Title: Military Biodefense Readiness and Protection Act of 2018
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
This bill directs components of the Department of Defense to develop a plan for countering emerging and deliberate infectious disease threats to ensure joint force health protection and the ability of the Armed Forces to conduct operations in an area subject to an emerging infectious disease threat.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5482 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5482

  To direct the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs to 
   develop a plan for countering emerging and deliberate infectious 
                disease threats, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 12, 2018

  Mr. Bacon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs to 
   develop a plan for countering emerging and deliberate infectious 
                disease threats, 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.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Military Biodefense Readiness and 
Protection Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The 2014 Ebola crisis demonstrated the need for the 
        Department of Defense to provide a prompt and efficient 
        response to an outbreak of a highly infectious disease.
            (2) A future outbreak of an infectious disease is all but 
        certain and the lessons learned from the 2014 Ebola crisis are 
        directly applicable to the next crisis.
            (3) It is critical that the Department of Defense take 
        immediate action to ensure the joint force is protected from 
        emerging infectious diseases and the potential deliberate use 
        of infectious diseases threats, while also being prepared to 
        conduct military operations in areas of increased risk as part 
        of an international response to a future public health 
        emergency.
            (4) To ensure mission effectiveness and force protection, 
        the Department of Defense should work closely with the 
        Department of State and the Department of Health and Human 
        Services before, during, and after an infectious disease 
        outbreak.

SEC. 3. PLAN FOR COUNTERING EMERGING AND DELIBERATE INFECTIOUS DISEASE 
              THREATS.

    (a) Plan.--The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, 
in coordination with the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human 
Services for Preparedness and Response, and in consultation with the 
Director of the Defense Advanced Research Program Agency, the Director 
of the Office of Net Assessment, and the head of the Defense Innovation 
Unit Experimental, shall develop a plan for countering emerging and 
deliberate infectious disease threats to ensure joint force health 
protection and the ability of the Armed Forces to conduct operations in 
an area subject to an emerging infectious disease threat.
    (b) Matters Included.--
            (1) Focus areas.--The plan developed under subsection (a) 
        shall address the following:
                    (A) Detection and management of patients with 
                emerging and high-consequence infections identified in 
                the R&D Blueprint Priority Disease List of the World 
                Health Organization, including novel emerging unknown 
                pathogens classified as ``Disease X''.
                    (B) Improved point-of-care, point-of-need, and 
                next-generation early detection diagnostics linked to 
                disease surveillance, response planning, and 
                information sharing networks.
                    (C) Evidence-based, best-practice clinical 
                management protocols that include pre-specified data 
                collection and analysis plans that are specifically 
                tailored for enhanced survival of infectious disease 
                casualties and near-time data generation in low-
                resource conditions.
                    (D) Enhanced infection prevention and control 
                standards, guidelines, and training, including new 
                technologies for protecting health care workers.
                    (E) Improved capability for medical evacuation of 
                patients with high-consequence infections.
                    (F) Infectious disease emergency response teams to 
                provide supplemental expertise and capability for 
                dangerous pathogen infections patient management and 
                movement in forward environments or in higher-level 
                military medical treatment facilities.
                    (G) Acceleration of research and development of 
                medical countermeasures, therapeutics, and vaccines 
                against high-consequence infections, including the 
                development of clinical trial networks capable of 
                generating critical supplemental human data in support 
                of licensure applications administered by the Food and 
                Drug Administration.
                    (H) Coordinated and rapid manufacturing response 
                capacity and capabilities, using regional, flexible, 
                scalable technologies and facilities, leveraging 
                successful medical countermeasure development and 
                manufacturing models implemented in the Department of 
                Health and Human Services and other departments of the 
                Federal Government.
            (2) Scope.--For each area specified in paragraph (1), the 
        plan shall include--
                    (A) milestones and actions that can be carried out 
                in both the one-year and five-year timeframes following 
                the date of the plan, including with respect to 
                operations, training, equipping, research, and 
                technology development;
                    (B) an identification of the element of the 
                Department of Defense to lead the Department in 
                carrying out such actions;
                    (C) the budget levels and priorities to carry out 
                such actions; and
                    (D) an identification of opportunities to leverage 
                the experience of the Department of State and the 
                Department of Health and Human Services.
    (c) Submission.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary of Defense shall submit 
to Congress the plan developed under subsection (a), including 
identification of any legislative action or administrative action 
required to implement such plan.
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