H.R. 6596: To realign the nuclear forensics and attribution activities of the Federal Government from the Department of Homeland Security to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

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H.R. 6596: To realign the nuclear forensics and attribution activities of the Federal Government from the Department of Homeland Security to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

116th Congress · introduced 2020-04-22 · Armed Forces and National Security · Latest: Referred to the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.

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Official title

To realign the nuclear forensics and attribution activities of the Federal Government from the Department of Homeland Security to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Plain summary

This bill reorganizes nuclear forensics and attribution activities of the federal government. Specifically, the bill transfers nuclear forensics activities currently performed by the Department of Homeland Security to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within the Department of Energy (DOE). Nuclear forensics is the examination of nuclear and other radioactive materials to determine the origin and history of the material for purposes of law enforcement investigations or assessment of nuclear security vulnerabilities. The bill also establishes the National Nuclear Forensics Center within the NNSA. The center must coordinate stewardship, planning, assessment, and other functions for all federal nuclear forensics and attribution activities. Additionally, the NNSA must develop and implement a plan to modify its university-based research collaboration program to include the development of expertise in nuclear forensics in supporting scientific and engineering advancement in DOE defense and national security program areas.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Alternatives

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Foster, Bill [D-IL-11] · 1 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Foster, Bill [D-IL-11] reported raising $2.6 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

Agencies named in this bill

• Department of Homeland Security: its federal spending and other bills that name it

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No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-116hr6596.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/116/hr>

Record fed-us-cong116-hr6596 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong116 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong116