II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 625 

To preserve the integrity of American elections by providing the Attorney 

General with the investigative tools to identify and prosecute foreign 

agents who seek to circumvent Federal registration requirements and 

unlawfully influence the political process. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2017 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To preserve the integrity of American elections by providing 

the Attorney General with the investigative tools to identify and prosecute foreign agents who seek to circumvent 

Federal registration requirements and unlawfully influence the political process. 

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 ‘‘Foreign Agents Reg5 istration Modernization and Enforcement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CIVIL INVESTIGATIVE DEMAND AUTHORITY. 

2 The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 

3 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating sections 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 

5 13, and 14 as sections 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 

6 15, respectively; and 

7 (2) by inserting after section 7 (22 U.S.C. 617) 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘CIVIL INVESTIGATIVE DEMAND AUTHORITY

10 ‘‘SEC. 8. (a) Whenever the Attorney General has rea11 son to believe that any person or enterprise may be in pos12 session, custody, or control of any documentary material 

13 relevant to an investigation under this Act, the Attorney 

14 General, before initiating a civil or criminal proceeding 

15 with respect to the production of such material, may serve 

16 a written demand upon such person to produce such mate17 rial for examination. 

18 ‘‘(b) Each such demand under this section shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) state the nature of the conduct consti20 tuting the alleged violation which is under investiga21 tion and the provision of law applicable to such vio22 lation; 

23 ‘‘(2) describe the class or classes of documen24 tary material required to be produced under such 

25 demand with such definiteness and certainty as to 

26 permit such material to be fairly identified; 


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1 ‘‘(3) state that the demand is immediately re2 turnable or prescribe a return date which will pro3 vide a reasonable period within which the material 

4 may be assembled and made available for inspection 

5 and copying or reproduction; and 

6 ‘‘(4) identify the custodian to whom such mate7 rial shall be made available. 

8 ‘‘(c) A demand under this section may not— 

9 ‘‘(1) contain any requirement that would be 

10 considered unreasonable if contained in a subpoena 

11 duces tecum issued by a court of the United States 

12 in aid of grand jury investigation of such alleged vio13 lation; or 

14 ‘‘(2) require the production of any documentary 

15 evidence that would be privileged from disclosure if 

16 demanded by a subpoena duces tecum issued by a 

17 court of the United States in aid of a grand jury in18 vestigation of such alleged violation.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS. 

20 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1 of the Foreign Agents 

21 Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611) 

22 is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (1), by striking ‘‘Expect’’ and 

24 inserting ‘‘Except’’; and 


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1 (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(j) The term ‘informational materials’ means any 

4 oral, visual, graphic, written, or pictorial information or 

5 matter of any kind, including matter published by means 

6 of advertising, books, periodicals, newspapers, lectures, 

7 broadcasts, motion pictures, or any means or instrumen8 tality of interstate or foreign commerce or otherwise.’’. 

9 (b) INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS.—Section 4 of the 

10 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 

11 U.S.C. 614) is amended— 

12 (1) in section (a)— 

13 (A) by inserting ‘‘, including electronic 

14 mail and social media,’’ after ‘‘United States 

15 mails’’; and 

16 (B) by striking ‘‘, not later than forty17 eight hours after the beginning of the trans18 mittal thereof, file with the Attorney General 

19 two copies thereof’’ and inserting ‘‘file such ma20 terials with the Attorney General in conjunction 

21 with, and at the same intervals as, disclosures 

22 required under section 2(b).’’; and 

23 (2) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘It shall’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), it 

3 shall’’; and 

4 (B) by inserting at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(2) Foreign agents described in paragraph (1) may 

6 omit disclosure required under that paragraph in indi7 vidual messages, posts, or transmissions on social media 

8 on behalf of a foreign principal if the social media account 

9 or profile from which the information is sent includes a 

10 conspicuous statement that— 

11 ‘‘(A) the account is operated by, and distributes 

12 information on behalf of, the foreign agent; and 

13 ‘‘(B) additional information about the account 

14 is on file with the Department of Justice in Wash15 ington, District of Columbia. 

16 ‘‘(3) Informational materials disseminated by an 

17 agent of a foreign principal as part of an activity that is 

18 exempt from registration, or an activity which by itself 

19 would not require registration, need not be filed under this 

20 subsection.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. FEES. 

22 (a) REPEAL.—The Department of Justice and Re23 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (title I of Public 

24 Law 102–395) is amended, under the heading ‘‘SALARIES

25 AND EXPENSES, GENERAL LEGAL ACTIVITIES’’, by striking 


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1 ‘‘In addition, notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302, for fiscal 

2 year 1993 and thereafter, the Attorney General shall es3 tablish and collect fees to recover necessary expenses of 

4 the Registration Unit (to include salaries, supplies, equip5 ment and training) pursuant to the Foreign Agents Reg6 istration Act, and shall credit such fees to this appropria7 tion, to remain available until expended.’’. 

8 (b) REGISTRATION FEE.—The Foreign Agents Reg9 istration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.), 

10 as amended by this Act, is further amended by adding 

11 at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘FEES

13 ‘‘SEC. 16. The Attorney General shall establish and 

14 collect a registration fee, as part of the initial filing re15 quirement and at no other time, to help defray the ex16 penses of the Registration Unit, and shall credit such fees 

17 to this appropriation, to remain available until expended.’’. 

18 SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

19 Section 12 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act 

20 of 1938, as amended, as redesignated by section 3, is 

21 amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘REPORTS TO CONGRESS

23 ‘‘SEC. 12. The Assistant Attorney General for Na24 tional Security, through the FARA Registration Unit of 

25 the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, shall 

26 submit a semiannual report to Congress regarding the adVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Mar 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S625.IS S625

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1 ministration of this Act, including, for the reporting pe2 riod, the identification of— 

3 ‘‘(1) registrations filed pursuant to this Act; 

4 ‘‘(2) the nature, sources, and content of polit5 ical propaganda disseminated and distributed by 

6 agents of foreign principal; 

7 ‘‘(3) the number of investigations initiated 

8 based upon a perceived violation of section 7; and 

9 ‘‘(4) the number of such investigations that 

10 were referred to the Attorney General for prosecu11 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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