I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1625 

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2021 

Mr. CRAWFORD (for himself, Mr. TURNER, Mr. WENSTRUP, Mr. STEWART, 

Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. BACON, Mr. 

BAIRD, Mr. JACOBS of New York, and Mr. BALDERSON) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and 

in addition to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF INTELLIGENCE IN 

2 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of the Depart5 ment of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 

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

7 end the following: 

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

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

10 Department an Office of Intelligence. The Office shall be 

11 under the National Intelligence Program. 

12 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.— 

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

14 by the Director of the Office of Intelligence, who 

15 shall be an employee in the Senior Executive Service 

16 and who shall be appointed by the Secretary. The 

17 Director shall report directly to the Secretary. 

18 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Secretary shall se19 lect an individual to serve as the Director from 

20 among individuals who have significant experience 

21 serving in the intelligence community. 

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

23 fix the compensation of such staff as the Director 

24 considers appropriate, except that the Director may 

25 not appoint more than 5 full-time equivalent posi26 tions at an annual rate of pay equal to or greater 


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

2 the General Schedule. 

3 ‘‘(4) DETAIL OF PERSONNEL OF INTELLIGENCE

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

5 head of an element of the intelligence community 

6 may detail any of the personnel of such element to 

7 assist the Office in carrying out its duties. Any per8 sonnel detailed to assist the Office shall not be taken 

9 into account in determining the number of full-time 

10 equivalent positions of the Office under paragraph 

11 (3). 

12 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The Office shall carry out the fol13 lowing duties: 

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

15 leveraging the capabilities of the intelligence commu16 nity and National Laboratories intelligence-related 

17 research, to ensure that the Secretary is fully in18 formed of threats by foreign actors to United States 

19 agriculture. 

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

21 foreign efforts to— 

22 ‘‘(A) steal United States agriculture knowl23 edge and technology; and 

24 ‘‘(B) develop or implement biological war25 fare attacks, cyber or clandestine operations, or 


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1 other means of sabotaging and disrupting 

2 United States agriculture. 

3 ‘‘(3) The Office shall prepare, conduct, and fa4 cilitate intelligence briefings for the Secretary and 

5 appropriate officials of the Department. 

6 ‘‘(4) The Office shall operate as the liaison be7 tween the Secretary and the intelligence community, 

8 with the authority to request intelligence collection 

9 and analysis on matters related to United States ag10 riculture. 

11 ‘‘(5) The Office shall collaborate with the intel12 ligence community to downgrade intelligence assess13 ments for broader dissemination within the Depart14 ment. 

15 ‘‘(6) The Office shall facilitate sharing informa16 tion on foreign activities related to agriculture, as 

17 acquired by the Department with the intelligence 

18 community. 

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

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

21 for fiscal year 2021. 

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

23 definitions apply: 


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

2 the Office of Intelligence appointed under subsection 

3 (b). 

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

5 ‘National Intelligence Program’ have the meaning 

6 given such terms in section 3 of the National Secu7 rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003). 

8 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Office’ means the Office of In9 telligence of the Department established under sub10 section (a).’’. 

11 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

12 (A) Subtitle A of the Department of Agri13 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 is amended 

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

15 as section 224A. 

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

17 Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 

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

19 end the following: 

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

21 out section 224B.’’. 

22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO EX23 ISTING FUNCTIONS AND AUTHORITIES.— 

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1 TELLIGENCE ON THREATS TO FOOD AND AGRI2 CULTURE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.— 

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

4 Act (7 U.S.C. 6922(d)) is amended— 

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

6 and 

7 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (6) 

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

9 respectively. 

10 (B) TRANSFER OF RELATED PERSONNEL

11 AND ASSETS OF OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECU12 RITY.—The functions which the Office of 

13 Homeland Security of the Department of Agri14 culture exercised under paragraphs (4) and (5) 

15 of section 221(d) of the Department of Agri16 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 

17 6922(d)) before the effective date of this para18 graph, together with the funds, assets, and 

19 other resources used by the Director of the Of20 fice of Homeland Security of the Department of 

21 Agriculture to carry out such functions before 

22 the effective date of this paragraph, are trans23 ferred to the Director of the Office of Intel24 ligence of the Department of Agriculture. 


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1 (2) CARRYING OUT INTERAGENCY EXCHANGE

2 PROGRAM FOR DEFENSE OF FOOD AND AGRI3 CULTURE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.— 

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

5 amended by adding at the end the following new 

6 paragraph: 

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

8 INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE.—The 

9 Secretary shall carry out this subsection acting 

10 through the Director of the Office of Intelligence of 

11 the Department.’’. 

12 (3) COORDINATING WITH INTELLIGENCE COM13 MUNITY ON POTENTIAL THREATS TO AGRI14 CULTURE.—Section 335(a)(3) of the Public Health 

15 Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Re16 sponse Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 3354(a)(3)) is amend17 ed by striking ‘‘strengthen coordination’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘acting through the Director of the Office of In19 telligence in the Department of Agriculture, 

20 strengthen coordination’’. 

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

22 amendments made by this subsection shall take ef23 fect upon the appointment of the Director of the Of24 fice of Intelligence in the Department of Agriculture 

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1 culture Reorganization Act of 1994 (as added by 

2 subsection (a)(1)). 

Æ 


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