II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3960 

To establish the CCP Initiative program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2022 

Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. BRAUN, 

Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. JOHNSON) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish the CCP Initiative program, 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. CCP INITIATIVE PROGRAM. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

5 National Security Division of the Department of Justice 

6 the CCP Initiative to— 

7 (1) counter nation-state threats to the United 

8 States; 


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1 (2) curb spying by the Chinese Communist 

2 Party on United States intellectual property and 

3 academic institutions in the United States; and 

4 (3) focus on— 

5 (A) identifying and prosecuting those en6 gaged in trade secret theft, hacking, and eco7 nomic espionage; and 

8 (B) protecting the critical infrastructure in 

9 the United States against external threats 

10 through foreign direct investment and supply 

11 chain compromises. 

12 (b) STEERING COMMITTEE.—The CCP Initiative 

13 shall be led by a steering committee comprised of— 

14 (1) the Assistant Attorney General for National 

15 Security; 

16 (2) senior officials in the Federal Bureau of In17 vestigation, as determined by the Attorney General; 

18 (3) the Assistant Attorney General for the 

19 Criminal Division of the Department of Justice; 

20 (4) the Executive Assistant Director of the Na21 tional Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of In22 vestigation; and 

23 (5) five United States attorneys, appointed by 

24 the Attorney General, from the judicial districts with 

25 the most cases involving espionage, intellectual propVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Apr 01, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3960.IS S3960

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1 erty theft, and trade secrets during the preceding 5- 

2 year period. 

3 (c) GOALS.—The CCP Initiative shall have the fol4 lowing goals: 

5 (1) Identify priority trade secret theft cases, en6 suring that investigations are adequately resourced. 

7 (2) Work to bring the cases described in para8 graph (1) to fruition in a timely manner and accord9 ing to the facts and applicable law. 

10 (3) Develop an enforcement strategy concerning 

11 nontraditional collectors, including researchers in 

12 labs, universities, and the defense industrial base, 

13 that are being coopted into transferring technology 

14 contrary to United States interests. 

15 (4) Educate colleges and universities about po16 tential threats to academic freedom and open dis17 course from influence efforts on campus. 

18 (5) Apply the Foreign Agents Registration Act 

19 of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) to un20 registered agents seeking to advance the political 

21 agenda of the People’s Republic of China, bringing 

22 enforcement actions if appropriate. 

23 (6) Equip United States attorneys with intel24 ligence and materials they can use to raise awareVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 Apr 01, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3960.IS S3960

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1 ness of these threats within their judicial districts 

2 and support their outreach efforts. 

3 (7) Implement the Foreign Investment Risk Re4 view Modernization Act of 2018 (subtitle A of title 

5 XVII of Public Law 115–232; 132 Stat. 2173) for 

6 the Department of Justice, including by working 

7 with the Department of the Treasury to develop reg8 ulations under the Act and prepare for increased 

9 workflow. 

10 (8) Identify opportunities to better address sup11 ply chain threats, especially ones impacting the tele12 communications sector, prior to the transition to 5G 

13 networks. 

14 (9) Identify Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 

15 1977 (Public Law 95–213; 91 Stat. 1494) cases in16 volving Chinese companies that compete with United 

17 States businesses. 

18 (10) Increase efforts to improve Chinese re19 sponses to requests under the Mutual Legal Assist20 ance Agreement with the United States. 

21 (11) Evaluate whether additional legislative and 

22 administrative authorities are required to protect 

23 United States assets from foreign economic aggres24 sion. 

25 (d) REQUIREMENT.—Under the CCP Initiative— 


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1 (1) all investigations and prosecutions shall be 

2 set as priority and not based on discretion; 

3 (2) the Initiative must be separate from and 

4 not under the authority or discretion of any other 

5 Department of Justice initiative dedicated to coun6 tering nation-state threats; and 

7 (3) all resources used for the CCP Initiative 

8 must solely be set aside for the CCP Initiative and 

9 cannot be combined to support any other Depart10 ment of Justice program, including other programs 

11 and initiatives dedicated to countering nation-state 

12 threats. 

13 (e) ANNUAL BRIEFING.—The Attorney General shall 

14 brief the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern15 mental Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

16 Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security and the 

17 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representa18 tives annually on the progress and challenges of the CCP 

19 Initiative. 

20 (f) SUNSET.—This Act is effective beginning on the 

21 date of enactment of this Act and ending on the date that 

22 is 6 years after that date. 

23 (g) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or 

24 the application of such provision to any person or cir25 cumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 


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1 of this Act, and the application of the provisions of such 

2 to any person or circumstance, shall not be affected there3 by. 

Æ 


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