Western Hemisphere Security Strategy Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1519 To require a United States security strategy for the Western Hemisphere, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 10, 2023 Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To require a United States security strategy for the Western Hemisphere, 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 ‘‘Western Hemisphere 4 Security Strategy Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 It is the sense of Congress that— 7 (1) the security, stability, prosperity, and state 8 of democratic governance in the countries of the 9 Western Hemisphere are vital to the national inter- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1519 IS ests of the United States and to the national inter- 1 ests of such countries; 2 (2) the harmful and malign influence in Latin 3 America and the Caribbean of the Government of 4 the People’s Republic of China, the Government of 5 the Russian Federation, and the Government of the 6 Islamic Republic of Iran poses risks to— 7 (A) the people and countries of the West- 8 ern Hemisphere; and 9 (B) the national interests of the United 10 States; 11 (3) the United States should expand its engage- 12 ment in the Western Hemisphere by— 13 (A) strengthening its alliances and part- 14 nerships with countries in the Western Hemi- 15 sphere; 16 (B) fostering security cooperation among 17 countries in the Western Hemisphere to facili- 18 tate trade, investment, training, and humani- 19 tarian assistance in the near and long term; 20 and 21 (C) working with security and law enforce- 22 ment agencies in the Western Hemisphere— 23 (i) to address the shared challenges 24 of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1519 IS (I) narcotics trafficking, includ- 1 ing the trafficking of fentanyl, the il- 2 licit use of which is now the leading 3 cause of death among adults in the 4 United States between the ages of 18 5 and 45 years; 6 (II) human trafficking; 7 (III) other forms of illicit traf- 8 ficking; 9 (IV) transnational criminal orga- 10 nizations; and 11 (V) cybersecurity; and 12 (ii) to support the rule of law, democ- 13 racy, and human rights in the region; 14 (4) the United States should maintain credible 15 security capabilities dedicated to Latin America and 16 the Caribbean— 17 (A) to build partner country capacity; 18 (B) to support the delivery of humani- 19 tarian assistance and disaster relief; 20 (C) to deter acts of aggression; and 21 (D) to respond, if necessary, to regional 22 threats and threats to the national security of 23 the United States; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1519 IS (5) the Department of State and the Depart- 1 ment of Defense should continue to commit addi- 2 tional assets and increase investments in the West- 3 ern Hemisphere so as to maintain robust United 4 States security partnerships with countries in the re- 5 gion. 6 SEC. 3. SECURITY STRATEGY FOR THE WESTERN HEMI- 7 SPHERE. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 10 and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly submit to the 11 appropriate committees of Congress a multi-year strategy, 12 to be known as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere Security Strat- 13 egy’’— 14 (1) to enhance diplomatic engagement and se- 15 curity assistance and cooperation; 16 (2) to promote regional security and stability; 17 and 18 (3) to advance United States strategic interests 19 in the Western Hemisphere. 20 (b) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 21 (a) shall include the following: 22 (1) A proposal for increasing and improving 23 United States bilateral and multilateral security as- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1519 IS sistance and cooperation in Latin America and the 1 Caribbean. 2 (2) Activities to build the defense and security 3 capacity of partner countries in Latin America and 4 the Caribbean so as to enable such countries to de- 5 fend themselves against conventional and unconven- 6 tional threats, including cyberattacks. 7 (3) Activities to counter— 8 (A) malign influence by state actors; 9 (B) transnational criminal organizations 10 with connections to— 11 (i) illicit trafficking of gold, narcotics, 12 and weapons; 13 (ii) human trafficking and smuggling; 14 and 15 (iii) terrorism; and 16 (C) corruption and kleptocracy in govern- 17 ments of countries in the Western Hemisphere. 18 (4) Efforts to disrupt, degrade, and counter 19 transnational illicit trafficking, with an emphasis on 20 illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals that produce 21 illicit narcotics. 22 (5) Activities to increase transparency in, and 23 support for, strong and accountable defense, secu- 24 rity, and law enforcement institutions through insti- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:20 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1519 IS tutional capacity-building efforts, including efforts to 1 ensure respect for human rights and direction and 2 oversight by civilian authorities. 3 (6) Programs and initiatives to enhance public 4 diplomacy and engagement with the people of the 5 Western Hemisphere for the purpose of dem- 6 onstrating that the security of their countries is en- 7 hanced to a greater extent if their countries are 8 aligned with the United States and democratic val- 9 ues rather than with authoritarian countries such as 10 the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federa- 11 tion, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. 12 (7) Efforts to expand bilateral and multi- 13 national military training exercises with partner 14 countries in the Western Hemisphere. 