Combating Terrorist Recruitment Act of 2016
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114TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! 2d Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 114–525 COMBATING TERRORIST RECRUITMENT ACT OF 2016 APRIL 26, 2016.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. MCCAUL, from the Committee on Homeland Security, submitted the following R E P O R T together with DISSENTING VIEWS [To accompany H.R. 4820] [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] The Committee on Homeland Security, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 4820) to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to use the testimonials of former or estranged violent extremists or their associates in order to counter terrorist recruitment, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably there- on with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. CONTENTS Page Purpose and Summary ............................................................................... 2 Background and Need for Legislation ....................................................... 2 Hearings ....................................................................................................... 3 Committee Consideration ........................................................................... 4 Committee Votes ......................................................................................... 5 Committee Oversight Findings .................................................................. 6 New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and Tax Expenditures 6 Congressional Budget Office Estimate ...................................................... 7 Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives ....................... 7 Duplicative Federal Programs ................................................................... 8 Congressional Earmarks, Limited Tax Benefits, and Limited Tariff Benefits ..................................................................................................... 8 Federal Mandates Statement ..................................................................... 8 Preemption Clarification ............................................................................ 8 Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings ........................................................ 8 Advisory Committee Statement ................................................................. 8 59–006 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Apr 28, 2016 Jkt 059006 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6646 E:\HR\OC\HR525.XXX HR525 emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with HEARING 2 Applicability to Legislative Branch ........................................................... 8 Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation ......................................... 8 Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported ........................ 9 Dissenting View .......................................................................................... 10 The amendment is as follows: Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Terrorist Recruitment Act of 2016’’. SEC. 2. DIRECTIVE. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall incorporate, to the ex- tent practicable, into Department of Homeland Security efforts to combat terrorist recruitment and communications the public testimonials of former or estranged vio- lent extremists or their associates, including friends and family. Such efforts may include the following: (1) Counter-messaging of foreign terrorist organization communications and narratives. (2) Related community engagement and public education efforts. (b) COORDINATION.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall, where appro- priate, coordinate the actions described in subsection (a) with the heads of other Federal departments and agencies and, as appropriate, to the extent practicable, en- gage nongovernmental and international partners in the identification and use of testimonials described in such subsection. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY The purpose of H.R. 4820 is to require the Secretary of Home- land Security to use the testimonials of former or estranged violent extremists or their associates in order to counter terrorist recruit- ment, and for other purposes. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION In September 2015, the final report of the Committee on Home- land Security’s Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel was released. It included 32 findings and more than 50 recommendations for enhancing U.S. security. Among other con- clusions, the Task Force found that ‘‘unlike many countries, the U.S. government has made little use of disaffected extremists to dissuade others from traveling to fight in terrorist sanctuaries.’’ The Task Force highlighted the need to counter-message extrem- ist propaganda because terrorists are radicalizing Americans at un- precedented speed and ‘‘crowd-sourcing’’ attacks. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), for instance, has been tied to more than 80 terrorist plots and attacks against the West, according to House Homeland Security Committee analysis, one-third targeting Amer- ica. At present, FBI director James Comey has said publicly indi- cated there are nearly 1,000 homegrown terror investigations in all 50 states, mostly ISIS-related, and more than 250 Americans have traveled or attempted to travel to fight with jihadists in Syria and Iraq. This terror surge is tied to the group’s ability to recruit re- motely-online and across borders. Most of these individuals were radicalized partly through online terrorist propaganda. The Task Force indicated that the United States should use testimonials from former extremists to keep others from joining the fight. ISIS is recruiting Americans with promises of paradise and opportunity, but defectors have revealed that the group’s territory is, in reality, a repressive and violent prison state. These are the kind of messages that need to be amplified to counter terrorist propaganda. As President Obama noted in February 2015 at his VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Apr 28, 2016 Jkt 059006 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR525.XXX HR525 emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with HEARING 3 Countering Violent Extremism Summit, we ‘‘need to lift up the voices of those who know the hypocrisy of groups like ISIL first- hand, including former extremists.’’ Moreover, the nonpartisan Homeland Security Advisory Council made a similar recommenda- tion in a Spring 2015 report published online, urging the Depart- ment of Homeland Security ‘‘to craft and disseminate counter-nar- rative efforts’’ based on the testimonials of former extremists. The Task Force found many foreign countries have engaged dis- affected extremists and returnees from terrorist battlefields to tell their stories and convince others not to travel to terrorist safe ha- vens. These individuals are likely viewed by potential extremists as more credible voices than governments. Therefore, they stand a better chance of dissuading likely or future extremists from coming under the influence of groups like ISIS. Moreover, the U.S. State Department has already worked to promote the testimonials of former extremists abroad. However, the panel was disappointed to find such efforts are not happening here in the U.S. homeland. Key U.S. departments and agencies had done little to leverage the stories of American return- ees or family members of those who have fled to the conflict zone. Accordingly, the Task Force recommended that the U.S. govern- ment ‘‘should launch a concerted effort to use the testimonials of disaffected ‘former’ foreign fighters, extremists, and their friends and relatives’’ to counter the message of terrorist groups. The panel also urged that the Administration should help facilitate and dis- tribute these stories through nongovernmental channels where pos- sible and empower non-traditional partners to do the same. This bill gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the flexibility needed to combat the wide array of terrorist groups that threaten the United States at home and abroad. The bill provides guidance on the types of activities that might fulfill the requirement, such as ‘‘counter-messaging foreign terrorist organization[s],’’ but it does not limit the Department’s ability to counter-message other dan- gerous terrorist groups that threaten the United States, including domestically. HEARINGS The Committee did not hold any hearings on H.R. 4820, however, the Committee held the following oversight hearings: On February 11, 2015, the Committee held a hearing entitled ‘‘Countering Violent Islamist Extremism: The Urgent Threat of Foreign Fighters and Homegrown Terror.’’ The Committee received testimony from Hon. Francis X. Taylor, Under Secretary, Intel- ligence and Analysis, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Hon. Nicholas J. Rasmussen, Director, National Counterterrorism Cen- ter, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and Mr. Michael B. Steinbach, Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division, Fed- eral Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice. On March 24, 2015, the Committee held a hearing entitled ‘‘A Global Battleground: The Fight Against Islamist Extremism at Home and Abroad.’’ The Committee received testimony from Hon. Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representa- tives; General Michael Hayden (USAF-Ret.), Former Director, Cen- tral Intelligence Agency and Former Director, National Security Agency; Mr. Philip Mudd, Senior Fellow, New America Foundation; VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Apr 28, 2016