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Foreign Adversary Federal Offense Act of 2025
To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish mandatory minimum penalties for economic and defense espionage when committed on behalf of foreign adversaries.
Summary
This bill amends federal law to establish mandatory minimum penalties for economic espionage and defense information offenses when committed on behalf of foreign adversaries defined as "covered nations." For economic espionage on behalf of a covered nation, individuals face 10-15 years imprisonment, or 10-20 years if the offense results in severe harm to economic or national security, plus fines up to $5,000,000, with no eligibility for supervised release. Organizations committing economic espionage for a covered nation face fines of the greater of $20,000,000 or 5 times the value of stolen trade secrets. For defense information offenses committed to advance a covered nation's interests, offenders face mandatory minimum imprisonment of 15 years to life plus fines. The bill defines "severe harm" as transmitting nonpublic information about critical infrastructure that would pose significant threat if acted upon.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Harrigan, Pat [R-NC-10] (R-NC)
8 cosponsors
Actions (2)
- Jun 23, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Jun 23, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 23, 2025
Mr. Harrigan (for himself, Mr. Knott, and Mr. Baird) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish mandatory minimum penalties for economic and defense espionage when committed on behalf of foreign adversaries.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Foreign Adversary Federal Offense Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE.
Section 1831 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), in the matter following paragraph
(5), by striking “except as provided in subsection (b),” and inserting “except as provided in subsection (b) or (c),”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(c) Special Penalties.—The following additional penalties shall apply in the case of an offense under subsection (a):
“(1) Whoever commits such an offense to advance the interests of a covered nation (as such term is defined in section 4872 of title 10) shall, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2), be—
“(A) fined not more than $5,000,000 or imprisoned not less than 10 years and not more than 15 years, or both, and shall be ineligible for supervised release; or
“(B) if the offense resulted in severe harm to economic or national security fined not more than $5,000,000 or imprisoned not less than 10 years and not more than 20 years, or both, and shall be ineligible for supervised release.
“(2) In the case of an organization that commits such an offense to advance the interests of a covered nation (as such term is defined in section 4872 of title 10), such organization shall be fined not more than the greater of $20,000,000 or 5 times the value of the stolen trade secret to the organization, including expenses for research and design and other costs of reproducing the trade secret that the organization has thereby avoided.
“(d) Severe Harm to Economic or National Security.—For purposes of subsection (c), an offense will be considered to have resulted in severe harm to economic or national security if the offense was relating to the transmission of any nonpublic information relating to the security, design, operation, or vulnerability of critical infrastructure as defined in section 1016(e) of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)) and where such information, if acted upon, would pose a significant threat of the incapacitation or destruction of such infrastructure.”.
SEC. 3. GATHERING, TRANSMITTING OR LOSING DEFENSE INFORMATION.
Section 793 of title 18, United States Code, is amended, in the matter following subsection (f), by inserting after “imprisoned not more than ten years, or both” the following: “, except that, if the violation of any of the foregoing provisions of this section was committed to advance the interests of a covered nation (as such term is defined in section 4872 of title 10), then the offender shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not less than 15 years and not more than any term of years or for life, or both”. <all>
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