Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2020

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5602 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary AN ACT 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. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 5602 RFS 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 ‘‘Domestic Terrorism 4 Prevention Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Recent reports have demonstrated that 8 White supremacists and other far-right-wing extrem- 9 ists are the most significant domestic terrorism 10 threat facing the United States, including— 11 (A) a February 22, 2019, New York Times 12 op-ed, by a Trump Administration United 13 States Department of Justice official, who 14 wrote that ‘‘white supremacy and far-right ex- 15 tremism are among the greatest domestic-secu- 16 rity threats facing the United States. Regret- 17 tably, over the past 25 years, law enforcement, 18 at both the Federal and State levels, has been 19 slow to respond. * * * Killings committed by in- 20 dividuals and groups associated with far-right 21 extremist groups have risen significantly.’’; 22 (B) an April 2017 Government Account- 23 ability Office report on the significant, lethal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 5602 RFS threat posed by domestic violent extremists, 1 which— 2 (i) explained that ‘‘[s]ince September 3 12, 2001, the number of fatalities caused 4 by domestic violent extremists has ranged 5 from 1 to 49 in a given year.’’; and 6 (ii) noted that ‘‘[F]atalities resulting 7 from attacks by far right wing violent ex- 8 tremists have exceeded those caused by 9 radical Islamist violent extremists in 10 of 10 the 15 years, and were the same in 3 of 11 the years since September 12, 2001. Of 12 the 85 violent extremist incidents that re- 13 sulted in death since September 12, 2001, 14 far right wing violent extremist groups 15 were responsible for 62 (73 percent) while 16 radical Islamist violent extremists were re- 17 sponsible for 23 (27 percent).’’; and 18 (C) an unclassified May 2017 joint intel- 19 ligence bulletin from the Federal Bureau of In- 20 vestigation and the Department of Homeland 21 Security, which found that ‘‘white supremacist 22 extremism poses [a] persistent threat of lethal 23 violence,’’ and that White supremacists ‘‘were 24 responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 5602 RFS 2000 to 2016 * * * more than any other do- 1 mestic extremist movement’’. 2 (2) Recent domestic terrorist attacks include— 3 (A) the August 5, 2012, mass shooting at 4 a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in 5 which a White supremacist shot and killed 6 6 members of the gurdwara; 7 (B) the April 13, 2014, mass shooting at 8 a Jewish community center and a Jewish as- 9 sisted living facility in Overland Park, Kansas, 10 in which a neo-Nazi shot and killed 3 civilians, 11 including a 14-year-old teenager; 12 (C) the June 8, 2014, ambush in Las 13 Vegas, Nevada, in which 2 supporters of the 14 far-right-wing ‘‘patriot’’ movement shot and 15 killed 2 police officers and a civilian; 16 (D) the June 17, 2015, mass shooting at 17 the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South 18 Carolina, in which a White supremacist shot 19 and killed 9 members of the church; 20 (E) the November 27, 2015, mass shooting 21 at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado 22 Springs, Colorado, in which an anti-abortion ex- 23 tremist shot and killed a police officer and 2 ci- 24 vilians; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 5602 RFS (F) the March 20, 2017, murder of an Af- 1 rican-American man in New York City, alleg- 2 edly committed by a White supremacist who re- 3 portedly traveled to New York ‘‘for the purpose 4 of killing black men’’; 5 (G) the May 26, 2017, attack in Portland, 6 Oregon, in which a White supremacist allegedly 7 murdered 2 men and injured a third after the 8 men defended 2 young women whom the indi- 9 vidual had targeted with anti-Muslim hate 10 speech; 11 (H) the August 12, 2017, attacks in Char- 12 lottesville, Virginia, in which— 13 (i) a White supremacist killed one and 14 injured nineteen after driving his car 15 through a crowd of individuals protesting a 16 neo-Nazi rally, and of which former Attor- 17 ney General Jeff Sessions said, ‘‘It does 18 meet the definition of domestic terrorism 19 in our statute.’’; and 20 (ii) a group of 6 men linked to militia 21 or White supremacist groups assaulted an 22 African-American man who had been pro- 23 testing the neo-Nazi rally