The Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) may utilize existing research authorities and research programs to protect the food supply of the United States by conducting and supporting research activities to—

(1) enhance the capability of the Secretary to respond in a timely manner to emerging or existing bioterrorist threats to the food and agricultural system of the United States;

(2) develop new and continue partnerships with institutions of higher education and other institutions to help form stable, long-term programs to enhance the biosecurity and food safety of the United States, including the coordination of the development, implementation, and enhancement of diverse capabilities for addressing threats to the nation’s agricultural economy and food supply, with special emphasis on planning, training, outreach, and research activities related to vulnerability analyses, incident response, detection, and prevention technologies;

(3) strengthen coordination with the intelligence community to better identify research needs and evaluate materials or information acquired by the intelligence community relating to potential threats to United States agriculture;

(4) expand the involvement of the Secretary with international organizations dealing with plant and animal disease control;

(5) continue research to develop rapid detection field test kits to detect biological threats to plants and animals and to provide such test kits to State and local agencies preparing for or responding to bioterrorism;

(6) develop an agricultural bioterrorism early warning surveillance system through enhancing the capacity of and coordination between State veterinary diagnostic laboratories, Federal and State agricultural research facilities, and public health agencies; and

(7) otherwise improve the capacity of the Secretary to protect against the threat of bioterrorism.

There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, $190,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums as may be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year.

(Pub. L. 107–188, title III, § 335, June 12, 2002, 116 Stat. 680.)