A pair of Republican senators on Wednesday introduced legislation that seeks to establish an office of intelligence within the Agriculture Department to keep U.S. agricultural innovations from falling into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and other “foreign threats.” The bill (pdf), named the Agricultural Intelligence Measures (AIM) Act of 2021 (S.4768), was introduced by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). It seeks to establish an office within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) by amending the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994. The office would leverage the assets of the intelligence community to better protect U.S. agriculture from foreign threats posed by countries like China, a release states. It would be headed by a director with “significant experience serving in the intelligence community,” the bill states. The office would act as a “liaison” between the secretary of agriculture and the intelligence community, and would …