Title: Strengthening Elections Through Intelligence Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Strengthening Elections Through Intelligence Act
This bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to report to Congress and state election officials on threats to election infrastructure, including cybersecurity threats. The ODNI shall submit the initial report 180 days before each regularly scheduled federal election and update such initial reports as necessary.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1474 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1474

   To require the Director of National Intelligence to submit a pre-
 election threat assessment prior to each regularly scheduled general 
          election for Federal office, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2019

Ms. Spanberger introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
               Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Director of National Intelligence to submit a pre-
 election threat assessment prior to each regularly scheduled general 
          election for Federal office, 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 ``Strengthening Elections Through 
Intelligence Act''.

SEC. 2. PRE-ELECTION THREAT ASSESSMENTS.

    (a) Submission of Assessment by DNI.--Not later than 180 days 
before the date of each regularly scheduled general election for 
Federal office, the Director of National Intelligence shall submit an 
assessment of the full scope of threats to election infrastructure, 
including cybersecurity threats posed by state actors and terrorist 
groups, and recommendations to address or mitigate the threats, as 
developed by the Secretary and Chairman, to--
            (1) the chief State election official of each State;
            (2) the Committees on Homeland Security and House 
        Administration of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committees on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and 
        Rules and Administration of the Senate; and
            (3) any other appropriate congressional committees.
    (b) Updates to Initial Assessments.--If, at any time after 
submitting an assessment with respect to an election under subsection 
(a), the Director of National Intelligence determines that the 
assessment should be updated to reflect new information regarding the 
threats involved, the Director shall submit a revised assessment under 
such subsection.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions apply:
            (1) The term ``Chairman'' means the chair of the Election 
        Assistance Commission.
            (2) The term ``chief State election official'' means, with 
        respect to a State, the individual designated by the State 
        under section 10 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 
        (52 U.S.C. 20509) to be responsible for coordination of the 
        State's responsibilities under such Act.
            (3) The term ``election infrastructure'' means storage 
        facilities, polling places, and centralized vote tabulation 
        locations used to support the administration of elections for 
        public office, as well as related information and 
        communications technology, including voter registration 
        databases, voting machines, electronic mail and other 
        communications systems (including electronic mail and other 
        systems of vendors who have entered into contracts with 
        election agencies to support the administration of elections, 
        manage the election process, and report and display election 
        results), and other systems used to manage the election process 
        and to report and display election results on behalf of an 
        election agency.
            (4) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Homeland 
        Security.
            (5) The term ``State'' has the meaning given such term in 
        section 901 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 
        21141).
    (d) Effective Date.--This Act shall apply with respect to the 
regularly scheduled general election for Federal office held in 
November 2020 and each succeeding regularly scheduled general election 
for Federal office.
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