I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4632 
To provide for a Chief Medical Officer in the Office of the Secretary of 
Homeland Security, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 17, 2005 
Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. ETHERIDGE, 
and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for a Chief Medical Officer in the Office of 
the Secretary of Homeland Security, 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 ‘‘Chief Medical Officer 
Authorization Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Title V of the Homeland Se-
curity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 311 et seq.) is amended—
(1) by redesignating the second section 510 as 
section 511; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 512. CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER. 
‘‘(a) CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER.—There is in the Of-
fice of the Secretary of Homeland Security a Chief Med-
ical Officer who shall be an Under Secretary. 
‘‘(b) GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—Subject to the 
direction and control of the Secretary, the responsibilities 
of the Chief Medical Officer shall include the following: 
‘‘(1) To report directly to the Secretary regard-
ing all matters pertaining to the responsibilities list-
ed in this section. 
‘‘(2) To act as an advisor to the Secretary re-
garding medically-related issues to ensure the accu-
racy of medical messages delivered by the Secretary 
and contribute to important decisions being made by 
the Secretary that have a foundation in medicine, 
medical treatment, or medical response. 
‘‘(3) To inform the public on medically-related 
homeland security issues, including threats and risk 
assessment, preparation, and response, and to pro-
vide information on how the public can best protect 
itself from such threats.
‘‘(4) In consultation with the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, to develop standards, 
prepare plans, and evaluate training programs for 
emergency medical personnel related to disaster pre-
paredness and to make those findings available to 
the Congress and to the emergency medical provider 
community. 
‘‘(5) In consultation with the Assistant Sec-
retary for Grants and Training, to be responsible for 
the oversight and management of the Metropolitan 
Medical Response System. 
‘‘(6) To develop and update guidelines to be 
distributed to local authorities for medical plans to 
respond to natural disasters, industrial or transpor-
tation accidents, or intentional attacks on the United 
States involving conventional or unconventional 
weapons. 
‘‘(7) To promote the development of mutual aid 
agreements to ensure the effective cooperation of ci-
vilian medical providers and facilities, including the 
development of intraregional and interregional co-
ordination plans, interoperable equipment, standard-
ized practices and procedures (including electronic 
systems to track patients transported from one loca-