[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 154 (Thursday, November 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11613-S11614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. DeWine, and Mr. Hatch):
  S. 1658. A bill to improve Federal criminal penalties on false 
information and terrorist hoaxes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, today Senator DeWine and I are 
introducing a bill that will address what has sadly become a very 
serious problem. Since September 11, the number of terrorist hoaxes has 
increased dramatically.
  The bill that we introduce today would fill a gap in the law by 
explicitly making the commission of a terrorist hoax illegal and 
punishable by up to five years in jail.
  The last seven weeks have been difficult for all Americans. By 
nature, we Americans are tough. But many of us, myself included, are 
also a little more anxious than usual. That is understandable. But what 
is not understandable, in fact what is barely conceivable, is that some 
people think it is funny to take advantage of that fear.
  Each terrorist hoax means a waste of valuable law enforcement time 
and scarce resources.
  Our police officers and the FBI are already working around the clock 
to catch and arrest everyone involved in the September 11 attack, to 
find the perpetrators of the anthrax attacks, and to prevent future 
attacks from taking place.
  Wasting law enforcement's time and resources by committing terrorist 
hoaxes takes away from their ability to protect us. So in many ways, 
committing a terrorist hoax is an extension of terrorism itself.
  Beyond that, each terrorist hoax mocks the loss of thousands of lives 
in the September 11 attack and the recent deaths from anthrax.
  In the first three weeks of October alone, the FBI has responded to 
more than 3,300 cases relating to weapons of mass destruction, 
including 2,500 threat assessments involving suspected anthrax 
incidents. Normally, they deal with 250 of these cases in an entire 
year. The last thing the FBI and the police have time for is a 
terrorist hoax.
  Unfortunately, many of my fellow New Yorkers can attest to the fear 
and the commitment of resources caused by one of these terrorist 
hoaxes.
  In Nassau County, on October 16, a Federal Express deliveryman placed 
a white powdery substance inside a computer package. That led to an 
understandably frantic phone call. Seven officers and three vehicles 
were dispatched in response to this anthrax hoax.

[[Page S11614]]

  On October 26, a Staten Island man sent a threatening letter in a 
powder-laced envelope to his girlfriend.
  An apparent hoax diverted a Dallas-bound American Airlines flight 
from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Washington, DC's Dulles Airport on 
October 29 after a threatening note was found on board. The passengers 
and flight crew were all forced to evacuate on the runway. The impact 
on the entire airport's operations were disrupted, and the entire 
national air traffic control system had to deal with this.
  On October 17, a 17-year-old brought an envelope with the words 
``Death to All Who Open This'' to Kingston High School in the Hudson 
Valley. The envelope contained white, powdery material. According to 
school officials, approximately 3,000 students and staff were held in 
lock-down for 90 minutes while some 50 local police, fire, and 
emergency response personnel assessed the situation.
  Now more than ever, we need to send a loud and clear message to the 
perpetrators of hoaxes of all kinds: Your behavior is wrong. It is 
disgusting. And it is a serious crime.
  The legislation that Senator DeWine and I are introducing today sends 
that message.
  Anyone convicted of committing a hoax terrorist attack involving a 
fake explosive incendiary, biological, chemical, or nuclear device, or 
falsely reporting one of these attacks, will be punished by a prison 
sentence of up to five years as well as stiff monetary fines.
  In addition, anyone convicted of committing a terrorist hoax would be 
held responsible for reimbursement for all expenses resulting from the 
hoax.
  This bill makes it clear that committing a terrorist hoax is no 
laughing matter.
  My hope is that by sending a strong message today and in the weeks to 
come, those who are thinking about committing a terrorist hoax will 
think twice before diverting the police and FBI from focusing all of 
their time and energy on protecting us from real threats, and before 
another hoax puts us on edge, yet again.
  Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, I rise today to discuss a distressing 
problem facing our citizens, our Nation's law enforcement officers, and 
our public health officials. This problem is the growing threat of 
bioterrorism and other weapons of mass destruction--both real and 
perceived.
