biological event to begin at the earliest

15 possible opportunity;

16 (D) a narrowing of the existing technology

17 gap in disease and syndrome surveillance capa18 bilities, based on reported symptoms, and real19 time information dissemination to public health

20 officials; and

21 (E) appropriate communications equip22 ment and information technology to efficiently

23 transmit information and data within national,

24 international regional, and international health

25 networks, including inexpensive, Internet-based
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1 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and rel2 evant telephone-based systems for early recogni3 tion and diagnosis of diseases.

4 (11) An effective international capability to de5 tect, monitor, and quickly diagnose infectious disease

6 outbreaks will offer dividends not only in the event

7 of biological weapons development, testing, produc8 tion, and attack, but also in the more likely cases of

9 naturally occurring infectious disease outbreaks that

10 could threaten the United States. Furthermore, a

11 robust surveillance system will serve to deter, pre12 vent, or contain terrorist use of biological weapons,

13 mitigating the intended effects of such malevolent

14 uses.

15 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol16 lows:

17 (1) To provide the United States with an effec18 tive and real-time system to detect biological threats

19 that—

20 (A) utilizes classified and unclassified in21 formation to detect such threats; and

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

23 agricultural domestic disease response commu24 nity.
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1 (2) To enhance the capability of the inter2 national community, through the World Health Or3 ganization and individual countries, to detect, iden4 tify, and contain infectious disease outbreaks, wheth5 er the cause of those outbreaks is intentional human

6 action or natural in origin.

7 (3) To enhance the training of public health

8 professionals and epidemiologists from eligible devel9 oping countries in advanced Internet-based disease

10 and syndrome surveillance systems, in addition to

11 traditional epidemiology methods, so that such pro12 fessionals and epidemiologists may better detect, di13 agnose, and contain infectious disease outbreaks, es14 pecially such outbreaks caused by the pathogens that

15 may be likely to be used in a biological weapons at16 tack.

17 (4) To provide assistance to developing coun18 tries to purchase appropriate communications equip19 ment and information technology to detect, analyze,

20 and report biological threats, including—

21 (A) relevant computer equipment, Internet

22 connectivity mechanisms, and telephone-based

23 applications to effectively gather, analyze, and

24 transmit public health information for infec25 tious disease surveillance and diagnosis; and
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1 (B) appropriate computer equipment and

2 Internet connectivity mechanisms—

3 (i) to facilitate the exchange of Geo4 graphic Information Systems-based disease

5 and syndrome surveillance information;

6 and

7 (ii) to effectively gather, analyze, and

8 transmit public health information for in9 fectious disease surveillance and diagnosis.

10 (5) To make available greater numbers of pub11 lic health professionals who are employed by the

12 Government of the United States to international re13 gional and international health organizations, inter14 national regional and international health networks,

15 and United States diplomatic missions, as appro16 priate.

17 (6) To expand the training and outreach activi18 ties of United States laboratories located in foreign

19 countries, including the Centers for Disease Control

20 and Prevention or Department of Defense labora21 tories, to enhance the public health capabilities of

22 developing countries.

23 (7) To provide appropriate technical assistance

24 to existing international regional and international

25 health networks and, as appropriate, seed money for
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1 new international regional and international net2 works.

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

4 In this Act:

5 (1) ELIGIBLE DEVELOPING COUNTRY.—The

6 term ‘‘eligible developing country’’ means any devel7 oping country that—

8 (A) has agreed to the objective of fully

9 complying with requirements of the World

10 Health Organization on reporting public health

11 information on outbreaks of infectious diseases;

12 (B) has not been determined by the Sec13 retary, for purposes of section 40 of the Arms

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

15 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961

16 (22 U.S.C. 2371), or section 6(j) of the Export

17 Administration Act of 1979 (as in effect pursu18 ant to the International Emergency Economic

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

20 repeatedly provided support for acts of inter21 national terrorism, unless the Secretary exer22 cises a waiver certifying that it is in the na23 tional interest of the United States to provide

24 assistance under the provisions of this Act; and
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1 (C) is a party to the Convention on the

2 Prohibition of the Development, Production and

3 Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and

4 Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, done

5 at Washington, London, and Moscow April 10,

6 1972 (26 UST 583).

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

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

9 developing country who—

10 (A) does not have a criminal background;

11 (B) is not on any immigration or other

12 United States watch list; and

13 (C) is not affiliated with any foreign ter14 rorist organization.

15 (3) INTERNATIONAL HEALTH ORGANIZATION.—

16 The term ‘‘international health organization’’ in17 cludes the World Health Organization, regional of18 fices of the World Health Organization, and inter19 national health organizations, such as the Pan

20 American Health Organization.

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

22 means a facility for the biological, microbiological,

23 serological, chemical, immuno-hematological,

24 hematological, biophysical, cytological, pathological,

25 or other medical examination of materials derived
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1 from the human body for the purpose of providing

2 information for the diagnosis, prevention, or treat3 ment of any disease or impairment of, or the assess4 ment of the health of, human beings.

5 (5) SECRETARY.—Unless otherwise provided,

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

7 (6) DISEASE AND SYNDROME SURVEILLANCE.—

8 The term ‘‘disease and syndrome surveillance’’

9 means the recording of clinician-reported symptoms

10 (patient complaints) and signs (derived from phys11 ical examination and laboratory data) combined with

12 simple geographic locators to track the emergence of

13 a disease in a population.

14 SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE.

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

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

17 country under any provision of this Act only if the govern18 ment of the eligible developing country—

19 (1) permits personnel from the World Health

20 Organization and the Centers for Disease Control

21 and Prevention to investigate outbreaks of infectious

22 diseases within the borders of such country; and

23 (2) provides pathogen surveillance data to the

24 appropriate agencies and departments of the United

25 States and to international health organizations.
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1 (b) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the prohibi2 tion set out in subsection (a) if the Secretary determines

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

4 provide such a waiver.

5 SEC. 5. RESTRICTION.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi7 sion of this Act, no foreign national participating in a pro8 gram authorized under this Act shall have access, during

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

10 described in section 73.4 of title 42, Code of Federal Reg11 ulations (or any corresponding similar regulation) or an

12 overlap select agent or toxin described in section 73.5 of

13 such title (or any corresponding similar regulation) that

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

15 supervised and controlled setting.

16 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO REGULATIONS.—The restric17 tion set out in subsection (a) may not be construed to limit

18 the ability of the Secretary of Health and Human Services

19 to prescribe, through regulation, standards for the han20 dling of a select agent or toxin or an overlap select agent

21 or toxin described in such subsection.

22 SEC. 6. FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.

23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a fellow24 ship program under which the Secretary, in consultation

25 with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and
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1 subject to the availability of appropriations, shall award

2 fellowships to eligible nationals to pursue public health

3 education or training, as follows:

4 (1) MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH DEGREE.—

5 Graduate courses of study leading to a master of

6 public health degree with a concentration in epidemi7 ology from an institution of higher education in the

8 United States with a Center for Public Health Pre9 paredness, as determined by the Director of the Cen10 ters for Disease Control and Prevention.

11 (2) ADVANCED PUBLIC HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY

12 TRAINING.—Advanced public health training in epi13 demiology for public health professionals from eligi14 ble developing countries to be carried out at the

15 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an ap16 propriate facility of a State, or an appropriate facil17 ity of another agency or department of the United

18 States (other than a facility of the Department of

19 Defense or a national laboratory of the Department

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

21 or more than 12 months.

22 (b) SPECIALIZATION IN BIOTERRORISM.—In addition

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

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

25 section referred to as a ‘‘fellow’’) may take courses of
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1 study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

2 or at an equivalent facility on diagnosis and containment

3 of likely bioterrorism agents.

4 (c) FELLOWSHIP AGREEMENT.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—A fellow shall enter into an

6 agreement with the Secretary under which the fellow

7 agrees—

8 (A) to maintain satisfactory academic

9 progress, as determined in accordance with reg10 ulations issued by the Secretary and confirmed

11 in regularly scheduled updates to the Secretary

12 from the institution providing the education or

13 training on the progress of the fellow’s edu14 cation or training;

15 (B) upon completion of such education or

16 training, to return to the fellow’s country of na17 tionality or last habitual residence (so long as

18 it is an eligible developing country) and com19 plete at least 4 years of employment in a public

20 health position in the government or a non21 governmental, not-for-profit entity in that coun22 try or, with the approval of the Secretary, com23 plete part or all of this requirement through

24 service with an international health organiza25 tion without geographic restriction; and
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1 (C) that, if the fellow is unable to meet the

2 requirements described in subparagraph (A) or

3 (B), the fellow shall reimburse the United

4 States for the value of the assistance provided

5 to the fellow under the fellowship program, to6 gether with interest at a rate that—

7 (i) is determined in accordance with

8 regulations issued by the Secretary; and

9 (ii) is not higher than the rate gen10 erally applied in connection with other

11 Federal loans.

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

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

14 (1) if the Secretary determines that it is in the na15 tional interest of the United States to provide such

16 a waiver.

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

18 with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is au19 thorized to enter into an agreement with the government

20 of an eligible developing country under which such govern21 ment agrees—

22 (1) to establish a procedure for the nomination

23 of eligible nationals for fellowships under this sec24 tion;
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1 (2) to guarantee that a fellow will be offered a

2 professional public health position within the devel3 oping country upon completion of the fellow’s stud4 ies; and

5 (3) to submit to the Secretary a certification

6 stating that a fellow has concluded the minimum pe7 riod of employment in a public health position re8 quired by the fellowship agreement, including an ex9 planation of how the requirement was met.

10 (e) PARTICIPATION OF UNITED STATES CITIZENS.—

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

12 participation of a citizen of the United States in the fel13 lowship program under the provisions of this section if—

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

15 national interest of the United States to provide for

16 such participation; and

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

18 complete, at the conclusion of such participation, at

19 least 5 years of employment in a public health posi20 tion in an eligible developing country or at an inter21 national health organization.

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

23 with the concurrence of the Secretary of Health and

24 Human Services, may elect to use existing programs of

25 the Department of Health and Human Services to provide
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1 the education and training described in subsection (a) if

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

3 substantially met under such existing programs.

4 SEC. 7. IN-COUNTRY TRAINING IN LABORATORY TECH5 NIQUES AND DISEASE AND SYNDROME SUR6 VEILLANCE.

7 (a) LABORATORY TECHNIQUES.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, after con9 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human

10 Services and in conjunction with the Director of the

11 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the

12 Secretary of Defense, and subject to the availability

13 of appropriations, shall provide assistance for short

14 training courses for eligible nationals who are lab15 oratory technicians or other public health personnel

16 in laboratory techniques relating to the identifica17 tion, diagnosis, and tracking of pathogens respon18 sible for possible infectious disease outbreaks.

19 (2) LOCATION.—The training described in

20 paragraph (1) shall be held outside the United

21 States and may be conducted in facilities of the Cen22 ters for Disease Control and Prevention located in

23 foreign countries or in Overseas Medical Research

24 Units of the Department of Defense, as appropriate.
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1 (3) COORDINATION WITH EXISTING PRO2 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall coordinate the training

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

4 existing programs and activities of international

5 health organizations.

6 (b) DISEASE AND SYNDROME SURVEILLANCE.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, after con8 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human

9 Services and in conjunction with the Director of the

10 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the

11 Secretary of Defense and subject to the availability

12 of appropriations, shall establish and provide assist13 ance for short training courses for eligible nationals

14 who are health care providers or other public health

15 personnel in techniques of disease and syndrome

16 surveillance reporting and rapid analysis of syn17 drome information using Geographic Information

18 System (GIS) tools.

19 (2) LOCATION.—The training described in

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

21 in appropriate facilities located in a foreign country,

22 as determined by the Secretary.

23 (3) COORDINATION WITH EXISTING PRO24 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall coordinate the training

25 described in paragraph (1), where appropriate, with
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1 existing programs and activities of international re2 gional and international health organizations.

3 SEC. 8. ASSISTANCE FOR THE PURCHASE AND MAINTE4 NANCE OF PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY

5 EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES.

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

7 provide, on such terms and conditions as the President

8 may determine, assistance to eligible developing countries

9 to purchase and maintain the public health laboratory

10 equipment and supplies described in subsection (b).

11 (b) EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES COVERED.—The

12 equipment and supplies described in this subsection are

13 equipment and supplies that are—

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

15 in the intended geographic area;

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

17 expeditiously a broad array of pathogens, including

18 mutant strains, which may cause disease outbreaks

19 or may be used in a biological weapon;

20 (3) compatible with general standards set forth

21 by the World Health Organization and, as appro22 priate, the Centers for Disease Control and Preven23 tion, to ensure interoperability with international re24 gional and international public health networks; and
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1 (4) not defense articles, defense services, or

2 training, as such terms are defined in the Arms Ex3 port Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.).

