I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 708
To establish in the Department of Homeland Security a working group
relating to countering terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port security,
and transportation security threats posed to the United States by the
Chinese Communist Party, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Mr. S
TRONG(for himself, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana, Mr. GREEN
of Tennessee, Mr. G
UEST, Mr. LUTTRELL, and Mr. EVANSof Colorado)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and
Means, Financial Services, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To establish in the Department of Homeland Security a
working group relating to countering terrorist, cybersecu-
rity, border and port security, and transportation secu-
rity threats posed to the United States by the Chinese
Communist Party, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strategic Homeland 4
Intelligence and Enforcement Legislation to Defend 5
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Against the CCP Act’’ or the ‘‘SHIELD Against CCP 1
Act’’. 2
SEC. 2. WORKING GROUP TO COUNTER CERTAIN THREATS 3
POSED TO THE UNITED STATES BY THE CHI-4
NESE COMMUNIST PARTY. 5
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 7
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-8
retary of Homeland Security shall establish in the 9
Department of Homeland Security a working group 10
(in this section referred to as the ‘‘Working 11
Group’’), which shall carry out the duties specified 12
in subsection (b) relating to countering terrorist, cy-13
bersecurity, border and port security, and transpor-14
tation security threats posed to the United States by 15
the Chinese Communist Party. 16
(2) D
IRECTOR.— 17
(A) A
PPOINTMENT.—The head of the 18
Working Group shall be a Director (in this sec-19
tion referred to as the ‘‘Director’’), who shall be 20
appointed by the Secretary of Homeland Secu-21
rity. 22
(B) R
EPORTING.—The Director shall re-23
port to the Secretary of Homeland Security re-24
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garding all administrative, operational, and se-1
curity matters of the Working Group. 2
(3) S
TAFFING.—The Secretary of Homeland 3
Security shall ensure the Working Group is provided 4
with the following: 5
(A) A sufficient number of employees to 6
perform required duties. 7
(B) Not fewer than one employee dedicated 8
to ensuring compliance with privacy laws and 9
regulations. 10
(4) D
ETAILEES.—The Working Group may ac-11
cept and employ detailees with expertise in coun-12
tering terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port secu-13
rity, and transportation security threats posed by 14
the Chinese Communist Party to the United States, 15
or in related fields, from any element of the intel-16
ligence community or any other Federal agency the 17
Director determines appropriate, with or without re-18
imbursement, consistent with applicable laws and 19
regulations regarding such employees. 20
(b) D
UTIES.—The Working Group shall carry out the 21
following: 22
(1) Examine, assess, and report upon efforts by 23
the Department of Homeland Security to counter 24
terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port security, 25
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and transportation security threats posed to the 1
United States by the Chinese Communist Party, in-2
cluding efforts to counter the Chinese Communist 3
Party’s— 4
(A) nontraditional tactics and exploitation 5
of the United States immigration system 6
through— 7
(i) identity theft; 8
(ii) the immigrant and nonimmigrant 9
visa processes; 10
(iii) unlawful border crossings; 11
(iv) human smuggling; and 12
(v) human trafficking; 13
(B) predatory economic and trade prac-14
tices, including the trafficking of counterfeit 15
and pirated goods, the use of forced labor, labor 16
exploitation for financial gain, customs fraud, 17
and theft of intellectual property and tech-18
nology; 19
(C) direct or indirect support for 20
transnational criminal organizations trafficking 21
in fentanyl, illicit drug precursors, or other con-22
trolled substances through— 23
(i) the United States border; 24
(ii) international mail shipments; or 25
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(iii) express consignment operations; 1
and 2
(D) support for illicit financial activity by 3
Chinese Money Laundering Organizations, in-4
cluding any repatriation to China or any other 5
country of the proceeds derived from the activi-6
ties described in subparagraphs (A) through 7
(C). 8
(2) Account for the resources of the Depart-9
ment that are dedicated to programs aimed at coun-10
tering terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port secu-11
rity, and transportation security threats posed to the 12
United States by the Chinese Communist Party, and 13
any supporting information as to the efficacy of each 14
such program. 15
(3) Build upon existing or ongoing evaluations 16
and avoid unnecessary duplication by reviewing the 17
findings, conclusions, and recommendations of other 18
appropriate working groups, committees, commis-19
sions, or entities established by the Department re-20
lated to efforts to counter terrorist, cybersecurity, 21
border and port security, and transportation security 22
threats posed to the United States by the Chinese 23
Communist Party. 24
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(4) Identify gaps in policies, processes, and ac-1
tivities of the Department to respond to terrorist, 2
cybersecurity, border and port security, and trans-3
portation security threats posed to the United States 4
by the Chinese Communist Party. 5
(5) Facilitate cooperation and coordination 6
among offices and components of the Department on 7
a holistic response to countering terrorist, cybersecu-8
rity, border and port security, and transportation se-9
curity threats posed to the United States by the Chi-10
nese Communist Party. 11
(c) A
DDITIONALDUTYRELATING TOINFORMATION 12
S
HARING.—The Working Group shall review, in coordina-13
tion with the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the De-14
partment of Homeland Security, information relating to 15
terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port security, and 16
transportation security threats posed to the United States 17
by the Chinese Communist Party that is gathered by Fed-18
eral, State, local, Tribal, and territorial partners, and the 19
National Network of Fusion Centers, and incorporate such 20
information, as appropriate, into the Working Group’s 21
own information relating to such threats. The Working 22
Group, in coordination with the Office of Intelligence and 23
Analysis, shall also ensure the dissemination to Federal, 24
State, local, Tribal, and territorial partners, and the Na-25
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tional Network of Fusion Centers, of information related 1
to such threats. 2
(d) A
NNUALASSESSMENTS.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 4
after the date of the enactment of this section and 5
annually thereafter for five years, the Secretary of 6
Homeland Security, in coordination with the Under 7
Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis of the De-8
partment of Homeland Security, the Director of the 9
Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of 10
National Intelligence, shall submit to the appro-11
priate congressional committees a report that as-12
sesses terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port secu-13
rity, and transportation security threats posed to the 14
United States by the Chinese Communist Party dur-15
ing the immediately preceding 12 months. 16
(2) C
ONTENTS.—Each assessment under para-17
graph (1) shall also include the following: 18
(A) A description of the activities and op-19
erations of the Working Group undertaken pur-20
suant to subsection (b). 21
(B) Any other matters the Secretary of 22
Homeland Security determines relevant. 23
(3) F
ORM.—Each assessment under paragraph 24
(1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 25
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include a classified annex. The Secretary of Home-1
land Security shall post on a publicly available 2
website of the Department of Homeland Security the 3
unclassified portion of each assessment. 4
(4) B
RIEFING.—Not later than 30 days after 5
the submission of each assessment under paragraph 6
(1), the Secretary of Homeland Security shall pro-7
vide to the appropriate congressional committees a 8
briefing on such assessment and the progress and 9
challenges of the Working Group. 10
(e) C
OMPTROLLER GENERALREVIEW.—Not later 11
than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 12
the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 13
to the appropriate congressional committees a report on 14
the implementation of this section. 15
(f) R
ESEARCH ANDDEVELOPMENT.—Not later than 16
one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 17
Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the 18
Director and the Under Secretary for Science and Tech-19
nology of the Department of Homeland Security, shall, to 20
the extent practicable, carry out research and develop-21
ment, including operational testing, of technologies and 22
techniques for enhancing the Department’s security and 23
situational awareness relating to countering terrorist, cy-24
bersecurity, border and port security, and transportation 25
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security threats posed to the United States by the Chinese 1
Communist Party. 2
(g) I
MPLEMENTATION.—All activities carried out 3
pursuant to this section— 4
(1) shall be carried out in accordance with ap-5
plicable constitutional, privacy, civil rights, and civil 6
liberties protections; and 7
(2) may not infringe upon the lawful exercise of 8
free speech by United States persons. 9
(h) S
UNSET.—The Working Group shall terminate on 10
the date that is seven years after the establishment of the 11
Working Group under subsection (a)(1). 12
(i) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -14
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-15
mittees’’ means— 16
(A) in the House of Representatives— 17
(i) the Committee on Homeland Secu-18
rity; 19
(ii) the Committee on Ways and 20
Means; 21
(iii) the Committee on Financial Serv-22
ices; 23
(iv) the Committee on the Judiciary; 24
and 25
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(v) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; 1
and 2
(B) in the Senate— 3
(i) the Committee on Homeland Secu-4
rity and Governmental Affairs; 5
(ii) the Committee on Banking, Hous-6
ing, and Urban Affairs; 7
(iii) the Committee on Finance; 8
(iv) the Committee on the Judiciary; 9
and 10
(v) the Committee on Foreign Rela-11
tions. 12
(2) F
USION CENTER.—The term ‘‘fusion cen-13
ter’’ has the meaning given such term in subsection 14
(k) of section 210A of the Homeland Security Act 15
of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h). 16
(3) I
NTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY .—The term 17
‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 18
such term in section 3(4) of the National Security 19
Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 20
(4) N
ATIONAL NETWORK OF FUSION CEN -21
TERS.—The term ‘‘National Network of Fusion Cen-22
ters’’ means a decentralized arrangement of fusion 23
centers intended to enhance individual State and 24
urban area fusion centers’ ability to leverage the ca-25
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pabilities and expertise of all such fusion centers for 1
the purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland se-2
curity information sharing nationally. 3
(5) U
NITED STATES PERSONS .—The term 4
‘‘United States person’’ has the meaning given such 5
term in section 1637(d)(10) of the Carl Levin and 6
Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Au-7
thorization Act for Fiscal year 2015 (50 U.S.C. 8
1708(d)(10)). 9
Æ
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