Protecting Against Public Safety Disinformation Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7282 To require the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis of the Depart- ment of Homeland Security to assess, on an ongoing basis, the potential terrorism implications of malign disinformation operations on domestic preparedness for and collective response to terrorism or other homeland security threats, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 18, 2020 Ms. UNDERWOOD (for herself, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. DEMINGS, and Mr. THOMP- SON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To require the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security to assess, on an ongoing basis, the potential terrorism implications of malign disinformation operations on domestic pre- paredness for and collective response to terrorism or other homeland security threats, 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 ‘‘Protecting Against 4 Public Safety Disinformation Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7282.IH H7282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7282 IH SEC. 2. TERRORISM THREAT ASSESSMENT AND RESEARCH 1 REGARDING MALIGN DISINFORMATION OP- 2 ERATIONS. 3 (a) THREAT ASSESSMENT.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary for In- 5 telligence and Analysis of the Department of Home- 6 land Security shall, on an ongoing basis and in con- 7 sultation with appropriate Federal partners, develop 8 and disseminate to State, local, Tribal, and terri- 9 torial officials, including officials from law enforce- 10 ment, public health, fire and emergency medical 11 services, and emergency management agencies, as- 12 sessments of the potential terrorism implications of 13 malign disinformation operations carried out by ter- 14 rorist or foreign malicious actors on domestic pre- 15 paredness for and collective response to terrorism or 16 other homeland security threats. 17 (2) CONTENTS.—The terrorism assessments of 18 malign disinformation operations required under 19 paragraph (1) shall consider the following: 20 (A) Empirical data on malign 21 disinformation operations, including the fol- 22 lowing: 23 (i) Topics subject to such operations. 24 (ii) Tactics used in such operations. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7282.IH H7282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7282 IH (iii) Characteristics and duration of 1 such operations. 2 (iv) Information on such terrorist or 3 foreign malicious actors carrying out such 4 operations. 5 (B) Details regarding the potential ter- 6 rorism implications of such operations on do- 7 mestic preparedness for and collective response 8 to terrorism or other homeland security threats. 9 (3) DOCUMENTATION.—The Under Secretary 10 for Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of 11 Homeland Security shall maintain documentation re- 12 flecting the basis for a determination that certain in- 13 formation that was used in a certain manner for a 14 certain purpose that resulted in certain risks or 15 threats satisfies the definition of a malign 16 disinformation operation. 17 (4) FORM.—The Under Secretary for Intel- 18 ligence and Analysis of the Department of Home- 19 land Security shall submit to the appropriate con- 20 gressional committees the terrorism assessments of 21 malign disinformation operations required under 22 paragraph (1). Such assessments may be submitted 23 in classified form, but— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7282.IH H7282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7282 IH (A) shall include unclassified summaries; 1 and 2 (B) may include unclassified annexes, if 3 appropriate. 4 (b) RESEARCH.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary for 6 Science and Technology of the Department of 7 Homeland Security, in consultation with the Under 8 Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, the Privacy 9 Officer, and the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 10 Liberties of the Department, shall conduct research 11 to aid in the identification of malign disinformation 12 operations carried out by terrorist or foreign mali- 13 cious actors by studying documented malign 14 disinformation operations that widely reached Amer- 15 icans that had implications for the preparedness for 16 and response to terrorism or other homeland secu- 17 rity threats. Such research shall— 18 (A) examine different patterns and tactics 19 of malign disinformation operations to identify 20 unique signatures; and 21 (B) identify the factors that contribute to 22 effective malign disinformation operations. 23 (2) COUNTER-APPROACHES.—Together with the 24 research required under paragraph (1), the Under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7282.IH H7282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7282 IH Secretary for Science and Technology of the Depart- 1 ment of Homeland Security shall develop rec- 2 ommendations for approaches to counter malign 3 disinformation operations described in such para- 4 graph. 5 (3) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of Home- 6 land Security is authorized to share the research and 7 recommendations for counter approaches conducted 8 and developed pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2), 9 respectively, with State, local, Tribal, and territorial 10 officials, including officials from law enforcement, 11 public health, fire and emergency medical services, 12 and emergency management agencies, as well as 13 with appropriate Federal partners. 14 (4) SUBMISSION.— 15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 16 months after the date of the enactment of this 17 Act, the Under Secretary for Science and Tech- 18 nology of the Department of Homeland Secu- 19 rity shall submit to the Committee on Home- 20 land Security of the House of Representatives 21 and the Committee on Homeland Security and 22 Governmental Affairs of the Senate the results 23 of the research and recommendations for 24 counter approaches conducted and developed 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7282.IH H7282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7282 IH pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2), respec- 1 tively. 2 (B) FORM.—Results of the research con- 3 ducted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be sub- 4 mitted in unclassified form, but may include 5 classified annexes, as appropriate. Rec- 6 ommendations developed pursuant to paragraph 7 (2) shall be submitted in unclassified form. 8 (c) MALIGN DISINFORMATION OPERATION DE- 9 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘malign disinformation 10 operation’’ means false information deliberately dissemi- 11 nated by terrorists or foreign malicious actors to mis- 12 inform the American public in a way that risks under- 13 mining domestic preparedness for and collective response 14 to terrorism or other homeland security threats. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:56 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7282.IH H7282 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS