[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 35 (Thursday, March 1, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2501-S2502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, and Mr. Coleman, and Mr. Kyl):
  S. 735. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to improve the 
terrorist hoax statute; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, in the wake of the tragic events of 
September 11, Congress, the Administration and the country faced the 
urgent need to do all we can to strengthen our national security and 
counterterrorism strategy. Soon after the attacks, Congress moved 
swiftly to enact new intelligence and law enforcement powers for the 
Federal Government through the PATRIOT Act. Since then, we have also 
enacted legislation to reform our intelligence laws, and we spent 
significant time re-authorizing key provisions of the PATRIOT Act last 
year.
  Yet, much work still needs to be done to achieve the goals of the 9/
11 Commission. Two and a half years after its report, many of its 
recommendations haven't been implemented and the Nation remains 
seriously unprepared for another terrorist strike. A top priority is to 
enact the pending Improving America's Security Act--an important step 
in the right direction to implement the Commission's recommendations 
and strengthen the nation's preparedness against terrorism.
  Given the circumstances driving the passage of these measures, the 
administration and Congress must continue to work together to assess 
whether existing national security laws are adequate and make necessary 
improvements when required.
  While families in Boston, New York and across the country were still 
grieving over the tragedy of September 11, our communities suddenly 
faced a new threat, when anthrax contamination resulted in 5 deaths and 
20 hospitalizations across the country. As Federal, State and local law 
enforcement struggled to deal with the threat of terrorism, yet another 
challenge arose because of reckless individuals who perpetrated hoaxes 
that caused panic, unrest and expenditure of critical resources.
  Since September 11 such hoaxes have seriously disrupted many lives 
and needlessly diverted law-enforcement and emergency-services 
resources. In the wake of the anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001, for 
example, a number of individuals mailed unidentified white powder, 
intending for the recipient to believe it was anthrax. Over 150,000 
anthrax hoaxes were reported between September 2001 and August 2002.
  In Massachusetts, one of these hoaxes was directed at a military 
facility. Fire trucks and hazmat responders rushed to the scene at the 
Agawam armory, only to learn that the powder spread over the armory 
equipment was not a toxic substance.
  Hoaxes about anthrax continue to be a serious problem. Earlier this 
week, such a scare shut down a university campus in Missouri when a 
student claimed to have a bomb and anthrax. It was a false alarm, but 
authorities had no choice except to make a serious response. They 
quarantined 23 people and evacuated 6,000 students from the campus and 
a nearby elementary school. The emotional and financial costs 
associated with these hoaxes puts an extraordinary strain on our 
communities and resources.
  Progress has been made to pass Federal and State laws to give 
prosecutors the authority to charge perpetrators engaging in such 
reckless conduct. Without tough and comprehensive laws on the books, 
successful and fair prosecutions are much more difficult.
  In 2004, Congress enacted the first Federal terrorism hoax statute. 
Its purpose was to establish definitions and set serious penalties to 
deal with the problem of hoax crimes, but events have moved the need 
for additional authority. A significant number of prosecutions have 
taken place for individuals who disrupt communities with terrorist 
hoaxes, but a disturbing pattern has also developed of new hoaxes not 
covered by the original law.

[[Page S2502]]

  A few weeks ago in Boston, advertisers using so-called ``guerrilla 
tactics'' left strange packages near sites essential for our region's 
infrastructure. A serious response obviously had to be made, but its 
cost was high. Our public safety officials did an outstanding job in 
responding to the threat and discovering the hoax. Boston, Cambridge, 
Somerville and other affected local governments are struggling to deal 
with the cost and lost productivity it caused.
  The incident highlighted the need to close the gaps in existing 
federal law on terrorist hoaxes. The current statute only punishes 
hoaxes involving an unduly restricted list of terrorist offenses. This 
list does not include, for example, hoaxes related to taking hostages, 
to blowing up energy facilities, attacks on military bases, or attacks 
on railways and mass-transit facilities, such as the London bombings.
  The legislation I am introducing today will punish hoaxes involving 
any terrorist offense listed in current law. It also increases the 
maximum penalty for hoaxes involving the death or injury of a U.S. 
soldier during wartime.
  One such incident involved a soldier from Flagstaff, Arizona who was 
then serving in Iraq. On a Sunday morning a prank caller devastated the 
family of a 22-year-old in the Army, falsely telling them their son was 
dead. The call came only hours after the soldier had appeared in an 
Arizona Daily Sun photo at a Support the Troops rally.
  The hoax was a nightmare for the family. It took them a full day to 
get confirmation that their son was still alive in Iraq. As a member of 
the family testified, ``As a result of this ordeal, my family had been 
put in an upheaval that is unimaginable. My mother, my brother, my 
sister and everybody in my family were placed in terror and 
immeasurable pain. My niece even went into premature labor.''
  The consequences of this hoax went beyond the soldier's family. The 
Army had allowed him to call home from Iraq by satellite phone to 
reassure them that he was alive and uninjured. But another soldier had 
been killed bringing him the satellite phone to make the call.
  As the son wrote to his uncle: ``I have seen things words can't 
describe and done things I don't want to. I lost some friends out here 
loading their bodies on the truck was the worst feeling in the world. 
One guy died bringing me a satellite phone so I could call dad to let 
him know I was alive. It made me think of Saving Private Ryan. Was it 
worth his life and the risk of three others to bring me a phone? I know 
it was a relief to all of you to hear I was OK. Now I feel I must make 
my life worth his. I don't know if I can do that.''
  The person who caused such a hoax deserves to be punished. This bill 
assures that effective penalties will be imposed for similar crimes in 
the future.
  The bill also expands civil liability to allow first responders and 
others to seek reimbursement from a party who knows that first 
responders are responding to such a hoax and fails to inform 
authorities that no such event has occurred.
  Finally, the bill clarifies that threatening communications are 
punishable under federal law even if they are directed at an 
organization rather than a person.
  It's unconscionable in this post-9/11 world, for anyone to be 
perpetrating hoaxes that cause panic and drain already limited public 
safety resources.
  All of us remember where we were and what we were doing on 9/11. We 
will never forget the lives that were lost and the heroism of the first 
responders. We honor all those working so hard today to prevent future 
attacks. Hopefully, this bill will fulfill its purpose of preventing 
the false alarms that can be so disruptive of our families and our 
communities in these difficult and dangerous times.
  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, the legislation that I am introducing 
today along with Senator's Kennedy and Kyl will install tougher 
penalties on those who commit terrorism hoaxes. This is a very 
important issue to me given the September 2001 bomb threat to the Mall 
of America and because St. Paul is hosting the 2008 Republican 
Convention.
  We need to send a clear message to those planning a terrorism hoax 
that they will pay for it dearly by spending a number of years in 
prison. Terrorizing the public through false threats is not a joke and 
should be treated as criminal conduct. The threats may be fake but the 
consequences are very real in costs to first responders, lost revenues 
and sometimes the loss of human life.
  The problem is the current federal statute only punishes hoaxes 
involving an unduly restricted list of terrorist offenses. This list 
does not include: hoaxes related to the taking of hostages in order to 
coerce the Federal Government; hoaxes related to blowing up an energy 
facility; hoaxes related to attacks on military bases aimed at 
undermining national defense; or hoaxes related to attacks on railways 
and mass-transportation facilities, such as the recent London bombings.
  The Kennedy-Coleman-Kyl legislation fills these gaps by expanding the 
hoax statute to punish hoaxes involving any offense included on the 
U.S. Code's official list of federal terrorist offenses. Specifically, 
this bill: expands on the current terrorism hoax statute so this 
punishes hoaxes about any terrorist offense on the U.S. Code's official 
list of terrorist offenses; increases the maximum penalties for hoaxes 
about the death or injury of a U.S. soldier during wartime; expands 
current law's civil liability provisions to allow first responders and 
others to seek reimbursement from a party who perpetrates a hoax and 
becomes aware that first responders believe that a terrorist offense is 
taking place but fails to inform authorities that no such event has 
occurred; and clarifies that threatening communications are punishable 
under federal law even if they are directed at an organization rather 
than a natural person.
  The bill increases the penalties for perpetrating a hoax about the 
death, injury, or capture of a U.S. soldier during wartime. Under the 
bill, the maximum penalty for such hoax would be 10 years' 
imprisonment, and a hoax resulting in serious bodily injury could be 
punished by up to 25 years' imprisonment. I urge my colleagues to pass 
this bipartisan measure.
                                 ______