I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1474 

To require the Director of National Intelligence to submit a pre-election 

threat assessment prior to each regularly scheduled general election for 

Federal office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2019 

Ms. SPANBERGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

A BILL 

To require the Director of National Intelligence to submit 

a pre-election threat assessment prior to each regularly 

scheduled general election for Federal office, 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 ‘‘Strengthening Elec5 tions Through Intelligence Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRE-ELECTION THREAT ASSESSMENTS. 

7 (a) SUBMISSION OF ASSESSMENT BY DNI.—Not 

8 later than 180 days before the date of each regularly 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 1474 IH

1 scheduled general election for Federal office, the Director 

2 of National Intelligence shall submit an assessment of the 

3 full scope of threats to election infrastructure, including 

4 cybersecurity threats posed by state actors and terrorist 

5 groups, and recommendations to address or mitigate the 

6 threats, as developed by the Secretary and Chairman, to— 

7 (1) the chief State election official of each 

8 State; 

9 (2) the Committees on Homeland Security and 

10 House Administration of the House of Representa11 tives and the Committees on Homeland Security and 

12 Governmental Affairs and Rules and Administration 

13 of the Senate; and 

14 (3) any other appropriate congressional com15 mittees. 

16 (b) UPDATES TO INITIAL ASSESSMENTS.—If, at any 

17 time after submitting an assessment with respect to an 

18 election under subsection (a), the Director of National In19 telligence determines that the assessment should be up20 dated to reflect new information regarding the threats in21 volved, the Director shall submit a revised assessment 

22 under such subsection. 

23 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi24 nitions apply: 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 1474 IH

1 (1) The term ‘‘Chairman’’ means the chair of 

2 the Election Assistance Commission. 

3 (2) The term ‘‘chief State election official’’ 

4 means, with respect to a State, the individual des5 ignated by the State under section 10 of the Na6 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

7 20509) to be responsible for coordination of the 

8 State’s responsibilities under such Act. 

9 (3) The term ‘‘election infrastructure’’ means 

10 storage facilities, polling places, and centralized vote 

11 tabulation locations used to support the administra12 tion of elections for public office, as well as related 

13 information and communications technology, includ14 ing voter registration databases, voting machines, 

15 electronic mail and other communications systems 

16 (including electronic mail and other systems of ven17 dors who have entered into contracts with election 

18 agencies to support the administration of elections, 

19 manage the election process, and report and display 

20 election results), and other systems used to manage 

21 the election process and to report and display elec22 tion results on behalf of an election agency. 

23 (4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

24 of Homeland Security. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 1474 IH

1 (5) The term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given 

2 such term in section 901 of the Help America Vote 

3 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141). 

4 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall apply with re5 spect to the regularly scheduled general election for Fed6 eral office held in November 2020 and each succeeding 

7 regularly scheduled general election for Federal office. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS