Visual Protection of Strategic Assets Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4461 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4461 To amend chapter 37 of title 18, United States Code, to improve the prohibition on espionage. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES April 30, 2026 Mr. Cotton introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend chapter 37 of title 18, United States Code, to improve the prohibition on espionage. 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 ``Visual Protection of Strategic Assets Act''. SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE PROHIBITION ON ESPIONAGE. (a) Gathering, Transmitting, or Losing Defense Information.-- Section 793 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(i)(1) In this subsection-- ``(A) the term `country of concern' means-- ``(i) the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; ``(ii) the People's Republic of China; ``(iii) the Russian Federation; and ``(iv) the Islamic Republic of Iran; ``(B) the term `covered person' means-- ``(i) a citizen or national of a country of concern; or ``(ii) a person acting on behalf of a citizen or national of a country of concern; ``(C) the term `high-value asset' means an asset included on the list maintained under paragraph (3); and ``(D) the term `tier-1 installation' means a military installation designated as a tier-1 installation by the Secretary of Defense under paragraph (4). ``(2)(A) For purposes of this section, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that a covered person who photographs, videos, or tracks a high-value asset or tier-1 installation photographed, videoed, or tracked the high-value asset or tier-1 installa