I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1955 

To prevent homegrown terrorism, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2007 

Ms. HARMAN (for herself and Mr. REICHERT) 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 prevent homegrown terrorism, 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 ‘‘Homegrown Terrorism 

5 Prevention Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF HOMEGROWN TERRORISM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VIII of the Homeland Secu8 rity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 361 et seq.) is amended by 

9 adding at the end the following new subtitle: 


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1 ‘‘Subtitle J—Prevention of 

2 Homegrown Terrorism 

3 ‘‘SEC. 899A. DEFINITIONS. 

4 ‘‘For purposes of this subtitle: 

5 ‘‘(1) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.—The term 

6 ‘homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, 

7 or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or 

8 individual born, raised, or based and operating pri9 marily within the United States or any possession of 

10 the United States to intimidate or coerce the United 

11 States government, the civilian population of the 

12 United States, or any segment thereof, in further13 ance of political or social objectives. 

14 ‘‘(2) RADICALIZATION.—The term 

15 ‘radicalization’ means the process of adopting or 

16 promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose 

17 of facilitating ideologically-based violence to advance 

18 political, religious, or social change. 

19 ‘‘(3) IDEOLOGICALLY-BASED VIOLENCE.—The 

20 term ‘ideologically-based violence’ means the use, 

21 planned use, or threatened use of force or violence 

22 by a group or individual to promote the group or in23 dividual’s political, religious, or social beliefs. 

24 ‘‘SEC. 899B. FINDINGS. 

25 ‘‘The Congress finds the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) The development and implementation of 

2 methods and processes that can be utilized to pre3 vent homegrown terrorism in the United States is 

4 critical to combating domestic terrorism. 

5 ‘‘(2) The promotion of ideologically-based vio6 lence and homegrown terrorism exists in the United 

7 States and poses a threat to homeland security. 

8 ‘‘(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating ideo9 logically-based violence and the homegrown ter10 rorism process in the United States by providing ac11 cess to broad and constant streams of terrorist-re12 lated propaganda to United States citizens. 

13 ‘‘(4) While the United States must continue its 

14 vigilant efforts to combat international terrorism, it 

15 must also strengthen efforts to combat the threat 

16 posed by homegrown terrorists based and operating 

17 within the United States. 

18 ‘‘(5) Understanding the motivational factors 

19 that lead to homegrown terrorism is a vital step to20 ward eradicating these threats in the United States. 

21 ‘‘(6) The potential rise of self radicalized, unaf22 filiated terrorists domestically cannot be easily pre23 vented through traditional Federal intelligence or 

24 law enforcement efforts, and requires the incorpora25 tion of State and local solutions. 


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1 ‘‘(7) Individuals prone to ideologically-based vi2 olence span all races, ethnicities, and religious be3 liefs, and individuals should not be targeted based 

4 solely on race, ethnicity, or religion. 

5 ‘‘(8) Any measure taken to prevent ideologi6 cally-based violence and homegrown terrorism in the 

7 United States should not violate the constitutional 

8 rights, civil rights and civil liberties of United States 

9 citizens and lawful permanent residents. 

10 ‘‘(9) Certain governments, including the United 

11 Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have significant ex12 perience with homegrown terrorism and the United 

13 States can benefit from lessons learned by those na14 tions. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 899C. GRANT PROGRAM TO PREVENT IDEOLOGI16 CALLY-BASED VIOLENCE AND HOMEGROWN 

17 TERRORISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 

18 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subject to the requirements 

19 of this section, the Secretary shall establish a grant pro20 gram to prevent radicalization and homegrown terrorism 

21 in the United States. 

22 ‘‘(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 

23 award grants to States to enhance homeland security by 

24 preventing radicalization and homegrown terrorism in at25 risk populations, as determined by the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the grant program 

2 is to prevent, disrupt, and mitigate the effects of 

3 radicalization and prevent ideologically-based violence and 

4 homegrown terrorism in the United States. 

5 ‘‘(d) GRANT ELIGIBILITY.—Any State shall be eligi6 ble to apply for a grant under the program referred to 

7 in paragraph (a). 

8 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this 

9 section shall be used by the States to award to agencies 

10 and organizations, including but not limited to, social serv11 ices agencies, community-based groups, educational insti12 tutions and non-governmental organizations as sub-grant13 ees to address radicalization and homegrown terrorism 

14 by— 

15 ‘‘(1) developing best practices, standards and 

16 protocols to conduct outreach to various populations 

17 that are at-risk for radicalization and homegrown 

18 terrorism; 

19 ‘‘(2) assisting with educational outreach, social 

20 services, and integration into society; 

21 ‘‘(3) program planning and management and 

22 strategy formulation and strategic planning; 

23 ‘‘(4) promote civic engagement and community 

24 outreach programs; 


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1 ‘‘(5) any other uses determined by the Sec2 retary to be necessary to prevent radicalization and 

3 homegrown terrorism. 

4 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITED USES.—Funds provided as a grant 

5 may not be used— 

6 ‘‘(1) for law enforcement activities, except for 

7 programs that include outreach activities; 

8 ‘‘(2) to supplant State or local funds; 

9 ‘‘(3) to construct buildings or other physical fa10 cilities; 

11 ‘‘(4) to acquire land; or 

12 ‘‘(5) for any State or local government cost13 sharing contribution. 

14 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION FOR GRANT.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State may apply for a 

16 grant under this subsection by submitting to the 

17 Secretary an application detailing how requested 

18 funds would be used to achieve the purpose stated 

19 herein and containing such other information the 

20 Secretary may reasonably require. 

21 ‘‘(2) DEADLINES FOR APPLICATIONS AND

22 AWARDS.—All applications for grants must be sub23 mitted at such time as the Secretary may reasonably 

24 require for the fiscal year for which they are sub25 mitted. The Secretary shall award grants pursuant 


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1 to all approved applications for such fiscal year as 

2 soon as practicable, but not later than March 1 of 

3 such year. 

4 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—All funds 

5 awarded by the Secretary in a fiscal year shall be 

6 available for obligation through the end of the subse7 quent fiscal year. 

8 ‘‘(4) MINIMUM CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.— 

9 The Secretary shall require that each State include 

10 in its application, at a minimum– 

11 ‘‘(A) the purpose for which the applicant 

12 seeks grant funds and the reason why the appli13 cant needs the grant to meet the capabilities for 

14 preventing radicalization and homegrown ter15 rorism within the State; 

16 ‘‘(B) a description of how the allocation of 

17 grant funding proposed in the application would 

18 assist in fulfilling the capabilities for preventing 

19 radicalization and homegrown terrorism; 

20 ‘‘(C) a description of how the State plans 

21 to allocate the grant funds to local governments 

22 and Indian tribes; 

23 ‘‘(D) identification of the subgrantees that 

24 will expend grant funds; and 


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1 ‘‘(E) a capital budget showing how the ap2 plicant intends to allocate and expend the cov3 ered grant funds. 

4 ‘‘(h) PRIORITIZATION OF GRANT APPLICATIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall evalu6 ate and annually prioritize all pending applications 

7 for grants based upon the risk and degree to which 

8 they would, by achieving, maintaining, or enhancing 

9 the capabilities of the applicants on a nationwide 

10 basis, mitigate the threat of radicalization and 

11 homegrown terrorism. 

12 ‘‘(2) BASIS.—Such evaluation and prioritization 

13 shall be based upon– 

14 ‘‘(A) the most current relevant information 

15 available, including, but not limited to threat 

16 assessments generated by the Department of 

17 Homeland Security Office of Intelligence Anal18 ysis, the Department of Homeland Security Of19 fice of Strategic Plans Radicalization and En20 gagement Working Group, and products gen21 erated by the Center for Excellence for the 

22 Study of Radicalization and Homegrown Ter23 rorism established under section 899C; 

24 ‘‘(B) criteria, which shall be made publicly 

25 available and reported to Congress, that identiVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:43 Apr 20, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1955.IH H1955

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1 fies the characteristics, qualities, and standards 

2 that groups or organizations should meet in 

3 order to serve as partners with the United 

4 States Government in fulfilling the purpose of 

5 the grant program; and 

6 ‘‘(C) information contained within State 

7 applications for grants, including sub-grantees 

8 identified in such applications. 

9 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENT FOR SUB-GRANTEES TO

10 MEET CRITERIA.—The Secretary may deny a grant 

11 under this section to any State that submits a grant 

12 application that identifies a sub-grantee that does 

13 not meet the criteria referred to in paragraph 

14 (2)(B). 

15 ‘‘(4) PENALTIES FOR USING NON-APPROVED OR

16 NON-DISCLOSED SUB-GRANTEES.—Any State that 

17 allows grant funds to be used by a subgrantee that 

18 has not been disclosed to and previously approved by 

19 the Secretary, shall be ineligible for any further 

20 grant funds under this section for two fiscal years. 

21 ‘‘(i) CERTIFICATIONS REGARDING DISTRIBUTION OF

22 GRANT FUNDS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—Any State 

23 that receives a grant shall certify to the Secretary, that 

24 the State has made grant funds available for expenditure 

25 by local governments and other local groups. 


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1 ‘‘(j) REPORT ON SPENDING.—Each recipient of a 

2 grant under this section shall annually submit a report 

3 to the Secretary not later than 60 days after the end of 

4 each Federal fiscal year that contains— 

5 ‘‘(1) an accounting of the amount of State and 

6 local government funds spent on activities aimed at 

7 preventing radicalization and homegrown terrorism; 

8 ‘‘(2) an accounting of the administrative costs 

9 incurred by sub-grantees; 

10 ‘‘(3) information regarding the use of grant 

11 funds by the sub-grantees as required by the Sec12 retary; and 

13 ‘‘(4) progress of the recipient and sub-grantees 

14 in achieving the purpose of the grant program. 

15 ‘‘(k) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE AC16 CESS TO INFORMATION.—Each recipient of grant funds 

17 under this section and the Department shall provide the 

18 Government Accountability Office with full access to infor19 mation regarding the activities carried out under this sec20 tion. 

