Protecting Americans’ Genomic Information Act of 2021

Protecting Americans' Genomic Information Act of 2021

This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address national security concerns when conducting or supporting biomedical research that involves human genomic sequencing and sensitive, identifiable information.

Specifically, HHS must implement a risk framework to assess whether such research conducted by the National Institutes of Health or other HHS agencies and offices poses risks to national security and identify approaches to mitigate those risks, including through security controls and training for those that manage or have access to such research.

After the framework is developed, HHS must implement data access controls, ensure that data access committees include members with national security expertise, and update relevant data access and sharing policies.

The bill also requires HHS to brief Congress about these activities.