REPORT ON UNITED STATES DEPENDENCE ON COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MANUFACTURED OVERSEAS.

SEC. 356. REPORT ON UNITED STATES DEPENDENCE ON COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MANUFACTURED OVERSEAS. (a) Report.—Not later than February 15, 2004, the Director of Central Intelligence shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the extent of United States dependence on computer hardware or software that is manufactured overseas. (b) Elements.—The report under subsection (a) shall address the following: (1) The extent to which the United States currently depends on computer hardware or software that is manufactured overseas. (2) The extent to which United States dependence, if any, on such computer hardware or software is increasing. (3) The vulnerabilities of the national security and economy of the United States as a result of United States dependence, if any, on such computer hardware or software. (4) Any other matters relating to United States dependence, if any, on such computer hardware or software that the Director considers appropriate. (c) Consultation With Private Sector.—(1) In preparing the report under subsection (a), the Director may consult, and is encouraged to consult, with appropriate persons and entities in the computer hardware or software industry and with other appropriate persons and entities in the private sector. (2) Consultations of the Director with persons or entities under paragraph (1) shall not be treated as the activities of an advisory committee for purposes of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.). (d) Form.—(1) The report under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex. (2) The report may be in the form of a National Intelligence Estimate. (e) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.—In this section, the term “appropriate committees of Congress” means— (1) the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and (2) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives.