Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3190 To authorize dedicated domestic terrorism offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bu- reau of Investigation to analyze and monitor domestic terrorist activity and require the Federal Government to take steps to prevent domestic terrorism. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 14, 2020 Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. COONS, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. REED, Ms. ROSEN, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize dedicated domestic terrorism offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to ana- lyze and monitor domestic terrorist activity and require the Federal Government to take steps to prevent domes- tic terrorism. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3190 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Domestic Terrorism 2 Prevention Act of 2020’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4 Congress finds the following: 5 (1) Recent reports have demonstrated that 6 White supremacists and other far-right-wing extrem- 7 ists are the most significant domestic terrorism 8 threat facing the United States, including— 9 (A) a February 22, 2019, New York Times 10 op-ed, by a Trump Administration United 11 States Department of Justice official, who 12 wrote that ‘‘white supremacy and far-right ex- 13 tremism are among the greatest domestic-secu- 14 rity threats facing the United States. Regret- 15 tably, over the past 25 years, law enforcement, 16 at both the Federal and State levels, has been 17 slow to respond. . . . Killings committed by in- 18 dividuals and groups associated with far-right 19 extremist groups have risen significantly.’’; 20 (B) an April 2017 Government Account- 21 ability Office report on the significant, lethal 22 threat posed by domestic violent extremists, 23 which— 24 (i) explained that ‘‘[s]ince September 25 12, 2001, the number of fatalities caused 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3190 IS by domestic violent extremists has ranged 1 from 1 to 49 in a given year.’’; and 2 (ii) noted that ‘‘[F]atalities resulting 3 from attacks by far right wing violent ex- 4 tremists have exceeded those caused by 5 radical Islamist violent extremists in 10 of 6 the 15 years, and were the same in 3 of 7 the years since September 12, 2001. Of 8 the 85 violent extremist incidents that re- 9 sulted in death since September 12, 2001, 10 far right wing violent extremist groups 11 were responsible for 62 (73 percent) while 12 radical Islamist violent extremists were re- 13 sponsible for 23 (27 percent).’’; and 14 (C) an unclassified May 2017 joint intel- 15 ligence bulletin from the Federal Bureau of In- 16 vestigation and the Department of Homeland 17 Security, which found that ‘‘white supremacist 18 extremism poses [a] persistent threat of lethal 19 violence,’’ and that White supremacists ‘‘were 20 responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 21 2000 to 2016 . . . more than any other domes- 22 tic extremist movement’’. 23 (2) Recent domestic terrorist attacks include— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3190 IS (A) the August 5, 2012, mass shooting at 1 a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in 2 which a White supremacist shot and killed 6 3 members of the gurdwara; 4 (B) the April 13, 2014, mass shooting at 5 a Jewish community center and a Jewish as- 6 sisted living facility in Overland Park, Kansas, 7 in which a neo-Nazi shot and killed 3 civilians, 8 including a 14-year-old teenager; 9 (C) the June 8, 2014, ambush in Las 10 Vegas, Nevada, in which 2 supporters of the 11 far-right-wing ‘‘patriot’’ movement shot and 12 killed 2 police officers and a civilian; 13 (D) the June 17, 2015, mass shooting at 14 the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South 15 Carolina, in which a White supremacist shot 16 and killed 9 members of the church; 17 (E) the November 27, 2015, mass shooting 18 at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado 19 Springs, Colorado, in which an anti-abortion ex- 20 tremist shot and killed a police officer and 2 ci- 21 vilians; 22 (F) the March 20, 2017, murder of an Af- 23 rican-American man in New York City, alleg- 24 edly committed by a White supremacist who re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3190 IS portedly traveled to New York ‘‘for the purpose 1 of killing black men’’; 2 (G) the May 26, 2017, attack in Portland, 3 Oregon, in which a White supremacist allegedly 4 murdered 2 men and injured a third after the 5 men defended 2 young women whom the indi- 6 vidual had targeted with anti-Muslim hate 7 speech; 8 (H) the August 12, 2017, attacks in Char- 9 lottesville, Virginia, in which— 10 (i) a White supremacist killed one and 11 injured nineteen after driving his car 12 through a crowd of individuals protesting a 13 neo-Nazi rally, and of which former Attor- 14 ney General Jeff Sessions said, ‘‘It does 15 meet the definition of domestic terrorism 16 in our statute.’’; and 17 (ii) a group of 6 men linked to militia 18 or White supremacist groups assaulted an 19 African-American man who had been pro- 20 testing the neo-Nazi rally in a downtown 21 parking garage; 22 (I) the July 2018 murder of an African- 23 American woman from Kansas City, Missouri, 24 allegedly committed by a White supremacist 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3190 IS who reportedly bragged about being a member 1 of the Ku Klux Klan; 2 (J) the October 24, 2018, shooting in 3 Jeffersontown, Kentucky, in which a White 4 man allegedly murdered 2 African Americans at 5 a grocery store after first attempting to enter 6 a church with a predominantly African-Amer- 7 ican congregation during a service; 8 (K) the October 27, 2018, mass shooting 9 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, 10 Pennsylvania, in which a White nationalist al- 11 legedly shot and killed 11 members of the con- 12 gregation; 13 (L) the April 27, 2019, shooting at the 14 Chabad of Poway synagogue in California, in 15 which a man yelling anti-Semitic slurs allegedly 16 killed a member of the congregation and 17 wounded 3 others; 18 (M) the August 3, 2019, mass shooting at 19 a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in which a White 20 supremacist with anti-immigrant views killed 22 21 people and injured 26 others; 22 (N) the December 10, 2019, shooting at a 23 Kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jer- 24 sey, in which 2 men with anti-Semitic views 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3190 IS killed 3 people in the store and a law enforce- 1 ment officer in an earlier encounter; and 2 (O) the December 28, 2019, machete at- 3 tack at a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, 4 New York, in which a man who had expressed 5 anti-Semitic views stabbed 5 individuals. 6 (3) In November 2019, the Federal Bureau of 7 Investigation released its annual hate crime incident 8 report, which found that in 2018, violent hate crimes 9 reached a 16-year high. Though the overall number 10 of hate crimes decreased slightly after three consecu- 11 tive years of increases, the report found a 4-percent 12 increase in aggravated assaults, a 15-percent in- 13 crease in simple assaults, and a 13-percent increase 14 in intimidation. There was also a nearly 6-percent 15 increase in hate crimes directed at LGBTQ individ- 16 uals and a 14-percent increase in hate crimes di- 17 rected at Hispanic and Latino individuals. Nearly 60 18 percent of the religion-based hate crimes reported 19 targeted American Jews and Jewish institutions. 20 The previous year’s report found that in 2017, hate 21 crimes increased by approximately 17 percent, in- 22 cluding a 23-percent increase in religion-based hate 23 crimes, an 18-percent increase in race-based crimes, 24 and a 5-percent increase in crimes directed against 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3190 IS LGBTQ individuals. The report analyzing 2016 data 1 found that hate crimes increased by almost 5 per- 2 cent that year, including a 19-percent rise in hate 3 crimes against American Muslims. Similarly, the re- 4 port analyzing 2015 data found that hate crimes in- 5 creased by 6 percent that year. Much of the 2015 6 increase came from a 66-percent rise in attacks on 7 American Muslims and a 9-percent rise in attacks 8 on American Jews. In all 4 reports, race-based 9 crimes were most numerous, and those crimes most 10 often targeted African Americans. 11 (4) On March 15, 2019, a White nationalist 12 was arrested and charged with murder after alleg- 13 edly killing 50 Muslim worshippers and injuring 14 more than 40 in a massacre at the Al Noor Mosque 15 and Linwood Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. 16 The alleged shooter posted a hate-filled, xenophobic 17 manifesto that detailed his White nationalist ide- 18 ology before the massacre. Prime Minister Jacinda 19 Ardern labeled the massacre a terrorist attack. 20 (5) In January 2017, a right-wing extremist 21 who had expressed anti-Muslim views was charged 22 with murder for allegedly killing 6 people and injur- 23 ing 19 in a shooting rampage at a mosque in Quebec 24 City, Canada. It was the first-ever mass shooting at 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3190 IS a mosque in North America, and Prime Minister 1 Trudeau labeled it a terrorist attack. 2 (6) On February 15, 2019, Federal authorities 3 arrested U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher 4 Paul Hasson , who was allegedly planning to kill a 5 number of prominent journalists, professors, judges, 6 and ‘‘leftists in general’’. In court filings, prosecu- 7 tors described Lieutenant Hasson as a ‘‘domestic 8 terrorist’’ who in an email ‘‘identified himself as a 9 White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated 10 for ‘focused violence’ in order to establish a white 11 homeland.’’. 12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 13 In this Act— 14 (1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 15 the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 16 (2) the term ‘‘domestic terrorism’’ has the 17 meaning given the term in section 2331 of title 18, 18 United States Code, except that it does not include 19 acts perpetrated by individuals associated with or in- 20 spired by— 21 (A) a foreign person or organization des- 22 ignated as a foreign terrorist organization 23 under section 219 of the Immigration and Na- 24 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Jan 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3190 IS (B) an individual or organization des- 1 ignated under Executive Order 13224 (50 2 U.S.C. 1701 note); or 3 (C) a state sponsor of terrorism as deter- 4 mined by the Secretary of State under section 5 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 6 (50 U.S.C. 4605), section 40 of the Arms Ex- 7 port Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780), or section 8 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 9 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 10 (3) the term ‘‘Domestic Terrorism Executive 11 Committee’’ means the committee within the De- 12 partment of Justice tasked with assessing and shar- 13 ing information about ongoing domestic terrorism 14 threats; 15 (4) the term ‘‘hate crime incident’’ means an 16 act described in section 241, 245, 247, or 249 of 17 title 18, United States Code, or in section 901 of the 18 Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3631); 19 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 20 of Homeland Security; and 21 (6) the term ‘‘uniformed services’’ has the 22 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of title 10, 23 United States Code. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3190 IS SEC. 4. OFFICES TO COMBAT DOMESTIC TERRORISM. 1 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF OFFICES TO MONITOR, ANA- 2 LYZE, INVESTIGATE, AND PROSECUTE DOMESTIC TER- 3 RORISM.— 4 (1) DOMESTIC TERRORISM UNIT.—There is au- 5 thorized a Domestic Terrorism Unit in the Office of 6 Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of 7 Homeland Security, which shall be responsible for 8 monitoring and analyzing domestic terrorism activ- 9 ity. 10 (2) DOMESTIC TERRORISM OFFICE.—There is 11 authorized a Domestic Terrorism Office in the 12 Counterterrorism Section of the National Security 13 Division of the Department of Justice— 14 (A) which shall be responsible for inves- 15 tigating and prosecuting incidents of domestic 16 terrorism; and 17 (B) which shall be headed by the Domestic 18 Terrorism Counsel. 19 (3) DOMESTIC TERRORISM SECTION OF THE 20 FBI.—There is authorized a Domestic Terrorism 21 Section within the Counterterrorism Division of the 22 Federal Bureau of Investigation, which shall be re- 23 sponsible for investigating domestic terrorism activ- 24 ity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3190.IS S3190 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 3190 IS (4) STAFFING.—The Secretary, the Attorney 1 General, and the Director shall each ensure that 2 each office authorized under this section in their re- 3 spective agencies shall— 4 (A) have adequate number of employees to 5 perform the required duties; 6 (B) have not less than 1 employee dedi- 7 cated to ensuring compliance with civil rights 8 and civil liberties laws and regulations; and 9 (C) require that all employees undergo an- 10 nual anti-bias training. 11 (5) SUNSET.—The offices authorized under this 12 subsection shall terminate on the date that is 10 13 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 14 (b) JOINT REPORT ON DOMESTIC TERRORI [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]