[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 182 (Tuesday, December 15, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H9314-H9318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            COMBAT TERRORIST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACT OF 2015

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 3654) to require a report on United States strategy to combat 
terrorist use of social media, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3654

       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 ``Combat Terrorist Use of 
     Social Media Act of 2015''.

     SEC. 2. REPORT ON STRATEGY TO COMBAT TERRORIST USE OF SOCIAL 
                   MEDIA.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to 
     the appropriate congressional committees a report on United 
     States strategy to combat terrorists' and terrorist 
     organizations' use of social media.
       (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall 
     include the following:
       (1) An evaluation of what role social media plays in 
     radicalization in the United States and elsewhere.
       (2) An analysis of how terrorists and terrorist 
     organizations are using social media, including trends.
       (3) A summary of the Federal Government's efforts to 
     disrupt and counter the use of social media by terrorists and 
     terrorist organizations, an evaluation of the success of such 
     efforts, and recommendations for improvement.
       (4) An analysis of how social media is being used for 
     counter-radicalization and counter-propaganda purposes, 
     irrespective of whether or not such efforts are made by the 
     Federal Government.
       (5) An assessment of the value of social media posts by 
     terrorists and terrorist organizations to law enforcement.
       (6) An overview of social media training available to law 
     enforcement and intelligence personnel that enables such 
     personnel to understand and combat the use of social media by 
     terrorists and terrorist organizations, as well as 
     recommendations for improving or expanding existing training 
     opportunities.
       (c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) should be 
     submitted in unclassified form, and may include a classified 
     annex in accordance with the protection of intelligence 
     sources and methods.

     SEC. 3. POLICY AND COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO COUNTER 
                   TERRORISTS' AND TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS' USE OF 
                   SOCIAL MEDIA.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to 
     the appropriate congressional committees a report that 
     contains a comprehensive strategy to counter terrorists' and 
     terrorist organizations' use of social media, as committed to 
     in the President's 2011 ``Strategic Implementation Plan for 
     Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the 
     United States''.
       (b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) should be 
     submitted in unclassified form, and may include a classified 
     annex in accordance with the protection of intelligence 
     sources and methods.

     SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

       In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional 
     committees'' means the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
     Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland 
     Security, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Permanent 
     Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
     Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 
     Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland 
     Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on the 
     Judiciary, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
     Senate.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include any extraneous material for the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this legislation, H.R. 
3654. It is entitled the Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 
2015.
  I want to recognize the leadership of Judge Ted Poe, a Member of this 
body, on this critical issue.
  The threats posed by Islamist terrorists have evolved, but the 
administration's policies have not evolved. If we are going to prevent 
additional attacks, then the President must lay out a broad, 
overarching strategy needed to win. That strategy must include a plan 
to counter terrorists' use of social media.
  Terrorists are skillfully exploiting social media to recruit 
supporters, to radicalize, to raise money, to spread fear. Two weeks 
ago in San Bernardino, California, 14 innocent people were killed, and 
21 people were injured by radical Islamist terrorists. We know these 
extremists--husband and wife--used social media, with one of them 
making a pledge on Facebook in support of ISIS. This pledge was 
identified by Facebook and was taken down immediately.
  Yesterday, it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Homeland 
Security actually prohibited immigration officials from reviewing the 
social media postings of all foreign citizens who were applying for 
U.S. visas and that they only intermittently began looking at posts 
from some visa applicants. So imagine a situation in which you have 
people who are going to Syria, who are posting on social media, and you 
have a blanket prohibition on reviewing those social media postings. 
That was the state of the situation as we were trying to defend the 
homeland.
  Frankly, the failure of this administration to incorporate a review 
of social media posts into the visa approval process is absurd. 
Ignoring the online statements of terrorists who are trying to enter 
the United States puts our country at risk. This must fixed.
  This bill, frankly, is timely; it is important; and it forces the 
administration to put forward a strategy to combat terrorists' use of 
this social media. In 2011, the President promised to create that 
strategy, but he never delivered anything. We are, simply, not going to 
defeat ISIS or other terrorist groups without combating their social 
media recruiting.
  Following a bipartisan letter from Representatives Poe of Texas, 
Engel, Sherman, and myself last March, Twitter strengthened its 
policies to assert that statements threatening or promoting terrorism 
were against Twitter's terms of service. Most of the other social media 
companies have similar user guidelines that prohibit threats of 
violence and the use of their platforms by terrorists.
  We need a strategy that clearly articulates our country's goals, the 
responsibilities of each Federal agency, what role each one will play, 
a vision of how our government is going to work with the private 
sector, and a vision of how we are going to pull civil society into 
this effort. Without a strategy, the administration's effort to combat 
terrorists' use of social media appears to be disconnected, and it 
appears to be ineffective.
  Then, of course, after we have that strategy, we are going to need 
action. It is ironic that extremist groups have turned to Twitter, to 
Facebook, and to YouTube in order to encourage attacks on a free 
society when these companies would not have been created without there 
having been a free society, one which upholds free speech, free 
thought, and encourages entrepreneurship.
  Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that the administration lays out how we 
will contend with these terrorists in their hijacking of the social 
network for their twisted purposes. We truly have, basically, a 
caliphate today on the Internet--a virtual caliphate, if you will, on 
the Internet. This bill by Judge Ted Poe is intended to force a 
strategy to solve this problem.
  I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page H9315]]

         House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on 
           Intelligence,
                                                December 10, 2015.
     Hon. Ed Royce,
     Chairman,
     House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
       Dear Chairman Royce: On December 9, 2015, your committee 
     ordered H.R. 3654, the ``Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media 
     Act of 2015,'' reported.
       As you know, H.R. 3654 contains provisions within the 
     jurisdiction of the Permanent Select Committee on 
     Intelligence. On the basis of your consultations with the 
     Committee and in order to expedite the House's consideration 
     of the bill, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 
     will not assert a jurisdictional claim over the bill by 
     seeking a sequential referral. This courtesy is, however, 
     conditioned on our mutual understanding and agreement that it 
     will in no way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the 
     Permanent Select Committee with respect to the appointment of 
     conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the 
     subject matter contained in the bill or any similar 
     legislation.
       I would appreciate your response to this letter confirming 
     this understanding and would request that you include a copy 
     of this letter and your response in the committee report for 
     the bill and in the Congressional Record during floor its 
     consideration. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
           Sincerely,
                                                      Devin Nunes,
     Chairman.
                                  ____

                                         House of Representatives,


                                 Committee on Foreign Affairs,

                                Washington, DC, December 11, 2015.
     Hon. Devin Nunes,
     Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for consulting with the 
     Committee on Foreign Affairs on H.R. 3654, the Combat 
     Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2015, and for agreeing 
     to forgo seeking a sequential referral of that bill to the 
     House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
       I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure 
     does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of 
     your Committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives 
     on this bill or similar legislation in the future. I would 
     support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate 
     number of conferees to any House-Senate conference involving 
     this legislation.
       I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 3564 into the 
     Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill. 
     I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and 
     look forward to continuing to work with your Committee as 
     this measure moves through the legislative process.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Edward R. Royce,
     Chairman.
                                  ____

                                         House of Representatives,


                                   Committee on the Judiciary,

                                Washington, DC, December 11, 2015.
     Hon. Ed Royce,
     Chairman,
     Committee on Foreign Affairs.
       Dear Chairman Royce: I am writing with respect to H.R. 
     3654, the ``Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 
     2015,'' which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
     Affairs and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary. As 
     a result of your having consulted with us on provisions in 
     H.R. 3654 that fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the 
     Committee on the Judiciary, I agree to discharge our 
     Committee from further consideration of this bill so that it 
     may proceed expeditiously to the House floor for 
     consideration.
       The Judiciary Committee takes this action with our mutual 
     understanding that by foregoing consideration of H.R. 3654 at 
     this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction over subject 
     matter contained in this or similar legislation, and that our 
     Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as 
     this bill or similar legislation moves forward so that we may 
     address any remaining issues in our jurisdiction. Our 
     Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of an 
     appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate 
     conference involving this or similar legislation, and asks 
     that you support any such request.
       I would appreciate a response to this letter confirming 
     this understanding with respect to H.R. 3654, and would ask 
     that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be 
     included in the Congressional Record during Floor 
     consideration of H.R. 3654.
           Sincerely,
                                                    Bob Goodlatte,
     Chairman.
                                  ____

                                         House of Representatives,


                                 Committee on Foreign Affairs,

                                Washington, DC, December 11, 2015.
     Hon. Bob Goodlatte,
     Chairman,
     House Committee on the Judiciary.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for consulting with the 
     Committee on Foreign Affairs on H.R. 3654, the Combat 
     Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2015, and for agreeing 
     to be discharged from further consideration of that bill.
       I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure 
     does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the 
     Committee on the Judiciary, or prejudice its jurisdictional 
     prerogatives on this bill or similar legislation in the 
     future. I would support your effort to seek appointment of an 
     appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate 
     conference involving this legislation.
       I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 3564 into the 
     Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill. 
     I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and 
     look forward to continuing to work with your Committee as 
     this measure moves through the legislative process.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Edward R. Royce,
                                                         Chairman.

  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of this measure that would push back against the 
use of social media by terrorist groups.
  Let me start by thanking Congressman Poe of Texas for introducing 
this legislation. I am very glad to be an original cosponsor. I want to 
thank Congressman Sherman for his hard work, and I want to thank, of 
course, our chairman, Chairman Royce. This is a real bipartisan, 
important, strong measure.
  I think we need to be using every tool at our disposal to meet the 
challenge posed by ISIS and other terrorist groups, and this bill will 
help us to meet them on the virtual battlefield, which is where they 
have been having such great success--on social media. Anyone who has 
looked at the situation over the past months or years knows that the 
one major difference is social media. Social media, of course, riles up 
jihadists and also enables them to surreptitiously communicate in terms 
of plotting terrorist attacks. We have to be one step ahead of them, 
and we cannot let them be one step ahead of us.
  That is why legislation like this is so important. I cannot think of 
a conflict in the past in which our enemies have been able to broadcast 
such horrific depictions of destruction and bloodshed, like we are 
seeing from ISIS. We all know the images of Mohammed Emwazi, who was 
known as Jihadi John, as he brutally murdered innocent people. Those 
videos spread across the Internet with staggering speed, showing 
everyone in the world the threat that ISIS posed and the tactics ISIS 
fighters were willing to use. Fortunately, the administration's efforts 
succeeded in taking him out, but we know there are far too many who are 
waiting to take his place.
  ISIS isn't just using social media to foment fear and panic. ISIS and 
other groups have taken full advantage of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, 
and other platforms to spread their violent ideology, to recruit new 
fighters, and to radicalize members of vulnerable and marginalized 
populations. For example, as more and more information comes out about 
the San Bernardino shooters, it is becoming clear that Tashfeen Malik 
used Facebook to convey her commitment to violent extremism to overseas 
contacts.
  We need to find a way to deal with this challenge on social media 
without violating free expression or privacy concerns. It is going to 
require creative thinking, but I am confident that we can do it. We 
have to do it. We don't have a choice but to do it. We have already 
taken some steps. I worked with Chairman Royce and with Representatives 
Poe of Texas and Sherman to push Twitter to make it easier for users to 
report recruitment efforts. This is a small step to help with one of 
the tools that ISIS is using, but they are constantly evolving, and we 
need to keep looking for ways to push back.
  That is where this legislation comes in. This bill would require the 
administration to devise a strategy to combat terrorists' use of social 
media and to foster greater collaboration between government and 
private sector companies to help identify and stop terrorist activities 
online. Again, we need to look for every advantage possible in taking 
the fight to ISIS. This bill would help us push back on one of the ways 
ISIS has achieved such a global reach.
  Again, I commend Mr. Poe of Texas for his tireless efforts in 
bringing in legislation to the floor. I commend the chairman as well 
and Mr. Sherman. I support this measure, and I urge my colleagues to do 
the same.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Poe), the author of this bill and the chairman of the Foreign 
Affairs

[[Page H9316]]

Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Representative 
Sherman, on the other side, for cosponsoring this legislation; and I 
want to thank Chairman Royce and Chairman Engel for being original 
cosponsors of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, this is another piece of legislation that has come out 
of the Foreign Affairs Committee--bipartisan, unanimously voted on, and 
approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee, as much of our legislation 
is.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank three staffers who have worked on 
the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade--Luke Murry, 
Oren Adaki, and Jeff Dressler, who now works with the majority leader's 
staff. These three individuals know more about terrorism, I think, than 
any three people on the Hill, and I want to thank them for their work 
not only on this bill but on legislation in general.
  As has been said, Mr. Speaker, terrorists' use of social media has 
exploded over the last several years. A recent study by The Brookings 
Institute found that ISIS now uses 40,000 Twitter accounts. Terrorists 
use social media to do the following: to recruit others, to raise 
money, to spread propaganda, and to even train future fighters.
  This legislation deals with foreign terrorist organizations. We are 
not talking about a person who claims to be a terrorist or who we think 
is a terrorist. It is specifically dealing with foreign terrorist 
organizations that are designated by our government.
  The recipes for the bombs used at the Boston Marathon were in al 
Qaeda's magazine, which was posted on social media before the attack. 
The al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab live tweeted the attack on a Kenyan 
mall that killed 72 people. The al Qaeda branch in Yemen, known as 
AQAP, which is another terrorist organization, held a press conference 
on Twitter, allowing users to submit questions that were then answered 
by AQAP and were posted back on Twitter the following week--a 
conference call by terrorists. In October, ISIS issued a new 
instruction manual on how terrorists can use social media. Today, 
wannabe terrorists don't have to go to the battlefield--to Syria--to 
get trained. They can get trained online--like receiving college 
credits--on how to be a terrorist and on how to be a fighter.
  Nationwide, the FBI is currently investigating 900 potential lone 
wolf terrorists in the United States. The Internet and social media 
serve as their playbook to carry out attacks. Since March of 2014, 71 
people in the United States have been charged with crimes related to 
ISIS.

                              {time}  1615

  Their backgrounds are very different, but nearly all of them had 
spent time online voicing their support for ISIS. Later, they were 
arrested after their online posts drew some attention by the FBI.
  In 2011, as the chairman has said, the administration released a 
report on countering violent extremists that recognized that online 
radicalization was a growing problem. The administration promised a 
strategy of how we can deal with this. Four years later, unfortunately, 
we don't have a strategy, and we don't have a plan. This is a problem 
because individual agencies are making their own unilateral decisions.
  This week, we learned that the Department of Homeland Security did 
not review the social media posts of Tashfeen Malik, who was granted a 
fiancee visa, but posted her radical views on social media prior to 
obtaining the visa.
  The State Department does not know how to effectively counter 
terrorist messaging because it does not have the expertise of the 
intelligence community. The intelligence community approaches social 
media as a ``capture everything'' because it has not been made clear 
what it can do and what it cannot do. The FBI does not know how far it 
should push social media companies to prohibit them from allowing 
terrorist organizations' content on their sites.
  So we must have a comprehensive strategy before we can effectively 
defeat the enemy on the cyber battlefield. Mr. Speaker, all U.S. 
departments really must be singing the same song on the same page in 
the hymnal about how to defeat foreign terrorist organizations that use 
social media--American social media companies.
  I will say this: Facebook has done a fairly decent job of bringing 
down terrorist sites, and Facebook has seen a drop in the number of 
terrorists that try to use their site, but not all social media 
companies have been as responsive to terrorism.
  Mr. Speaker, we already have technology that is used to make sure 
that child pornography is not posted online. Thanks to Hany Farid, the 
chairman of the computer science department at Dartmouth College, who 
invented a technology that is used with Microsoft. He said that we can 
use that same protocol that we do to bring down child pornography to 
bring down social media sites that deal with foreign terrorist 
organizations' propaganda and their spreading of murder. Here is what 
he said:
  ``There's no fundamental technology or engineering limitation. This 
is a business or policy decision. Unless the companies have decided 
that they just can't be bothered.''
  So that is his opinion on how we can use this same protocol. This can 
be done. We can use the same protocol, and we can bring down those 
foreign terrorist organization sites.
  This is not a free speech issue--that has been discussed, and some 
are concerned about that--because we are dealing specifically with 
foreign terrorist organizations. The Supreme Court has already ruled 
regarding that issue in 2010 in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project that 
a foreign terrorist organization does not have constitutional rights in 
the United States under the First Amendment. So this is not a problem.
  In this 21st century fight against terrorists who are sophisticated 
and tech savvy, we have to defeat these organizations on all the 
battlefields: overseas, over here, and online.
  And that is just the way it is.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Ros-Lehtinen), the chair of the Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on the 
Middle East and North Africa.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking 
member, who lead this committee in such an able, expert manner and in a 
bipartisan way. I thank especially the author of this important 
resolution, one of our subcommittee chairmen, Ted Poe.
  I rise in strong support of Judge Poe's bill, the Combat Terrorist 
Use of Social Media Act. I urge all of my colleagues to support this 
important measure.
  Extremist groups like ISIS are well-known for their extensive use of 
social media, spreading their hateful ideology, inciting violence, and 
attempting to recruit susceptible individuals to their hateful and 
twisted cause.
  When we hear reports and statistics that we have heard today--like 
ISIS having over 40,000 Twitter accounts or that there are an estimated 
200,000 pro-ISIS social media posts per day--clearly, more needs to be 
done. These jihadists have become more and more tech savvy and are more 
adept at manipulating the tools of social media. Yet we in the United 
States lack any comprehensive strategy to counter their perverted 
ideology via social media.
  As Judge Poe has very ably argued, the administration could be 
stopping pro-extremists' social media in much the same way that we now 
stop online child pornography. ISIS and other foreign terrorist 
organizations do not have free speech rights under American law.
  Now, we were all shocked, as you heard today, that our very own 
Department of Homeland Security maintained a policy that prevented the 
screening of visa applicants' social media accounts because we worried 
about bad public relations; we worried about intrusions into their 
privacy, even though social media posts, by their very definition, are 
exactly that, reaching out to the public through social manners, 
meaning through public ways.
  Every pro-ISIS post or any post by any other foreign terrorist 
organization that uses Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter, every one that we 
are able to take down before action is being taken is one less chance 
for these extremists

