[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7443 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7443
To authorize a dedicated transnational repression office within the
Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations to
analyze and monitor transnational repression and related terrorism
threats and require Homeland Security Investigations to take actions to
prevent transnational repression.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 23, 2024
Mr. Pfluger (for himself and Mr. Magaziner) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in
addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize a dedicated transnational repression office within the
Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations to
analyze and monitor transnational repression and related terrorism
threats and require Homeland Security Investigations to take actions to
prevent transnational repression.
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 ``Combating Transnational Repression
Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.
(a) Findings and Sense of Congress Regarding Transnational
Repression.--
(1) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(A) The Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) National
Security Division (NSD), Special Interest
Investigations Unit (SIIU), collaborates with Federal,
State, and local partners to investigate allegations of
transnational repression.
(B) HSI, through its investigative authorities,
works to deter, dismantle, and mitigate criminal
enterprises and hostile foreign government actors
engaged in transnational repression.
(C) In October 2023, the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) published a report that found agency
actions are needed to address harassment of dissidents
and other tactics of transnational repression in the
United States.
(D) According to GAO, several Federal agencies work
to address transnational repression, including DHS's
Office of Intelligence and Analysis, which works to
produce intelligence that support Federal, State, and
local government entities to develop protective and
support measures in response to threats of
transnational repression, as well as DHS's Office of
Partnership and Engagement (OPE), which meets with
stakeholders and victims of transnational repression to
understand the range of transnational repression
activities in the United States. For example, DHS
hosted a listening session in March 2022 with
stakeholders to learn about issues facing communities
in the United States. DHS has also issued reporting for
State and local law enforcement agencies to raise
awareness about acts of transnational repression.
(E) DHS's OPE also works to share available Federal
resources to help disrupt threats of transnational
repression against United States citizens, with
Federal, State, local, Tribal, and international
partners so they coordinate countering acts of
transnational repression and preparing best practices.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(A) transnational repression and related terrorism
threats by a foreign government or an agent of a
foreign government to target individuals in the United
States and persons outside of the United States are
real and growing;
(B) agents acting on behalf of hostile foreign
governments employ a range of transnational repression
tactics, including making threats, intimidation,
harassment, surveillance, stalking, silencing, and
planning physical harm or the kidnapping of individuals
in the United States; and
(C) the Department of Homeland Security must take
steps to recognize, assess, and help address this
threat, thereby reducing risks to the people of the
United States.
(b) Office To Combat Transnational Repression.--
(1) In general.--Subtitle H of title VIII of the Homeland
Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) is amended by
adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 890E. TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.
``(a) Office To Analyze, Monitor, and Investigate Transnational
Repression.--
``(1) In general.--There is established an office, to be
known as the `Transnational Repression Office' (in this section
referred to as the `Office'), in the National Security Division
of Homeland Security Investigations, which shall be responsible
for analyzing and monitoring transnational repression and
related terrorism threats.
``(2) Director of the office.--
``(A) Appointment of director.--The head of the
Office shall be the Director of the Transnational
Repression Office, who shall be appointed by the
Director of Homeland Security Investigations.
``(B) Reporting.--The Director of the Transnational
Repression Office shall report to the Secretary and the
Director of Homeland Security Investigations regarding
all administrative, operational, and security matters
of the Office.
``(3) Staffing.--The Director of Homeland Security
Investigations shall ensure the Office--
``(A) has a sufficient number of employees to
perform required duties; and
``(B) has at least one employee dedicated to
ensuring compliance with privacy laws and regulations.
``(4) Detailees authorized.--The Office may accept and
employ detailees with expertise in countering transnational
repression and related terrorism threats or related fields from
any element of the intelligence community, or any other Federal
agency the Director of the Transnational Repression Office
determines appropriate, with or without reimbursement,
consistent with applicable laws and regulations regarding such
employees.
``(5) Information sharing.--The Office shall review
information relating to transnational repression and related
terrorism threats that is gathered by Federal, State, local,
Tribal, and territorial partners, and the National Network of
Fusion Centers, and incorporate such information, as
appropriate, into the Office's own information relating to
transnational repression and related terrorism threats. The
Office shall ensure the dissemination to Federal, State, local,
Tribal, and territorial partners, and the National Network of
Fusion Centers, of information related to transnational
repression and related terrorism threats.
``(6) Homeland security assessment on transnational
repression.--
``(A) Annual assessments.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this section and
annually thereafter for ten years, the Director of
Homeland Security Investigations, acting through the
Director of the Transnational Repression Office, shall
submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a
report that assesses incidents of transnational
repression and related terrorism threats during the
immediately preceding 12 months.
``(B) Contents.--Each assessment submitted under
subparagraph (A) shall also include the following:
``(i) An analysis attempted incidents of
transnational repression and related terrorism
threats.
``(ii) A quantitative analysis of
transnational repression and related terrorism
threats, including the number of individuals
responsible for or associated with such
transnational repression or related terrorism
threats, and an identification of the country
of citizenship or nationality of each such
individual, and the roles of the foreign
governments of such countries in enabling,
preventing, mitigating, and responding to
transnational repression and related terrorism
threats.
``(iii) Subject to appropriate protections
for sensitive information regarding law
enforcement investigations and operations, a
description of efforts by the Department to
disrupt through investigation transnational
repression and related terrorism threats.
``(iv) Any other matters the Director of
Homeland Security Investigations determines
relevant.
``(C) Form.--Each assessment under subparagraph (A)
shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may
include a classified annex only for the protection of
intelligence sources and methods relating to the
matters contained in each such assessment. The Director
of Homeland Security Investigations shall post on a
publicly available website of Homeland Security
Investigations the unclassified portion of each such
assessment.
``(7) Sunset.--The Office shall terminate on the date that
is ten years after the date of the enactment of this section.
``(b) Research.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this section, the Secretary, in coordination with the
Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department, the
Director of the Transnational Repression Office, and the Director of
Homeland Security Investigations, shall, to the extent practicable,
carry out research and development, including operational testing, of
technologies and techniques for enhancing the Department's security and
situational awareness support to Federal, State, local, Tribal, and
territorial officials relating to combating transnational repression
and related terrorism threats, in accordance with applicable
constitutional, privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties protections.
``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Agent of a foreign government.--The term `agent of a
foreign government' means an individual or entity that operates
subject to the direction or control of--
``(A) a foreign government; or
``(B) an official or entity of such foreign
government.
``(2) Foreign government.--The term `foreign government'
means the government of a foreign country.
``(3) Fusion center.--The term `fusion center' has the
meaning given such term in subsection (j) of section 210A of
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h).
``(4) Intelligence community.--The term `intelligence
community' has the meaning given such term in section 3(4) of
the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)).
``(5) National network of fusion centers.--The term
`National Network of Fusion Centers' means a decentralized
arrangement of fusion centers intended to enhance individual
State and urban area fusion centers' ability to leverage the
capabilities and expertise of all such fusion centers for the
purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland security information
sharing nationally.
``(6) Transnational repression.--The term `transnational
repression' means an action of a foreign government or an agent
of a foreign government that satisfies each of the following:
``(A) The action involves--
``(i) any effort intended to coerce,
harass, or digitally or physically threaten,
including by force or reasonable fear of death
or serious bodily injury or imprisonment of a
person or an immediate family member of a
person, a person to take an action in the
interest of such a foreign government;
``(ii) any effort intended to harass or
coerce, including by force or fear, a person to
forebear from exercising their First Amendment
rights or any other right guaranteed to the
person by the Constitution or laws of the
United States, or to retaliate against a person
for having exercised such a right;
``(iii) an extrajudicial killing; or
``(iv) any act intended to further the
efforts specified in clause (i), (ii), or
(iii).
``(B) The action is engaged in for or in the
interests of such a foreign government.
``(C) The action--
``(i) occurs, in whole or in part, in the
United States; or
``(ii) is committed against a United States
person.
``(7) United states person.--The term `United States
person' has the meaning given such term in section 1637(d)(10)
of the Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal year 2015 (50 U.S.C.
1708(d)(10)).''.
(2) Clerical amendment.--The table of contents in section
1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by
inserting after the item relating to section 890D the following
new item:
``Sec. 890E. Transnational repression.''.
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