HouseH.R. 9394119th Congress
Civil Preparedness for Agroterrorism Exercise Act of 2026
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[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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