Gray Zone Defense Assessment Act
Bill: H.R.9096 | Sponsor: Rep. Chabot, Steve (R-OH)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Gray Zone Defense Assessment Act
This bill directs the President and Department of State to report to Congress on U.S. capabilities to respond to gray zone campaigns. Gray zone campaigns are coercive activities a nation uses to achieve its objectives, not including diplomacy or armed conflict.

To assess the capacity of the United States to effectively marshal 
  disparate elements of national power to counter adversary political 
               warfare campaigns, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Gray Zone Defense 
Assessment Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 4. Statement of policy.
Sec. 5. Evaluation of national capacities for conducting gray zone 
                            operations.
Sec. 6. Report on Department of State capacity to respond to gray zone 
                            aggression.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1948, George F. Kennan observed that, ``In broadest 
        definition, political warfare is the employment of all the 
        means at a nation's command, short of war, to achieve its 
        national objectives.''.
            (2) Today, this coercive activity is referred to by many 
        names within the United States Government and the academic 
        community, most notably ``gray zone'' operations.
            (3) Although increasingly employed as a means of political 
        warfare, the full contours of gray zone operations remain 
        ambiguous. However, central features of gray zone operations 
        include that they are ultimately directed by state actors, 
        consist of efforts not associated with routine statecraft, and 
        are intended to advance a country's objectives at the expense 
        of a rival, without crossing a threshold that results in 
        kinetic military conflict. They include such operations and 
        tactics as the following:
                    (A) Information warfare, including conducting 
                disinformation campaigns or the spreading of 
                propaganda.
                    (B) Encouraging internal strife within target 
                countries.
                    (C) Coordinated efforts to unduly influence 
                democratic elections or related political activities.
                    (D) Economic coercion.
                    (E) Cyber operations, below the threshold of 
                conflict, aimed at coercion, espionage, or otherwise 
                undermining a target.
                    (F) Support of domestic or foreign proxy forces.
                    (G) Coercive investment and bribery for political 
                aims.
                    (H) Industrial policy designed to monopolize a 
                strategic industry or to destroy such an industry in 
                other nations, especially when coordinated with other 
                gray zone operations.
                    (I) Military, paramilitary, or similar provocations 
                and operations short of war.
                    (J) Government financing or sponsorship of 
                activities described in subparagraphs (A) through (I).
            (4) Various gray zone operations are frequently linked 
        together into a coordinated campaign, that may also include 
        tools of routine diplomacy, and that is designed to achieve a 
        state's political or military objective.
            (5) Gray zone campaigns are attractive to state actors for 
        several reasons, including reduced costs compared to the 
        deployment of conventional forces, thereby allowing states to 
        pursue their objectives with limited resources.
            (6) The People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, 
        the Islamic Republic of Iran, and other countries actively 
        advance their own strategic objectives and challenge United 
        States interests through the extensive use of gray zone 
        operations.
            (7) Unwelcome escalation by adversarial powers--especially 
        over the last decade--from routine statecraft into gray zone 
        competition is a defining feature of the recent reemergence of 
        great-power competition and requires an appropriate United 
        States response.
            (8) The United States has not sufficiently deterred or 
        responded to gray zone campaigns, thereby risking undermining 
        United States national interests, diminishing United States 
        influence and credibility, and encouraging rivals to further 
        employ such tactics.
            (9) Successfully responding to adversary gray zone 
        campaigns relies upon the full integration of instruments of 
        national power across multiple domains and the ability to 
        deploy such capacities in a coordinated, real-time campaign.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) gray zone competition is a central and enduring aspect 
        of great-power competition, and the United States should 
        elevate the effective response to adversary gray zone campaigns 
        as a central feature of its approach to great-power 
        competition;
            (2) an effective, whole-of-government approach is essential 
        to meeting the gray zone challenges posed by competitors of the 
        United States; and
            (3) since gray zone activity takes place below the 
        threshold of kinetic military conflict and since narrative 
        formation is frequently a critical aspect of gray zone 
        campaigns, the Department of State should take a preeminent 
        role in coordinating, within applicable interagency processes, 
        the disparate means of national power as the United States 
        seeks to respond to adversary gray zone campaigns.

SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States to--
            (1) seek effective responses, particularly at the 
        Department of State, to adversary gray zone campaigns and to 
        recognize the paramount importance of such responses to the 
        national interests of the United States;
            (2) continue upholding the international rule of law and 
        the rules-based international order, which is a core national 
        security interest of the United States; and
            (3) call on United States allies and partners to employ 
        sufficient national resources to equitably contribute to the 
        response to gray zone challenges.

SEC. 5. EVALUATION OF NATIONAL CAPACITIES FOR CONDUCTING GRAY ZONE 
              OPERATIONS.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall conduct a review and submit 
to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the processes 
and capabilities by which the United States responds to gray zone 
campaigns and recommendations to enhance such processes and 
capabilities.
    (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall 
include--
            (1) an assessment of the capability and capacity of the 
        United States interagency to--
                    (A) identify adversary activity as a gray zone 
                campaign, including the adversary's intent, 
                capabilities, interactive effects, and impact on United 
                States interests;
                    (B) devise effective theories of deterrence; and
                    (C) coordinate instruments of United States 
                national power to consistently and effectively respond 
                to adversarial gray zone campaigns against the United 
                States or allies and partners;
            (2) a description of the process for determining the 
        threshold at which adversary gray zone activities or campaigns 
        targeting the United States, allies, or partners threaten 
        United States interests, including the methods and mechanisms 
        for--
                    (A) determining which such activities or campaigns 
                warrant a United States response;
                    (B) calibrating such response;
                    (C) communicating such thresholds to adversaries; 
                and
                    (D) establishing and regularly reviewing protocols 
                with allies and partners to respond to such activities 
                or campaigns; and
            (3) recommendations for further enhancing the ability of 
        the United States to deter and respond to adversarial gray zone 
        campaigns, including--
                    (A) institutional reforms to enhance United States 
                interagency coordination in response to adversarial 
                gray zone campaigns and, as necessary, additional 
                statutory authorities required to implement those 
                reforms;
                    (B) additional resources, authorities, or 
                institutional capacities necessary for United States 
                agencies to counter gray zone threats; and
                    (C) budget estimates for the implementations of the 
                recommendations made pursuant to this paragraph.
    (c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted 
in a classified form and shall contain an unclassified summary.
    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Select 
        Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Armed Services, the 
        Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Energy and 
        Commerce, and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 
        of Representatives; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Select 
        Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Armed Services, the 
        Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee 
        on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the Committee on 
        Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.

SEC. 6. REPORT ON DEPARTMENT OF STATE CAPACITY TO RESPOND TO GRAY ZONE 
              AGGRESSION.

    (a) Report Required.--Not later than 180 days after the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate a report discussing the capacity of the 
Department of State to contribute to coordinated United States 
responses to adversary gray zone campaigns and the Department's 
understanding of the gray zone threat environment.
    (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall also 
include the following:
            (1) The capabilities, offices, and entities particularly 
        suited to countering adversary gray zone operations and a 
        description of the roles each can play.
            (2) An evaluation of the adequacy and utility of 
        established Department of State definitions for understanding 
        adversary gray zone activity.
            (3) Recommendations, including proposed necessary 
        investments and the rationale and expected costs of such 
        investments, for further enhancing the capacity of the 
        Department of State to effectively respond to adversary gray 
        zone operations.
            (4) An identification of 25 priority countries at the front 
        lines of adversary gray zone aggression and a discussion, 
        developed in consultation with relevant embassy country teams, 
        of the matters described in paragraphs (1) through (3) with 
        respect to each such country.
            (5) A list of activities that are currently being 
        undertaken to respond to adversary gray zone campaigns 
        conducted against such priority countries.
    (c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted 
in a classified form and shall contain an unclassified summary.
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