Review - S 4420 Introduced – USDA National Security

Back in May, Sen Padilla (D,CA) introduced S 4420, the Agriculture and National Security Act of 2024. The bill would require the Secretary of Agriculture to appoint a Senior Advisor for National Security to serve in the Office of the Secretary. The Advisory would serve as the Departments liaison with the National Security Council and would coordinate national security matters across the Department. No new funding would be authorized for this position.

Moving Forward

Neither Padilla nor this sole cosponsor {Sen Young (R,IN)} are members of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there is probably not sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I suspect that were the bill considered it would enjoy some level of bipartisan support. I see nothing in the bill that would engender any organized opposition that would rule out the bill being favorably considered on the floor of the Senate under the unanimous consent process, though unrelated issues could still result a consideration blocking objection.

Commentary

The USDA already has a Office of Homeland Security that is already responsible for dealing with national security issues through its National Security Division. That Division is already the Department’s “bridge to the Intelligence Community, National Security Council, and interagency working groups on national security threats and policy coordination”. Elevating a separate ‘Senior Advisor for National Security’ is a bureaucratic slap at that division. This bill should probably have formally established that Division and given it responsibility for the actions assigned here to the Advisor. Lacking that, the Division should have been elevated to the Office of the Secretary and headed by the Senior Advisor.

 

For more details about the provisions of the bill, including a brief description of a minor cybersecurity reporting requirement, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-4420-introduced - subscription required.