[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1498 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1498

  To direct the President to designate an existing Federal officer to 
coordinate efforts to secure the release of United States citizens who 
are hostages of hostile groups or state sponsors of terrorism, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 19, 2015

 Mr. Hunter (for himself, Mr. Zinke, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Nugent, 
    Mr. Cook, Mr. Rigell, Mr. Guinta, and Mr. Perry) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the President to designate an existing Federal officer to 
coordinate efforts to secure the release of United States citizens who 
are hostages of hostile groups or state sponsors of terrorism, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Hostage Recovery Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY HOSTAGE RECOVERY COORDINATOR.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall designate an existing 
Federal officer to coordinate efforts to secure the release of United 
States citizens who are hostages of hostile groups or state sponsors of 
terrorism. For purposes of carrying out the duties described in 
subsection (b), such officer shall have the title of ``Interagency 
Hostage Recovery Coordinator''.
    (b) Duties.--The Coordinator shall have the following duties:
            (1) Coordinate and direct all activities of the Federal 
        Government relating to each hostage situation described in 
        subsection (a) to ensure efforts to secure the release of all 
        hostages in the hostage situation are properly resourced and 
        correct lines of authority are established and maintained.
            (2) Establish a task force consisting of appropriate 
        personnel of the Federal Government with respect to each 
        hostage situation described in subsection (a).

SEC. 3. QUARTERLY REPORT.

    (a) In General.--The Coordinator shall submit to Congress a 
quarterly report on each hostage situation described in section 2(a) 
and efforts to secure the release of all hostages in such hostage 
situation.
    (b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted 
in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex if necessary.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Coordinator should develop and 
pursue an entire range of options with respect to each hostage 
situation described in section 2(a), including kinetic and non-kinetic 
options.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Coordinator.--The term ``Coordinator'' means the 
        Interagency Hostage Recovery Coordinator designated under 
        section 1(a).
            (2) Hostile group.--The term ``hostile group'' means--
                    (A) a group that is designated as a foreign 
                terrorist organization under section 219(a) of the 
                Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a));
                    (B) a group that is engaged in armed conflict with 
                the United States; or
                    (C) any other group that the President determines 
                to be a hostile group for purposes of this paragraph.
            (3) State sponsor of terrorism.--The term ``state sponsor 
        of terrorism''--
                    (A) means a country the government of which the 
                Secretary of State has determined, for purposes of 
                section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, 
                section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, 
                section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, or any other 
                provision of law, to be a government that has 
                repeatedly provided support for acts of international 
                terrorism; and
                    (B) includes North Korea.
                                 <all>