Senator Cotton and Congressman Crawford Introduce Legislation to Create an Intelligence Office in USDA

September 30th, 2020

Washington, DC – Today, Sen. Cotton introduced legislation that would establish an Office of Intelligence within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This bill serves as a Senate companion to H.R. 8238, the Agricultural Intelligence Measures (AIM) Act, which Rep. Crawford (AR-01) introduced earlier this month. 

The goal of this legislation is to create a better interface between those who have a deep understanding of American agriculture with the resources and capabilities of the intelligence community in order to ultimately better secure our nation’s agriculture system.

“The Chinese Communist Party wants to undermine vital American industries through sabotage and intellectual property theft—U.S. agriculture is no exception. Our bill will help safeguard the food and technology that our country depends on for its prosperity and freedom,” said Cotton.

“The powerhouse that is American agriculture is a product of years of research and serves as an example of our nation’s ingenuity. It is a national security imperative that we safeguard our agriculture sector from foreign threats such as espionage, intellectual theft, and biological attacks. The AIM Act and its companion bill in the Senate both play a critical role in taking a proactive approach to foreign attacks on our nation’s agriculture,” said Rep. Crawford.

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