I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7708 

To authorize the imposition of sanctions on certain foreign persons that 

have threatened the national security, foreign policy, public health, or 

economic health or financial stability of the United States, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 21, 2020 

Mr. MCCARTHY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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 authorize the imposition of sanctions on certain foreign 

persons that have threatened the national security, foreign policy, public health, or 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 ON 

2 CERTAIN FOREIGN PERSONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized to 

4 impose sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect 

5 to any foreign person determined by the President— 

6 (1) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to 

7 have engaged in, directly or indirectly, activities, in8 cluding cyber-enabled activities, originating from, or 

9 directed by foreign persons that are reasonably likely 

10 to result in, or have materially contributed to, a sig11 nificant threat to the national security, foreign pol12 icy, public health, or economic health or financial 

13 stability of the United States and that have the pur14 pose or effect of— 

15 (A) harming, or otherwise significantly 

16 compromising the provision of services by a 

17 computer or network of computers that support 

18 one or more entities in a critical infrastructure 

19 sector; 

20 (B) significantly compromising the provi21 sion of services by one or more entities in a 

22 critical infrastructure sector; 

23 (C) causing a significant disruption to the 

24 availability of a computer or network of com25 puters; or 


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1 (D) causing a significant misappropriation 

2 of funds or economic resources, trade secrets, 

3 personal identifiers, intellectual property, or fi4 nancial information for commercial or competi5 tive advantage or private financial gain; 

6 (2) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to 

7 have engaged in, or to have knowingly materially 

8 benefitted from, the receipt or use for commercial or 

9 competitive advantage or private financial gain, of 

10 funds or economic resources, trade secrets, personal 

11 identifiers, intellectual property, or financial infor12 mation misappropriated through cyber-enabled ac13 tivities and with respect to which such actions are 

14 reasonably likely to result in, or have materially con15 tributed to, a significant threat to the national secu16 rity, foreign policy, public health, or economic health 

17 or financial stability of the United States; 

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

19 provided financial, material, or technological support 

20 for, or goods or services in support of— 

21 (A) any activity described in paragraphs 

22 (1) and (2); or 

23 (B) any person whose property or interests 

24 in property are blocked pursuant to this section; 


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1 (4) to be owned or controlled by, or to have 

2 acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly 

3 or indirectly, any person whose property or interests 

4 in property are blocked pursuant to this section; or 

5 (5) to have attempted to engage in any of the 

6 activities described in paragraphs (1) through (3). 

7 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions to be 

8 imposed with respect to a foreign person described in sub9 section (a) are the following: 

10 (1) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The President 

11 shall exercise all of the powers granted to the Presi12 dent by the International Emergency Economic 

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

14 the requirements of section 202 of such Act (50 

15 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply) to the extent nec16 essary to block and prohibit all transactions in prop17 erty and interests in property of the person if such 

18 property and interests in property are in the United 

19 States, come within the United States, or are or 

20 come within the possession or control of a United 

21 States person. 

22 (2) INADMISSIBILITY OF CERTAIN INDIVID23 UALS.— 

24 (A) INELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, 

25 OR PAROLE.—An alien who is a foreign person 


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1 under subsection (a), or an alien who is an offi2 cer or director of a foreign person under such 

3 subsection, 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.—An alien 

14 who is a foreign person under subsection (a), or 

15 an alien who is an officer or director of a for16 eign person under such subsection, is subject to 

17 the following: 

18 (i) Revocation of any visa or other 

19 entry documentation regardless of when 

20 the visa or other entry documentation is or 

21 was issued. 

22 (ii) A revocation under clause (i) 

23 shall— 

24 (I) take effect immediately; and 


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1 (II) cancel any other valid visa or 

2 entry documentation that is in the 

3 foreign person’s or alien’s possession, 

4 as the case may be. 

5 (c) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in sub6 sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International 

7 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall 

8 apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, con9 spires to violate, or causes a violation of this section, in10 cluding regulations promulgated in accordance therewith, 

11 to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person 

12 that commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) 

13 of such Act. 

14 (d) EXCEPTION.—Sanctions imposed pursuant to 

15 this section shall not apply to an alien if admitting or pa16 roling the alien into the United States is necessary to per17 mit the United States to comply with the Agreement re18 garding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed 

19 at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force 

20 November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the 

21 United States, or other applicable international obligations 

22 of the United States. 

23 (e) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH NATIONAL SECU24 RITY.—The following activities shall be exempt from sanc25 tions under this section: 


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1 (1) Activities subject to the reporting require2 ments under title V of the National Security Act of 

3 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.). 

4 (2) Activities subject to any authorized intel5 ligence or law enforcement activities of the United 

6 States. 

7 (f) IMPLEMENTATION AND REGULATORY AUTHOR8 ITY.—The President is authorized to exercise all authori9 ties provided to the President under sections 203 and 205 

10 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

11 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this Act and may 

12 issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are nec13 essary to carry out this Act. 

14 (g) EXCEPTION RELATED TO THE IMPORTATION OF

15 GOODS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The authorities and require17 ments to impose sanctions pursuant to this section 

18 shall not include the authority or requirement to im19 pose sanctions on the importation of goods. 

20 (2) GOOD DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

21 ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or man-made sub22 stance, material, supply or manufactured product, 

23 including inspection and test equipment and exclud24 ing technical data. 

25 (h) 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 detailing 

6 the extent of known cyber-enabled activities or at7 tempted cyber-enabled activities as described in this 

8 section by foreign persons related to the 2019 novel 

9 coronavirus and whether such activities qualify for 

10 the imposition of sanctions pursuant to this section. 

11 (2) FORM.—The report required under sub12 section (a) shall be unclassified but may contain a 

13 classified annex. 

14 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

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

17 section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

18 (8 U.S.C. 1101). 

19 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT20 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com21 mittees’’ means— 

22 (A) in the House of Representatives— 

23 (i) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; 

24 and 


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1 (ii) the Committee on Ways and 

2 Means; and 

3 (B) in the Senate— 

4 (i) the Committee on Foreign Rela5 tions; and 

6 (ii) the Committee on Banking, Hous7 ing, and Urban Affairs. 

8 (3) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR.—The 

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

10 the designated critical infrastructure sectors identi11 fied in Presidential Policy Directive 21. 

12 (4) ENTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’ means a part13 nership, association, trust, joint venture, corpora14 tion, group, subgroup, or other organization. 

15 (5) FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘for16 eign government’’ means any government of a coun17 try other than the United States. 

18 (6) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per19 son’’ means an individual or entity that is not a 

20 United States person. 

21 (7) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’ with 

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

23 means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 

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

25 result. 


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1 (8) MISAPPROPRIATION.—The term ‘‘misappro2 priation’’ means any taking or obtaining by im3 proper means, without permission or consent, or 

4 under false pretenses. 

5 (9) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in6 dividual or entity. 

7 (10) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

8 ‘‘United States person’’ means any United States 

9 citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized 

10 under the laws of the United States or any jurisdic11 tion within the United States (including foreign 

12 branches), or any person in the United States. 

13 SEC. 3. STOPPING TRAFFICKING IN BOTNETS. 

14 Section 1030 of title 18, United States Code, is 

15 amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (7), by adding ‘‘or’’ at 

18 the end; and 

19 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

20 paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(8) knowingly traffics in access to a protected 

22 computer, if the trafficker knows the protected com23 puter has been damaged in a manner prohibited by 

24 this section.’’; 

25 (2) in subsection (c)(3)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘(a)(4) or (a)(7)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)(4), (a)(7), 

3 or (a)(8)’’; and 

4 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

5 ‘‘(a)(4), or (a)(7)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)(4), 

6 (a)(7), or (a)(8)’’; 

7 (3) in subsection (e)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

9 at the end; 

10 (B) in paragraph (12), by striking the pe11 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

13 paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(13) the term ‘traffic’ has the meaning given 

15 such term in section 1029(e)(5) of this title.’’; and 

16 (4) in subsection (g), by inserting ‘‘, except for 

17 a violation of subsection (a)(8),’’ after ‘‘violation of 

18 this section’’. 

19 SEC. 4. INJUNCTIONS AGAINST FRAUD AND ABUSE. 

20 Section 1345 of title 18, United States Code, is 

21 amended— 

22 (1) in the section heading by striking ‘‘FRAUD’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘FRAUD AND ABUSE’’; 

24 (2) in subsection (a)— 

25 (A) in paragraph (1)— 


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1 (i) subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; 

2 or’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

3 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

4 the semicolon and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

5 (iii) by adding at the end the fol6 lowing new subparagraph: 

7 ‘‘(D) violating or about to violate section 

8 1030(a)(5) of this title where such conduct has 

9 caused or would cause damage (as defined in 

10 section 1030) without authorization to 100 or 

11 more protected computers (as defined in section 

12 1030) during any 1-year period, including by— 

13 ‘‘(i) damage of the protected com14 puters without authorization; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) installing or maintaining control 

16 over malicious software on the protected 

17 computers that, without authorization, 

18 have caused or would cause damage to the 

19 protected computers;’’; and 

20 (B) in paragraph (2) by inserting ‘‘, a vio21 lation under subsection (a)(1)(D),’’ after ‘‘(as 

22 defined in section 3322(d) of this title)’’; and 

23 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub24 section: 


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1 ‘‘(c)(1) No cause of action may lie or be maintained 

2 in any court against any person and shall be promptly dis3 missed if such cause of action is with respect to an act 

4 that is in compliance with any restraining order, prohibi5 tion, or other action under subsection (b), if issued in cir6 cumstances described in subsection (a)(1)(D). 

7 ‘‘(2) A restraining order, prohibition, or other action 

8 under subsection (b), if issued in circumstances described 

9 in subsection (a)(1)(D), may, upon application of the At10 torney General, provide that the United States shall pay 

11 to such person a fee for reimbursement for such costs as 

12 are reasonably necessary and which have been directly in13 curred in complying with the restraining order, prohibi14 tion, or other action.’’. 

Æ 


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