Attachment
Reading Room Production, p.141 · reading_room:exh:00037
Page text: p.141 · original PDF
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'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.