I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4077 

To authorize the Secretary of State to pay a reward to combat transnational 

organized crime and for information concerning foreign nationals wanted 

by international criminal tribunals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 17, 2012 

Mr. ROYCE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of State to pay a reward to 

combat transnational organized crime and for information concerning foreign nationals wanted by international 

criminal tribunals, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of State 

5 Rewards Program Update and Technical Corrections Act 

6 of 2012’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Department of State’s existing rewards 

2 programs permit the payment of reward for informa3 tion leading to the arrest or conviction of— 

4 (A) individuals who have committed, or at5 tempted or conspired to commit, certain acts of 

6 international terrorism; 

7 (B) individuals who have committed, or at8 tempted or conspired to commit, certain nar9 cotics-related offenses; and 

10 (C) individuals who have been indicted by 

11 certain international criminal tribunals. 

12 (2) The Department of State considers the re13 wards program to be ‘‘one of the most valuable as14 sets the U.S. Government has in the fight against 

15 international terrorism.’’. Since the program’s incep16 tion in 1984, the United States has rewarded over 

17 60 people who provided actionable information that, 

18 according to the Department of State, prevented 

19 international terrorist attacks or helped convict indi20 viduals involved in terrorist attacks. 

21 (3) The program has been credited with pro22 viding information in several high-profile cases, in23 cluding the arrest of Ramzi Yousef, who was con24 victed in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Cen25 ter, the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein, who 


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1 United States military forces located and killed in 

2 Iraq after receiving information about their loca3 tions, and the arrests or deaths of several members 

4 of the Abu Sayyaf group, believed to be responsible 

5 for the kidnappings and deaths of Americans and 

6 Filipinos in the Philippines. 

7 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con8 gress that the rewards program of the Department of 

9 State should be expanded in order to— 

10 (1) address the growing threat to important 

11 United States interests from transnational criminal 

12 activity, such as intellectual property rights piracy, 

13 money laundering, trafficking in persons, arms traf14 ficking, and cybercrime; and 

15 (2) target other individuals indicted by inter16 national, hybrid, or mixed tribunals for genocide, 

17 war crimes, or crimes against humanity. 

18 SEC. 3. ENHANCED REWARDS AUTHORITY. 

19 Section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities 

20 Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended— 

21 (1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting ‘‘serious 

22 violations of international humanitarian law, 

23 transnational organized crime,’’ after ‘‘international 

24 narcotics trafficking,’’; 

25 (2) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

2 by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘heads of other relevant departments or agen4 cies’’; 

5 (B) in paragraphs (4) and (5), by striking 

6 ‘‘paragraph (1), (2), or (3)’’ each place it ap7 pears and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1), (2), (3), 

8 (8), or (9)’’; 

9 (C) in paragraph (6)— 

10 (i) by inserting ‘‘or transnational or11 ganized crime group’’ after ‘‘terrorist orga12 nization’’; and 

13 (ii) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 

14 (D) in paragraph (7)— 

15 (i) in the matter preceding subpara16 graph (A), by striking ‘‘, including the use 

17 by the organization of illicit narcotics pro18 duction or international narcotics traf19 ficking’’ and inserting ‘‘or transnational 

20 organized crime group, including the use 

21 by such organization or group of illicit nar22 cotics production or international narcotics 

23 trafficking’’; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

2 ‘‘or transnational organized crime’’ after 

3 ‘‘international terrorism’’; and 

4 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 

5 (I) by inserting ‘‘or transnational 

6 organized crime group’’ after ‘‘ter7 rorist organization’’; and 

8 (II) by striking the period at the 

9 end and inserting a semicolon; and 

10 (E) by adding at the end the following new 

11 paragraphs: 

12 ‘‘(8) the arrest or conviction in any country of 

13 any individual for participating in, primarily outside 

14 the United States, transnational organized crime; 

15 ‘‘(9) the arrest or conviction in any country of 

16 any individual conspiring to participate in or at17 tempting to participate in transnational organized 

18 crime; or 

19 ‘‘(10) the arrest or conviction in any country, 

20 or the transfer to or conviction by an international 

21 criminal tribunal (including a hybrid or mixed tri22 bunal), of any foreign national accused of war 

23 crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, as de24 fined under the statute of such tribunal.’’; and 

25 (3) in subsection (k)— 


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1 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and 

2 (6) as paragraphs (7) and (8), respectively; and 

3 (B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

4 following new paragraphs: 

5 ‘‘(5) TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME.—The 

6 term ‘transnational organized crime’ means— 

7 ‘‘(A) racketeering activity (as such term is 

8 defined in section 1961 of title 18, United 

9 States Code) that involves at least one jurisdic10 tion outside the United States; or 

11 ‘‘(B) any other criminal offense punishable 

12 by a term of imprisonment of at least four 

13 years under Federal, State, or local law that in14 volves at least one jurisdiction outside the 

15 United States and that is intended to obtain, 

16 directly or indirectly, a financial or other mate17 rial benefit. 

18 ‘‘(6) TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME

19 GROUP.—The term ‘transnational organized crime 

20 group’ means a group of persons that includes one 

21 or more citizens of a foreign country, exists for a pe22 riod of time, and acts in concert with the aim of en23 gaging in transnational organized crime.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL CORRECTION. 

2 Section 36(e)(1) of the State Department Basic Au3 thorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended by 

4 striking ‘‘The Secretary shall authorize a reward of 

5 $50,000,000 for the capture or death or information lead6 ing to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden.’’. 

7 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

8 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorizing 

9 the use of activity precluded under the American 

10 Servicemembers’ Protection Act of 2002 (Public Law 

11 107–206). 

Æ 


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