21 ‘‘(l) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall 

22 submit an annual report to Congress that provides— 

23 ‘‘(1) an evaluation of how states and local gov24 ernments are making progress in achieving the pur25 pose of the grant program; 


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1 ‘‘(2) the total amount of funds provided to the 

2 States as grants under this section during the pre3 ceding year; and 

4 ‘‘(3) an accounting of how such amounts were 

5 expended. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 899D. CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR THE STUDY OF 

7 RADICALIZATION AND HOMEGROWN TER8 RORISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 

9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Homeland 

10 Security shall establish or designate a university-based 

11 Center of Excellence for the Study of Radicalization and 

12 Homegrown Terrorism in the United States (hereinafter 

13 referred to as ‘Center’) following the merit-review proc14 esses and procedures and other limitations that have been 

15 previously established for selecting and supporting Univer16 sity Programs Centers of Excellence. The Center shall as17 sist Federal, State, local and tribal homeland security offi18 cials through training, education, and research in pre19 venting radicalization and homegrown terrorism in the 

20 United States. In carrying out this section, the Secretary 

21 may choose to either create a new Center designed exclu22 sively for the purpose stated herein or identify and expand 

23 an existing Department of Homeland Security Center of 

24 Excellence so that a working group is exclusively desVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:43 Apr 20, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1955.IH H1955

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1 ignated within the existing Center of Excellence to achieve 

2 the purpose set forth in subsection (b). 

3 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—It shall be the purpose of the Center 

4 to study the social, criminal, political, psychological, and 

5 economic roots of radicalization and homegrown terrorism 

6 in the United States and methods that can be utilized by 

7 Federal, State, local, and tribal homeland security officials 

8 to mitigate radicalization and homegrown terrorism. 

9 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out this section, the 

10 Center shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) contribute to the establishment of training, 

12 written materials, information, analytical assistance 

13 and professional resources to aid in combating 

14 radicalization and homegrown terrorism; 

15 ‘‘(2) utilize theories, methods and data from the 

16 social and behavioral sciences to better understand 

17 the origins, dynamics, and social and psychological 

18 aspects of radicalization and homegrown terrorism; 

19 ‘‘(3) conduct research on the motivational fac20 tors that lead to radicalization and homegrown ter21 rorism; and 

22 ‘‘(4) coordinate with other academic institutions 

23 studying the effects of radicalization and homegrown 

24 terrorism where appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 899E. PREVENTING RADICALIZATION AND HOME2 GROWN TERRORISM THROUGH INTER3 NATIONAL COOPERATIVE EFFORTS. 

4 ‘‘(a) INTERNATIONAL EFFORT.—The Secretary shall, 

5 in cooperation with the Department of State and other 

6 Federal Government entities, as appropriate, conduct a 

7 survey of methodologies implemented by foreign nations 

8 to prevent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in 

9 their respective nations. 

10 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—To the extent that meth11 odologies are not impermissible under the Constitution, 

12 the Secretary shall use the results of the survey as an aid 

13 in developing a national policy in the United States on 

14 addressing radicalization and homegrown terrorism. 

15 ‘‘(c) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall 

16 submit a report to Congress that provides— 

17 ‘‘(1) a brief description of the foreign partners 

18 participating in the survey; and 

19 ‘‘(2) a description of lessons learned from the 

20 results of the survey and recommendations imple21 mented through this international outreach. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 899F. PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIB2 ERTIES WHILE PREVENTING IDEOLOGI3 CALLY-BASED VIOLENCE AND HOMEGROWN 

4 TERRORISM. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Department of Homeland 

6 Security’s efforts to prevent ideologically-based violence 

7 and homegrown terrorism as described herein shall not 

8 violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, and civil lib9 erties of United States citizens and lawful permanent resi10 dents. 

11 ‘‘(b) COMMITMENT TO RACIAL NEUTRALITY.—The 

12 Secretary shall ensure that the activities and operations 

13 of the entities created by this subtitle are in compliance 

14 with the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment 

15 to racial neutrality issued in an Department-wide Memo16 randum on June 1, 2004. 

17 ‘‘(c) AUDITING MECHANISM.—The Civil Rights and 

18 Civil Liberties Officer of the Department of Homeland Se19 curity will develop and implement an auditing mechanism 

20 to ensure that compliance with this subtitle does not result 

21 in a disproportionate impact, without a rational basis, on 

22 any particular race, ethnicity, or religion and include with23 in its annual report to Congress required under section 

24 705.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

2 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting at the 

3 end of the items relating to title VIII the following: 

‘‘Subtitle J—Prevention of Homegrown Terrorism 

‘‘Sec. 899A. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 899B. Findings. 

‘‘Sec. 899C. Grant program to prevent ideologically-based violence and homegrown terrorism in the United States. 

‘‘Sec. 899D. Center of Excellence for the Study of Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States. 

‘‘Sec. 899E. Preventing radicalization and homegrown terrorism through international cooperative efforts. 

‘‘Sec. 899F. Protecting civil rights and civil liberties while preventing ideologically-based violence and homegrown terrorism.’’. 

Æ 


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