H.R. 9660: No Hostile Operatives in our National Labs Obtaining Our Knowledge which Establishes Risks to our Security Act

This bill would stop intelligence agencies from spending money on research, development, or technical support done by a National Laboratory if that lab allows certain people from “countries of risk” to access its premises, information, or technology.

What counts as a restricted lab relationship

The bill applies when a National Laboratory permits:

• covered assignees from countries of risk, or
• covered visitors from countries of risk

to access the lab’s premises, information, or technology. If that happens, intelligence community funds generally could not be used for work the lab performs.

What agencies are affected

The restriction applies to any “element of the intelligence community,” meaning the agencies and offices that make up the U.S. intelligence community. It covers spending from those entities on research, development, or technical support.

When the restriction would not apply

The bill includes a waiver option. The head of an intelligence community element could still approve funding for a National Intelligence Program project even if the lab has the restricted access described above, but only if the official sends the congressional intelligence committees:

• a certification that the work is not at risk of being collected by a foreign intelligence agency or through nontraditional intelligence collection, and
• a written justification for the waiver.

In plain terms

In effect, the bill would pressure National Laboratories to limit access by certain foreign-linked assignees or visitors from countries of risk if they want to keep receiving intelligence-community-funded work. It does not ban those individuals from labs generally, but it creates a funding consequence for labs that allow that access.

Relevant Companies

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