[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;

[[Page H1134]]

       (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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