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