This bill creates a Transnational Repression Working Group inside the Department of Homeland Security by adding a new section to the Homeland Security Act. The group will analyze and monitor "transnational repression" and terrorism threats related to it. A Director appointed by the Director of Homeland Security Investigations will lead the group and report to the Secretary and the Director of Homeland Security Investigations. The group must have enough staff, including at least one employee focused on privacy compliance, and may accept detailees from other agencies.
The Working Group will coordinate with the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, review and share information with Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial partners and the National Network of Fusion Centers, and post unclassified annual assessments on a public DHS website. The Director must submit the first assessment within 180 days of enactment and then annually for seven years. Each assessment must include incident analyses, a quantitative count of individuals involved and their country of citizenship or nationality, the roles of foreign governments, and a description of federal disruption efforts (with protections for sensitive law enforcement information). The bill requires research within one year on technologies and techniques to help counter transnational repression. The Working Group will end seven years after the law is enacted. The bill also defines key terms, including "transnational repression."
The bill would create a new DHS unit that tracks and reports on efforts by foreign governments or their agents to threaten, harass, or coerce people in the United States or U.S. persons. You may see annual unclassified reports posted publicly by DHS. The law requires a staff member to focus on privacy compliance and says activities must follow constitutional, privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties protections and may not infringe lawful free speech. The group will share information with state and local partners and fusion centers.
No publicly available information on costs or appropriations is included in the bill text or provided metadata.
The bill's "Sense of Congress" states that threats of transnational repression and related terrorism are real and growing, that agents of hostile foreign governments use tactics including threats, intimidation, surveillance, and planning physical harm, and that DHS should recognize, assess, and help address these threats to reduce risk to people in the United States.
No publicly available information on opposition or specific objections is included in the bill text or provided metadata.