IB 
Union Calendar No. 255 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3875 
[Report No. 114–334] 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish within the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, 
and Explosives Office, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 2, 2015 
Mr. MCCAUL (for himself, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. RATCLIFFE, and Ms. JACKSON 
LEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Homeland Security 
NOVEMBER 16, 2015 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 2, 2015] 
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A BILL 
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. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘De-
partment 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 provision. 
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 De-
partment a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, 
and Explosives Office (referred to in this title as the 
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‘CBRNE Office’). The CBRNE Office shall be comprised of 
the Chemical Division, the Biological Division, the Nuclear 
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, Biologi-
cal, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Office (referred 
to in this title as the ‘Assistant Secretary’), who shall be 
appointed by the President by and with the advice and con-
sent 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 represent-
ative for coordinating CBRNE activities with other 
Federal departments and agencies; 
‘‘(4) provide oversight for the Department’s pre-
paredness for CBRNE threats; 
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‘‘(5) provide support for operations during 
CBRNE threats or incidents; and 
‘‘(6) carry out such other responsibilities as the 
Secretary determines appropriate, consistent with this 
title. 
‘‘(e) OTHER OFFICERS.—The Director of the Chemical 
Division, the Director of the Biological Division, the Direc-
tor of the Nuclear Division, and the Director of the Explo-
sives Division shall report directly to the Assistant Sec-
retary. 
‘‘SEC. 2202. COMPOSITION OF THE CBRNE OFFICE. 
‘‘The Secretary shall transfer to the CBRNE Office, the 
functions, personnel, budget authority, and assets of the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(1) The Office of Health Affairs as in existence 
on the day before the date of the enactment of this 
title, including the Chief Medical Officer authorized 
under section 516, and the National Biosurveillance 
Integration Center authorized under section 316. 
‘‘(2) The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office au-
thorized under title XIX, as in existence on the date 
before the date of the enactment of this title (and re-
designated as the Nuclear Division). 
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‘‘(3) CBRNE threat awareness and risk assess-
ment activities of the Science and Technology Direc-
torate. 
‘‘(4) The CBRNE functions of the Office of Pol-
icy 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 enactment 
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 five years before granting any exten-
sion 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. 
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‘‘SEC. 2205. TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENTS. 
‘‘(a) TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary 
shall, in coordination with relevant Department com-
ponents and other appropriate Federal departments 
and agencies, develop, coordinate, and update periodi-
cally terrorism risk assessments of chemical, biologi-
cal, 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 ap-
propriate, 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 in-
clude a description of the methodology used for each 
such assessment. 
‘‘(4) UPDATES.—Each terrorism risk assessment 
under this subsection shall be updated not less often 
than once every two years. 
‘‘(5) PROVISION TO CONGRESS.—The Assistant 
Secretary shall provide a copy of each risk assessment 
under this subsection to the Committee on Homeland 
Security of the House of Representatives and the 
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Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate not later than 30 days after 
completion of each such assessment. 
‘‘(b) METHODOLOGY.—In developing the terrorism risk 
assessments under subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary, 
in consultation with appropriate Federal departments 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 National 
Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4))). 
‘‘(c) USAGE.—The terrorism risk assessments required 
under subsection (a) shall be used to inform and guide allo-
cation of resources for chemical, biological, radiological, 
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 offi-
cials involved in efforts to counter chemical, biologi-
cal, radiological, and nuclear threats; 
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‘‘(2) ensure that written procedures are in place 
to guide the development of such assessments, includ-
ing for input, review, and implementation purposes, 
among relevant Federal partners; 
‘‘(3) share such assessments with Federal, State, 
local, tribal, and territorial officials with appropriate 
security clearances and a need for the information in 
the classified versions of such assessments; 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, biological, radi-
ological, 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; 
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‘‘(2) develop risk communication messages, in-
cluding pre-scripted messaging to the extent prac-
ticable; 
‘‘(3) develop clearly defined interagency processes 
and protocols to assure coordinated risk and incident 
communications and information sharing during in-
cident 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, tribal, 
and territorial governments, and other stakeholders, 
as appropriate. 
‘‘(b) COMMUNICATION DURING RESPONSE.—The Sec-
retary shall provide appropriate timely, accurate informa-
tion to the public, governmental partners, the private sector, 
and other appropriate stakeholders in the event of a sus-
pected or confirmed terrorist attack or other high con-
sequence event utilizing chemical, biological, radiological, 
or nuclear agents or explosives that pose a high risk to 
homeland security. 
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