119-hr2158

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2158 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2158

 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize a dedicated 
 transnational repression working group within the Department of 
 Homeland Security to analyze and monitor transnational repression and 
 terrorism threats related to transnational repression, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 14, 2025

 Mr. Pfluger (for himself, Mr. Magaziner, Mr. Evans of Colorado, Mr. 
 Ogles, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Guest, and Ms. Lee of Florida) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland 
 Security, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
 committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize a dedicated 
 transnational repression working group within the Department of 
 Homeland Security to analyze and monitor transnational repression and 
 terrorism threats related to transnational repression, and for other 
 purposes.

 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 ``Countering Transnational Repression 
Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

 It is the sense of Congress that--

    (1) transnational repression and terrorism threats related 
 to transnational repression by a foreign government or an agent 
 of a foreign government to target individuals in the United 
 States and persons outside of the United States are real and 
 growing;

    (2) agents acting on behalf of hostile foreign governments 
 employ a range of transnational repression tactics, including 
 making threats, intimidation, harassment, surveillance, 
 stalking, silencing, and planning physical harm or the 
 kidnapping of individuals in the United States; and

    (3) the Department of Homeland Security must take steps to 
 recognize, assess, and help address this threat, thereby 
 reducing risks to the people of the United States.

SEC. 3. WORKING GROUP TO COUNTER TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle H of title VIII of the Homeland Security 
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:

``

SEC. 890E. WORKING GROUP TO COUNTER TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.

 ``

    (a) Working Group.--
 ``

    (1) Establishment.--There is established a Working Group, 
 to be known as the `Transnational Repression Working Group' (in 
 this section referred to as the `Working Group'), within the 
 Department, which shall be responsible for, in coordination 
 with the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, analyzing and 
 monitoring transnational repression and terrorism threats 
 related to transnational repression.
 ``

    (2) Director.--
 ``
        (A) Appointment of director.--The head of the 
 Working Group shall be a Director of the Transnational 
 Repression Working Group, who shall be appointed by the 
 Director of Homeland Security Investigations.
 ``
        (B) Reporting.--The Director of the Transnational 
 Repression Working Group shall report to the Secretary 
 and the Director of Homeland Security Investigations 
 regarding all administrative, operational, and security 
 matters of the Working Group.
 ``

    (3) Staffing.--The Director of Homeland Security 
 Investigations shall ensure the Working Group--
 ``
        (A) has a sufficient number of employees to 
 perform required duties; and
 ``
        (B) has at least one employee dedicated to 
 ensuring compliance with privacy laws and regulations.
 ``

    (4) Detailees authorized.--The Working Group may accept 
 and employ detailees with expertise in countering transnational 
 repression and terrorism threats related to transnational 
 repression or related fields from any element of the 
 intelligence community, or any other Federal agency the 
 Director of the Transnational Repression Working Group 
 determines appropriate, with or without reimbursement, 
 consistent with applicable laws and regulations regarding such 
 employees.
 ``

    (5) Information sharing.--The Working Group, in 
 coordination with the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, 
 shall review information relating to transnational repression 
 and terrorism threats related to transnational repression that 
 is gathered by Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
 partners, and the National Network of Fusion Centers, and 
 incorporate such information, as appropriate, into the Working 
 Group's own information relating to transnational repression 
 and terrorism threats related to transnational repression. The 
 Working Group shall ensure the dissemination to Federal, State, 
 local, Tribal, and territorial partners, and the National 
 Network of Fusion Centers, of information related to 
 transnational repression and terrorism threats related to 
 transnational repression.
 ``

