II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4320 

To enhance security at United States diplomatic facilities, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 26, 2022 

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

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To enhance security at United States diplomatic facilities, 

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 ‘‘Secure Embassy Con5 struction and Counterterrorism Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The Secure Embassy Construction and 

9 Counterterrorism Act of 1999 (title VI of division A 

10 of appendix G of Public Law 106–113) was a necVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Jun 02, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4320.IS S4320

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1 essary response to bombings on August 7, 1998, at 

2 the United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and 

3 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that were destroyed by 

4 simultaneously exploding bombs. The resulting ex5 plosions killed 220 persons and injured more than 

6 4,000 others. Twelve Americans and 40 Kenyan and 

7 Tanzanian employees of the United States Foreign 

8 Service were killed in the attacks. 

9 (2) Those bombings, followed by the expedi10 tionary diplomatic efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, 

11 demonstrated the need to prioritize the security of 

12 United States posts and personnel abroad above 

13 other considerations. 

14 (3) Between 1999 and 2022, the risk calculus 

15 of the Department of State has swung too far to16 ward the elimination of risk, leading to a marked de17 crease in the ability of United States diplomats 

18 around the world to advance the interests of the 

19 United States through access to local populations, 

20 leaders, and places. 

21 (4) America’s competitors and adversaries do 

22 not have the same restrictions that United States 

23 diplomats have, especially in critically important me24 dium-threat and high-threat posts. 


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1 (5) The Department of State’s 2021 Overseas 

2 Security Panel report states that— 

3 (A) the requirement for setback and col4 location of diplomatic posts under paragraphs 

5 (2) and (3) of section 606(a) of the Secure Em6 bassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 

7 1999 has led to sky-rocketing costs of new em8 bassies and consulates; and 

9 (B) the locations of such posts have be10 come less desirable, creating an extremely sub11 optimal nexus that further hinders United 

12 States diplomats who are willing to accept more 

13 risk in order to advance United States inter14 ests. 

15 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

16 It is the sense of Congress that— 

17 (1) the setback and collocation requirements re18 ferred to in section 2(5)(A), even with available 

19 waivers, no longer provide the security such require20 ments used to provide because of advancement in 

21 technologies, such as remote controlled drones, that 

22 can evade walls and other such static barriers; 

23 (2) the Department of State should focus on 

24 creating performance security standards that— 


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1 (A) attempt to keep the setback require2 ments of diplomatic posts as limited as possible; 

3 and 

4 (B) provide diplomats access to local popu5 lations as much as possible, while still providing 

6 a necessary level of security; 

7 (3) collocation of diplomatic facilities is often 

8 not feasible or advisable, particularly for public di9 plomacy spaces in countries with repressive govern10 ments, since such spaces are required to permit the 

11 foreign public to enter and exit the space easily and 

12 openly; 

13 (4) the Bureau of Diplomatic Security should— 

14 (A) fully utilize the waiver process pro15 vided under paragraphs (2)(B) and (3)(B) of 

16 section 606(a) of the Secure Embassy Con17 struction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999; 

18 and 

19 (B) appropriately exercise such waiver 

20 process as a tool to right-size the appropriate 

21 security footing at each diplomatic post rather 

22 than only approving waivers in extreme cir23 cumstances; 

24 (5) the return of great power competition re25 quires— 


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1 (A) United States diplomats to do all they 

2 can to outperform our adversaries; and 

3 (B) the Department of State to better uti4 lize taxpayer funding to advance United States 

5 national interests; and 

6 (6) this Act will rebalance the Department of 

7 State’s risk and provide United States diplomats the 

8 tools they need to compete in the 21st century, while 

9 saving United States taxpayers potentially billions of 

10 dollars in reduced property and maintenance costs at 

11 embassies and consulates abroad. 

12 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC FA13 CILITY. 

14 Section 603 of the Secure Embassy Construction and 

15 Counterterrorism Act of 1999 (title VI of division A of 

16 appendix G of Public Law 106–113) is amended to read 

17 as follows: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 603. UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC FACILITY DE19 FINED. 

