American Values and Security in International Athletics Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1211 To direct the Department of State to ensure persons representing the United States in international athletic competitions in certain countries are ap- propriately informed, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 23, 2021 Mr. MCCAUL (for himself and Mr. MEEKS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To direct the Department of State to ensure persons rep- resenting the United States in international athletic com- petitions in certain countries are appropriately informed, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Values and 4 Security in International Athletics Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1211.IH H1211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1211 IH (1) In 2017, the International Olympic Com- 1 mittee (IOC) revised its Host City Contract to re- 2 quire host countries to ‘‘protect and respect human 3 rights and ensure any violation of human rights is 4 remedied in a manner consistent with international 5 agreements, laws, and regulations applicable in the 6 Host Country and in a manner consistent with all 7 internationally recognised human rights standards 8 and principles, including the United Nations Guiding 9 Principles on Business and Human Rights, applica- 10 ble in the Host Country’’. 11 (2) The Olympic Charter states the goal of 12 Olympism is ‘‘to place sport at the service of the 13 harmonious development of humankind, with a view 14 to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the 15 preservation of human dignity’’. 16 (3) The IOC set up an advisory committee on 17 human rights in December 2018, and IOC President 18 Thomas Bach said, ‘‘Promoting humanistic values in 19 sport has been a core feature of the IOC since its 20 beginning. Our mission, to put sport at the service 21 of humanity, goes hand-in-hand with human rights, 22 which is part of our DNA.’’. 23 (4) In the report, ‘‘The Cybersecurity of Olym- 24 pic Sports: New Opportunities, New Risks’’, the UC 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1211.IH H1211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1211 IH Berkley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity listed 1 the ‘‘hacking and release of sensitive athletic data’’ 2 as one of the four significant categories of 3 cyberattacks on major sporting events. 4 (5) According to the State Department’s 2019 5 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the 6 People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Public Se- 7 curity employs ‘‘tens of millions of surveillance cam- 8 eras’’ to monitor the general public, as well as ‘‘po- 9 litical dissidents, religious leaders and adherents, Ti- 10 betans, and Uyghurs’’. 11 (6) The People’s Republic of China (PRC) Gov- 12 ernment’s extensive use of artificial intelligence sur- 13 veillance technology, including facial and voice pat- 14 tern recognition technology, poses grave humani- 15 tarian, privacy, and security concerns. PRC authori- 16 ties have used surveillance technology to monitor, 17 control, and repress an estimated 1.8 million 18 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the 19 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. PRC State 20 media has confirmed that ‘‘voice, image, position 21 and behavior recognition technologies’’ will be used 22 in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1211.IH H1211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1211 IH SEC. 3. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS FOR AMERICAN ATH- 1 LETIC DELEGATIONS. 2 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 3 gress that individuals representing the United States at 4 international athletic competitions in foreign countries 5 should have the opportunity to be informed about human 6 rights and security concerns in such countries and how 7 best to safeguard their personal security and privacy. 8 (b) IN GENERAL.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 11 retary of State shall devise and implement a strategy 12 for disseminating briefing materials, including infor- 13 mation described in subsection (c), to individuals 14 representing the United States at international ath- 15 letic competitions in a covered country. 16 (2) TIMING AND FORM OF MATERIALS.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The briefing materials 18 referred to in paragraph (1) shall be offered not 19 later than 180 days prior to the commencement 20 of an international athletic competition in a 21 covered country. 22 (B) FORM OF DELIVERY.—Briefing mate- 23 rials related to the human rights record of cov- 24 ered countries may be delivered electronically or 25 disseminated in person, as appropriate. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1211.IH H1211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1211 IH (C) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—Informa- 1 tion briefing materials related to personal secu- 2 rity risks may be offered electronically, in writ- 3 ten format, by video teleconference, or 4 prerecorded video. 5 (3) CONSULTATIONS.—In devising and imple- 6 menting the strategy required under paragraph (1), 7 the Secretary of State shall consult with the fol- 8 lowing: 9 (A) The Committee on Foreign Affairs of 10 the House of Representatives and the Com- 11 mittee on Foreign Relations in the Senate, not 12 later than 90 days after the date of the enact- 13 ment of this Act. 14 (B) Leading human rights nongovern- 15 mental organizations and relevant subject-mat- 16 ter experts in determining the content of the 17 briefings required under this subsection. 18 (C) The United States Olympic and 19 Paralympic Committee and the national gov- 20 erning bodies of amateur sports that play a role 21 in determining which individuals represent the 22 United States in international athletic competi- 23 tions, regarding the most appropriate and effec- 24 tive method to disseminate briefing materials. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1211.IH H1211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1211 IH (c) CONTENT OF BRIEFINGS.—The briefing mate- 1 rials required under subsection (b) shall include, with re- 2 spect to a covered country hosting an international athletic 3 competition in which individuals may represent the United 4 States, the following: 5 (1) Information on the human rights concerns 6 present in such covered country, as described in the 7 Department of State’s Annual Country Reports on 8 Human Rights Practices. 9 (2) Information, as applicable, on risks such in- 10 dividuals may face to their personal and digital pri- 11 vacy and security, and recommended measures to 12 safeguard against certain forms of foreign intel- 13 ligence targeting, as appropriate. 14 (d) COVERED COUNTRY DEFINED.—In this section, 15 the term ‘‘covered country’’ means, with respect to a coun- 16 try hosting an international athletic competition in which 17 individuals representing the United States may partici- 18 pate, any of the following: 19 (1) Any Communist country specified in sub- 20 section (f) of section 620 of the Foreign Assistance 21 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2370(f)). 22 (2) Any country ranked as a Tier 3 country in 23 the most recent Department of State’s annual Traf- 24 ficking in Persons Report. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1211.IH H1211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1211 IH (3) Any other country the Secretary of State 1 determines present serious human rights concerns 2 for the purpose of informing such individuals. 3 (4) Any country the Secretary of State, in con- 4 sultation with other cabinet officials as appropriate, 5 determines presents a serious counterintelligence 6 risk. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1211.IH H1211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS