S.Amdt. 5634

SA 5634. Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. CHEMICAL SECURITY ANALYSIS CENTER.

(a) In General.--Title III of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“SEC. 323. CHEMICAL SECURITY ANALYSIS CENTER.

“(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, shall designate the laboratory described in subsection (b) as an additional laboratory pursuant to the authority under section 308(c)(2), which shall be used to conduct studies, analyses, and research to assess and address the threat, hazards, and risks associated with an accidental or intentional chemical event or chemical terrorism event.

“(b) Laboratory Described.--The laboratory described in this subsection is the laboratory known, as of the date of enactment of this section, as the Chemical Security Analysis Center.

“(c) Laboratory Activities.--The Chemical Security Analysis Center shall--

“(1) identify and develop countermeasures and mitigation strategies to chemical threats, including the development of comprehensive, research-based definable goals for those countermeasures;

“(2) provide an enduring science-based chemical threat and hazard analysis capability;

“(3) provide expertise in risk and consequence modeling, chemical sensing and detection, analytical chemistry, chemical toxicology, synthetic chemistry and reaction characterization, and nontraditional chemical agents and emerging chemical threats;

“(4) staff and operate a technical assistance program that provides operational support and subject matter expertise, design and execute laboratory and field tests, and provide a comprehensive knowledge repository of chemical threat information that is continuously updated with data from scientific, intelligence, operational, and private sector sources;

“(5) consult, as appropriate, with the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of the Department to mitigate, prepare, and respond to threats, hazards, and risks associated with an accidental or intentional chemical event or chemical terrorism event; and

“(6) carry out such other activities as the Secretary determines appropriate.

“(d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed as affecting in any manner the authorities or responsibilities of the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of the Department.”.

(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296; 116 Stat. 2135) is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 322 the following:

“Sec. 323. Chemical Security Analysis Center.”.