    (6) Homeland security assessment on transnational 
 repression.--
 ``
        (A) Annual assessments.--Not later than 180 days 
 after the date of the enactment of this section and 
 annually thereafter for seven years, the Director of 
 Homeland Security Investigations, acting through the 
 Director of the Transnational Repression Working Group, 
 in coordination with the Office of Intelligence and 
 Analysis and the Office of the Director of National 
 Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
 as appropriate, shall submit to the Committee on 
 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 
 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
 Affairs of the Senate a report that assesses incidents 
 of transnational repression and terrorism threats 
 related to transnational repression during the 
 immediately preceding 12 months.
 ``
        (B) Contents.--Each assessment submitted under 
 subparagraph
        (A) shall also include the following:
 ``
            (i) An analysis of attempted incidents of 
 transnational repression and terrorism threats 
 related to transnational repression.
 ``
            (ii) A quantitative analysis of 
 transnational repression and terrorism threats 
 related to transnational repression, including 
 the number of individuals responsible for or 
 associated with such transnational repression 
 or terrorism threats related to transnational 
 repression, and an identification of the 
 country of citizenship or nationality of each 
 such individual, and the roles of the foreign 
 governments of such countries in enabling, 
 preventing, mitigating, and responding to 
 transnational repression and terrorism threats 
 related to transnational repression.
 ``
            (iii) Subject to appropriate protections 
 for sensitive information regarding law 
 enforcement investigations and operations, a 
 description of efforts by the Federal 
 Government to disrupt through investigation 
 transnational repression and terrorism threats 
 related to transnational repression.
 ``
            (iv) Any other matters the Director of 
 Homeland Security Investigations determines 
 relevant.
 ``
            (C) Form.--Each assessment under subparagraph
        (A) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 
 include a classified annex only for the protection of 
 intelligence sources and methods relating to the 
 matters contained in such assessment. The Director of 
 Homeland Security Investigations shall post on a 
 publicly available website of the Department the 
 unclassified portion of each such assessment.
 ``

    (7) Sunset.--The Working Group shall terminate on the 
 date that is seven years after the date of the enactment of 
 this section.
 ``

    (b) Research.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this section, the Secretary, in coordination with the 
Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department, the 
Director of the Transnational Repression Office, and the Director of 
Homeland Security Investigations, shall, to the extent practicable, 
carry out research and development, including operational testing, of 
technologies and techniques for enhancing the Department's support to 
Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial officials relating to 
countering transnational repression and terrorism threats related to 
transnational repression.
 ``
            (c) Implementation.--All activities carried out pursuant to this 
section--
 ``

    (1) shall be carried out in accordance with applicable 
 constitutional, privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties 
 protections; and
 ``

    (2) may not infringe upon the lawful exercise of free 
 speech by United States persons.
 ``
            (d) === Definitions. ===
-In this section:
 ``

    (1) Agent of a foreign government.--The term `agent of a 
 foreign government' means an individual or entity that operates 
 subject to the direction and control of--
 ``
        (A) a foreign government; or
 ``
        (B) an official or entity of such foreign 
 government.
 ``

    (2) Foreign government.--The term `foreign government' 
 means the government of a foreign country.
 ``

    (3) Fusion center.--The term `fusion center' has the 
 meaning given such term in subsection

    (j) of 

section 210A.
 ``

    (4) Intelligence community.--The term `intelligence 
 community' has the meaning given such term in 

section 3

    (4) of 
 the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003

    (4) ).
 ``

    (5) National network of fusion centers.--The term 
 `National Network of Fusion Centers' means a decentralized 
 arrangement of fusion centers intended to enhance individual 
 State and urban area fusion centers' ability to leverage the 
 capabilities and expertise of all such fusion centers for the 
 purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland security information 
 sharing nationally.
 ``

    (6) Transnational repression.--The term `transnational 
 repression' means an action of a foreign government or an agent 
 of a foreign government that satisfies each of the following:
 ``
        (A) The action involves--
 ``
            (i) any effort intended to coerce, 
 harass, or digitally or physically threaten, 
 including by force or reasonable fear of death 
 or serious bodily injury or imprisonment of a 
 person or an immediate family member of a 
 person, a person to take an action in the 
 interest of such a foreign government;
 ``
            (ii) any effort intended to harass or 
 coerce, including by force or fear, a person to 
 forebear from exercising the First Amendment 
 rights of such person or any other right 
 guaranteed to such person by the Constitution 
 or laws of the United States, or to retaliate 
 against a person for having exercised such a 
 right;
 ``
            (iii) an extrajudicial killing; or
 ``
            (iv) any act intended to further the 
 efforts specified in clause
            (i) ,
            (ii) , or
            (iii) .
 ``
        (B) The action is engaged in for or in the 
 interests of such a foreign government.
 ``
            (C) The action--
 ``
            (i) occurs, in whole or in part, in the 
 United States; or
 ``
            (ii) is committed against a United States 
 person.
 ``

    (7) United states person.--The term `United States 
 person' has the meaning given such term in 

section 1637
            (d) (10) of the Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon National Defense 
 Authorization Act for Fiscal year 2015 (50 U.S.C. 
 1708
            (d) (10) ).''.

    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in 

section 1

    (b) of 
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by inserting after the 
item relating to 

section 890D the following new item:

``

Sec. 890E. Working group to counter transnational repression.''.
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