[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 17, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1133-H1135]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COUNTER-TERORIST AND NARCO-TERRORIST REWARDS PROGRAM ACT
Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3782) to amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of
1956 to increase the maximum amount of an award available under the
Department of State rewards program, to expand the eligibility criteria
to receive an award, to authorize nonmonetary awards, to publicize the
existence of the rewards program, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3782
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 ``Counter-Terrorist and Narco-
Terrorist Rewards Program Act''.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF STATE COUNTER-TERRORIST AND NARCO-
TERRORIST REWARDS PROGRAM.
(a) Disruption of Foreign Terrorist Financing Network.--
Subsection (b) of section 36 of the State Department Basic
Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (5) by striking ``or'' at the end;
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(2) in paragraph (6) by striking the period and inserting
``; or''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(7) the disruption of financial mechanisms of a foreign
terrorist organization, including the use by the organization
of illicit narcotics production or international narcotics
trafficking--
``(A) to finance acts of international terrorism; or
``(B) to sustain or support any terrorist organization.''.
(b) Maximum Amount of Reward.--Subsection (e)(1) of such
section is amended--
(1) by striking ``$5,000,000'' and inserting
``$25,000,000'';
(2) by striking the second period at the end; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new sentence:
``Without first making such determination, the Secretary may
authorize a reward of up to twice the amount specified in
this paragraph for the capture or information leading to the
capture of a leader of a foreign terrorist organization.''.
(c) Clarification of Existing Authority.--Subsection (e) of
such section is amended by adding at the end the following
new paragraph:
``(6) Forms of reward payment.--The Secretary may make a
reward under this section in the form of money, a nonmonetary
item (including such items as automotive vehicles), or a
combination thereof.''.
(d) Media Surveys and Advertisements.--Such section is
amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (i) and (j) as subsections
(j) and (k), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (h) the following new
subsection:
``(i) Media Surveys and Advertisements.--
``(1) Surveys conducted.--For the purpose of more
effectively disseminating information about the rewards
program, the Secretary may use the resources of the rewards
program to conduct media surveys, including analyses of media
markets, means of communication, and levels of literacy, in
countries determined by the Secretary to be associated with
acts of international terrorism.
``(2) Creation and purchase of advertisements.--The
Secretary may use the resources of the rewards program to
create advertisements to disseminate information about the
rewards program. The Secretary may base the content of such
advertisements on the findings of the surveys conducted under
paragraph (1). The Secretary may purchase radio or television
time, newspaper space, or make use of any other means of
advertisement, as appropriate.''.
(e) Plan of Action.--Not later than 90 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall
submit to the Committee on International Relations of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate a plan to maximize awareness of the
reward available under section 36 of the State Department
Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708 et seq.) for
the capture or information leading to the capture of a leader
of a foreign terrorist organization who may be in Pakistan or
Afghanistan. The Secretary may use the resources of the
rewards program to prepare the plan.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Harris) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Harris).
General Leave
Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this bill makes changes and modifications to the long-
established U.S. State Department rewards programs to deal with the
growing links between illicit drugs and the financing and support of
terrorism.
The State Department Rewards Program has clearly prevented acts of
terrorism in the past, has helped to bring to justice long-sought
terrorists, such as the individual who fled to Pakistan after
assassinating our CIA employees in Virginia, and has served as a
valuable intelligence tool in the global war on terrorism. The Rewards
Program could do even more, if we enact this bill, with its reforms.
It is time for renewed, expanded reward authority in the State
Department, one which tackles and contends with the growing links, as
recently reported in the press, of the illicit drug trade and the
financing and supporting of terrorism. Our terrorist enemies may very
well be changing their methods and means, and we mean to be even more
flexible and creative than they are.
H.R. 3782 would clarify that any information provided which could be
used to disrupt terrorist financing networks, including information
related to illicit narcotics production or international trafficking,
is eligible for reward moneys. It provides clarification of the
authority for the Secretary of State to give rewards other than money
for information related to terrorism and narcoterrorism, such as
vehicles, appliances, commodities and other goods and services. It
clarifies the authority of the Secretary of State to conduct media
surveys and create or purchase advertisements for the Rewards Program.
It requires the administration to submit a plan to the Congress that
maximizes the publicity surrounding the reward for Osama bin Laden's
capture. It raises the statutory maximum amount of terrorist and
narcoterrorist rewards from $5 million to $25 million, and it provides
the Secretary of State the authority to raise the reward for the
capture of Osama bin Laden to double the amount of the current
authorized reward.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that this bill will improve our ability to
fight terrorism and I urge Members to support the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation. This
legislation assists the war on terrorism in two ways: speeding
financial incentives to people who help the United States capture
narcotics traffickers who are linked to terrorism, and raising the
limits on reward for the capture of terrorist leaders.
Mr. Speaker, these legislative changes are long overdue. Under
current law, the State Department's reward money is not being spent in
the most effective way. In Afghanistan, where profits from heroin sales
finance groups such as al Qaeda and the Taliban, informants in
successful seizure and capture operations receive financial rewards
from the Drug Enforcement Agency.
But the State Department does not contribute to this effort due to a
false distinction between narcotics trafficking and terrorism.
Presumably that distinction lets agencies like the Pentagon and the
Department of State avoid the complexities of interagency collaboration
to carry out a unified strategy that attacks both issues at the same
time. For the struggle against terrorism to succeed, our government
must be unified, not divided.
This bill ensures that money from the State Department's rewards
programs can be given to informants when their assistance leads to drug
shipments or drug labs, or otherwise disrupts narcotics trafficking as
long as such actions are likely to disrupt terrorist financing. Any
interruption of the drug trade that takes money out of the pockets of
terrorists may well prevent tragedies.
Mr. Speaker, the State Department Rewards Program has been a useful
tool in the past to capture wanted terrorists. Our resolution makes it
easier for the Secretary of State to double the current reward of $25
million for ring leaders of foreign terrorist organizations, including
Osama bin Laden. I strongly support this legislation, and urge all of
my colleagues to support H.R. 3782.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Kirk).
Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Hyde) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for this
legislation. This bill comes to the House as U.S. Armed Forces today go
into battle as part of Operation Mountain Storm.
Operation Mountain Storm is an allied military operation in
Afghanistan and Pakistan designed to kill or capture Osama bin Laden.
This bill provides immediate aid and assistance to those critical
operations now ongoing in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan and the
frontier autonomous tribal area of Pakistan.
This bill comes in part from a mission I conducted to Pakistan's
frontier in January. Joined by Michele Lang, Jon Scharfen, John Mackey,
David Fite and Lieutenant Kevin Fernandez,
[[Page H1135]]
we found a great need to reenergize the State Department's Rewards
Program in Pakistan. The Rewards Program has a long and successful
history. As a staffer, I drafted reforms which lifted the rewards from
$5 million to $25 million, and made the arrest of U.N. war criminals
eligible for the reward. We arrested or killed two-thirds of war
criminals in the Balkans using this legislation. We also arrested Aimal
Khan Kasi in Pakistan using the authorities of this bill. Kansi killed
several Americans outside of the CIA gate. He was arrested, tried, and
executed for those trials.
Today this bill makes a crucial link between drug dealing and
terrorism. We found that one Afghan is providing 2,000 kilograms a
month of heroin to Osama bin Laden. At the Pakistani price, that
provides bin Laden with an annual income of $38 million to fund his
terror operations. This bill makes the link between funding terror and
funding drug profits, and we want to make sure that we cut off Osama
bin Laden's new supply of cash, which is coming not from donations, but
from the sale of heroin.
The bottom line, Osama bin Laden in the frontier autonomous region of
Pakistan has become one of the world's number one sellers of heroin.
This bill makes that link very clearly, and lifts the reward for the
arrest of Osama bin Laden to $50 million.
It also makes one other key reform. In many of these areas, most of
the people are illiterate and could not even read a reward poster or
one of the matchbook covers used to arrest Aimal Kasi. This bill allows
the State Department to be more flexible in publicizing the reward
effort, and it allows the State Department to use noncash rewards which
in a rural community can be much more effective. Beyond a $25 million
or $50 million reward, the provision of a truck or feed or farm animals
can make all the difference for a rural community which seeks to
provide information on the arrest of Osama bin Laden.
This bill makes it much more flexible and much more capable. I urge
its adoption and thank the committee for moving it so quickly to the
floor as Operation Mountain Storm is ongoing.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Harris) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3782, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
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