II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 887

To establish a moratorium on the Foreign Visitors Program at the

Department of Energy nuclear laboratories, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 27, 1999

Mr. SHELBY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Armed Services

A BILL

To establish a moratorium on the Foreign Visitors Program

at the Department of Energy nuclear laboratories, 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 ‘‘Department of Energy

5 Sensitive Country Foreign Visitors Moratorium Act of

6 1999’’.

7 SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON FOREIGN VISITORS PROGRAM.

8 (a) MORATORIUM.—The Secretary of Energy may

9 not admit to any facility of a national laboratory any indi-
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1 vidual who is a citizen of a nation that is named on the

2 current Department of Energy sensitive countries list.

3 (b) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—(1) The Secretary of En4 ergy may waive the prohibition in subsection (a) on a case5 by-case basis with respect to specific individuals whose ad6 mission to a national laboratory is determined by the Sec7 retary to be necessary for the national security of the

8 United States.

9 (2) Before any such waiver takes effect, the Secretary

10 shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services and the

11 Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the

12 Committee on Armed Services and the Permanent Select

13 Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives

14 a report in writing providing notice of the proposed waiver.

15 The report shall identify each individual for whom such

16 a waiver is proposed and, with respect to each such indi17 vidual, provide a detailed justification for the waiver and

18 the Secretary’s certification that the admission of that in19 dividual to a national laboratory is necessary for the na20 tional security of the United States.

21 (3)(A) A waiver under paragraph (1) may not take

22 effect until a period of 10 days of continuous session of

23 Congress has expired after the date of the submission of

24 the report under paragraph (2) providing notice of that

25 waiver.
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1 (B) For purposes of subparagraph (A)—

2 (i) the continuity of a session of Congress is

3 broken only by an adjournment of the Congress sine

4 die; and

5 (ii) there shall be excluded from the computa6 tion of the 10-day period specified in that subpara7 graph Saturdays, Sundays, legal public holidays, and

8 any day on which either House of Congress in not

9 in session because of adjournment of more than

10 three days to a day certain.

11 (4) The authority of the Secretary under paragraph

12 (1) may not be delegated.

13 SEC. 3. BACKGROUND CHECKS ON ALL FOREIGN VISITORS

14 TO NATIONAL LABORATORIES.

15 Before an individual who is a citizen of a foreign na16 tion is allowed to enter a national laboratory, the Sec17 retary of Energy shall require that a security clearance

18 investigation (known as a ‘‘background check’’) be carried

19 out on that individual.

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

21 In this Act:

22 (1) The term ‘‘national laboratory’’ means any

23 of the following:

24 (A) The Lawrence Livermore National

25 Laboratory, Livermore, California.
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1 (B) The Los Alamos National Laboratory,

2 Los Alamos, New Mexico.

3 (C) The Sandia National Laboratories, Al4 buquerque, New Mexico.

5 (2) The term ‘‘sensitive countries list’’ means

6 the list prescribed by the Secretary of Energy known

7 as the Department of Energy List of Sensitive

8 Countries.

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