Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act of 2017

Summary: Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of State to submit a determination regarding whether the government of Pakistan, including any of its agents or instrumentalities, committed, conspired to commit, attempted, aided, or abetted: (1) any of specified acts constituting an act of or support for international terrorism, or (2) any other act that constitutes an act of or support for international terrorism.  Within 30 days after making such a determination in the affirmative, the State Department shall report to Congress: (1) a determination on whether Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism, or (2) a detailed justification as to why Pakistan's conduct does not meet the legal criteria for such designation.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism 
Designation Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. REPORT ON DESIGNATION OF PAKISTAN AS A STATE SPONSOR OF 
              TERRORISM.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 
        al-Qaeda leaders and the Afghan Taliban fled Afghanistan to 
        Pakistan and settled in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas 
        (FATA). Joint Task Force Guantanamo threat assessments 
        subsequently revealed that Pakistan's Inter-Services 
        Intelligence (ISI) facilitated al-Qaeda's movement of fighters 
        to and from Afghanistan as well as the terrorist organization's 
        purchase of weapons.
            (2) The Government of Pakistan, and the ISI in particular, 
        provide support and a safe haven to groups designated as 
        foreign terrorist organizations pursuant to section 219 of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189) by the United 
        States Government. Then Chairman of the United States Joint 
        Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen testified in 2011 that 
        ``the Haqqani Network . . . acts as a veritable arm of 
        Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. With ISI 
        support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted'' various 
        attacks against United States personnel and interests in 
        Afghanistan, including a 2011 attack on the United States 
        Embassy in Kabul.
            (3) The founder and leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, 
        was found and killed in the Pakistani military town of 
        Abbottabad in 2011. The Government of Pakistan subsequently 
        condemned the raid that killed the terrorist leader and 
        continues to imprison Dr. Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor 
        who played an instrumental role in identifying Osama bin 
        Laden's hiding place.
            (4) A 2012 NATO report indicated that the Afghan Taliban is 
        directly assisted by the Pakistani security services and noted 
        that ``Pakistan's manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership 
        continues [unabated]''. The report also suggested that Pakistan 
        is aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders, including 
        one who maintained a residence in the immediate vicinity of the 
        ISI headquarters in Islamabad.
            (5) The leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar 
        Mansour, was located in southwestern Pakistan at the time of 
        his death by a United States drone strike on May 21, 2016. 
        Pakistan's Baluchistan Province has long been a haven for the 
        Afghan Taliban, and the group's top leadership is headquartered 
        in the city of Quetta in Baluchistan Province.
            (6) The Department of State's 2016 Country Reports on 
        Terrorism noted that Pakistan ``did not take substantial action 
        against the Afghan Taliban or HQN (the Haqqani Network), or 
        substantially limit their ability to threaten United States 
        interests in Afghanistan''. The report also stated that 
        ``Pakistan has not taken sufficient action against other 
        externally-focused groups such as Laskar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and 
        Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which continued to cooperate, train, 
        organize, and fundraise in Pakistan''. Moreover, since passage 
        of Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon National Defense 
        Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113-291), 
        the Secretary of Defense has been unable to certify that 
        Pakistan has taken adequate action against the Haqqani Network 
        in accordance with section 1222(f) of such Act.
            (7) Pakistan has not taken steps to demonstrate its 
        commitment to prevent the Haqqani Network from using North 
        Waziristan as a safe haven, nor has it shown progress in 
        arresting and prosecuting Haqqani Network senior leaders and 
        mid-level operatives.
    (b) Reports.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the President, acting through the 
        Secretary of State and in consultation with the heads of other 
        appropriate Federal departments and agencies, shall submit to 
        the appropriate congressional committees a report that 
        determines whether--
                    (A)(i) with respect to each of the acts described 
                in paragraphs (1) through (7) of subsection (a), the 
                Government of Pakistan, including any agents or 
                instrumentalities of such Government, directly or 
                indirectly, committed, conspired to commit, attempted, 
                aided, or abetted any such act; or
                    (ii) the Government of Pakistan, including any 
                agents or instrumentalities of such Government, 
                directly or indirectly, committed, conspired to commit, 
                attempted, aided, or abetted any act not referred to in 
                clause (i) that constitutes an act of or support for 
                international terrorism; and
                    (B) any such act referred to in subparagraph (A)(i) 
                constitutes an act of or support for international 
                terrorism.
            (2) Follow-up.--If the Secretary of State makes a 
        determination in the affirmative with respect to subparagraph 
        (B) of paragraph (1), the Secretary shall, not later than 30 
        days after making such determination, submit to the appropriate 
        congressional committees a report that contains--
                    (A) a determination regarding whether the 
                Government of Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism; 
                or
                    (B) a detailed justification as to why the conduct 
                described in the report required under such paragraph 
                (1) does not meet the legal criteria for a 
                determination in the affirmative under subparagraph (A) 
                of this paragraph.
    (c) Form.--The reports required by subsection (b) shall be 
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex, if 
appropriate.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 
                of Representatives; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
                Senate.
            (2) State sponsor of terrorism.--The term ``state sponsor 
        of terrorism'' means a country the government of which the 
        Secretary of State has determined, for purposes of section 6(j) 
        of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4605(j)) 
        (as continued in effect pursuant to the International Emergency 
        Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)), section 620A of 
        the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371), section 40 
        of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780), or any other 
        provision of law, is a government that has repeatedly provided 
        support for acts of international terrorism.