This bill mandates the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct a comprehensive exercise within four years to enhance domestic preparedness and collective response to acts of agroterrorism . The exercise will simulate scenarios involving agroterrorists attempting to unlawfully transport or deploy a biological agent capable of adversely affecting the agriculture and food critical infrastructure sector or related economic sectors. The exercise requires participants to engage in collective action to determine effective responses, manage widespread disruption, and mitigate the effects of such an attack. This includes deploying incident command, identifying necessary resources, and addressing capability gaps across all government levels. Extensive coordination is mandated with Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies, private sector owners of food and agricultural facilities, and emergency preparedness communities. Following the exercise, DHS must submit an after-action report to Congress within 180 days, detailing findings, lessons learned, and recommending legislative actions to improve the nation's security posture against agroterrorism.
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Timeline
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Civil Preparedness for Agroterrorism Exercise Act of 2026
USA119th CongressHR-9394| House
| Updated: 6/23/2026
This bill mandates the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct a comprehensive exercise within four years to enhance domestic preparedness and collective response to acts of agroterrorism . The exercise will simulate scenarios involving agroterrorists attempting to unlawfully transport or deploy a biological agent capable of adversely affecting the agriculture and food critical infrastructure sector or related economic sectors. The exercise requires participants to engage in collective action to determine effective responses, manage widespread disruption, and mitigate the effects of such an attack. This includes deploying incident command, identifying necessary resources, and addressing capability gaps across all government levels. Extensive coordination is mandated with Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies, private sector owners of food and agricultural facilities, and emergency preparedness communities. Following the exercise, DHS must submit an after-action report to Congress within 180 days, detailing findings, lessons learned, and recommending legislative actions to improve the nation's security posture against agroterrorism.