SHIELD Against CCP Act

The bill would direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish, within 180 days of enactment, a DHS working group focused on countering threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party in four areas: terrorism, cybersecurity, border and port security, and transportation security. The working group would assess DHS efforts to counter the CCP's exploitation of the U.S. immigration system (including identity theft, visa fraud, and human trafficking), predatory trade and economic practices (including customs fraud and intellectual property theft), support for fentanyl and drug trafficking through transnational criminal organizations, and illicit financial activity by Chinese money laundering organizations. It would be led by a DHS-appointed Director and would coordinate intelligence sharing with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners through the National Network of Fusion Centers.

The bill would also require DHS to submit annual threat assessments to multiple congressional committees for five years and to provide follow-up briefings within 30 days of each report. A separate R&D mandate would require DHS to develop and operationally test new technologies for security and situational awareness within one year of enactment. The Government Accountability Office would independently review implementation within one year. The working group would automatically terminate seven years after its establishment.

The Department of Homeland Security and its components — including the Office of Intelligence and Analysis and the Science and Technology Directorate — would bear the primary operational and reporting burden. Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law-enforcement and intelligence partners, and fusion centers nationwide, would receive and share threat information. Congress would receive annual classified and unclassified reports.

If enacted, DHS would be required to dedicate staff and a formal coordination structure specifically to CCP-linked threats — covering immigration fraud, drug trafficking, trade crimes, and money laundering — and to report publicly on progress each year. The seven-year sunset and GAO oversight create built-in accountability mechanisms, while the R&D mandate could yield new detection tools at ports of entry and elsewhere.

Within 180 days of enactment, the Secretary of Homeland Security would appoint a Director and staff the working group, including at least one dedicated privacy-compliance employee. The group may draw detailees from the intelligence community. Starting 180 days after enactment and annually for five years, DHS — coordinating with the FBI Director and Director of National Intelligence — would submit threat-assessment reports (unclassified with optional classified annex) to multiple House and Senate committees, followed by a briefing within 30 days. Within one year, DHS must also launch R&D on security-enhancing technologies, and the GAO must submit an implementation review to Congress.