I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7282 

To require the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security to assess, on an ongoing basis, the potential 

terrorism implications of malign disinformation operations on domestic 

preparedness for and collective response to terrorism or other homeland 

security threats, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 18, 2020 

Ms. UNDERWOOD (for herself, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. DEMINGS, and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To require the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis 

of the Department of Homeland Security to assess, on 

an ongoing basis, the potential terrorism implications 

of malign disinformation operations on domestic preparedness for and collective response to terrorism or 

other homeland security threats, 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 ‘‘Protecting Against 

5 Public Safety Disinformation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TERRORISM THREAT ASSESSMENT AND RESEARCH 

2 REGARDING MALIGN DISINFORMATION OP3 ERATIONS. 

4 (a) THREAT ASSESSMENT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary for In6 telligence and Analysis of the Department of Home7 land Security shall, on an ongoing basis and in con8 sultation with appropriate Federal partners, develop 

9 and disseminate to State, local, Tribal, and terri10 torial officials, including officials from law enforce11 ment, public health, fire and emergency medical 

12 services, and emergency management agencies, as13 sessments of the potential terrorism implications of 

14 malign disinformation operations carried out by ter15 rorist or foreign malicious actors on domestic pre16 paredness for and collective response to terrorism or 

17 other homeland security threats. 

18 (2) CONTENTS.—The terrorism assessments of 

19 malign disinformation operations required under 

20 paragraph (1) shall consider the following: 

21 (A) Empirical data on malign 

22 disinformation operations, including the fol23 lowing: 

24 (i) Topics subject to such operations. 

25 (ii) Tactics used in such operations. 


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1 (iii) Characteristics and duration of 

2 such operations. 

3 (iv) Information on such terrorist or 

4 foreign malicious actors carrying out such 

5 operations. 

6 (B) Details regarding the potential ter7 rorism implications of such operations on do8 mestic preparedness for and collective response 

9 to terrorism or other homeland security threats. 

10 (3) DOCUMENTATION.—The Under Secretary 

11 for Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of 

12 Homeland Security shall maintain documentation re13 flecting the basis for a determination that certain in14 formation that was used in a certain manner for a 

15 certain purpose that resulted in certain risks or 

16 threats satisfies the definition of a malign 

17 disinformation operation. 

18 (4) FORM.—The Under Secretary for Intel19 ligence and Analysis of the Department of Home20 land Security shall submit to the appropriate con21 gressional committees the terrorism assessments of 

22 malign disinformation operations required under 

23 paragraph (1). Such assessments may be submitted 

24 in classified form, but— 


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1 (A) shall include unclassified summaries; 

2 and 

3 (B) may include unclassified annexes, if 

4 appropriate. 

5 (b) RESEARCH.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary for 

7 Science and Technology of the Department of 

8 Homeland Security, in consultation with the Under 

9 Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, the Privacy 

10 Officer, and the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 

11 Liberties of the Department, shall conduct research 

12 to aid in the identification of malign disinformation 

13 operations carried out by terrorist or foreign mali14 cious actors by studying documented malign 

15 disinformation operations that widely reached Amer16 icans that had implications for the preparedness for 

17 and response to terrorism or other homeland secu18 rity threats. Such research shall— 

19 (A) examine different patterns and tactics 

20 of malign disinformation operations to identify 

21 unique signatures; and 

22 (B) identify the factors that contribute to 

23 effective malign disinformation operations. 

24 (2) COUNTER-APPROACHES.—Together with the 

25 research required under paragraph (1), the Under 


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1 Secretary for Science and Technology of the Depart2 ment of Homeland Security shall develop rec3 ommendations for approaches to counter malign 

4 disinformation operations described in such para5 graph. 

6 (3) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of Home7 land Security is authorized to share the research and 

8 recommendations for counter approaches conducted 

9 and developed pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2), 

10 respectively, with State, local, Tribal, and territorial 

11 officials, including officials from law enforcement, 

12 public health, fire and emergency medical services, 

13 and emergency management agencies, as well as 

14 with appropriate Federal partners. 

15 (4) SUBMISSION.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 

17 months after the date of the enactment of this 

18 Act, the Under Secretary for Science and Tech19 nology of the Department of Homeland Secu20 rity shall submit to the Committee on Home21 land Security of the House of Representatives 

22 and the Committee on Homeland Security and 

23 Governmental Affairs of the Senate the results 

24 of the research and recommendations for 

25 counter approaches conducted and developed 


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1 pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2), respec2 tively. 

3 (B) FORM.—Results of the research con4 ducted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be sub5 mitted in unclassified form, but may include 

6 classified annexes, as appropriate. Rec7 ommendations developed pursuant to paragraph 

8 (2) shall be submitted in unclassified form. 

9 (c) MALIGN DISINFORMATION OPERATION DE10 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘malign disinformation 

11 operation’’ means false information deliberately dissemi12 nated by terrorists or foreign malicious actors to mis13 inform the American public in a way that risks under14 mining domestic preparedness for and collective response 

15 to terrorism or other homeland security threats. 

Æ 


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