actions as may be necessary to correct the military records 
of the member or former member so as to obviate any 
adverse consequences of the member or former member’s 
refusal to take such a vaccine. 
(b) TIME FOR APPLICATION.—Any period established 
by law or regulation for the submission of an application 
for correction of a military record shall be treated, for pur-
poses of an application to make a correction by reason 
of subsection (a), as running from the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(c) EXPEDITING
CONSIDERATION
OF
APPLICA-
TIONS.—The Secretary of each military department shall 
take such actions as may be necessary to expedite consid-
eration of applications for correction of military records 
under subsection (a). 
(d) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—In this section, the 
term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ has the meaning given that 
term in section 101 of title 10, United States Code. 
(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—(1) The Secretary of Defense 
shall submit to the congressional committees specified in 
paragraph (2) an annual report on activities under this 
section. Each such report shall identify the number of ap-
plications received for correction of military records under 
this section, the basis for decisions taken on those applica-
tions, and the types of actions taken with respect to those 
applications. 
(2) The congressional committees referred to in para-
graph (1) are the following: 
(A) The Committee on Government Reform, the 
Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 
on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa-
tives. 
(B) The Committee on Governmental Affairs, 
the Committee on Armed Services, and the Com-
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate. 
SEC. 4. ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT THREAT OF ANTHRAX 
AND SMALLPOX ATTACKS. 
(a) REEVALUATION REQUIRED.—The Secretary of 
Defense shall include in the report to Congress specified 
in subsection (b) an assessment of the current threat of 
an anthrax attack or a smallpox attack on members of 
the Armed Forces. The assessment shall be prepared in 
consultation with the head of each element of the intel-
ligence community (as defined in section 3(4) of the Na-
tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a(4))). 
(b) ANNUAL CHEM-BIO REPORT.—The report re-
ferred to in subsection (a) is the next annual report sub-
mitted to Congress after the date of the enactment of this 
Act under section 1703 of the National Defense Author-
ization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (50 U.S.C. 1523), relat-
ing to chemical and biological warfare defense. 
SEC. 5. RESEARCH FUNCTIONS OF THE SECRETARY OF 
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall—
(1) carry out an ongoing assessment of the ad-
verse health effects being reported by members and 
former members of the Armed Forces with respect 
to the smallpox and anthrax vaccines administered 
by the Department of Defense; 
(2) carry out a research program to determine 
causal relationships (if any) between such effects 
and those vaccines; and 
(3) prepare an estimate of the future cost to 
the Department of Veterans Affairs to treat those 
adverse health effects, if determined to be service-
connected. 
SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL CENTER FOR MILI-
TARY DEPLOYMENT HEALTH RESEARCH. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish 
a National Center for Military Deployment Health Re-
search to coordinate and synthesize research efforts by 
Federal departments and agencies relating to the health 
effects of military deployments on members of the Armed 
Forces, including members of the reserve components.
(b) CRITERIA.—To the maximum extent practicable, 
the center shall be established in a manner consistent with 
the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine of the 
National Academy of Sciences in a report dated January 
1, 1999, titled ‘‘National Center for Military Deployment 
Health Research’’. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The center shall be estab-
lished not later than 120 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act.
Æ