  The recent bioterrorist attacks affecting the media, Congress, and 
the U.S. Postal Service have spawned a great number of anthrax hoaxes 
across the Nation. These hoaxes, aside from adding to the widespread 
public panic over terrorism, have created another serious problem: They 
are taxing our already strained emergency management and public health 
resources, which are vital to protect our national security.
  Suprisingly, there is no existing Federal code that directly 
prohibits biological, chemical, or nuclear weapon hoaxes. Therefore, 
there is no Federal law that directly punishes the current anthrax 
hoaxes. These acts waste scarce Federal resources, negatively affecting 
interstate commerce and national security interests. Yet, there is no 
Federal law on the books to prosecute these offenders.
  In all likelihood, the current anthrax hoaxes will be prosecuted 
under a provision for ``mailing threatening communications'' or 
threatening the ``use of certain weapons of mass destruction,'' 18 USC 
876, 2332a. The problem with prosecuting the anthrax hoaxes under these 
statutes is that they require the prosecutor to prove that the offender 
has crossed a threshold of threatening language. But what constitutes 
sufficiently threatening language?
  Unfortunately, not all of these hoaxes meet this threshold. For 
example, under current law, it is difficult to prosecute the acts of an 
eighth-grade science teacher in Ohio. This teacher placed powered lime 
in a school envelope and attempted to mail it through the postal system 
to her brother in another city. The envelope was found en route at the 
school, before it could leave the building. The school was evacuated, 
frightening hundreds of already shaken children and parents. Emergency 
management teams wasted valuable time and resources testing the site.
  Right now, this woman faces a State charge of inducing panic. That is 
it; no other charges are pending. There is no clear Federal law on the 
books to prosecute her offense, because there was no threat. Had there 
been an actual incident where anthrax was released while police and 
emergency crews were tied up looking into this hoax, who knows how 
widespread the damage could have been. Many people could have been 
infected in the time that it took emergency crews to clear up this 
``joke.''
  So far, the U.S. Postal Service reports that it has evacuated over 
353 postal facilities for varying amounts of time as a result of more 
than 8,600 hoaxes, threats, and suspicious incidents related to anthrax 
since just mid-October. That is an average of 578 a day for an agency 
used to dealing with only a few hundred such calls a year. In my home 
State of Ohio, alone, health officials have tested nearly 800 
suspicious specimens from around the State, but have found no anthrax 
or other dangerous substances. A significant number of those reports 
appear to have been hoaxes. On a national scale, the financial and 
physical strain imposed by hoaxes on our national law enforcement and 
public health systems have been enormous. In regard to our citizens, 
these pranks cause great panic and are really acts of terrorism.
  That is why, along with my colleagues, Senator Schumer and Ranking 
Member Hatch, I have introduced a bill that would create a new crime 
for hoaxes involving the purported use of a weapon of mass destruction. 
This bill will prohibit any conduct that gives the false impression 
that a biological, chemical, or nuclear weapon may be used, when it is 
reasonable to assume that there will be an emergency response. The 
required conduct may involve the communication of information, whether 
in written or verbal form, as well as physical actions. Under our bill, 
there is no legal burden to identify a specific threat. For example, we 
would be able to prosecute someone who mails an envelope of white 
powder with a note that says, ``Smile, you have been exposed to 
anthrax.''
  Furthermore, anyone convicted under this bill would be responsible 
for the reimbursement of expenses incurred in responding to a hoax, 
including the cost of any response by any Federal military or civilian 
agency to protect public health or safety during the course of an 
investigation. Convicted cohorts also would share in financial 
liability for such a hoax.
  The Ohio Department of Health, alone, has spent more than $500,000 of 
the taxpayers' money investigating false anthrax claims--a large 
percentage of which were hoaxes. This bill would discourage hoaxes, 
while helping to alleviate the financial burden that these pranks and 
false reports are imposing on our Federal, State, and local government 
agencies.
  It is indeed shocking that some people want to capitalize on the 
recent horrific acts of terrorism in order to play a joke or 
intentionally cause widespread panic, or worse, inflict physical harm. 
Unfortunately, this is the reality we confront today. To deal with this 
threat, we need to give our Federal Government the necessary tools to 
prosecute those who would stage these hoaxes and disrupt the sense of 
normalcy that we have all struggled to recover since September 11th.
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