(a) Establishment
There is established within the Department a Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee (in this section referred to as the "Advisory Committee"). The Advisory Committee shall make recommendations with respect to the activities of the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, including identifying research areas of potential importance to the security of the Nation.

(b) Membership

(1) Appointment
The Advisory Committee shall consist of 20 members appointed by the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, which shall include emergency first-responders or representatives of organizations or associations of emergency first-responders. The Advisory Committee shall also include representatives of citizen groups, including economically disadvantaged communities. The individuals appointed as members of the Advisory Committee—

(A) shall be eminent in fields such as emergency response, research, engineering, new product development, business, and management consulting;

(B) shall be selected solely on the basis of established records of distinguished service;

(C) shall not be employees of the Federal Government; and

(D) shall be so selected as to provide representation of a cross-section of the research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities supported by the Under Secretary for Science and Technology.

(2) National Research Council
The Under Secretary for Science and Technology may enter into an arrangement for the National Research Council to select members of the Advisory Committee, but only if the panel used by the National Research Council reflects the representation described in paragraph (1).

(c) Terms of office

(1) In general
Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the term of office of each member of the Advisory Committee shall be 3 years.

(2) Original appointments
The original members of the Advisory Committee shall be appointed to three classes. One class of six shall have a term of 1 year, one class of seven a term of 2 years, and one class of seven a term of 3 years.

(3) Vacancies
A member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for which the member's predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for the remainder of such term.

(d) Eligibility
A person who has completed two consecutive full terms of service on the Advisory Committee shall thereafter be ineligible for appointment during the 1-year period following the expiration of the second such term.

(e) Meetings
The Advisory Committee shall meet at least quarterly at the call of the Chair or whenever one-third of the members so request in writing. Each member shall be given appropriate notice of the call of each meeting, whenever possible not less than 15 days before the meeting.

(f) Quorum
A majority of the members of the Advisory Committee not having a conflict of interest in the matter being considered by the Advisory Committee shall constitute a quorum.

(g) Conflict of interest rules
The Advisory Committee shall establish rules for determining when 1 of its members has a conflict of interest in a matter being considered by the Advisory Committee.

(h) Reports

(1) Annual report
The Advisory Committee shall render an annual report to the Under Secretary for Science and Technology for transmittal to Congress on or before January 31 of each year. Such report shall describe the activities and recommendations of the Advisory Committee during the previous year.

(2) Additional reports
The Advisory Committee may render to the Under Secretary for transmittal to Congress such additional reports on specific policy matters as it considers appropriate.

(i) Federal Advisory Committee Act exemption
Section 14 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act shall not apply to the Advisory Committee.

(j) Termination
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee shall terminate on December 31, 2008.