[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 126 (Thursday, August 2, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S10805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. Coleman):
  S. 1959. A bill to establish the National Commission on the 
Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Violent 
Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
  Foreign-based terrorism has weighed heavily in the news and in our 
thoughts for more than a decade. Since the first bombing of the World 
Trade Center in 1993, we have seen foreign-based terrorists attack our 
embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, a Navy destroyer in Yemen, the World 
Trade Center again, and the Pentagon. Timely arrests prevented foreign-
based terrorists from carrying out a bombing plot directed at the Los 
Angeles airport and, more recently, attacks targeting U.S.-bound 
flights originating in England.
  This long-standing and still-deadly threat requires continued 
surveillance and aggressive action, and will for years to come. But we 
cannot confine our counter-terrorism efforts to attacks organized in 
and launched from other countries. As demonstrated by the bloody 
bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal office building in 1995 and by 
this year's arrests of suspects in plots directed at JFK International 
Airport and Fort Dix, NJ, domestic radicalization and violent extremism 
are also threats to American lives and American society.
  The most effective border security will not prevent ``home-grown'' 
terrorists from attacking our citizens. We need to better understand 
the triggers for radicalization and violence in order to counter the 
threat of terrorists on American soil.
  For nearly a year now, Senator Lieberman and I have conducted an 
investigation and held a series of hearings in the Senate Homeland 
Security Committee probing different aspects of this domestic danger by 
examining radicalization in prisons, radicalization trends, the 
Internet and violent extremism, lessons from the European experience, 
and the adequacy of government counter-measures.
  The harvest of information and insights from these hearings has 
helped alert us to dangers, guide our oversight activities, and 
formulate ideas for legislative action. The testimony and evidence we 
have seen persuade me that we need to undertake an even more in-depth 
examination of the threats of domestic radicalization and violent 
extremism.
  The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act 
would provide such an examination. It is a companion measure to the 
bill introduced by Representatives Jane Harman of California and Dave 
Reichert of Washington in the House of Representatives. Congresswoman 
Harman has been extraordinarily perceptive in understanding the threat 
of violent radicalization, and her bill's unanimous approval by the 
House Homeland Security Committee is a tribute to her leadership.
  My bill, like the House measure, includes two key initiatives.
  First, it would create a National Commission on the Prevention of 
Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism.
  Second, it would establish a university-based Center of Excellence 
for the Study of Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the U.S.
  The Commission would devote itself to a survey of what we know, and 
what we need to learn, about the social and psychological breeding 
grounds of extremism, the process of radicalization, the factors that 
cause people to turn to violence, the processes of recruitment and 
coordination, and the phenomenon of self-radicalization and ``lone 
wolf'' terrorism.
  To ensure a broad range of input for the commission, members would be 
selected for their qualifications by the President, the majority and 
minority leaders of the House and Senate, and the chairman and ranking 
member of the Homeland Security Committees of the House and Senate.
  The commission's final report, to be delivered within 18 months of 
its initial meeting, would provide a solid base of information and a 
guide for further research and action against the dangers that we face.
  A ``final report,'' however useful, cannot be the last word in the 
fight against a threat that has been growing for years and may persist 
for decades. That is why the bill takes the important second step of 
establishing a university-based Center of Excellence focused on 
homegrown terrorism, violent radicalization, and ideologically based 
violence.
  The Department of Homeland Security currently has 8 Centers for 
Excellence focusing on various aspects of homeland security, such as 
risk-analysis, food protection, and catastrophic-event preparedness and 
response.
  My bill would empower the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate 
a new center or to expand the mission of an existing center. In either 
case, such a center will provide an institution dedicated to 
researching and understanding violent radicalization and homegrown 
terrorism, and to developing findings that can assist Federal, State, 
local, and tribal governments in dealing with these threats.
  It is vital, that our homeland-security efforts extend to a 
systematic and comprehensive understanding of the radicalization 
process that turns people living in our midst to ideologically based 
violence and terrorism. It is also vital that we create an academically 
based center to sustain high-quality research efforts on this threat to 
augment federal initiatives and to expand and supplement Government 
thinking.
  This bill, which closely parallels legislation now moving through the 
House of Representatives, meets those vital needs. I urge my colleagues 
to support the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism 
Prevention Act of 2007.
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