I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6452 

To require the Director of National Intelligence to produce a National Intelligence Estimate on escalation and de-escalation of gray zone activities 

in great power competition, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 20, 2022 

Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

A BILL 

To require the Director of National Intelligence to produce 

a National Intelligence Estimate on escalation and deescalation of gray zone activities in great power competition, 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 ‘‘Gathering and Report5 ing Assessments Yielding Zero Overlooked Nefarious Ef6 forts Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE ON ESCA2 LATION AND DE-ESCALATION OF GRAY ZONE 

3 ACTIVITIES IN GREAT POWER COMPETITION. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) The conventional power of the United 

6 States has driven foreign adversaries to a level of 

7 competition that does not always depend on military 

8 confrontation with the United States. 

9 (2) Rather than challenging the United States 

10 in a manner that could provoke a kinetic military re11 sponse, foreign adversaries of the United States have 

12 turned to carrying out gray zone activities to ad13 vance the interests of such adversaries, weaken the 

14 power of the United States, and erode the norms 

15 that underpin the United States-led international 

16 order. 

17 (3) Gray zone activity falls on a spectrum of at18 tribution and deniability that ranges from covert ad19 versary operations, to detectible covert adversary op20 erations, to unattributable adversary operations, to 

21 deniable adversary operations, to open adversary op22 erations. 

23 (4) To adequately address such a shift to gray 

24 zone activity, the United States must understand 

25 what actions tend to either escalate or de-escalate 

26 such activity by our adversaries. 


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1 (5) The laws, principles, and values of the 

2 United States are strategic advantages in great 

3 power competition with authoritarian foreign adver4 saries that carry out gray zone activities, because 

5 such laws, principles, and values increase the appeal 

6 of the governance model of the United States, and 

7 the United States-led international order, to states 

8 and peoples around the world. 

9 (6) The international security environment has 

10 demonstrated numerous examples of gray zone ac11 tivities carried out by foreign adversaries, including 

12 the following activities of foreign adversaries: 

13 (A) Information operations, such as efforts 

14 by Russia to influence the 2020 United States 

15 Federal elections (as described in the March 15, 

16 2021, intelligence community assessment of the 

17 Office of the Director of National Intelligence 

18 made publicly available on March 15, 2021). 

19 (B) Adversary political coercion operations, 

20 such as the wielding of energy by Russia, par21 ticularly in the context of Ukrainian gas pipe22 lines, to coerce its neighbors into compliance 

23 with its policies. 


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1 (C) Cyber operations, such as the use by 

2 China of cyber tools to conduct industrial espio3 nage. 

4 (D) Provision of support to proxy forces, 

5 such as the support provided by Iran to 

6 Hezbollah and Shia militia groups. 

7 (E) Provocation by armed forces controlled 

8 by the government of the foreign adversary 

9 through measures that do not rise to the level 

10 of an armed attack, such as the use of the 

11 China Coast Guard and maritime militia by 

12 China to harass the fishing vessels of other 

13 countries in the South China Sea. 

14 (F) Alleged uses of lethal force on foreign 

15 soil, such as the 2018 attempts by Russia to 

16 poison Sergei Skripal in London. 

17 (G) The potential use by an adversary of 

18 technology that causes anomalous health inci19 dents among United States Government per20 sonnel. 

21 (b) NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE.— 

22 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Director of National 

23 Intelligence, acting through the National Intelligence 

24 Council, shall produce a National Intelligence Esti25 mate on how foreign adversaries use gray zone acVerDate Sep 11 2014 15:48 Jan 24, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6452.IH H6452

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1 tivities to advance interests, what responses by the 

2 United States (or the allies or partners of the 

3 United States) would tend to result in the escalation 

4 or de-escalation of such gray zone activities by for5 eign adversaries, and any opportunities for the 

6 United States to minimize the extent to which for7 eign adversaries use gray zone activities in further8 ance of great power competition. 

9 (2) MATTERS INCLUDED.—To the extent deter10 mined appropriate by the National Intelligence 

11 Council, the National Intelligence Estimate produced 

12 under paragraph (1) may include an assessment of 

13 the following topics: 

14 (A) Any potential or actual lethal or harm15 ful gray zone activities carried out against the 

16 United States by foreign adversaries, including 

17 against United States Government employees 

18 and United States persons, whether located 

19 within or outside of the United States. 

20 (B) To the extent such activities have oc21 curred, or are predicted to occur— 

22 (i) opportunities to reduce or deter 

23 any such activities; and 

24 (ii) any actions of the United States 

25 Government that would tend to result in 


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1 the escalation or de-escalation of such ac2 tivities. 

3 (C) Any incidents in which foreign adver4 saries could have used, but ultimately did not 

5 use, gray zone activities to advance the inter6 ests of such adversaries, including an assess7 ment as to why the foreign adversary ultimately 

8 did not use gray zone activities. 

9 (D) The effect of lowering the United 

10 States Government threshold for the public at11 tribution of detectible covert adversary oper12 ations, unattributable adversary operations, and 

13 deniable adversary operations. 

14 (E) The effect of lowering the United 

15 States Government threshold for responding to 

16 detectible covert adversary operations, 

17 unattributable adversary operations, and deni18 able adversary operations. 

19 (F) The extent to which the governments 

20 of foreign adversaries exercise control over any 

21 proxies or parastate actors used by such gov22 ernments in carrying out gray zone activities. 

23 (G) The extent to which gray zone activi24 ties carried out by foreign adversaries affect the 

25 private sector of the United States. 


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1 (H) The international norms that provide 

2 the greatest deterrence to gray zone activities 

3 carried out by foreign adversaries, and opportu4 nities for strengthening those norms. 

5 (I) The effect, if any, of the strengthening 

6 of democratic governance abroad on the resil7 ience of United States allies and partners to 

8 gray zone activities. 

9 (J) Opportunities to strengthen the resil10 ience of United States allies and partners to 

11 gray zone activities, and associated tactics, car12 ried out by foreign adversaries. 

13 (K) Opportunities for the United States to 

14 improve the detection of, and early warning for, 

15 such activities and tactics. 

16 (L) Opportunities for the United States to 

17 galvanize international support in responding to 

18 such activities and tactics. 

19 (3) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.— 

20 (A) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 1 year 

21 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

22 Director shall submit to the Select Committee 

23 on Intelligence of the Senate and the Perma24 nent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

25 House of Representatives the National IntelVerDate Sep 11 2014 15:48 Jan 24, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6452.IH H6452

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1 ligence Estimate produced under paragraph (1), 

2 including all intelligence reporting underlying 

3 the Estimate. 

4 (B) NOTICE REGARDING SUBMISSION.—If 

5 at any time before the deadline specified in sub6 paragraph (A), the Director determines that the 

7 National Intelligence Estimate produced under 

8 paragraph (1) cannot be submitted by such 

9 deadline, the Director shall (before such dead10 line) submit to the Select Committee on Intel11 ligence of the Senate and the Permanent Select 

12 Committee on Intelligence of the House of Rep13 resentatives a report setting forth the reasons 

14 why the National Intelligence Estimate cannot 

15 be submitted by such deadline and an estimated 

16 date for the submission of the National Intel17 ligence Estimate. 

18 (C) FORM.—Any report under subpara19 graph (B) shall be submitted in unclassified 

20 form. 

21 (4) PUBLIC VERSION.—Consistent with the pro22 tection of intelligence sources and methods, at the 

23 same time as the Director submits to the Select 

24 Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the 

25 Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 


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1 House of Representatives the National Intelligence 

2 Estimate under paragraph (1), the Director shall 

3 make publicly available on the internet website of 

4 the Director an unclassified version of the key find5 ings of the National Intelligence Estimate. 

6 (5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

7 (A) GRAY ZONE ACTIVITY.—The term 

8 ‘‘gray zone activity’’ means an activity to ad9 vance the national interests of a State that— 

10 (i) falls between ordinary statecraft 

11 and open warfare; 

12 (ii) is carried out with an intent to 

13 maximize the advancement of interests of 

14 the state without provoking a kinetic mili15 tary response by the United States; and 

16 (iii) falls on a spectrum that ranges 

17 from covert adversary operations, to 

18 detectible covert adversary operations, to 

19 unattributable adversary operations, to de20 niable adversary operations, to open adver21 sary operations. 

22 (B) COVERT ADVERSARY OPERATION.— 

23 The term ‘‘covert adversary operation’’ means 

24 an operation by an adversary that— 


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1 (i) the adversary intends to remain 

2 below the threshold at which the United 

3 States detects the operation; and 

4 (ii) does stay below such threshold. 

5 (C) DETECTIBLE COVERT ADVERSARY OP6 ERATION.—The term ‘‘detectible covert adver7 sary operation’’ means an operation by an ad8 versary that— 

9 (i) the adversary intends to remain 

10 below the threshold at which the United 

11 States detects the operation; but 

12 (ii) is ultimately detected by the 

13 United States at a level below the level at 

14 which the United States will publicly at15 tribute the operation to the adversary. 

16 (D) UNATTRIBUTABLE ADVERSARY OPER17 ATION.—The term ‘‘unattributable adversary 

18 operation’’ means an operation by an adversary 

19 that the adversary intends to be detected by the 

20 United States, but remain below the threshold 

21 at which the United States will publicly at22 tribute the operation to the adversary. 

23 (E) DENIABLE ADVERSARY OPERATION.— 

24 The term ‘‘deniable adversary operation’’ means 

25 an operation by an adversary that— 


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1 (i) the adversary intends to be de2 tected and publicly or privately attributed 

3 by the United States; and 

4 (ii) the adversary intends to deny, to 

5 limit the response by the United States, 

6 and any allies of the United States. 

7 (F) OPEN ADVERSARY OPERATION.—The 

8 term ‘‘open adversary operation’’ means an op9 eration by an adversary that the adversary 

10 openly acknowledges as attributable to the ad11 versary. 

12 (c) REQUIREMENT TO DEVELOP LEXICON.— 

13 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Director of National 

14 Intelligence, acting through the National Intelligence 

15 Council, shall develop a lexicon of common terms 

16 (and corresponding definitions for such terms) for 

17 concepts associated with gray zone activities. 

18 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the lexi19 con under paragraph (1), the National Intelligence 

20 Council shall include in the lexicon each term (and 

21 the corresponding definition for each term) specified 

22 in subsection (b)(5), unless the National Intelligence 

23 Council determines that an alternative term (or al24 ternative definition)— 


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1 (A) more accurately describes a concept as2 sociated with gray zone activities; or 

3 (B) is preferable for any other reason. 

4 (3) REPORT.— 

5 (A) PUBLICATION.—The Director of Na6 tional Intelligence shall publish a report con7 taining the lexicon developed under paragraph 

8 (1). 

9 (B) FORM.—The report under subpara10 graph (A) shall be published in unclassified 

11 form. 

Æ 


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