COVID-19 Records

Attachment

Reading Room Production, p.141 · reading_room:exh:00037

Page text: p.141 · original PDF

Date
(unknown precision)
Type
attachment · document
Topics
Intelligence community assessmentsBiosafety and biosecurityCongressional oversightVaccines
5 PM [AID DEA DART 10 DcR-0cc TT WIAID) [El I IIH/NIAID) [--] ndences ay S is now requesting any y (9/27), ot support this legislation, we remain ID DIR-OCGR < ] (NIH/NIAID) [E] 4/NIAID) [E] VIH/NIAID) [E] iy >; (NIH/NIAID) [E] NIAID) [E] 'nate Committee on national security? Or should some other standard govern the Board's review? Any statute mandating this style of review should clarify the applicable standard. · Classified review and intelligence concerns: We recommend striking provisions that mandate the provision of security clearances to Board members, Board staff, and members of Congress, or that require these individuals to access and review all classified research funded by any agency. Those provisions extend beyond the scope of oversight that is reasonable for this board to take on and they may impinge on the constitutional authority of the Executive to control classified national security information. We also recommend that clauses be included to enable the intelligence community to respond to requests from the Board in a manner consistent with the protection of intelligence sources and methods. · Enforcement: The enforcement provisions are extreme and may raise significant legal and privacy concerns. Those provisions mandate a suite of harsh penalties for any violations of certain provisions of the statute, including technical or unintentional violations; they allow for no flexibility in determining the severity of punishment; they provide the aggrieved party with no process; and they mandate public identification of aggrieved individuals. These provisions could broadly disincentivize individuals from working in life sciences research and funding agencies, which could send research outside of this country and compromise progress on public health, safety, and national security. We recommend that enforcement provisions be focused on willful violations and significantly reduced or adjusted. Given the above concerns, as drafted, this legislation has the potential to negatively impact innovation and delay the development of lifesaving technologies. While the Administration does not support this legislation, we remain committed to working with the Committee on biosafety and biosecurity.