4 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec5 tion shall be construed to exempt the exporting of goods

6 and technology from compliance with applicable provisions

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

8 pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Pow9 ers Act; 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).

10 (d) LIMITATION.—Amounts appropriated to carry

11 out this section shall not be made available for the pur12 chase from a foreign country of equipment or supplies

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

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

15 or likely be barred or subject to special conditions under

16 the Export Administration Act of 1979 (as in effect pursu17 ant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act;

18 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).

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

20 grant funds authorized under subsection (a), preference

21 should be given to the purchase of equipment and supplies

22 of United States manufacture. The use of amounts appro23 priated to carry out this section shall be subject to section

24 604 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.

25 2354).
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1 (f) COUNTRY COMMITMENTS.—The assistance pro2 vided under this section for equipment and supplies may

3 be provided only if the eligible developing country that re4 ceives such equipment and supplies agrees to provide the

5 infrastructure, technical personnel, and other resources re6 quired to house, maintain, support, secure, and maximize

7 use of such equipment and supplies.

8 SEC. 9. ASSISTANCE FOR IMPROVED COMMUNICATION OF

9 PUBLIC HEALTH INFORMATION.

10 (a) ASSISTANCE FOR PURCHASE OF COMMUNICATION

11 EQUIPMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.—The

12 President is authorized to provide, on such terms and con13 ditions as the President may determine, assistance to eligi14 ble developing countries to purchase and maintain the

15 communications equipment and information technology

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

17 necessary to effectively collect, analyze, and transmit pub18 lic health information.

19 (b) COVERED EQUIPMENT.—The communications

20 equipment and information technology described in this

21 subsection are communications equipment and informa22 tion technology that—

23 (1) are suitable for use under the particular

24 conditions of the area of intended use;
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1 (2) meet the standards set forth by the World

2 Health Organization and, as appropriate, the Sec3 retary of Health and Human Services, to ensure

4 interoperability with like equipment of other coun5 tries and international organizations; and

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

7 training, as those terms are defined in the Arms Ex8 port Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.).

9 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec10 tion shall be construed to exempt the exporting of goods

11 and technology from compliance with applicable provisions

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

13 pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Pow14 ers Act; 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).

15 (d) LIMITATION.—Amounts appropriated to carry

16 out this section shall not be made available for the pur17 chase from a foreign country of communications equip18 ment or information technology that, if made in the

19 United States, would be subject to the Arms Export Con20 trol Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) or likely be barred or

21 subject to special conditions under the Export Administra22 tion Act of 1979 (as in effect pursuant to the Inter23 national Emergency Economic Powers Act; 50 U.S.C.

24 1701 et seq.).
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1 (e) PROCUREMENT PREFERENCE.—In the use of

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

3 given to the purchase of communications equipment and

4 information technology of United States manufacture. The

5 use of amounts appropriated to carry out this section shall

6 be subject to section 604 of the Foreign Assistance Act

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

8 (f) ASSISTANCE FOR STANDARDIZATION OF REPORT9 ING.—The President is authorized to provide, on such

10 terms and conditions as the President may determine,

11 technical assistance and grant assistance to international

12 health organizations to facilitate standardization in the re13 porting of public health information between and among

14 developing countries and international health organiza15 tions.

16 (g) COUNTRY COMMITMENTS.—The assistance pro17 vided under this section for communications equipment

18 and information technology may be provided only if the

19 eligible developing country that receives such equipment

20 and technology agrees to provide the infrastructure, tech21 nical personnel, and other resources required to house,

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

23 equipment and technology.
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1 SEC. 10. ASSIGNMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH PERSONNEL TO

2 UNITED STATES MISSIONS AND INTER3 NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

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

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

6 of an international regional or international health organi7 zation, and with the concurrence of the Secretary and of

8 the employee concerned, the head of an agency or depart9 ment of the United States may assign to the mission or

10 the organization any officer or employee of the agency or

11 department that occupies a public health position within

12 the agency or department for the purpose of enhancing

13 disease and pathogen surveillance efforts in developing

14 countries.

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

16 agency or department of the United States by reason of

17 the detail of personnel under subsection (a) may be reim18 bursed to that agency or department out of the applicable

19 appropriations account of the Department of State if the

20 Secretary determines that the agency or department may

21 otherwise be unable to assign such personnel on a non22 reimbursable basis.

