I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4424 
To direct the Secretary of Defense to notify Congress if the Secretary deter-
mines, with high confidence, that a foreign government or foreign official 
has taken, or plans to take, steps intended to cause the death of, 
or serious bodily injury to, a member of the United States Armed 
Forces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 13, 2021 
Mrs. MURPHY of Florida (for herself and Ms. SALAZAR) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Defense to notify Congress if 
the Secretary determines, with high confidence, that a 
foreign government or foreign official has taken, or plans 
to take, steps intended to cause the death of, or serious 
bodily injury to, a member of the United States Armed 
Forces. 
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 ‘‘Deadly Escalation by 
Foreign Entities Notification and Disclosure Act’’ or the 
‘‘DEFEND Act’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:02 Jul 27, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4424.IH
H4424
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION OF CERTAIN THREATS TO UNITED 
STATES ARMED FORCES BY FOREIGN GOV-
ERNMENTS. 
(a) DETERMINATION THAT FOREIGN GOVERNMENT 
INTENDS TO CAUSE THE DEATH OF OR SERIOUS BODILY 
INJURY TO MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.—The 
Secretary of Defense shall carry out the notification re-
quirements under subsection (b) whenever the Secretary, 
in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, 
determines with high confidence that, on or after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, an official of a foreign gov-
ernment plans or takes some other substantial step that 
is intended to cause the death of, or serious bodily injury 
to, any member of the United States Armed Forces, 
whether through direct means or indirect means, including 
through a promise or agreement by the foreign govern-
ment to pay anything of pecuniary value to an individual 
or organization in exchange for causing such death or in-
jury. 
(b) NOTICE TO CONGRESS.— 
(1) NOTIFICATION.—Except as provided in 
paragraph (3), not later than 14 days after making 
a determination under subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall notify the congressional leadership, the con-
gressional intelligence committees and, consistent 
with the protection of sources and methods, the ap-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:02 Jul 27, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4424.IH
H4424
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
propriate congressional committees of such deter-
mination. Such notification shall include, at a min-
imum, the following: 
(A) A description of the nature and extent 
of the effort by the foreign government to tar-
get members of the United States Armed 
Forces. 
(B) An assessment of what specific offi-
cials, agents, entities, and departments within 
the foreign government ordered, authorized, or 
had knowledge of the effort. 
(C) An assessment of the motivations of 
the foreign government for undertaking such an 
effort. 
(D) An assessment of whether the effort of 
the foreign government was a substantial factor 
in the death or serious bodily injury of any 
member of the United States Armed Forces. 
(E) Any other information the Secretary 
determines appropriate. 
(2) OPTION FOR BRIEFING.—Upon the request 
of a congressional recipient specified in paragraph 
(1) after being notified of a determination under 
such paragraph, the Secretary shall provide to the 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:02 Jul 27, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4424.IH
H4424
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
recipient a briefing on the contents of the notifica-
tion. 
(3) PROTECTION
OF
SOURCES
AND
METH-
ODS.—This subsection shall be carried out in a man-
ner that is consistent with the protection of sources 
and methods. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘anything of pecuniary value’’ has 
the meaning given that term in section 1958(b)(1) 
of title 18, United States Code. 
(2) The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the following: 
(A) The Committee on Armed Services and 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 
of Representatives. 
(B) The Committee on Armed Services and 
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen-
ate. 
(3) The terms ‘‘congressional intelligence com-
mittees’’ and ‘‘intelligence community’’ have the 
meaning given those terms in section 3 of the Na-
tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003). 
(4) The term ‘‘congressional leadership’’ in-
cludes the following: 
(A) The majority leader of the Senate. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:02 Jul 27, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4424.IH
H4424
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
(B) The minority leader of the Senate. 
(C) The Speaker of the House of Rep-
resentatives. 
(D) The minority leader of the House of 
Representatives. 
(5) The term ‘‘determines with high con-
fidence’’— 
(A) means that the official making the de-
termination— 
(i) has concluded that the judgments 
in the determination are based on sound 
analytic argumentation and high-quality, 
consistent reporting from multiple sources, 
including through clandestinely obtained 
documents, clandestine and open source re-
porting, and in-depth expertise; 
(ii) with respect to such judgments, 
has concluded that the intelligence commu-
nity has few intelligence gaps and few as-
sumptions underlying the analytic line and 
that the intelligence community has con-
cluded that the potential for deception is 
low; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:02 Jul 27, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4424.IH
H4424
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
(iii) has examined long-standing ana-
lytic judgments and considered alternatives 
in making the determination; but 
(B) does not mean that the official making 
the determination has concluded that the judg-
ments in the determination are fact or cer-
tainty. 
(6) The term ‘‘direct means’’ means without the 
use of intermediaries. 
(7) The term ‘‘foreign government’’ means the 
government of a foreign country with which the 
United States is at peace. 
(8) The term ‘‘indirect means’’ means through, 
or with the assistance of, intermediaries. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:02 Jul 27, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H4424.IH
H4424
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS