IIB 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3875 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
DECEMBER 14, 2015 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 
within the Department of Homeland Security a Chem-
ical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Of-
fice, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Department of Homeland Security CBRNE Defense Act 
of 2015’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; Table of contents. 
Sec. 2. CBRNE Office. 
Sec. 3. Chemical Division. 
Sec. 4. Biological Division. 
Sec. 5. Nuclear Division. 
Sec. 6. Explosives Division. 
Sec. 7. Savings provisions. 
Sec. 8. Clerical amendments. 
SEC. 2. CBRNE OFFICE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Homeland Security Act of 
2002 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
title: 
‘‘TITLE XXII—CBRNE OFFICE 
‘‘Subtitle A—Chemical, Biological, 
Radiological, Nuclear, and Ex-
plosives Office 
‘‘SEC. 2201. CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NU-
CLEAR, AND EXPLOSIVES OFFICE. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 
Department a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, 
and Explosives Office (referred to in this title as the 
‘CBRNE Office’). The CBRNE Office shall be comprised 
of the Chemical Division, the Biological Division, the Nu-
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clear Division, and the Explosives Division. The CBRNE 
Office may include a Health Division. 
‘‘(b) MISSION
OF OFFICE.—The mission of the 
CBRNE Office is to coordinate, strengthen, and provide 
chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives 
(CBRNE) capabilities in support of homeland security. 
‘‘(c) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The Office shall be 
headed by an Assistant Secretary for the Chemical, Bio-
logical, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office (re-
ferred to in this title as the ‘Assistant Secretary’), who 
shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate. 
‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Assistant Secretary 
shall— 
‘‘(1) develop, coordinate, and maintain overall 
CBRNE strategy and policy for the Department; 
‘‘(2) develop, coordinate, and maintain for the 
Department periodic CBRNE risk assessments; 
‘‘(3) serve as the primary Department rep-
resentative for coordinating CBRNE activities with 
other Federal departments and agencies; 
‘‘(4) provide oversight for the Department’s 
preparedness for CBRNE threats; 
‘‘(5) provide support for operations during 
CBRNE threats or incidents; and 
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‘‘(6) carry out such other responsibilities as the 
Secretary determines appropriate, consistent with 
this title. 
‘‘(e) OTHER OFFICERS.—The Director of the Chem-
ical Division, the Director of the Biological Division, the 
Director of the Nuclear Division, and the Director of the 
Explosives Division shall report directly to the Assistant 
Secretary. 
‘‘SEC. 2202. COMPOSITION OF THE CBRNE OFFICE. 
‘‘The Secretary shall transfer to the CBRNE Office, 
the functions, personnel, budget authority, and assets of 
the following: 
‘‘(1) The Office of Health Affairs as in exist-
ence on the day before the date of the enactment of 
this title, including the Chief Medical Officer author-
ized under section 516, and the National Biosurveil-
lance Integration Center authorized under section 
316. 
‘‘(2) The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office 
authorized under title XIX, as in existence on the 
date before the date of the enactment of this title 
(and redesignated as the Nuclear Division). 
‘‘(3) CBRNE threat awareness and risk assess-
ment activities of the Science and Technology Direc-
torate. 
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‘‘(4) The CBRNE functions of the Office of 
Policy and the Office of Operations Coordination. 
‘‘(5) The Office for Bombing Prevention of the 
National Protection and Programs Directorate, as in 
existence on the day before the date of the enact-
ment of this title. 
‘‘SEC. 2203. HIRING AUTHORITY. 
‘‘In hiring personnel for the CBRNE Office, the Sec-
retary shall have the hiring and management authorities 
provided in section 1101 of the Strom Thurmond National 
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (5 U.S.C. 
3104 note; Public Law 105–261), except that the term 
of appointments for employees under subsection (c)(1) of 
such section may not exceed 5 years before granting any 
extension under subsection (c)(2) of such section. 
‘‘SEC. 2204. GRANTS, COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS, AND 
OTHER TRANSACTIONS AND CONTRACTS. 
‘‘The Assistant Secretary, in carrying out the respon-
sibilities under this title, may distribute funds through 
grants, cooperative agreements, and other transactions 
and contracts. 
‘‘SEC. 2205. TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENTS. 
‘‘(a) TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary 
shall, in coordination with relevant Department com-
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ponents and other appropriate Federal departments 
and agencies, develop, coordinate, and update peri-
odically terrorism risk assessments of chemical, bio-
logical, radiological, and nuclear threats. 
‘‘(2) COMPARISON.—The Assistant Secretary 
shall develop, coordinate, and update periodically an 
integrated terrorism risk assessment that assesses 
all of the threats referred to in paragraph (1) and, 
as appropriate, explosives threats, and compares 
each such threat against one another according to 
their relative risk. 
‘‘(3) INCLUSION
IN
ASSESSMENT.—Each ter-
rorism risk assessment under this subsection shall 
include a description of the methodology used for 
each such assessment. 
‘‘(4) UPDATES.—Each terrorism risk assess-
ment under this subsection shall be updated not less 
often than once every 2 years. 
‘‘(5) PROVISION TO CONGRESS.—The Assistant 
Secretary shall provide a copy of each risk assess-
ment under this subsection to the Committee on 
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-
ernmental Affairs of the Senate not later than 30 
days after completion of each such assessment. 
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‘‘(b) METHODOLOGY.—In developing the terrorism 
risk assessments under subsection (a), the Assistant Sec-
retary, in consultation with appropriate Federal depart-
ments and agencies, shall— 
‘‘(1) assess the proposed methodology to be 
used for such assessments; and 
‘‘(2) consider the evolving threat to the United 
States as indicated by the intelligence community 
(as such term is defined in section 3(4) of the Na-
tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4))). 
‘‘(c) USAGE.—The terrorism risk assessments re-
quired under subsection (a) shall be used to inform and 
guide allocation of resources for chemical, biological, radi-
ological, and nuclear threat activities of the Department. 
‘‘(d) INPUT AND SHARING.—The Assistant Secretary 
shall, for each terrorism risk assessment under subsection 
(a)— 
‘‘(1) seek input from national stakeholders and 
other Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial of-
ficials involved in efforts to counter chemical, bio-
logical, radiological, and nuclear threats; 
‘‘(2) ensure that written procedures are in place 
to guide the development of such assessments, in-
cluding for input, review, and implementation pur-
poses, among relevant Federal partners; 
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‘‘(3) share such assessments with Federal, 
State, local, tribal, and territorial officials with ap-
propriate security clearances and a need for the in-
formation in the classified versions of such assess-
ments; and 
‘‘(4) to the maximum extent practicable, make 
available an unclassified version of such assessments 
for Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial offi-
cials involved in prevention and preparedness for 
chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. 
‘‘SEC. 2206. CBRNE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC MES-
SAGING. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 
with the Assistant Secretary, shall develop an overarching 
risk communication strategy for terrorist attacks and 
other high consequence events utilizing chemical, biologi-
cal, radiological, or nuclear agents or explosives that pose 
a high risk to homeland security, and shall— 
‘‘(1) develop threat-specific risk communication 
plans, in coordination with appropriate Federal de-
partments and agencies; 
‘‘(2) develop risk communication messages, in-
cluding pre-scripted messaging to the extent prac-
ticable; 
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‘‘(3) develop clearly defined interagency proc-
esses and protocols to assure coordinated risk and 
incident communications and information sharing 
during incident response; 
‘‘(4) engage private and nongovernmental enti-
ties in communications planning, as appropriate; 
‘‘(5) identify ways to educate and engage the 
public about CBRNE threats and consequences; 
‘‘(6) develop strategies for communicating using 
social and new media; and 
‘‘(7) provide guidance on risk and incident com-
munications for CBRNE events to State, local, trib-
al, and territorial governments, and other stake-
holders, as appropriate. 
‘‘(b) COMMUNICATION
DURING
RESPONSE.—The 
Secretary shall provide appropriate timely, accurate infor-
mation to the public, governmental partners, the private 
sector, and other appropriate stakeholders in the event of 
a suspected or confirmed terrorist attack or other high 
consequence event utilizing chemical, biological, radio-
logical, or nuclear agents or explosives that pose a high 
risk to homeland security. 
‘‘(c) REPORTS.— 
‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS.—Not later than 
120 days after the date of the enactment of this 
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title, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-
ernmental Affairs of the Senate a report on current 
and future efforts of the Department to develop the 
communication strategy required under subsection 
(a). 
‘‘(2) FINALIZATION.—Not later than 2 years 
after the date the report required under paragraph 
(1) is submitted, the Secretary shall submit to the 
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate the 
communication strategy required under subsection 
(a). 
‘‘SEC. 2207. CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NU-
CLEAR, AND EXPLOSIVES INTELLIGENCE AND 
INFORMATION SHARING. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary of Intel-
ligence and Analysis of the Department shall— 
‘‘(1) support homeland security-focused intel-
ligence analysis of terrorist actors, their claims, and 
their plans to conduct attacks involving chemical, bi-
ological, radiological, or nuclear materials or explo-
sives against the United States; 
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‘‘(2) support homeland security-focused intel-
ligence analysis of global infectious diseases, public 
health, food, agricultural, and veterinary issues; 
‘‘(3) support homeland security-focused risk 
analysis and risk assessments of the homeland secu-
rity hazards described in paragraphs (1) and (2) by 
providing relevant quantitative and nonquantitative 
threat information; 
‘‘(4) leverage existing and emerging homeland 
security intelligence capabilities and structures to 
enhance prevention, protection, response, and recov-
ery efforts with respect to a chemical, biological, ra-
diological, nuclear, or explosives attack; 
‘‘(5) share appropriate information regarding 
such threats to appropriate State, local, tribal, and 
territorial authorities, as well as other national bio-
security and biodefense stakeholders; and 
‘‘(6) perform other responsibilities, as assigned 
by the Secretary. 
‘‘(b) COORDINATION.—Where appropriate, the Under 
Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis shall coordinate 
with the heads of other relevant Department components, 
including the Assistant Secretary, members of the intel-
ligence community, including the National Counter Pro-
liferation Center and the National Counterterrorism Cen-
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