| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 6846 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require the United States Government to assist in the establishment |
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| 6 | 6 | | of national security councils in specified countries. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | DECEMBER15, 2023 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. W |
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| 10 | 10 | | ALTZintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee |
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| 11 | 11 | | on Foreign Affairs |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To require the United States Government to assist in the |
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| 14 | 14 | | establishment of national security councils in specified |
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| 15 | 15 | | countries. |
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| 16 | 16 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 17 | 17 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 19 | 19 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Connecting Oceania’s 4 |
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| 20 | 20 | | Nations with Vanguard Exercises and National Empower-5 |
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| 21 | 21 | | ment Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘CONVENE Act of 2023’’. 6 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7 |
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| 23 | 23 | | In this Act: 8 |
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| 27 | 27 | | (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | gress’’ means— 3 |
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| 30 | 30 | | (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | the Select Committee on Intelligence, the 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | Armed Services Committee, and the Committee 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | on Appropriations of the Senate; and 7 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 8 |
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| 35 | 35 | | Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 9 |
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| 36 | 36 | | the Armed Services Committee, and the Com-10 |
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| 37 | 37 | | mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-11 |
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| 38 | 38 | | resentatives. 12 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (2) N |
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| 40 | 40 | | ATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL .—The term 13 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ‘‘national security council’’ means, with respect to a 14 |
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| 42 | 42 | | specified country, an intergovernmental body under 15 |
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| 43 | 43 | | the jurisdiction of the freely elected government of 16 |
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| 44 | 44 | | the specified country that acts as the primary co-17 |
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| 45 | 45 | | ordinating entity for security cooperation, disaster 18 |
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| 46 | 46 | | response, and the activities described in section 3(e). 19 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (3) S |
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| 48 | 48 | | PECIFIED COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘specified 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | country’’ means— 21 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (A) the Federated States of Micronesia; 22 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (B) the Republic of the Marshall Islands; 23 |
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| 52 | 52 | | and 24 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (C) the Republic of Palau. 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | SEC. 3. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCILS OF SPECIFIED 1 |
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| 58 | 58 | | COUNTRIES. 2 |
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| 59 | 59 | | (a) I |
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| 60 | 60 | | NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con-3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | sultation with other relevant Federal departments and 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | agencies, as appropriate, may consult and engage with 5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | each specified country to advise and provide assistance to 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | a national security council (including by developing a na-7 |
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| 65 | 65 | | tional security council, if appropriate), or to identify a 8 |
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| 66 | 66 | | similar coordinating body for national security matters, 9 |
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| 67 | 67 | | comprised of citizens of the specified country— 10 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (1) that enables the specified country— 11 |
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| 69 | 69 | | (A) to better coordinate with the United 12 |
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| 70 | 70 | | States Government, including the Armed 13 |
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| 71 | 71 | | Forces, as appropriate; 14 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (B) to increase cohesion on activities, in-15 |
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| 73 | 73 | | cluding emergency humanitarian response, law 16 |
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| 74 | 74 | | enforcement, and maritime security activities; 17 |
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| 75 | 75 | | and 18 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (C) to provide trained professionals to 19 |
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| 77 | 77 | | serve as members of the committees of the 20 |
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| 78 | 78 | | specified country established under the applica-21 |
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| 79 | 79 | | ble Compact of Free Association; and 22 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (2) for the purpose of enhancing resilience ca-23 |
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| 81 | 81 | | pabilities and protecting the people, infrastructure, 24 |
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| 82 | 82 | | and territory of the specified country from malign 25 |
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| 83 | 83 | | actions. 26 |
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| 87 | 87 | | (b) COMPOSITION.—The Secretary of State, respect-1 |
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| 88 | 88 | | ing the unique needs of each specified country, may seek 2 |
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| 89 | 89 | | to ensure that the national security council, or other iden-3 |
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| 90 | 90 | | tified coordinating body, of the specified country is com-4 |
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| 91 | 91 | | posed of sufficient staff and members to enable the activi-5 |
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| 92 | 92 | | ties described in subsection (e). 6 |
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| 93 | 93 | | (c) S |
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| 94 | 94 | | TANDARDS FOR EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES.— 7 |
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| 95 | 95 | | The Secretary of State may work with the national secu-8 |
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| 96 | 96 | | rity council, or other identified coordinating body, of each 9 |
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| 97 | 97 | | specified country to ensure that— 10 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (1) the equipment and services used by the na-11 |
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| 99 | 99 | | tional security council or other identified coordi-12 |
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| 100 | 100 | | nating body are compliant with security standards so 13 |
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| 101 | 101 | | as to minimize the risk of cyberattacks or espionage; 14 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (2) the national security council or other identi-15 |
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| 103 | 103 | | fied coordinating body takes all reasonable efforts 16 |
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| 104 | 104 | | not to procure or use systems, equipment, or soft-17 |
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| 105 | 105 | | ware that originates from any entity identified under 18 |
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| 106 | 106 | | section 1260H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry 19 |
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| 107 | 107 | | National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 20 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (Public Law 116–283; 10 U.S.C. 113 note); and 21 |
