I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7443 

To authorize a dedicated transnational repression office within the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations to analyze and monitor transnational repression and related terrorism threats 

and require Homeland Security Investigations to take actions to prevent 

transnational repression. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 23, 2024 

Mr. PFLUGER (for himself and Mr. MAGAZINER) 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 authorize a dedicated transnational repression office within the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland 

Security Investigations to analyze and monitor 

transnational repression and related terrorism threats 

and require Homeland Security Investigations to take 

actions to prevent transnational repression. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating 

3 Transnational Repression Act of 2024’’. 

4 SEC. 2. TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION. 

5 (a) FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING

6 TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.— 

7 (1) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following 

8 findings: 

9 (A) The Department of Homeland Security 

10 (DHS), Homeland Security Investigations 

11 (HSI) National Security Division (NSD), Spe12 cial Interest Investigations Unit (SIIU), col13 laborates with Federal, State, and local part14 ners to investigate allegations of transnational 

15 repression. 

16 (B) HSI, through its investigative authori17 ties, works to deter, dismantle, and mitigate 

18 criminal enterprises and hostile foreign govern19 ment actors engaged in transnational repres20 sion. 

21 (C) In October 2023, the Government Ac22 countability Office (GAO) published a report 

23 that found agency actions are needed to address 

24 harassment of dissidents and other tactics of 

25 transnational repression in the United States. 


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1 (D) According to GAO, several Federal 

2 agencies work to address transnational repres3 sion, including DHS’s Office of Intelligence and 

4 Analysis, which works to produce intelligence 

5 that support Federal, State, and local govern6 ment entities to develop protective and support 

7 measures in response to threats of 

8 transnational repression, as well as DHS’s Of9 fice of Partnership and Engagement (OPE), 

10 which meets with stakeholders and victims of 

11 transnational repression to understand the 

12 range of transnational repression activities in 

13 the United States. For example, DHS hosted a 

14 listening session in March 2022 with stake15 holders to learn about issues facing commu16 nities in the United States. DHS has also 

17 issued reporting for State and local law enforce18 ment agencies to raise awareness about acts of 

19 transnational repression. 

20 (E) DHS’s OPE also works to share avail21 able Federal resources to help disrupt threats 

22 of transnational repression against United 

23 States citizens, with Federal, State, local, Trib24 al, and international partners so they coordiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Feb 28, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7443.IH H7443

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1 nate countering acts of transnational repression 

2 and preparing best practices. 

3 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

4 Congress that— 

5 (A) transnational repression and related 

6 terrorism threats by a foreign government or an 

7 agent of a foreign government to target individ8 uals in the United States and persons outside 

9 of the United States are real and growing; 

10 (B) agents acting on behalf of hostile for11 eign governments employ a range of 

12 transnational repression tactics, including mak13 ing threats, intimidation, harassment, surveil14 lance, stalking, silencing, and planning physical 

15 harm or the kidnapping of individuals in the 

16 United States; and 

17 (C) the Department of Homeland Security 

18 must take steps to recognize, assess, and help 

19 address this threat, thereby reducing risks to 

20 the people of the United States. 

21 (b) OFFICE TO COMBAT TRANSNATIONAL REPRES22 SION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle H of title VIII of 

24 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 


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1 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 890E. TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION. 

4 ‘‘(a) OFFICE TO ANALYZE, MONITOR, AND INVES5 TIGATE TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established an of7 fice, to be known as the ‘Transnational Repression 

8 Office’ (in this section referred to as the ‘Office’), in 

9 the National Security Division of Homeland Security 

10 Investigations, which shall be responsible for ana11 lyzing and monitoring transnational repression and 

12 related terrorism threats. 

13 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE.— 

14 ‘‘(A) APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR.—The 

15 head of the Office shall be the Director of the 

16 Transnational Repression Office, who shall be 

17 appointed by the Director of Homeland Secu18 rity Investigations. 

19 ‘‘(B) REPORTING.—The Director of the 

20 Transnational Repression Office shall report to 

21 the Secretary and the Director of Homeland 

22 Security Investigations regarding all adminis23 trative, operational, and security matters of the 

24 Office. 


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1 ‘‘(3) STAFFING.—The Director of Homeland 

2 Security Investigations shall ensure the Office— 

3 ‘‘(A) has a sufficient number of employees 

4 to perform required duties; and 

5 ‘‘(B) has at least one employee dedicated 

6 to ensuring compliance with privacy laws and 

7 regulations. 

8 ‘‘(4) DETAILEES AUTHORIZED.—The Office 

9 may accept and employ detailees with expertise in 

10 countering transnational repression and related ter11 rorism threats or related fields from any element of 

12 the intelligence community, or any other Federal 

13 agency the Director of the Transnational Repression 

14 Office determines appropriate, with or without reim15 bursement, consistent with applicable laws and regu16 lations regarding such employees. 

17 ‘‘(5) INFORMATION SHARING.—The Office shall 

18 review information relating to transnational repres19 sion and related terrorism threats that is gathered 

20 by Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial part21 ners, and the National Network of Fusion Centers, 

22 and incorporate such information, as appropriate, 

23 into the Office’s own information relating to 

24 transnational repression and related terrorism 

25 threats. The Office shall ensure the dissemination to 


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1 Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial partners, 

2 and the National Network of Fusion Centers, of in3 formation related to transnational repression and re4 lated terrorism threats. 