[[Page H9317]]

to recruit and spread their vicious propaganda, and the administration 
needs to start getting serious about stopping it.
  This bill will require the administration to provide Congress--and, 
therefore, the American public--with a strategy to fight Islamic 
extremists' use of social media, as well as require that the 
administration give us a policy that enhances the collaboration between 
the Federal Government and social media companies so that we can 
counter this troubling and dangerous threat.
  I applaud Judge Poe for introducing this bill. I thank our esteemed 
chairman and ranking member for bringing it to the floor in such a 
speedy manner.
  I offer my full support, and I urge all of my colleagues to do the 
same.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, every day ISIS is working to bring new 
fighters into its ranks, recruiting candidates from South Asia, from 
France, the U.K., and right here in the United States. ISIS is able to 
cast such a wide net because they are taking full advantage of social 
media. We need to take this tool out of their hands, even as we press 
forward with our partners to fight ISIS on the battlefield.
  This legislation will enable us to work more closely with social 
media companies and put together a strategy to meet this challenge.
  Again, I want to commend my friend, Judge Poe.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), you 
are right: ``That is just the way it is.''
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, again, it was revealed yesterday that the 
U.S. Department of Homeland Security actually prohibited immigration 
officials from reviewing the social media postings of all foreign 
citizens applying for U.S. visas and only sporadically began looking at 
posts from some visa applicants.
  The failure to incorporate a review of social media posts into the 
visa approval process is absurd. Ignoring the online statements of 
those terrorists trying to enter the United States puts our country at 
risk. This must be fixed.
  Destroying ISIS will require determined leadership. It is going to 
require Presidential leadership. And the President must use his 
authority as Commander in Chief to lead this fight to destroy ISIS--not 
to contain it--to destroy ISIS and other extremist groups.
  So it has been said that a virtual caliphate awash in hate and 
propaganda exists online. Yet U.S. Government efforts in this area are 
failing. A strategy to combat terrorist use of social media is one of 
many measures the administration must develop so we can win the fight. 
Promised in 2011, this strategy is overdue.
  With this bill, Congress is demanding that the administration deliver 
its strategy so that the Federal agencies can effectively prevent 
terrorists from using social media to spread hate, fear, and violence.
  I again want to recognize my colleagues Representative Poe of Texas 
and Representative Engel of New York for their leadership on this 
measure, which I encourage all the Members of this House to support.
  I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Congressman Ted 
Poe from Texas for his work on H.R. 3654, Combatting Terrorists' Use of 
Social Media Act of 2015.
  The proliferation of terrorism is an existential threat to our 
homeland greater than ever before because of the viral spread of 
extremism on the world-wide web.
  The challenge before us is balancing civil liberties such as freedom 
of speech with our national security interests.
  Various social media platforms are being utilized by Daesh leaders 
and their affiliates across the globe to reach, engage and radicalize--
instantly and for free.
  One only needs to view the gruesome propaganda videos put online by 
Daesh with evocative music, clearly edited to inspire violence with 
imagery that conjures an ``us vs. them'' emotion.
  The world-wide web was intended as a platform to share productive and 
creative knowledge and ideas.
  The sensory impact of the violent propaganda video is so powerful 
that a powerful counter-narrative is imperative.
  Through its online campaign, Daesh instantly gains access to 
vulnerable and impressionable minds, whether teenagers going through 
teenage angst or unemployed educated women and men who have limited 
economic prospects and feel disenfranchised from society.
  So what we have is a melange of Daesh recruits, copycats and wannabes 
all inspired vis a vis the worldwide web, ready to carry on and die for 
an ideology they don't fully grasp its gravity on them and their 
future.
  The evidence of this is tens of thousands of foreign fighters from 
