H.R. 9394

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9394 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9394

To require the Department of Homeland Security to conduct an exercise 
related to agroterrorism, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 23, 2026

Mr. Strong introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Homeland Security

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To require the Department of Homeland Security to conduct an exercise 
related to agroterrorism, 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 ``Civil Preparedness for Agroterrorism 
Exercise Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. EXERCISE ON AGROTERRORISM.

(a) In General.--In addition to, or as part of exercise programs 
currently carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, to 
enhance domestic preparedness for and collective response to terrorism, 
promote the dissemination of homeland security information, and test 
the security posture of the United States, the Secretary of Homeland 
Security, acting through appropriate offices and components of the 
Department and in coordination with the heads of appropriate Federal 
departments and agencies, shall, not later than four years after the 
date of the enactment of this section, conduct an exercise related to 
the prevention, response to, recovery from, and mitigation of an act of 
agroterrorism.
(b) Exercise Requirements.--The exercise required under subsection 
(a) shall--
(1) include a scenario involving--
(A) developing preparedness for agroterrorists 
attempting to unlawfully transport into the United 
States a biological agent capable of adversely 
affecting the operations of--
(i) the agriculture and food critical 
infrastructure sector; or
(ii) other related economic sectors;
(B) developing preparedness for agroterrorists 
deploying within the United States a biological agent 
capable of adversely affecting the operations of--
(i) the agriculture and food critical 
infrastructure sector; or
(ii) other related economic sectors; and
(C) collective action by participants to determine 
the most effective response in managing and mitigating 
the effects of widespread disruption to the agriculture 
and food critical infrastructure sector or other 
related economic sectors as a result of agroterrorism, 
including through--
(i) effectively deploying incident command 
involving the entities specified in paragraph 
(2);
(ii) identifying key resources necessary to 
respond to, and recover from, and mitigate 
widespread disruption of the agriculture and 
food critical infrastructure sector or other 
related economic sectors as a result of 
agroterrorism; and
(iii) determining an efficient and 
effective allocation of such key resources, and 
addressing capability and capacity gaps at all 
levels of government; and
(2) include coordination with appropriate--
(A) Federal departments and agencies;
(B) State, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies;
(C) private sector owners and operators of--
(i) food and agricultural facilities;
(ii) other components of the agriculture 
and food critical infrastructure sector; and
(iii) components of other related economic 
sectors;
(D) representatives of and practitioners from the 
emergency preparedness and response community; and
(E) other stakeholders in, and subject matter 
experts of, the defense of the agriculture and food 
critical infrastructure sector from agroterrorism.
(c) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the completion of the 
exercise required under subsection (a), the Secretary of Homeland 
Security shall, consistent with the protection of classified 
information, submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate an after-action report that contains 
the following:
(1) The findings of such exercise, together with associated 
plans and a timeline for incorporating lessons learned into 
future operations of the Department of Homeland Security to 
counter and deter agroterrorism.
(2) Recommended legislative actions for improving the 
security posture of the United States and the future operations 
of the Department to counter and deter agroterrorism.
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Agroterrorism.--The term ``agroterrorism'' means an act 
of terrorism (as such term is defined in section 2 of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101)) that threatens to 
target or targets the agriculture and food critical 
infrastructure sector of the United States.
(2) Agroterrorist.--The term ``agroterrorist'' means any 
actor who commits an act of agroterrorism.
(3) Biological agent.--The term ``biological agent'' has 
the meaning given such term in section 178 of title 18, United 
States Code.
(4) Critical infrastructure.--The term ``critical 
infrastructure'' has the meaning given such term in section 
1016(e) of Public Law 107-56 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
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