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. 
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 ‘‘Higher Education Re-
search Protection Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION INITIA-
TIVE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 28, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘§ 540D. Higher Education Initiative 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 
Office of Private Sector of the Intelligence Branch of the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation a Higher Education Ini-
tiative, which shall be headed by the Assistant Director 
of the Office of Private Sector (in this Act referred to as 
‘the Assistant Director’). 
‘‘(b) DUTIES.— 
‘‘(1) ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DUTIES.—The As-
sistant Director shall investigate and report to the 
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation any 
suspected incidents of individuals participating in 
federally funded research as agents of a foreign gov-
ernment in institutions of higher education and Na-
tional Academies. 
‘‘(2) DIRECTOR DUTIES.—The Director of the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation shall instruct Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation field offices to conduct 
proactive outreach to institutions of higher education 
and National Academies within the office’s area of 
responsibility. 
‘‘(c) HIRING.—The Attorney General, acting through 
the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall 
hire 56 investigative agents to carry out this section. 
‘‘(d) SUNSET PROVISION.—The Higher Education 
Initiative established under subsection (a) shall terminate 
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on the date that is ten years after the date of the enact-
ment of the ‘Higher Education Research Protection Act 
of 2021’. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘for-
eign government’ includes the People’s Republic of 
China or any component thereof, including the Chi-
nese Communist Party, the Central Committee of 
the Communist Party of China, the Central Military 
Commission of China, the Chinese People’s Political 
Consultative Conference, the National People’s Con-
gress of China, or the State Council of China. 
‘‘(2) HIGHER EDUCATION.—The term ‘institu-
tion of higher education’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 
‘‘(3) NATIONAL
ACADEMIES.—The term ‘Na-
tional Academies’ means the National Academies of 
Science, Engineering, and Medicine.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for chapter 33 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘540D. Higher Education Initiative.’’. 
Æ 
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