5 ‘‘(6) HOMELAND SECURITY ASSESSMENT ON

6 TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.— 

7 ‘‘(A) ANNUAL ASSESSMENTS.—Not later 

8 than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

9 of this section and annually thereafter for ten 

10 years, the Director of Homeland Security Inves11 tigations, acting through the Director of the 

12 Transnational Repression Office, shall submit 

13 to the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

14 House of Representatives and the Committee 

15 on Homeland Security and Governmental Af16 fairs of the Senate a report that assesses inci17 dents of transnational repression and related 

18 terrorism threats during the immediately pre19 ceding 12 months. 

20 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—Each assessment sub21 mitted under subparagraph (A) shall also in22 clude the following: 

23 ‘‘(i) An analysis attempted incidents 

24 of transnational repression and related ter25 rorism threats. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) A quantitative analysis of 

2 transnational repression and related ter3 rorism threats, including the number of in4 dividuals responsible for or associated with 

5 such transnational repression or related 

6 terrorism threats, and an identification of 

7 the country of citizenship or nationality of 

8 each such individual, and the roles of the 

9 foreign governments of such countries in 

10 enabling, preventing, mitigating, and re11 sponding to transnational repression and 

12 related terrorism threats. 

13 ‘‘(iii) Subject to appropriate protec14 tions for sensitive information regarding 

15 law enforcement investigations and oper16 ations, a description of efforts by the De17 partment to disrupt through investigation 

18 transnational repression and related ter19 rorism threats. 

20 ‘‘(iv) Any other matters the Director 

21 of Homeland Security Investigations deter22 mines relevant. 

23 ‘‘(C) FORM.—Each assessment under sub24 paragraph (A) shall be submitted in unclassi25 fied form, but may include a classified annex 


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1 only for the protection of intelligence sources 

2 and methods relating to the matters contained 

3 in each such assessment. The Director of 

4 Homeland Security Investigations shall post on 

5 a publicly available website of Homeland Secu6 rity Investigations the unclassified portion of 

7 each such assessment. 

8 ‘‘(7) SUNSET.—The Office shall terminate on 

9 the date that is ten years after the date of the enact10 ment of this section. 

11 ‘‘(b) RESEARCH.—Not later than one year after the 

12 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, in 

13 coordination with the Under Secretary for Science and 

14 Technology of the Department, the Director of the 

15 Transnational Repression Office, and the Director of 

16 Homeland Security Investigations, shall, to the extent 

17 practicable, carry out research and development, including 

18 operational testing, of technologies and techniques for en19 hancing the Department’s security and situational aware20 ness support to Federal, State, local, Tribal, and terri21 torial officials relating to combating transnational repres22 sion and related terrorism threats, in accordance with ap23 plicable constitutional, privacy, civil rights, and civil lib24 erties protections. 

25 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(1) AGENT OF A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.— 

2 The term ‘agent of a foreign government’ means an 

3 individual or entity that operates subject to the di4 rection or control of— 

5 ‘‘(A) a foreign government; or 

6 ‘‘(B) an official or entity of such foreign 

7 government. 

8 ‘‘(2) FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘for9 eign government’ means the government of a foreign 

10 country. 

11 ‘‘(3) FUSION CENTER.—The term ‘fusion cen12 ter’ has the meaning given such term in subsection 

13 (j) of section 210A of the Homeland Security Act of 

14 2002 (6 U.S.C. 124h). 

15 ‘‘(4) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

16 ‘intelligence community’ has the meaning given such 

17 term in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 

18 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 

19 ‘‘(5) NATIONAL NETWORK OF FUSION CEN20 TERS.—The term ‘National Network of Fusion Cen21 ters’ means a decentralized arrangement of fusion 

22 centers intended to enhance individual State and 

23 urban area fusion centers’ ability to leverage the ca24 pabilities and expertise of all such fusion centers for 


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1 the purpose of enhancing analysis and homeland se2 curity information sharing nationally. 

3 ‘‘(6) TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.—The term 

4 ‘transnational repression’ means an action of a for5 eign government or an agent of a foreign govern6 ment that satisfies each of the following: 

7 ‘‘(A) The action involves— 

8 ‘‘(i) any effort intended to coerce, har9 ass, or digitally or physically threaten, in10 cluding by force or reasonable fear of 

11 death or serious bodily injury or imprison12 ment of a person or an immediate family 

13 member of a person, a person to take an 

14 action in the interest of such a foreign gov15 ernment; 

16 ‘‘(ii) any effort intended to harass or 

17 coerce, including by force or fear, a person 

18 to forebear from exercising their First 

19 Amendment rights or any other right guar20 anteed to the person by the Constitution or 

21 laws of the United States, or to retaliate 

22 against a person for having exercised such 

23 a right; 

24 ‘‘(iii) an extrajudicial killing; or 


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1 ‘‘(iv) any act intended to further the 

2 efforts specified in clause (i), (ii), or (iii). 

3 ‘‘(B) The action is engaged in for or in the 

4 interests of such a foreign government. 

5 ‘‘(C) The action— 

6 ‘‘(i) occurs, in whole or in part, in the 

7 United States; or 

8 ‘‘(ii) is committed against a United 

9 States person. 

10 ‘‘(7) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

11 ‘United States person’ has the meaning given such 

12 term in section 1637(d)(10) of the Carl Levin and 

13 Howard P. ‘Buck’ McKeon National Defense Au14 thorization Act for Fiscal year 2015 (50 U.S.C. 

15 1708(d)(10)).’’. 

16 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con17 tents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act 

18 of 2002 is amended by inserting after the item relat19 ing to section 890D the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 890E. Transnational repression.’’. 

Æ 


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