23 SEC. 11. EXPANSION OF CERTAIN UNITED STATES GOVERN24 MENT LABORATORIES ABROAD.

25 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap26 propriations, the Director of the Centers for Disease Con-
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1 trol and Prevention and the Secretary of Defense shall

2 each—

3 (1) increase the number of personnel assigned

4 to laboratories of the Centers for Disease Control

5 and Prevention or the Department of Defense, as

6 appropriate, located in eligible developing countries

7 that conduct research and other activities with re8 spect to infectious diseases; and

9 (2) expand the operations of such laboratories,

10 especially with respect to the implementation of on11 site training of foreign nationals and activities af12 fecting the region in which the country is located.

13 (b) COOPERATION AND COORDINATION BETWEEN

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

15 such a manner as to foster cooperation and avoid duplica16 tion between and among laboratories.

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

18 The expansion of the operations of the laboratories of the

19 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Depart20 ment of Defense located in foreign countries under this

21 section may not—

22 (1) detract from the established core missions

23 of the laboratories; or
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1 (2) compromise the security of those labora2 tories, as well as their research, equipment, exper3 tise, and materials.

4 SEC. 12. ASSISTANCE FOR INTERNATIONAL HEALTH NET5 WORKS AND EXPANSION OF FIELD EPIDEMI6 OLOGY TRAINING PROGRAMS.

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

8 such terms and conditions as the President may deter9 mine, to provide assistance for the purposes of—

10 (1) enhancing the surveillance and reporting ca11 pabilities for the World Health Organization and ex12 isting international regional and international health

13 networks; and

14 (2) developing new international regional and

15 international health networks.

16 (b) EXPANSION OF FIELD EPIDEMIOLOGY TRAINING

17 PROGRAMS.—The Secretary of Health and Human Serv18 ices is authorized to establish new country or regional

19 international Field Epidemiology Training Programs in el20 igible developing countries.

21 SEC. 13. FOREIGN BIOLOGICAL THREAT DETECTION AND

22 WARNING.

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

24 Office of Foreign Biological Threat Detection and Warn25 ing within either the Department of Defense, the Central
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1 Intelligence Agency, or the Centers for Disease Control

2 and Prevention with the technical ability to conduct event

3 detection and rapid threat assessment related to biological

4 threats in foreign countries.

5 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Office of For6 eign Biological Threat Detection and Warning shall be—

7 (1) to integrate public health, medical, agricul8 tural, societal, and intelligence indications and warn9 ings to identify in advance the emergence of a

10 transnational biological threat;

11 (2) to provide rapid threat assessment capa12 bility to the appropriate agencies or departments of

13 the United States that is not dependent on access

14 to—

15 (A) a specific biological agent;

16 (B) the area in which such agent is

17 present; or

18 (C) information related to the means of in19 troduction of such agent; and

20 (3) to build the information visibility and deci21 sion support activities required for appropriate and

22 timely information distribution and threat response.

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

24 Threat Detection and Warning shall employ technologies

25 similar to, but no less capable than, those used by the In-
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1 telligence Technology Innovation Center (ITIC) within the

2 Directorate of Science and Technology of the Central In3 telligence Agency to conduct real-time, prospective, auto4 mated threat assessments that employ social disruption

5 factors.

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

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

8 rapid recognition of a possible biological event that has

9 appeared in a community and that could have national se10 curity implications, regardless of whether the event is

11 caused by natural, accidental, or intentional means and

12 includes scrutiny of such possible biological event by ana13 lysts utilizing classified and unclassified information.

14 SEC. 14. REPORTS.

15 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment

16 of this Act, the Secretary, in conjunction with the Sec17 retary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary

18 of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report on the im19 plementation of programs under this Act, including an es20 timate of the level of funding required to carry out such

21 programs at a sufficient level.

22 SEC. 15. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

23 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Subject

24 to subsection (c), there is authorized to be appropriated
†

29

S 2170 ES

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

2 carry out this Act.

3 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—The amount appro4 priated pursuant to subsection (a) is authorized to remain

5 available until expended.

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

7 more than 10 percent of the amount appropriated pursu8 ant to subsection (a) may be obligated before the date on

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

10 whichever first occurs, under section 14.

Passed the Senate December 21, 2005.

Attest:

Secretary.
109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 2170

AN ACT

To provide for global pathogen surveillance and

response.