Sec. 11. Additional reports to Congress

485 words·~2 min read·/bill/118/hr/9729/ih/section-11

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Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report outlining and describing the Department of State’s international crisis response efforts, such as the following: Efforts to ensure adherence to the delineation of responsibilities belonging to the Secretary, Chiefs of Missions, and Principal Officers. Process and procedures for quickly appointing a principal-level crisis leader to oversee policy and operations efforts.

Process and procedures for standing up crisis management and response task forces, and the specific bureaus and offices to be included in the response. Identification of clear mission objectives and guidance for crisis management and response. Process and procedures for assigning or delegating responsibilities to task force and crisis responders. Coordination with relevant partners at the Department of Defense to identify dedicated points of contact at the Department of State related to the carrying out of such responsibilities.

Coordination with civil society and nongovernmental organizations, including those that have directly engaged in crisis response efforts in the past. Identification of the technology, equipment, surge capacity, and space necessary to effectively implement crisis management and response task forces. Efforts to ensure sufficient staff resources are available to support crisis management task forces for the duration of an international crisis and the Department’s response, to include matters such as the following:

Barriers to building and maintaining the capability to identify those with requisite training and skills to serve on task forces and potential solutions to address those barriers. Incentives available to encourage existing Department bureaus to second relevant staff needed to support crisis management task forces for extended periods of time, and any additional authorities needed to enable the Executive Secretariat to hire or second qualified individuals to a task force for extended periods of time.

Barriers to establishing a Temporary Duty crisis coordination capability to support personnel during a crisis response, including— bureaucratic hurdles; inconsistent policy and resource application; lack of funding; or access to necessary technology or information technology equipment. Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary should develop an acquisition plan for enterprise crisis management software by the Department, to include an outline of the expected applications of such software for ongoing crisis management activities and developed or existing courses at FSI.

Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on opportunities to improve responsiveness to public inquiries in crisis environments, on matters such as the following: The establishment of a virtual contact center or soft phone solution. Contract opportunities to assist with initial data entry and response on cases of United States citizens. Contract opportunities to respond to public inquiries unrelated to specific cases of United States citizens or individual case management.

Department support for mobile-friendly communication platforms, including non-enterprise applications such as WhatsApp and Signal.