Civil Preparedness for Agroterrorism Exercise Act of 2026

[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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