[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 27, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2046-S2048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. 
        Cardin, Mr. Coons, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Harris, Mr. Kaine, Ms. 
        Klobuchar, Mr. Markey, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schatz, 
        and Mr. Reed):
  S. 894. A bill to authorize dedicated domestic terrorism offices 
within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, 
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to analyze and monitor domestic 
terrorist activity and require the Federal Government to take steps to 
prevent domestic terrorism; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 894

       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 ``Domestic Terrorism 
     Prevention Act of 2019''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) White supremacists and other far-right-wing extremists 
     are the most significant domestic terrorism threat facing the 
     United States.
       (2) On February 22, 2019, a Trump Administration United 
     States Department of Justice official wrote in a New York 
     Times op-ed that ``white supremacy and far-right extremism 
     are among the greatest domestic-security threats facing the 
     United States. Regrettably, over the past 25 years, law 
     enforcement, at both the Federal and State levels, has been 
     slow to respond. . . .Killings committed by individuals and 
     groups associated with far-right extremist groups have risen 
     significantly.''.
       (3) An April 2017 Government Accountability Office report 
     on the significant, lethal threat posed by domestic violent 
     extremists explained that ``[s]ince September 12, 2001, the 
     number of fatalities caused by domestic violent extremists 
     has ranged from 1 to 49 in a given year.'' The report noted: 
     ``[F]atalities resulting from attacks by far right wing 
     violent extremists have exceeded those caused by radical 
     Islamist violent extremists in 10 of the 15 years, and were 
     the same in 3 of the years since September 12, 2001. Of the 
     85 violent extremist incidents that resulted in death since 
     September 12, 2001, far right wing violent extremist groups 
     were responsible for 62 (73 percent) while radical Islamist 
     violent extremists were responsible for 23 (27 percent).''.
       (4) An unclassified May 2017 joint intelligence bulletin 
     from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department 
     of Homeland Security found that ``white supremacist extremism 
     poses [a] persistent threat of lethal violence,'' and that 
     White supremacists ``were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 
     attacks from 2000 to 2016 . . . more than any other domestic 
     extremist movement''.
       (5) Fatal terrorist attacks by far-right-wing extremists 
     include--
       (A) the August 5, 2012, mass shooting at a Sikh gurdwara in 
     Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in which a White supremacist shot and 
     killed 6 members of the gurdwara;
       (B) the April 13, 2014, mass shooting at a Jewish community 
     center and a Jewish assisted living facility in Overland 
     Park, Kansas, in which a neo-Nazi shot and killed 3 
     civilians, including a 14-year-old teenager;
       (C) the June 8, 2014, ambush in Las Vegas, Nevada, in which 
     2 supporters of the far-right-wing ``patriot'' movement shot 
     and killed 2 police officers and a civilian;
       (D) the June 17, 2015, mass shooting at the Emanuel AME 
     Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in which a White 
     supremacist shot and killed 9 members of the church;
       (E) the November 27, 2015, mass shooting at a Planned 
     Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in which an 
     anti-abortion extremist shot and killed a police officer and 
     2 civilians;
       (F) the March 20, 2017, murder of an African-American man 
     in New York City, allegedly committed by a White supremacist 
     who reportedly traveled to New York ``for the purpose of 
     killing black men'';
       (G) the May 26, 2017, attack in Portland, Oregon, in which 
     a White supremacist allegedly murdered 2 men and injured a 
     third after the men defended 2 young women whom the 
     individual had targeted with anti-Muslim hate speech;

[[Page S2047]]

       (H) the August 12, 2017, attack in Charlottesville, 
     Virginia, in which a White supremacist killed one and injured 
     nineteen after driving his car through a crowd of individuals 
     protesting a neo-Nazi rally, and of which former Attorney 
     General Jeff Sessions said, ``It does meet the definition of 
     domestic terrorism in our statute.'';
       (I) the July 2018 murder of an African-American woman from 
     Kansas City, Missouri, allegedly committed by a White 
     supremacist who reportedly bragged about being a member of 
     the Ku Klux Klan;
       (J) the October 24, 2018, shooting in Jeffersontown, 
     Kentucky, in which a White man allegedly murdered 2 African 
     Americans at a grocery store after first attempting to enter 
     a church with a predominantly African-American congregation 
     during a service; and
       (K) the October 27, 2018, mass shooting at the Tree of Life 
     Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in which a White 
     nationalist allegedly shot and killed 11 members of the 
     congregation.
       (6) In November 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
     released its annual hate crime incident report, which found 
     that in 2017, hate crimes increased by approximately 17 
     percent, including a 23-percent increase in religion-based 
     hate crimes, an 18-percent increase in race-based crimes, and 
     a 5-percent increase in crimes directed against LGBT 
     individuals. The total number of reported hate crimes rose 
     for the third consecutive year. The previous year's report 
     found that in 2016, hate crimes increased by almost 5 
     percent, including a 19-percent rise in hate crimes against 
     American Muslims; additionally, of the hate crimes motivated 
     by religious bias in 2016, 53 percent were anti-Semitic. 
     Similarly, the report analyzing 2015 data found that hate 
     crimes increased by 6 percent that year. Much of the 2015 
     increase came from a 66-percent rise in attacks on American 
     Muslims and a 9-percent rise in attacks on American Jews. In 
     all three reports, race-based crimes were most numerous, and 
     those crimes most often targeted African Americans.
       (7) On March 15, 2019, a White nationalist was arrested and 
     charged with murder after allegedly killing 50 Muslim 
     worshippers and injuring more than 40 in a massacre at the Al 
     Noor Mosque and Linwood Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. 
     The alleged shooter posted a hate-filled, xenophobic 
     manifesto that detailed his White nationalist ideology before 
     the massacre. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern labeled the 
     massacre a terrorist attack.
       (8) In January 2017, a right-wing extremist who had 
     expressed anti-Muslim views was charged with murder for 
     allegedly killing 6 people and injuring 19 in a shooting 
     rampage at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada. It was the first-
     ever mass shooting at a mosque in North America, and Prime 
     Minister Trudeau labeled it a terrorist attack.
       (9) On February 15, 2019, Federal authorities arrested U.S. 
     Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Paul Hasson, who was 
     allegedly planning to kill a number of prominent journalists, 
     professors, judges, and ``leftists in general''. In court 
     filings, prosecutors described Lieutenant Hasson as a 
     ``domestic terrorist'' who in an email ``identified himself 
     as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 
     `focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland.''.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act--
       (1) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the Federal 
     Bureau of Investigation;
       (2) the term ``domestic terrorism'' has the meaning given 
     the term in section 2331 of title 18, United States Code, 
     except that it does not include acts perpetrated by 
     individuals associated with or inspired by--
       (A) a foreign person or organization designated as a 
     foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the 
     Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189);
       (B) an individual or organization designated under 
     Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note); or
       (C) a state sponsor of terrorism as determined by the 
     Secretary of State under section 6(j) of the Export 
     Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4605), section 40 of 
     the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780), or section 620A 
     of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371);
       (3) the term ``Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee'' 
     means the committee within the Department of Justice tasked 
     with assessing and sharing information about ongoing domestic 
     terrorism threats;
       (4) the term ``hate crime incident'' means an act described 
     in section 245, 247, or 249 of title 18, United States Code, 
     or in section 901 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
     3631);
       (5) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Homeland 
     Security; and
       (6) the term ``uniformed services'' has the meaning given 
     the term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code.

     SEC. 4. OFFICES TO COMBAT DOMESTIC TERRORISM.

       (a) Authorization of Offices To Monitor, Analyze, 
     Investigate, and Prosecute Domestic Terrorism.--
       (1) Domestic terrorism unit.--There is authorized a 
     Domestic Terrorism Unit in the Office of Intelligence and 
     Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security, which shall 
     be responsible for monitoring and analyzing domestic 
     terrorism activity.
       (2) Domestic terrorism office.--There is authorized a 
     Domestic Terrorism Office in the Counterterrorism Section of 
     the National Security Division of the Department of Justice--
       (A) which shall be responsible for investigating and 
     prosecuting incidents of domestic terrorism; and
       (B) which shall be headed by the Domestic Terrorism 
     Counsel.
       (3) Domestic terrorism section of the fbi.--There is 
     authorized a Domestic Terrorism Section within the 
     Counterterrorism Division of the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation, which shall be responsible for investigating 
     domestic terrorism activity.
       (4) Staffing.--The Secretary, the Attorney General, and the 
     Director shall each ensure that the offices authorized under 
     this section in their respective agencies shall have adequate 
     staff to perform the required duties.
       (b) Joint Report on Domestic Terrorism.--
       (1) Annual report required.--Not later than 180 days after 
     the date of enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, 
     the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and 
     the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall 
     submit a joint report authored by the domestic terrorism 
     offices authorized under paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of 
     subsection (a) to--
       (A) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on 
     Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the Select 
     Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and
       (B) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on 
     Homeland Security, and the Permanent Select Committee on 
     Intelligence of the House of Representatives.
       (2) Contents.--Each report submitted under paragraph (1) 
     shall include--
       (A) an assessment of the domestic terrorism threat posed by 
     White supremacists and neo-Nazis, including White supremacist 
     and neo-Nazi infiltration of Federal, State, and local law 
     enforcement agencies and the uniformed services; and
       (B)(i) in the first report, an analysis of incidents or 
     attempted incidents of domestic terrorism that have occurred 
     in the United States since April 19, 1995; and
       (ii) in each subsequent report, an analysis of incidents or 
     attempted incidents of domestic terrorism that occurred in 
     the United States during the preceding year; and
       (C) a quantitative analysis of domestic terrorism for the 
     preceding year, including the number of--
       (i) domestic terrorism related assessments initiated by the 
     Federal Bureau of Investigation, including the number of 
     assessments from each classification and subcategory;
       (ii) domestic terrorism-related preliminary investigations 
     initiated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including 
     the number of preliminary investigations from each 
     classification and subcategory, and how many preliminary 
     investigations resulted from assessments;
       (iii) domestic terrorism-related full investigations 
     initiated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including 
     the number of full investigations from each classification 
     and subcategory, and how many full investigations resulted 
     from preliminary investigations and assessments;
       (iv) domestic terrorism-related incidents, including the 
     number of incidents from each classification and subcategory, 
     the number of deaths and injuries resulting from each 
     incident, and a detailed explanation of each incident;
       (v) Federal domestic terrorism-related arrests, including 
     the number of arrests from each classification and 
     subcategory, and a detailed explanation of each arrest;
       (vi) Federal domestic terrorism-related indictments, 
     including the number of indictments from each classification 
     and subcategory, and a detailed explanation of each 
     indictment;
       (vii) Federal domestic terrorism-related prosecutions, 
     including the number of incidents from each classification 
     and subcategory, and a detailed explanation of each 
     prosecution;
       (viii) Federal domestic terrorism-related convictions, 
     including the number of convictions from each classification 
     and subcategory, and a detailed explanation of each 
     conviction; and
       (ix) Federal domestic terrorism-related weapons recoveries, 
     including the number of each type of weapon and the number of 
     weapons from each classification and subcategory.
       (3) Hate crimes.--In compiling a joint report under this 
     subsection, the domestic terrorism offices authorized under 
     paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a) shall, in 
     consultation with the Civil Rights Division of the Department 
     of Justice and the Civil Rights Unit of the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation, review each hate crime incident reported 
     during the preceding year to determine whether the incident 
     also constitutes a domestic terrorism-related incident.
       (4) Classification and public release.--Each report 
     submitted under paragraph (1) shall be--
       (A) unclassified, to the greatest extent possible, with a 
     classified annex only if necessary; and
       (B) in the case of the unclassified portion of the report, 
     posted on the public websites of the Department of Homeland 
     Security, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau 
     of Investigation.
       (c) Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee.--There is 
     authorized a Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee, which 
     shall--

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       (1) meet on a regular basis, and not less regularly than 4 
     times each year, to coordinate with United States Attorneys 
     and other key public safety officials across the country to 
     promote information sharing and ensure an effective, 
     responsive, and organized joint effort to combat domestic 
     terrorism; and
       (2) be co-chaired by--
       (A) the Domestic Terrorism Counsel authorized under 
     subsection (a)(2)(B);
       (B) a United States Attorney or Assistant United States 
     Attorney;
       (C) a member of the National Security Division of the 
     Department of Justice; and
       (D) a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
       (d) Focus on Greatest Threats.--The domestic terrorism 
     offices authorized under paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of 
     subsection (a) shall focus their limited resources on the 
     most significant domestic terrorism threats, as determined by 
     the number of domestic terrorism-related incidents from each 
     category and subclassification in the joint report for the 
     preceding year required under subsection (b).

     SEC. 5. TRAINING TO COMBAT DOMESTIC TERRORISM.

       (a) Required Training and Resources.--The Secretary, the 
     Attorney General, and the Director shall review the anti-
     terrorism training and resource programs of their respective 
     agencies that are provided to Federal, State, local, and 
     Tribal law enforcement agencies, including the State and 
     Local Anti-Terrorism Program that is funded by the Bureau of 
     Justice Assistance of the Department of Justice, and ensure 
     that such programs include training and resources to assist 
     State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies in 
     understanding, detecting, deterring, and investigating acts 
     of domestic terrorism and White supremacist and neo-Nazi 
     infiltration of law enforcement agencies. The domestic-
     terrorism training shall focus on the most significant 
     domestic terrorism threats, as determined by the quantitative 
     analysis in the joint report required under section 4(b).
       (b) Requirement.--Any individual who provides domestic 
     terrorism training required under this section shall have--
       (1) expertise in domestic terrorism; and
       (2) relevant academic, law enforcement, or other experience 
     in matters related to domestic terrorism.
       (c) Report.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this Act and once each year thereafter, the 
     Secretary, the Attorney General, and the Director shall each 
     submit an annual report to the committees of Congress 
     described in section 4(b)(1) on the domestic terrorism 
     training implemented by their respective agencies under this 
     section, which shall include copies of all training materials 
     used and the names and qualifications of the individuals who 
     provide the training.
       (2) Classification and public release.--Each report 
     submitted under paragraph (1) shall be--
       (A) unclassified, to the greatest extent possible, with a 
     classified annex only if necessary; and
       (B) in the case of the unclassified portion of each report, 
     posted on the public website of the Department of Homeland 
     Security, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau 
     of Investigation.

     SEC. 6. COMBATTING DOMESTIC TERRORISM THROUGH JOINT TERRORISM 
                   TASK FORCES AND FUSION CENTERS.

       (a) In General.--The joint terrorism task forces of the 
     Federal Bureau of Investigation and State, local, and 
     regional fusion centers, as established under section 210A of 
     the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h), shall 
     each, in coordination with the Domestic Terrorism Executive 
     Committee and the domestic terrorism offices authorized under 
     paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 4(a) of this Act--
       (1) share intelligence to address domestic terrorism 
     activities;
       (2) conduct an annual, intelligence-based assessment of 
     domestic terrorism activities in their jurisdictions; and
       (3) formulate and execute a plan to address and combat 
     domestic terrorism activities in their jurisdictions.
       (b) Requirement.--The activities required under subsection 
     (a) shall focus on the most significant domestic terrorism 
     threats, as determined by the number of domestic terrorism-
     related incidents from each category and subclassification in 
     the joint report for the preceding year required under 
     section 4(b).

     SEC. 7. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.

       Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, the Attorney General, the Director, the Secretary, and 
     the Secretary of Defense shall establish an interagency task 
     force to combat White supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration 
     of the uniformed services.

     SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department 
     of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the 
     Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of 
     Defense such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.
                                 ______