in a downtown 24 parking garage; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 5602 RFS (I) the July 2018 murder of an African- 1 American woman from Kansas City, Missouri, 2 allegedly committed by a White supremacist 3 who reportedly bragged about being a member 4 of the Ku Klux Klan; 5 (J) the October 24, 2018, shooting in 6 Jeffersontown, Kentucky, in which a White 7 man allegedly murdered 2 African Americans at 8 a grocery store after first attempting to enter 9 a church with a predominantly African-Amer- 10 ican congregation during a service; 11 (K) the October 27, 2018, mass shooting 12 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, 13 Pennsylvania, in which a White nationalist al- 14 legedly shot and killed 11 members of the con- 15 gregation; 16 (L) the April 27, 2019, shooting at the 17 Chabad of Poway synagogue in California, in 18 which a man yelling anti-Semitic slurs allegedly 19 killed a member of the congregation and 20 wounded 3 others; 21 (M) the August 3, 2019, mass shooting at 22 a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in which a White 23 supremacist with anti-immigrant views killed 22 24 people and injured 26 others; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 5602 RFS (N) the December 10, 2019, shooting at a 1 Kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jer- 2 sey, in which 2 men with anti-Semitic views 3 killed 3 people in the store and a law enforce- 4 ment officer in an earlier encounter; and 5 (O) the December 28, 2019, machete at- 6 tack at a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, 7 New York, in which a man who had expressed 8 anti-Semitic views stabbed 5 individuals. 9 (3) In November 2019, the Federal Bureau of 10 Investigation released its annual hate crime incident 11 report, which found that in 2018, violent hate crimes 12 reached a 16-year high. Though the overall number 13 of hate crimes decreased slightly after three consecu- 14 tive years of increases, the report found a 4-percent 15 increase in aggravated assaults, a 15-percent in- 16 crease in simple assaults, and a 13-percent increase 17 in intimidation. There was also a nearly 6-percent 18 increase in hate crimes directed at LGBTQ individ- 19 uals and a 14-percent increase in hate crimes di- 20 rected at Hispanic and Latino individuals. Nearly 60 21 percent of the religion-based hate crimes reported 22 targeted American Jews and Jewish institutions. 23 The previous year’s report found that in 2017, hate 24 crimes increased by approximately 17 percent, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 5602 RFS cluding a 23-percent increase in religion-based hate 1 crimes, an 18-percent increase in race-based crimes, 2 and a 5-percent increase in crimes directed against 3 LGBTQ individuals. The report analyzing 2016 data 4 found that hate crimes increased by almost 5 per- 5 cent that year, including a 19-percent rise in hate 6 crimes against American Muslims. Similarly, the re- 7 port analyzing 2015 data found that hate crimes in- 8 creased by 6 percent that year. Much of the 2015 9 increase came from a 66-percent rise in attacks on 10 American Muslims and a 9-percent rise in attacks 11 on American Jews. In all 4 reports, race-based 12 crimes were most numerous, and those crimes most 13 often targeted African Americans. 14 (4) On March 15, 2019, a White nationalist 15 was arrested and charged with murder after alleg- 16 edly killing 50 Muslim worshippers and injuring 17 more than 40 in a massacre at the Al Noor Mosque 18 and Linwood Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. 19 The alleged shooter posted a hate-filled, xenophobic 20 manifesto that detailed his White nationalist ide- 21 ology before the massacre. Prime Minister Jacinda 22 Ardern labeled the massacre a terrorist attack. 23 (5) In January 2017, a right-wing extremist 24 who had expressed anti-Muslim views was charged 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 HR 5602 RFS with murder for allegedly killing 6 people and injur- 1 ing 19 in a shooting rampage at a mosque in Quebec 2 City, Canada. It was the first-ever mass shooting at 3 a mosque in North America, and Prime Minister 4 Trudeau labeled it a terrorist attack. 5 (6) On February 15, 2019, Federal authorities 6 arrested U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher 7 Paul Hasson, who was allegedly planning to kill a 8 number of prominent journalists, professors, judges, 9 and ‘‘leftists in general’’. In court filings, prosecu- 10 tors described Lieutenant Hasson as a ‘‘domestic 11 terrorist’’ who in an email ‘‘identified himself as a 12 White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated 13 for ‘focused violence’ in order to establish a white 14 homeland.’’. 15 (7) On November 3rd, 2019 a 24 year old man 16 who authorities say was among masked Antifa sup- 17 porters attacking conservatives at a June Dem- 18 onstration in Portland, Oregon, was sentenced Fri- 19 day to nearly six years in prison in connection with 20 brutal assault. Gage Halupowski pleaded guilty to 21 second-degree assault after authorities accused him 22 of using a weapon against a conservative demon- 23 strator who suffered blows to the head that the vic- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 HR 5602 RFS tim claims left him with a concussion and cuts that 1 required 25 staples to close. 2 (8) On December 12, 2019, an assailant in- 3 volved in the prolonged firefight in Jersey City, NJ, 4 that left six people dead, including one police officer, 5 was linked on Wednesday to the Black Hebrew 6 Israelite movement, and had public anti-Semitic 7 posts online, a law enforcement official said. 8 (9) On February 8, 2020, A gunman stormed 9 a NYPD precinct after firing at police van, wound- 10 ing 2. The police commissioner called the Bronx 11 rampage an ‘‘assassination attempt,’’ on law en- 12 forcement. 13 (10) In August 2020, a juvenile armed with a 14 semi-automatic rifle heeded the online call posted by 15 a self-proclaimed militia group on Facebook to con- 16 front protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He allegedly 17 shot and killed two protestors and wounded a third. 18 After the shootings, local police officers waved the 19 alleged murderer through their lines, even after by- 20 standers identified him as the shooter. The armed 21 juvenile then traveled across State lines to his home. 22 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 23 In this Act— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 HR 5602 RFS (1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 1 the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 2 (2) the term ‘‘domestic terrorism’’ has the 3 meaning given the term in section 2331 of title 18, 4 United States Code, except that it does not include 5 acts perpetrated by individuals associated with or in- 6 spired by— 7 (A) a foreign person or organization des- 8 ignated as a foreign terrorist organization 9 under section 219 of the Immigration and Na- 10 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189); 11 (B) an individual or organization des- 12 ignated under Executive Order 13224 (50 13 U.S.C. 1701 note); or 14 (C) a state sponsor of terrorism as deter- 15 mined by the Secretary of State under section 16 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 17 (50 U.S.C. 4605), section 40 of the Arms Ex- 18 port Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780), or section 19 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 20 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 21 (3) the term ‘‘Domestic Terrorism Executive 22 Committee’’ means the committee within the De- 23 partment of Justice tasked with assessing and shar- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5602.RFS H5602 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 HR 5602 RFS ing information about ongoing domestic terrorism 1 threats; 2 (4) the term ‘‘hate crime incident’’ means an 3 act described in section 241, 245, 247, or 249 of 4 title 18, United States Code, or in section 901 of the 5 Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3631); 6 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 7 of Homeland Security; and 8 (6) the term ‘‘uniformed services’’ has the 9 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of title 10, 10 United States Code. 11 SEC. 4. OFFICES TO COMBAT DOMESTIC TERRORISM. 12 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF OFFICES TO MONITOR, ANA- 13 LYZE, INVESTIGATE, AND PROSECUTE DOMESTIC TER- 14 RORISM.— 15 (1) DOMESTIC TERRORISM UNIT.—There is au- 16 thorized a Domestic Terrorism Unit in the Office of 17 Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of 18 Homeland Security, which shall be responsible for 19 monitoring and analyzing domestic terrorism activ- 20 ity. 21 (2) DOMESTIC TERRORISM OFFICE.—There is 22 authorized a Domestic Terrorism Office in the 23 Counterterrorism Section of the National Security 24 Division of the Department of Justice— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:57 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 0000 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]