42 U.S.C. § 18912 — Research security

The term “country of risk” means a foreign country determined by the Secretary, in accordance with subparagraph (B), to present a risk of theft of United States intellectual property or a threat to the national security of the United States if nationals of the country, or entities owned or controlled by the country or nationals of the country, participate in any research, development, demonstration, or deployment activity authorized under this division or division A or an amendment made by this division or division A.

In making a determination under subparagraph (A), the Secretary, in coordination with the Director^* of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, shall take into consideration—

identified under section 1237(b) of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; Public Law 105–261);

identified under section 1260H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (10 U.S.C. 113 note; Public Law 116–283);

on the Entity List maintained by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce and set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations;

included in the list required by section 9(b)(3) of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–145; 134 Stat. 656); or

identified by the Secretary, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence and the applicable office that would provide, or is providing, covered support, as posing an unmanageable threat—

deploy risk-based approaches to evaluating, awarding, and managing certain research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities, including designations that will indicate the relative risk of activities;

assess, to the extent practicable, ongoing high-risk activities;

designate an officer or employee of the Department of Energy to be responsible for tracking and notifying recipients of any covered support of unmanageable threats to United States national security or of theft or loss of United States intellectual property posed by an entity of concern;

consider requiring recipients of covered support to implement additional research security mitigations for higher-risk activities if appropriate; and

support the development of research security training for recipients of covered support on the risks posed by entities of concern.

The Secretary may waive the prohibition under paragraph (1) if determined by the Secretary to be in the national interest.

Not less than 2 weeks prior to issuing a waiver under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall notify the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives of the intent to issue the waiver, including a justification for the waiver.

On finding that any entity of concern or individual described in paragraph (1) has received covered support and has not received a waiver under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall terminate all covered support to that entity of concern or individual, as applicable.

An entity of concern or individual identified under subparagraph (A) shall be—

Prior to imposing a penalty under subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall notify the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives of the intent to impose the penalty, including a description of and justification for the penalty.

share information about the unmanageable threats described in subsection (a)(3)(E) with other Federal agencies; and

develop consistent approaches to identifying entities of concern.

the tools and processes developed under subsection (b)(1) and any updates to those tools and processes; and

if applicable, the science and technology risk matrix developed under that subsection and how that matrix has been applied;