119-hr5770

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5770 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 5770

 To establish biotechnology workforce training programs for Department 
 of Defense personnel, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 October 17, 2025

Ms. Houlahan (for herself and Mr. Bacon) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To establish biotechnology workforce training programs for Department 
 of Defense personnel, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``National Security Biotechnology 
Workforce Training Act''.

SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BIOTECHNOLOGY WORKFORCE TRAINING.

    (a) Requirement.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall establish and 
carry out a training program--

    (1) for members of the covered Armed Forces, civilian 
 employees of the Department of Defense, and contractors of such 
 Department whose duties the Secretary determines include--
        (A) creating or deploying novel biotechnologies;
        (B) analyzing, preparing for, or responding to 
 biological threats; or
            (C) planning, research and development, 
 engineering, or testing and evaluation of systems 
 (including quality control and assurance, procurement 
 and contracting, logistics, and cost estimating) 
 regarding biotechnology; and

    (2) on biotechnology and other relevant critical and 
 emerging technologies.

    (b) Consultation.--

    (1) In general.--The Secretary shall consult with 
 leadership and workforce training managers in the Department to 
 develop and implement such training program and identify the 
 individuals described in subsection

    (a) based on--
        (A) the needs and priorities of the Department; and
        (B) the relevance of the training to the 
 individuals' positions.

    (2) Material.--The material covered in the training 
 programs shall be customized by Department leadership to align 
 with specific needs and mission requirements.

    (3) Skills.--The Secretary shall define the essential 
 skills for biotechnology personnel to better understand what 
 Federal personnel should undergo training and how to customize 
 training for groups.
            (c) Requirements.--

    (1) In general.--The training program established under 
 this section shall, at a minimum, include information on--
        (A) the fundamental science underlying 
 biotechnology, artificial intelligence and other 
 relevant critical and emerging technologies;
        (B) concepts relating to the technological features 
 of biotechnology systems;
            (C) applications of biotechnology in defense, 
 health, agriculture, energy, environment, and other 
 relevant areas;
            (D) the ways in which artificial intelligence, 
 quantum computing, and other technologies are leveraged 
 to advance biotechnology;
        (E) mechanisms by which the Federal Government 
 supports, funds, purchases, and deploys biotechnology 
 and its applications;
        (F) ways in which the Federal Government can 
 benefit from biotechnology;
        (G) ethical, social, and legal aspects of 
 biotechnology including ways of incorporating a wide 
 range of stakeholder perspectives throughout research 
 and innovation cycles;
        (H) ways to mitigate the risks described in 
 previous subparagraphs, including efforts to create and 
 identify biotechnologies that are reliable, safe, and 
 trustworthy; and
            (I) future trends in biotechnology, including 
 intersections with artificial intelligence, quantum 
 computing, autonomous systems, robotics, advanced 
 manufacturing, and other relevant technologies, as well 
 as trends for economic and national security, and 
 innovation.

    (2) Participation.--Any individual described under 
 subsection

    (b)

    (1) shall complete training under this section 
 annually.

    (3) Interactive.--The Secretary shall ensure interactive 
 learning with scholars and experts from private, public and 
 nonprofit sectors is included under the training programs. The 
 Secretary shall provide access to courses through institutions 
 of professional military education, such as the National 
 Defense University.

    (4) Updates.--The training programs established under this 
 section shall be updated each year to review and cover advances 
 in biotechnology and its convergence with other critical and 
 emerging technologies.

    (5) Continuing education.--The Secretary shall update the 
 training programs established under this section to provide 
 continuing technology education for individuals described in 
 subsection

    (a) and include requirements for refresher training 
 on the latest advances in biotechnology science, laboratory 
 work, equipment and software.
            (d) Performance Measurements.--The Secretary shall establish 
mechanisms to measure participation in training programs required under 
this section, and to receive and consider feedback from program 
participants to improve training.

    (e) Report.--Not later than six months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on 
Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a report that 
includes a plan to establish and implement the training programs 
required under this section.

    (f) Sunset.--This section and the training programs required to be 
carried out by this section shall terminate on the date that is five 
years after such programs are established under subsection

    (a) .

    (g) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) The term ``artificial intelligence'' has the meaning 
 given that term in 

section 5002 of the National Artificial 
 Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (division E of Public Law 
 116-283).

    (2) The term ``covered Armed Force'' means the Army, Navy, 
 Marine Corps, Air Force, or Space Force.
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