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| 109 | 109 | | (3) to the extent practicable, the equipment and 22 |
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| 110 | 110 | | services used by the national security council or 23 |
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| 111 | 111 | | other identified coordinating body are interoperable 24 |
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| 112 | 112 | | with the equipment and services used by the national 25 |
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| 116 | 116 | | security councils, or other identified coordinating 1 |
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| 117 | 117 | | bodies, of the other specified countries. 2 |
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| 118 | 118 | | (d) R |
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| 119 | 119 | | EPORT ONIMPLEMENTATION.— 3 |
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| 120 | 120 | | (1) I |
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| 121 | 121 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 4 |
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| 122 | 122 | | after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an-5 |
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| 123 | 123 | | nually thereafter for 2 years, the Secretary of State 6 |
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| 124 | 124 | | shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con-7 |
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| 125 | 125 | | gress a report that includes— 8 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (A) an assessment as to whether a national 9 |
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| 127 | 127 | | security council or a similar formal coordinating 10 |
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| 128 | 128 | | body is helping or would help achieve the objec-11 |
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| 129 | 129 | | tives described in subsection (a) at acceptable 12 |
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| 130 | 130 | | financial and opportunity cost; 13 |
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| 131 | 131 | | (B) a description of all actions taken by 14 |
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| 132 | 132 | | the United States Government to assist in the 15 |
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| 133 | 133 | | identification or maintenance of a national se-16 |
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| 134 | 134 | | curity council, or other identified coordinating 17 |
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| 135 | 135 | | body, in each specified country; 18 |
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| 136 | 136 | | (C) with respect to each specified country, 19 |
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| 137 | 137 | | an assessment as to whether— 20 |
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| 138 | 138 | | (i) the specified country has appro-21 |
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| 139 | 139 | | priately staffed its national security council 22 |
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| 140 | 140 | | or other identified coordinating body; and 23 |
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| 141 | 141 | | (ii) the extent to which the national 24 |
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| 142 | 142 | | security council, or other identified coordi-25 |
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| 146 | 146 | | nating body, of the specified country is ca-1 |
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| 147 | 147 | | pable of carrying out the activities de-2 |
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| 148 | 148 | | scribed in subsection (e); 3 |
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| 149 | 149 | | (D) an assessment of— 4 |
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| 150 | 150 | | (i) any challenge to cooperation and 5 |
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| 151 | 151 | | coordination with the national security 6 |
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| 152 | 152 | | council, or other identified coordinating 7 |
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| 153 | 153 | | body, of any specified country; 8 |
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| 154 | 154 | | (ii) current efforts by the Secretary of 9 |
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| 155 | 155 | | State to coordinate with the specified coun-10 |
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| 156 | 156 | | tries on the activities described in sub-11 |
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| 157 | 157 | | section (e); and 12 |
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| 158 | 158 | | (iii) existing governmental entities 13 |
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| 159 | 159 | | within each specified country that are ca-14 |
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| 160 | 160 | | pable of supporting such activities; 15 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (E) a description of any challenge with re-16 |
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| 162 | 162 | | spect to— 17 |
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| 163 | 163 | | (i) the implementation of the national 18 |
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| 164 | 164 | | security council, or other identified coordi-19 |
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| 165 | 165 | | nating body, of any specified country; and 20 |
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| 166 | 166 | | (ii) the implementation of subsections 21 |
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| 167 | 167 | | (a) through (c); 22 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (F) an assessment of any attempt or cam-23 |
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| 169 | 169 | | paign by a malign actor to influence the polit-24 |
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| 170 | 170 | | ical, security, or economic policy of a specified 25 |
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| 174 | 174 | | country, a member of a national security coun-1 |
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| 175 | 175 | | cil or other identified coordinating body, or an 2 |
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| 176 | 176 | | immediate family member of such a member; 3 |
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| 177 | 177 | | and 4 |
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| 178 | 178 | | (G) any other matter the Secretary of 5 |
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| 179 | 179 | | State considers relevant. 6 |
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| 180 | 180 | | (2) F |
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| 181 | 181 | | ORM.—Each report required by paragraph 7 |
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| 182 | 182 | | (1) may be submitted in unclassified form and may 8 |
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| 183 | 183 | | include a classified annex. 9 |
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| 184 | 184 | | (e) A |
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| 185 | 185 | | CTIVITIESDESCRIBED.—The activities de-10 |
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| 186 | 186 | | scribed in this subsection are the following homeland secu-11 |
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| 187 | 187 | | rity activities: 12 |
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| 188 | 188 | | (1) Coordination of— 13 |
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| 189 | 189 | | (A) the prosecution and investigation of 14 |
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| 190 | 190 | | transnational criminal enterprises; 15 |
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| 191 | 191 | | (B) responses to national emergencies, 16 |
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| 192 | 192 | | such as natural disasters; 17 |
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| 193 | 193 | | (C) counterintelligence and counter-coer-18 |
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| 194 | 194 | | cion responses to foreign threats; and 19 |
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| 195 | 195 | | (D) efforts to combat illegal, unreported, 20 |
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| 196 | 196 | | or unregulated fishing. 21 |
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| 197 | 197 | | (2) Coordination with United States Govern-22 |
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| 198 | 198 | | ment officials on humanitarian response, military ex-23 |
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| 199 | 199 | | ercises, law enforcement, and other issues of security 24 |
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| 200 | 200 | | concern. 25 |
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| 204 | 204 | | (3) Identification and development of an exist-1 |
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| 205 | 205 | | ing governmental entity to support homeland defense 2 |
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| 206 | 206 | | and civil support activities. 3 |
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| 207 | 207 | | Æ |
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