[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 23, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S9795]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. 
        Cornyn, and Mr. Hatch):
  S. 1445. A bill to provide criminal penalties for false personation 
of a military officer for purposes of harassing military families and 
to clarify the false personation statute with respect to officers and 
employees of the United States; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to speak to an important 
measure that Senators Graham, Schumer, Cornyn, and I have introduced 
entitled The Military Family Hoax Prevention Act. As our country 
concludes major combat activities in Operation Iraqi Freedom, we all 
stand tall with pride over the dedication, courage, and valor displayed 
by the men and women of our Armed Forces.
  We all are grateful to the men and women of the U.S. military who 
selflessly serve our country. They have answered the call of our 
Commander in Chief to go abroad and defend the freedoms and values we 
cherish here at home. While carrying out their mission, they have acted 
admirably during the liberation of an enslaved nation, and continue to 
serve our country honorably. These men and women deserve our profound 
gratitude.
  As we watch the soldiers returning home from deployment, some from 
extended tours of duty, I am reminded of the personal sacrifice these 
men and women make while they are gone. These men and women leave 
behind family and friends who undoubtedly worry constantly about their 
loved ones on deployment. In many instances, family members are not 
able to know of the day-to-day safety of their loved ones during 
deployment. This feeling of helplessness was aptly described by the 
brother of Jessica Lynch upon her return to West Virginia when he 
discussed her family's desire to learn any bit of information following 
her capture.
  It has come to my attention that during Operation Iraqi Freedom some 
military families received cruel hoaxes concerning their deployed 
family members in Iraq. On three separate occasions that I am aware of, 
families of service men and women here in the United States received 
telephone calls from sick pranksters telling them that their family 
members serving in Iraq had either been killed in battle or taken 
prisoner of war.
  You can imagine the devastation and agony of the families who 
received these malicious telephone calls. These families were forced 
into a desperate scramble to learn information about the fate of their 
loved ones. These hoaxes require the military to dedicate resources to 
provide information to military family members.
  Let me talk briefly about one specific hoax and the potentially 
devastating consequences that can flow from it. A family in Arizona 
received a telephone call that a family member had been killed in Iraq. 
After contacting the military, the family was told that only the 
military notifies families in these instances, and that they do so in 
person, not over the telephone. The military told the family that they 
had no information that their family member, the soldier, was killed 
and that they would try to learn more.
  The military discovered that this telephone call was a cruel hoax and 
arranged for the soldier to call home from a satellite telephone to 
reassure his family. Unfortunately, the soldier later wrote to his 
family and told them that another soldier who was transporting a 
satellite telephone to him so that he could call home had been killed 
while trying to deliver the telephone.
  This type of action cannot go unpunished. The current false 
impersonation statute does not punish someone who falsely impersonates 
a military employee engaging in this type of conduct. This legislation 
the Military Family Hoax Prevention Act, would remedy this loophole in 
the current law. It would prohibit those who derive some perverted 
pleasure terrorizing family members who intensely wait for word from 
abroad from their military family members.
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