I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3012 

To establish a Higher Education Initiative in the Office of Private Sector 

of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2021 

Mr. BARR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a Higher Education Initiative in the Office 

of Private Sector of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 

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 ‘‘Higher Education Re5 search Protection Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION INITIA7 TIVE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 28, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 540D. Higher Education Initiative 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 

3 Office of Private Sector of the Intelligence Branch of the 

4 Federal Bureau of Investigation a Higher Education Ini5 tiative, which shall be headed by the Assistant Director 

6 of the Office of Private Sector (in this Act referred to as 

7 ‘the Assistant Director’). 

8 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DUTIES.—The As10 sistant Director shall investigate and report to the 

11 Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation any 

12 suspected incidents of individuals participating in 

13 federally funded research as agents of a foreign gov14 ernment in institutions of higher education and Na15 tional Academies. 

16 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR DUTIES.—The Director of the 

17 Federal Bureau of Investigation shall instruct Fed18 eral Bureau of Investigation field offices to conduct 

19 proactive outreach to institutions of higher education 

20 and National Academies within the office’s area of 

21 responsibility. 

22 ‘‘(c) HIRING.—The Attorney General, acting through 

23 the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall 

24 hire 56 investigative agents to carry out this section. 

25 ‘‘(d) SUNSET PROVISION.—The Higher Education 

26 Initiative established under subsection (a) shall terminate 


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1 on the date that is ten years after the date of the enact2 ment of the ‘Higher Education Research Protection Act 

3 of 2021’. 

4 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—In this section: 

5 ‘‘(1) FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘for6 eign government’ includes the People’s Republic of 

7 China or any component thereof, including the Chi8 nese Communist Party, the Central Committee of 

9 the Communist Party of China, the Central Military 

10 Commission of China, the Chinese People’s Political 

11 Consultative Conference, the National People’s Con12 gress of China, or the State Council of China. 

13 ‘‘(2) HIGHER EDUCATION.—The term ‘institu14 tion of higher education’ has the meaning given the 

15 term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act 

16 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

17 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL ACADEMIES.—The term ‘Na18 tional Academies’ means the National Academies of 

19 Science, Engineering, and Medicine.’’. 

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

21 for chapter 33 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 

22 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘540D. Higher Education Initiative.’’. 

Æ 


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