I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1290 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Secretary of 
Homeland Security to establish a National Biosurveillance Integration Center. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 1, 2007 
Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. THOMPSON of Mis-
sissippi, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. 
DENT, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee, and 
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN) 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 determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct 
the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a Na-
tional Biosurveillance Integration Center. 
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 ‘‘Biosurveillance En-
hancement Act of 2007’’. 
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SEC. 2. NATIONAL BIOSURVEILLANCE INTEGRATION CEN-
TER. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Homeland Secu-
rity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 316. NATIONAL BIOSURVEILLANCE INTEGRATION 
CENTER. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish a National Biosurveillance Integration Center (re-
ferred to in this section as the ‘NBIC’) to enhance the 
capability of the Federal Government to rapidly identify, 
characterize, and localize a biological event by integrating 
and analyzing data related to human health, animals, 
plants, food, and the environment. The NBIC shall be 
headed by a Director. 
‘‘(b) INTEGRATED BIOSURVEILLANCE NETWORK.— 
As part of the NBIC, the Director shall develop, operate, 
and maintain an integrated network to detect, as early as 
possible, a biological event that presents a risk to the 
United States or the infrastructure or key assets of the 
United States. The network shall— 
‘‘(1) consolidate data from all relevant surveil-
lance systems maintained by the Department and 
other governmental and private sources, both foreign 
and domestic, to the extent practicable; and 
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‘‘(2) use an information technology system that 
uses the best available statistical and other analyt-
ical tools to identify and characterize biological 
events in as close to real-time as possible. 
‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall— 
‘‘(A) monitor on an ongoing basis the 
availability and appropriateness of candidate 
data feeds and solicit new surveillance systems 
with data that would enhance biological situa-
tional awareness or overall performance of the 
NBIC; 
‘‘(B) review and seek to improve on an on-
going basis the statistical and other analytical 
methods used by the NBIC; 
‘‘(C) establish a procedure to enable Fed-
eral, State and local government, and private 
sector entities to report suspicious events that 
could warrant further assessments by the 
NBIC; 
‘‘(D) receive and consider all relevant 
homeland security information; and 
‘‘(E) provide technical assistance, as ap-
propriate, to all Federal, State, and local gov-
ernment entities and private sector entities that 
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