I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3774
To improve homeland security by providing for national resilience in 
preparation for, and in the event of, a terrorist attack, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2004
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island (for himself, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. TURNER of Texas, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. FROST, and Mr. 
THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 
the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Judiciary, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 
A BILL 
To improve homeland security by providing for national resil-
ience in preparation for, and in the event of, a terrorist 
attack, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Resilience 
Development Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) According to the Institute of Medicine of 
the National Academy of Sciences, the Department 
of Health and Human Services and the Department 
of Homeland Security should analyze terrorism pre-
paredness to ensure that the public health infra-
structure is prepared to respond to the psychological 
consequences of terrorism, and Federal, State, and 
local disaster planners should address these psycho-
logical consequences in their planning and prepared-
ness for terrorist attacks. 
(2) Research concerning the psychological im-
pact of ongoing terrorism in Israel published in the 
Journal of the American Medical Association and 
ongoing research undertaken by the National Insti-
tutes of Health demonstrate that there are effective 
ways to enhance resilience and minimize the dam-
aging psychological impact of terrorism. 
(3) According to the New England Journal of 
Medicine, after September 11, 2001, Americans 
across the country, including children, had substan-
tial symptoms of stress. Even clinicians who practice 
in regions that are far from the sites of the attacks 
should be prepared to assist people with trauma-re-
lated symptoms of stress.
(4) According to Military Medicine, experiences 
from the 1995 chemical weapons attack by terrorists 
in the Tokyo subway system suggest that psycho-
logical casualties from a chemical attack will out-
number physical casualties by approximately 4 to 1. 
(5) According to the Journal of the American 
Medical Association, the lessons learned from the 
2001 anthrax attacks should motivate local health 
departments, health care organizations, and clini-
cians to engage in collaborative programs to enhance 
their communications and local preparedness and re-
sponse capabilities. 
(6) According to the National Advisory Com-
mittee on Children and Terrorism, it is important to 
recognize that the means through which the effects 
of terrorism are propagated are largely psychological 
and that it will generally be the terror generated by 
a major event, not the event itself, that will have the 
greatest long-term negative impact on children and 
families throughout the Nation. There is a great 
need for increased attention to the promotion of 
family and community resilience in terror and dis-
aster planning. 
(7) According to ‘‘Schools and Terrorism: A 
Supplement to the National Advisory Committee on
Children and Terrorism Recommendations to the 
Secretary’’, schools may or may not be the targets 
of terrorism, but they are certain to be affected by 
terrorism, because on any given weekday more than 
one-fifth of the United States population can be 
found in schools. Although the United States De-
partment of Education strongly encourages every 
school to have an emergency management plan, few 
plans address how the school fits in with the larger 
public health and emergency management response 
to a community-wide event, such as a terrorist at-
tack. 
(8) According to a national study by leading 
health care foundations, in this time of growing 
threats of terrorism, many doctors and other pri-
mary care providers are increasingly being con-
fronted with patients who complain of aches and 
pains, or more serious symptoms, which mask seri-
ous anxiety or depression. 
(9) Substantial effort and funding are still 
needed to adequately understand and prepare for the 
psychological consequences associated with bioter-
rorism. 
(10) The integration of mental health into pub-
lic health efforts, including integration and coopera-
tion across Federal agencies and State public health 
and mental health authorities, is critical in address-
ing the psychological needs of the Nation with re-
gard to terrorism. 
SEC. 3. GOALS. 
The goals of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To identify effective strategies to respond to 
the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of 
terrorism and their implications for disaster man-
agement and to integrate these strategies into the 
United States’ plans to mitigate, plan for, respond 
to, and recover from potential and actual terrorist 
attacks. 
(2) To coordinate the efforts of different gov-
ernment agencies in researching, developing, and im-
plementing programs and protocols designed to in-
crease the psychological resilience and mitigate dis-
tress reactions and maladaptive behaviors of the 
American public as they relate to terrorism. 
(3) To facilitate the work of the Department of 
Homeland Security and other departments and 
agencies by incorporating programs and protocols 
designed to increase the psychological resilience of 
the American public and respond to the behavioral, 
cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and
their implications for disaster management, into 
those Departments’ and agencies’ efforts in reducing 
the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism. 
(4) To enable the States and localities to effec-
tively respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emo-
tional impacts of terrorism and their implications for 
disaster management and to integrate appropriate 
strategies into their terrorism planning, prepared-
ness, and response efforts. 
(5) To integrate mental health and public 
health emergency preparedness and response efforts 
in the United States.
SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON NATIONAL RESIL-
IENCE. 
Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
241 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 319K 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 319L. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON NATIONAL RE-
SILIENCE. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall convene 
and lead an interagency task force for the purpose of in-
creasing the psychological resilience of the American pub-
lic and improving the ability of Federal, State, and local 
governments to respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and
‘‘(4) Consulting with the Department of Edu-
cation on the impact of terrorism on children and 
schools’ role in the development, implementation, 
and coordination of strategies to increase children’s 
psychological resilience and respond to the behav-
ioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism. 
‘‘(5) Consulting with and providing guidance to 
the States and local governments for the purpose of 
enabling them to effectively respond to the behav-
ioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism 
and their implications for disaster management. 
‘‘(6) Developing strategies for encouraging 
State and local public health and mental health 
agencies to closely collaborate in the development of 
integrated, science-based programs and protocols de-
signed to increase the psychological resilience of the 
American public and respond to the behavioral, cog-
nitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their 
implications for disaster management. 
‘‘(7) Preparing and presenting to the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of 
Homeland Security specific recommendations on how 
their respective departments, agencies, and offices 
can strengthen existing and planned terrorism pre-
paredness, response, recovery, and mitigation initia-
tives by integrating programs and protocols designed 
to increase the psychological resilience of the Amer-
ican public and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, 
and emotional impacts of terrorism and their impli-
cations for disaster management. 
‘‘(d) MEETINGS.—The task force convened under this 
section shall meet not less than 4 times each year. 
‘‘(e) STAFF.—The Secretary shall staff the task force 
as necessary to ensure it is able to perform the duties de-
scribed in subsection (c).’’. 
SEC. 5. ACTIVITIES OF STATES, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 
AND TERRITORIES REGARDING NATIONAL 
RESILIENCE. 
(a) PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT.—Subsection (d) 
of section 319C–1 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 247d–3a) is amended by inserting after paragraph 
(18) the following: 
‘‘(19) To enable State mental health authori-
ties, in close collaboration with the respective State 
public health authorities and the interagency task 
force convened under section 319L, to better under-
stand and manage human emotional, behavioral, and 
cognitive responses to disasters, including by in-
creasing the psychological resilience of the public 
and mitigating distress reactions and maladaptive
behaviors that could occur in response to a conven-
tional, biological, chemical, or radiological attack on 
the United States.’’. 
(b) USA PATRIOT ACT.—Subsection (b) of section 
1014 of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Pro-
viding Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Ob-
struct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001 (42 
U.S.C. 3714) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘may be used to purchase’’ and 
inserting ‘‘may be used for the following: 
‘‘(1) To purchase’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘In addition, grants under this 
section may be used to construct’’ and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(2) To construct’’; and 
(3) by inserting at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) To enable State mental health authorities, 
in close collaboration with the respective State public 
health authorities and the interagency task force 
convened under section 319L of the Public Health 
Service Act, to better understand and manage 
human emotional, behavioral, and cognitive re-
sponses to disasters, including by increasing the psy-
chological resilience of the public and mitigating dis-
tress reactions and maladaptive behaviors that could
occur in response to a conventional, biological, chem-
ical, or radiological attack on the United States.’’. 
SEC. 6. EFFORTS BY FEMA REGARDING NATIONAL RESIL-
IENCE. 
Paragraph (2) of section 507(a) of the Homeland Se-
curity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 317(a)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, includ-
ing the risk of psychological injury’’ before the semi-
colon; 
(2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘and the 
psychological consequences of trauma’’ before the 
semicolon; and 
(3) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘over-
come the psychological consequences of trauma,’’ be-
fore ‘‘life,’’. 
SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT BY SECRETARIES OF HHS AND 
HOMELAND SECURITY. 
Not less than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Home-
land Security, acting jointly, shall submit a report to the 
Congress that includes the following: 
(1) The recommendations of the interagency 
task force convened under section 319L of the Pub-
lic Health Service Act (as amended by section 4 of
this Act) that are relevant to the Department of 
Health and Human Services or the Department of 
Homeland Security. 
(2) A description of the steps that have or have 
not been taken by each Federal department to im-
plement the recommendations described in para-
graph (1). 
(3) Thorough explanations for rejection of any 
recommendations made by the interagency task force 
convened under section 319L. 
(4) Other steps undertaken to meet the goals of 
this Act.
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