all over the world who have left their homes and joined Daesh in Iraq 
and Syria.
  But then we also have those who do not even leave the comforts of 
their homes in carrying out their crimes.
  Part of what our government and governments across the globe must do 
is to fight back by cutting off terrorist bank accounts, Twitter, 
Facebook, Google and other social media accounts.
  Whereas money is the currency for compensating Daesh's recruits, 
social media is being utilized as a currency and tool for engaging and 
brainwashing these recruits.
  I commend our powerful military's might and professionalism of 
neutralizing Abu Salah who has been described as one of the most senior 
and experienced members of Daesh's financial network and in fact has 
been referred to as the organization's finance minister.
  I hope that our friends in Silicon Valley and the tech industry will 
join us in our fight against Daesh with their genius as we continue our 
collective efforts of addressing the role that social media will play 
in defeating enemies of the peace on the traditional battlefield as 
well as on the contemporary battlefield of the web.
  The past few months have been marked by senseless threats or actual 
violence and tragedy across the globe from the most recent details of 
the threat triggering the Los Angeles Public School District shut down, 
to the San Bernardino shootings, to Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, 
shootings in Bamako, Mali, at the Bartaclan Theatre and other social 
venues in Paris, to attacks in Beirut, Lebanon and the downing of a 
plane claiming innocent lives of Egyptians and Russians.
  Violent extremism cannot be the ``new-normal'' in our nation and in 
our world.
  To combat the scourge of violent extremism, and make sure this is not 
our ``new normal'' it is important that we adapt to the capabilities of 
adversaries of peace through a multipronged approach, which is why I 
support H.R. 3654.
  Specifically, this bill requires the President to transmit to 
Congress a report on U.S. strategy to combat terrorists' and terrorist 
organizations' use of social media.
  This bill is in tandem with the President's comprehensive strategy to 
counter terrorists' and terrorist organizations' use of social media, 
encapsulated in the President's 2011 Strategic Implementation Plan for 
Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United 
States.
  Among other things, the President's robust plan seeks to protect our 
communities from violent extremist recruitment and radicalization.
  This is a top national security priority for the Administration and 
those of us here in Congress.
  The President's strategic plan and H.R. 3654 facilitate the creation 
of a report which will enable our country in our efforts at combatting 
violent extremism through: evaluation of the role social media plays in 
radicalization in the United States and across the globe; analysis of 
how terrorists and terrorist organizations are using social media; 
recommendations to improve the federal government's efforts to disrupt 
and counter the use of social media by terrorists and terrorist 
organizations; a classified assessment of the intelligence value of 
terrorists' social media posts; and a classified overview of training 
available to law enforcement and intelligence personnel to combat 
terrorists' use of social media and recommendations for improving or 
expanding existing training opportunities.
  Part of what the Bill seeks to achieve is information on our nation's 
policy that enhances the exchange of information and dialogue between 
the federal government and social media companies as it relates to the 
use of social media platforms by terrorists.
  Finally, among other things, the Bill also calls for our updated 
comprehensive strategy to counter terrorists' and terrorist 
organizations' use of social media, as committed to in the President's 
2011 Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to 
Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.
  As a nation, we must work together, private and public sector to 
prevent all types of extremism regardless of who inspires it.
  At the same time, countering ISIS, better to be referred to as Daesh, 
Boko Haram, al-Qa'ida and other extremists' violent ideologues requires 
our coordinated social media, intelligence sharing, law enforcement and 
community engagement strategy that will enable us to thwart violent 
extremism, saving many American lives.

[[Page H9318]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3654, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

                          ____________________