I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5144 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for the award of the 

Purple Heart to members of the Armed Forces who are killed or wounded 

in a terrorist attack perpetrated within the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 27, 2012 

Mr. KING of New York (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, 

Ms. HAHN, Mr. MCCAUL, Ms. RICHARDSON, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, 

Mr. CRAVAACK, Mr. TURNER of New York, Mr. ROSS of Arkansas, Mr. 

GRIFFIN of Arkansas, and Mr. CARTER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for the 

award of the Purple Heart to members of the Armed 

Forces who are killed or wounded in a terrorist attack 

perpetrated within the United States. 

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. AWARD OF PURPLE HEART TO MEMBERS OF 

2 THE ARMED FORCES KILLED OR WOUNDED 

3 IN TERRORIST ATTACKS WITHIN THE UNITED 

4 STATES. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find6 ings: 

7 (1) The Final Report of the National Commis8 sion on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 

9 (commonly known as the ‘‘9/11 Commission Re10 port’’) recognizes that there is a certain ideology 

11 that gives rise to terrorism. 

12 (2) This ideology, which gives rise to terrorism, 

13 can even influence citizens and residents of the 

14 United States to perpetrate attacks within the 

15 United States against members of the Armed 

16 Forces. 

17 (3) Two such attacks have already occurred 

18 within the United States, one at a recruiting station 

19 in Little Rock, Arkansas, on June 1, 2009, and one 

20 at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009. 

21 (4) According to investigative reports released 

22 by the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

23 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

24 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

25 Senate at least 34 threats, plots and strikes related 

26 to domestic terrorism against United States military 


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1 communities have been uncovered since September 

2 11, 2001. 

3 (5) These threats, plots and attacks dem4 onstrate that members of the Armed Forces are at 

5 risk of terrorist attack not only when deployed over6 seas but also while stationed within the United 

7 States. 

8 (6) The Department of Defense has recognized 

9 the threat posed by terrorist attacks, including those 

10 perpetrated by a member of the Armed Forces, by 

11 issuing revised regulations, including Army Regula12 tion 381–12 regarding the Military Intelligence 

13 Threat Awareness and Reporting Program, to re14 quire reporting of potential terrorist insider threat 

15 activity, to include if a member of the Armed Forces 

16 is ‘‘advocating the use of unlawful violence or force 

17 to achieve goals that are political, religious, or ideo18 logical in nature’’. 

19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con20 gress that the Secretary of Defense (and the Secretary of 

21 Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard) 

22 should duly honor those members of the Armed Forces 

23 who are killed or wounded in terrorist attacks within the 

24 United States that are inspired by the ideology that gives 

25 rise to terrorism, as defined by the Final Report of the 


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1 National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the 

2 United States (commonly known as the ‘‘9/11 Commission 

3 Report’’). 

4 (c) AWARD OF PURPLE HEART.— 

5 (1) AWARD REQUIRED.—Chapter 57 of title 10, 

6 United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

7 section 1129 the following new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 1129a. Purple Heart: members killed or wounded 

9 by terrorist attacks perpetrated within 

10 the United States 

11 ‘‘(a) For purposes of the award of the Purple Heart, 

12 the Secretary concerned shall treat a member of the armed 

13 forces described in subsection (b) in the same manner as 

14 a member who is killed or wounded in action as the result 

15 of an act of the enemy of the United States. 

16 ‘‘(b)(1) A member of the armed forces described in 

17 this subsection is a member who the Secretary concerned 

18 determines was killed or wounded in a terrorist attack 

19 within the United States perpetrated by an individual or 

20 individuals expressing a political, religious or ideological 

21 obligation to engage in unlawful violence directed against 

22 United States military operations or foreign policy, as de23 scribed in Army Regulation 318–12 of October 2010 re24 garding the Military Intelligence Threat Awareness and 

25 Reporting Program. 


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1 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘terrorist attack’ 

2 means the calculated use of unlawful violence or the threat 

3 of unlawful violence to inculcate fear and coerce or intimi4 date governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that 

5 are generally political, religious or ideological. 

6 ‘‘(3) If a terrorist attack referred to in paragraph (1) 

7 includes, as victims, members of more than one armed 

8 force, the determination required by such paragraph shall 

9 be made jointly by the Secretaries of the armed forces con10 cerned. 

11 ‘‘(c) In implementing this section, the Secretary con12 cerned shall make no distinction between ‘international 

13 terrorism’ and ‘domestic terrorism’, as those terms are de14 fined in section 2331 of title 18. 

15 ‘‘(d) Subsection (a) shall not apply to a member of 

16 the armed forces whose death or wounding is the result 

17 of the willful misconduct of the member. 

18 ‘‘(e) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted— 

19 ‘‘(1) to affect the designation of any individual 

20 alleged to have perpetrated an attack referred to in 

21 subsection (b)(1) as an enemy combatant for any 

22 purposes under law; or 

23 ‘‘(2) to preempt or otherwise affect any legal 

24 proceedings relating to such an attack.’’. 


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1 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec2 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 

3 by inserting after the item relating to section 1129 

4 the following new item: 

‘‘1129a. Purple Heart: members killed or wounded by terrorist attacks perpetrated within the United States.’’. 

5 (3) RETROACTIVE EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLI6 CATION.— 

7 (A) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments 

8 made by this subsection shall take effect as of 

9 January 1, 2009. 

10 (B) REVIEW OF CERTAIN PREVIOUS INCI11 DENTS.—The Secretaries of the military de12 partments (and the Secretary of Homeland Se13 curity with respect to the Coast Guard) shall 

14 undertake a review of each death or wounding 

15 of a member of the Armed Forces that occurred 

16 within the United States between January 1, 

17 2009, and the date of the enactment of this Act 

18 under circumstances that could qualify the 

19 death or wounding as being the result of a ter20 rorist attack within the United States to deter21 mine whether the death or wounding does qual22 ify as a death or wounding resulting from a ter23 rorist attack within the United States for purVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:26 May 03, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5144.IH H5144

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1 poses of section 1129a of title 10, United 

2 States Code, as added by this subsection. 

3 (C) ACTIONS FOLLOWING REVIEW.—If the 

4 death or wounding of a member of the Armed 

5 Forces reviewed under subparagraph (B) is de6 termined to qualify as a death or wounding re7 sulting from a terrorist attack within the 

8 United States for purposes of such section 

9 1129a, the Secretary of the military department 

10 concerned (or the Secretary of Homeland Secu11 rity with respect to a member of the Coast 

12 Guard) shall take appropriate action under 

13 such section to award the Purple Heart to the 

14 member. 

Æ 


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