20 ‘‘In this title, the terms ‘United States diplomatic fa21 cility’ and ‘diplomatic facility’— 

22 ‘‘(1) mean any chancery, consulate, or other of23 fice considered diplomatic or consular premises, con24 sistent with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic 

25 Relations, done at Vienna April 18, 1961, and the 


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1 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, done at 

2 Vienna April 24, 1963, or otherwise subject to a 

3 publicly available bilateral agreement with the host 

4 government (contained in the records of the United 

5 States Department of State) that recognizes the offi6 cial status of the United States Government per7 sonnel present at the facility; and 

8 ‘‘(2) do not include— 

9 ‘‘(A) U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

10 preclearance facilities, as established pursuant 

11 to section 629 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

12 U.S.C. 1629) and section 103(a)(7) of the Im13 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

14 1103(a)(7)) and Open Source Centers; 

15 ‘‘(B) contractor-owned facilities; and 

16 ‘‘(C) facilities at which United States Gov17 ernment personnel will be present not more 

18 than 60 consecutive days and where the Sec19 retary determines that operational conditions, 

20 security considerations, and mission goals sup21 port exclusion.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR UNITED STATES 

2 DIPLOMATIC FACILITIES. 

3 Section 606(a) of the Secure Embassy Construction 

4 and Counterterrorism Act of 1999 (title VI of division A 

5 of appendix G of Public Law 106–113) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘the 

7 threat’’ and inserting ‘‘a range of threats, including 

8 that’’; 

9 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

11 (i) by striking ‘‘abroad’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘in a high risk, high threat post’’; and 

13 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and Voice of Amer14 ica correspondents on official assignment’’ 

15 after ‘‘military commander’’; and 

16 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

17 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘if appli18 cable,’’ after ‘‘at the site,’’; 

19 (ii) in clause (ii)— 

20 (I) in subclause (I), by inserting 

21 ‘‘at a post designated as high risk, 

22 high threat under section 104 of the 

23 Omnibus Diplomatic Security and 

24 Antiterrorism Act of 1986 (22 U.S.C. 

25 4803)’’ before the period at the end; 

26 and 


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1 (II) in subclause (II), by insert2 ing ‘‘at a post designated as high risk, 

3 high threat under such section 104’’ 

4 after ‘‘consulate building’’; and 

5 (iii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘waiv6 ers’’ and inserting ‘‘instances of split oper7 ations in which United States diplomatic 

8 facilities are not colocated’’; and 

9 (3) in paragraph (3)— 

10 (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 

11 as follows: 

12 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Each newly ac14 quired United States diplomatic facility 

15 shall be constructed or modified to meet 

16 the measured building blast performance 

17 standard applicable to a facility sited not 

18 less than 100 feet from the perimeter. 

19 ‘‘(ii) LEASED FACILITIES.—If the De20 partment of State is required to commence 

21 or restart diplomatic operations in a coun22 try or city without a previously constructed 

23 diplomatic facility and there is insufficient 

24 time to construct a facility before such 

25 commencement, the Secretary of State— 


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1 ‘‘(I) shall make every effort to 

2 lease an existing facility with the max3 imum setback and security features 

4 that can be reasonably expected; and 

5 ‘‘(II) shall submit a setback waiv6 er, with a period of 1 year after leased 

7 occupancy to process the setback 

8 waiver.’’; and 

9 (B) in subparagraph (B)(ii)— 

10 (i) in subclause (I), by inserting ‘‘at a 

11 post designated as high risk, high threat 

12 under section 104 of the Omnibus Diplo13 matic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 

14 1986 (22 U.S.C. 4803)’’ before the period 

15 at the end; 

16 (ii) in subclause (II), by inserting ‘‘at 

17 a post designated as high risk, high threat 

18 under such section 104’’ after ‘‘consulate 

19 building’’; and 

20 (iii) in subclause (III), by striking ‘‘an 

21 annual’’ and inserting ‘‘a quarterly’’. 

Æ 


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