II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2318 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2012 

Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. COONS, Mr. ISAKSON, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. GRAHAM, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; 

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

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

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

5 programs permit the payment of reward for informa6 tion leading to the arrest or conviction of— 

7 (A) individuals who have committed, or at8 tempted or conspired to commit, certain acts of 

9 international terrorism; 

10 (B) individuals who have committed, or at11 tempted or conspired to commit, certain nar12 cotics-related offenses; and 

13 (C) individuals who have been indicted by 

14 certain international criminal tribunals. 

15 (2) The Department of State considers the re16 wards program to be ‘‘one of the most valuable as17 sets the U.S. Government has in the fight against 

18 international terrorism’’. Since the program’s incep19 tion in 1984, the United States Government has re20 warded over 60 people who provided actionable in21 formation that, according to the Department of 

22 State, prevented international terrorist attacks or 

23 helped convict individuals involved in terrorist at24 tacks. 

25 (3) The program has been credited with pro26 viding information in several high-profile cases, inVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:21 Apr 21, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2318.IS S2318

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1 cluding the arrest of Ramzi Yousef, who was con2 victed in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Cen3 ter, the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein, who 

4 United States military forces located and killed in 

5 Iraq after receiving information about their loca6 tions, and the arrests or deaths of several members 

7 of the Abu Sayyaf group, believed to be responsible 

8 for the kidnappings and deaths of United States citi9 zens and Filipinos in the Philippines. 

10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con11 gress that the rewards program of the Department of 

12 State should be expanded in order to— 

13 (1) address the growing threat to important 

14 United States interests from transnational criminal 

15 activity, such as intellectual property rights piracy, 

16 money laundering, trafficking in persons, arms traf17 ficking, and cybercrime; and 

18 (2) target other individuals indicted by inter19 national, hybrid, or mixed tribunals for genocide, 

20 war crimes, or crimes against humanity. 

21 SEC. 3. ENHANCED REWARDS AUTHORITY. 

22 Section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities 

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

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

25 violations of international humanitarian law, 


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1 transnational organized crime,’’ after ‘‘international 

2 narcotics trafficking,’’; 

3 (2) in subsection (b)— 

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

5 by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘heads of other relevant departments or agen7 cies’’; 

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

9 ‘‘paragraph (1), (2), or (3)’’ both places it ap10 pears and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1), (2), (3), 

11 (8), or (9)’’; 

12 (C) in paragraph (6)— 

13 (i) by inserting ‘‘or transnational or14 ganized crime group’’ after ‘‘terrorist orga15 nization’’; and 

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

17 (D) in paragraph (7)— 

18 (i) in the matter preceding subpara19 graph (A), by striking ‘‘, including the use 

20 by the organization of illicit narcotics pro21 duction or international narcotics traf22 ficking’’ and inserting ‘‘or transnational 

23 organized crime group, including the use 

24 by such organization or group of illicit narVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:21 Apr 21, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2318.IS S2318

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1 cotics production or international narcotics 

2 trafficking’’; 

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

4 ‘‘or transnational organized crime’’ after 

5 ‘‘international terrorism’’; and 

6 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 

7 (I) by inserting ‘‘or transnational 

8 organized crime group’’ after ‘‘ter9 rorist organization’’; and 

10 (II) by striking the period at the 

11 end and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

13 paragraphs: 

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

15 any individual for participating in, primarily outside 

16 the United States, transnational organized crime; 

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

18 any individual conspiring to participate in or at19 tempting to participate in transnational organized 

20 crime; or 

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

22 or the transfer to or conviction by an international 

23 criminal tribunal (including a hybrid or mixed tri24 bunal), of any foreign national accused of war 


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1 crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, as de2 fined under the statute of such tribunal.’’; 

3 (3) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the 

4 following new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(3) ADVANCE NOTIFICATION FOR INTER6 NATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL REWARDS.—Not less 

7 than 15 days before publicly announcing that a re8 ward may be offered for a particular foreign national 

9 accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or 

10 genocide, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 

11 appropriate congressional committees a report, 

12 which may be submitted in classified form if nec13 essary, setting forth the reasons why the arrest or 

14 conviction of such foreign national is in the national 

15 interests of the United States.’’; and 

16 (4) in subsection (k)— 

17 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and 

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

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

20 following new paragraphs: 

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

22 term ‘transnational organized crime’ means— 

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

24 defined in section 1961 of title 18, United 


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1 States Code) that involves at least one jurisdic2 tion outside the United States; or 

3 ‘‘(B) any other criminal offense punishable 

4 by a term of imprisonment of at least four 

5 years under Federal, State, or local law that in6 volves at least one jurisdiction outside the 

7 United States and that is intended to obtain, 

8 directly or indirectly, a financial or other mate9 rial benefit. 

10 ‘‘(6) TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME

11 GROUP.—The term ‘transnational organized crime 

12 group’ means a group of persons that includes one 

13 or more citizens of a foreign country, exists for a pe14 riod of time, and acts in concert with the aim of en15 gaging in transnational organized crime.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL CORRECTION. 

17 Section 36(e)(1) of the State Department Basic Au18 thorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended by 

19 striking ‘‘The Secretary shall authorize a reward of 

20 $50,000,000 for the capture or death or information lead21 ing to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden.’’. 

22 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

23 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

24 Act shall be construed as authorizing the use of activity 

25 precluded under the American Servicemembers’ Protection 


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1 Act of 2002 (title II of Public Law 107–206; 22 U.S.C. 

2 7421 et seq.). 

Æ 


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