15 (8) Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief 16 initiatives to support partner countries by promoting 17 the development and growth of responsive institu- 18 tions through activities such as— 19 (A) the provision of appropriate equip- 20 ment, training, and logistical support; 21 (B) transportation of humanitarian sup- 22 plies or personnel of foreign security forces; 23 (C) making available, preparing, and 24 transferring on-hand nonlethal supplies, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1519 IS providing training on the use of such supplies, 1 for humanitarian or health purposes to respond 2 to unforeseen emergencies; 3 (D) the provision of Department of State 4 humanitarian demining assistance; and 5 (E) conducting medical support operations 6 and medical humanitarian missions, such as 7 hospital ship deployments and base-operating 8 services, to the extent required by the oper- 9 ation. 10 (9) Continued support for the women, peace, 11 and security initiatives of the Department of State 12 to support the capacity of partner countries in the 13 Western Hemisphere— 14 (A) to ensure— 15 (i) the safety and security of women 16 and girls; and 17 (ii) that the rights of women and girls 18 are protected; and 19 (B) to promote the meaningful participa- 20 tion of women in— 21 (i) the defense and security sectors; 22 and 23 (ii) mediation and negotiation proc- 24 esses seeking to prevent, mitigate, or re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1519 IS solve violent conflict, in accordance with 1 the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2 2017 (Public Law 115–68; 131 Stat. 3 1202). 4 (10) Professional military education initiatives, 5 such as the Department of State’s International 6 Military and Education Training program. 7 (11) A detailed assessment of the resources re- 8 quired to carry out such strategy and a plan to be 9 executed not later than fiscal year 2024. 10 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 12 after the date on which the Western Hemisphere Se- 13 curity Strategy is submitted under subsection (a), 14 the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense 15 shall commence implementation of the strategy. 16 (2) BRIEFING.—Not later than 1 year after the 17 date on which the implementation of the Western 18 Hemisphere Security Strategy commences, and an- 19 nually thereafter, the Secretary of State and the 20 Secretary of Defense shall jointly provide a briefing 21 to the appropriate committees of Congress on the 22 implementation of the strategy. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1519 IS (3) TERMINATION.—The authority under this 1 section shall terminate on the date that is three 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 3 (d) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE- 4 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit- 5 tees of Congress’’ means— 6 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 7 the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and 8 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 9 Committee on Armed Services of the House of Rep- 10 resentatives. 11 SEC. 4. REPORT ON EFFORTS TO CAPTURE AND DETAIN 12 UNITED STATES CITIZENS AS HOSTAGES. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 15 shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 16 Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 17 House of Representatives a report on efforts by the 18 Maduro regime of Venezuela to detain United States citi- 19 zens and lawful permanent residents. 20 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 21 (a) shall include, regarding the arrest, capture, detain- 22 ment, and imprisonment of United States citizens and 23 lawful permanent residents— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1519 IS (1) the names, positions, and institutional affili- 1 ation of Venezuelan individuals, or those acting on 2 their behalf, who have engaged in such activities; 3 (2) a description of any role played by 4 transnational criminal organizations, and an identi- 5 fication of such organizations; and 6 (3) where relevant, an assessment of whether 7 and how United States citizens and lawful perma- 8 nent residents have been lured to Venezuela. 9 (c) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 10 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but shall include 11 a classified annex, which shall include a list of the total 12 number of United States citizens and lawful permanent 13 residents detained or imprisoned in Venezuela as of the 14 date on which the report is submitted. 15 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 16 The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Sec- 17 retary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the United 18 States Trade Representative, and the Chief Executive Of- 19 ficer of the Development Finance Corporation, shall pro- 20 vide technical assistance to partner countries in the West- 21 ern Hemisphere to establish frameworks or mechanisms, 22 similar to the frameworks set forth in section 721 of the 23 Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4565), for the 24 purpose of enabling such partner countries to screen, re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1519 IS view, and address the long-term financial sustainability 1 and national security implications of investments in stra- 2 tegic sectors or services, including energy, telecommuni- 3 cations, and infrastructure, by entities controlled or di- 4 rected by the governments of adversarial countries, includ- 5 ing— 6 (1) the People’s Republic of China; 7 (2) the Russian Federation; 8 (3) the Islamic Republic of Iran; 9 (4) the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; 10 and 11 (5) any other country the Secretary of State de- 12 termines to be adversarial to the national security 13 interests of the United States. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 May 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS