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Union Calendar No. 263 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2899 

[Report No. 114–344] 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the Office for 

Countering Violent Extremism. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2015 

Mr. MCCAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security 

NOVEMBER 19, 2015 

Additional sponsors: Mr. KATKO, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mr. WALKER, Mr. 

DONOVAN, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. KING of New York, and Mr. MARINO

NOVEMBER 19, 2015 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 25, 2015] 

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A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize 

the Office for Countering Violent Extremism. 

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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 ‘‘Countering Violent Ex5 tremism Act of 2015’’ or the ‘‘CVE Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE OFFICE FOR COUNTERING 

7 VIOLENT EXTREMISM OF THE DEPARTMENT 

8 OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Homeland Security 

10 Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101 et seq.) is amended by adding 

11 at the end the following new section: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 104. OFFICE FOR COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM. 

13 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is in the Department 

14 an Office for Countering Violent Extremism. The head of 

15 the Office shall be the Assistant Secretary for Countering 

16 Violent Extremism, who shall be appointed by the Sec17 retary. The Secretary shall also appoint a career Deputy 

18 Assistant Secretary for Countering Violent Extremism. 

19 ‘‘(b) ASSIGNMENT OF PERSONNEL.—The Secretary 

20 shall assign or hire, as appropriate, permanent staff to the 

21 Office for Countering Violent Extremism. In carrying out 

22 this subsection, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent 

23 practicable, seek to assign to or hire for the Office an indi24 vidual who has a demonstrated background in technical 

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1 matters, on and offline media, communications, or mar2 keting. 

3 ‘‘(c) SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall appoint within 

4 each appropriate component and office of the Department, 

5 including at a minimum, U.S. Customs and Border Protec6 tion, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United 

7 States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Office of 

8 Privacy, the National Protection and Programs Direc9 torate, the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the 

10 Secret Service, and the Science and Technology Directorate, 

11 an individual to serve as liaison to the Office for Coun12 tering Violent Extremism. 

13 ‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Assistant Secretary for 

14 Countering Violent Extremism shall be responsible for the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(1) Coordinating the Department’s activities to 

17 counter violent extremism across all the components 

18 and offices of the Department that conduct strategic 

19 and supportive activities to counter violent extre20 mism. Such activities shall include the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) Identifying risk factors that contribute 

22 to violent extremism in communities in the 

23 United States and potential remedies for use by 

24 Government and non-government institutions. 

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1 ‘‘(B) Identifying populations targeted by 

2 violent extremist propaganda, messaging, or re3 cruitment. 

4 ‘‘(C) Managing the outreach and engage5 ment activities of the Department directed to6 ward communities at risk for radicalization and 

7 recruitment for violent extremist activities. 

8 ‘‘(D) Ensuring relevant information, em9 pirically-valid research, and products inform ac10 tivities to counter violent extremism. 

11 ‘‘(E) Developing and maintaining a De12 partment-wide strategy guiding policies and pro13 grams to counter violent extremism. Such strat14 egy shall, at a minimum, address each of the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(i) The Department’s counter-mes17 saging program pursuant to paragraph (2), 

18 including a plan to leverage new and exist19 ing Internet, digital, and other technologies 

20 and social media platforms to counter vio21 lent extremism, as well as the best practices 

22 and lessons learned of other Federal, State, 

23 local, tribal, territorial, nongovernmental, 

24 and foreign partners engaged in similar 

25 counter-messaging activities. 

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1 ‘‘(ii) The Department’s countering vio2 lent extremism-related engagement and out3 reach activities. 

4 ‘‘(iii) The use of cooperative agree5 ments with State, local, tribal, territorial, 

6 and other Federal departments and agencies 

7 responsible for activities relating to coun8 tering violent extremism. 

9 ‘‘(iv) Ensuring all activities related to 

10 countering violent extremism fully respect 

11 the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties 

12 of all Americans. 

13 ‘‘(v) The development of qualitative 

14 and quantitative outcome-based metrics to 

15 evaluate the Department’s programs and 

16 policies to counter violent extremism. 

17 ‘‘(F) Identifying and recommending new re18 search and analysis requirements in consultation 

19 with the Under Secretary for Science and Tech20 nology and the Under Secretary for Intelligence 

21 and Analysis and ensure the dissemination of 

22 information and methods to Federal, State, local, 

23 tribal, and territorial countering violent extre24 mism practitioners, officials, law enforcement, 

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1 and non-governmental partners to utilize such 

2 research and analysis. 

3 ‘‘(G) Assessing the methods used by violent 

4 extremists to disseminate propaganda and mes5 saging to communities at risk for radicalization 

6 and recruitment. 

7 ‘‘(2) Establishing a counter-messaging program 

8 to craft strategic counter-messages to the propaganda 

9 and messaging referred to in subparagraph (G) of 

10 paragraph (1) which shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) explore ways to utilize relevant Inter12 net and other technologies and social media plat13 forms; and 

14 ‘‘(B) maximize other resources available to 

15 the Department, including utilizing hiring au16 thorities available under law. 

17 ‘‘(3) Serving as the primary representative of the 

18 Department in coordinating countering violent extre19 mism activities with other Federal departments and 

20 agencies and non-governmental organizations. 

21 ‘‘(4) Serving as the primary Department-level 

22 representative in coordinating with the Department of 

23 State on international countering violent extremism 

24 issues. 

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1 ‘‘(5) In coordination with the Administrator of 

2 the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the 

3 Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the De4 partment, providing guidance regarding the use of 

5 grants made to State, local, and tribal governments 

6 under sections 2003 and 2004 under the allowable 

7 uses guidelines related to countering violent extre8 mism. 

9 ‘‘(6) Coordinating with the Administrator of the 

10 Federal Emergency Management Agency to admin11 ister the grant program under subsection (f). 

12 ‘‘(e) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Assist13 ant Secretary for Countering Violent Extremism shall enter 

14 into a memorandum of understanding with the Adminis15 trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency out16 lining the roles of the Assistant Secretary and the Adminis17 trator with respect to the administration of grants under 

18 sections 2003 and 2004 related to countering violent extre19 mism. 

20 ‘‘(f) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

21 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Assistant Secretary 

22 for Countering Violent Extremism, in coordination 

23 with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 

24 Management Agency and the Officer for Civil Rights 

25 and Civil Liberties of the Department, shall establish 

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1 a grant program for eligible community groups and 

2 organizations to assist such groups and organizations 

3 in establishing counter-messaging campaigns tar4 geting violent extremism. 

5 ‘‘(2) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not later than 90 

6 days after the date of the enactment of this section, 

7 the Assistant Secretary for Countering Violent Extre8 mism, in coordination with the Administrator of the 

9 Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Offi10 cer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the Depart11 ment, shall provide to the Committee on Homeland 

12 Security of the House of Representatives and the 

13 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

14 Affairs of the Senate an implementation plan for the 

15 grant program under this subsection, including eligi16 bility criteria, application criteria, methodology for 

17 awarding grants, and a plan for monitoring and 

18 evaluating grant applications and awards. 

19 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION.—A community group or or20 ganization is not eligible for a grant under this sub21 section if such group or organization has knowingly 

22 funded violent extremist activities or organizations 

23 known to engage in such activities, as determined by 

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1 mism, in coordination with the heads of other rel2 evant Federal departments and agencies. 

3 ‘‘(g) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Assistant Secretary for 

4 Countering Violent Extremism shall submit to Congress an 

5 annual report for each of the next five fiscal years (begin6 ning in the fiscal year that begins after the date of the en7 actment of this section) on the Office for Countering Violent 

8 Extremism. Each such report shall include the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) A description of the status of the programs 

10 and policies of the Department for countering violent 

11 extremism in the United States, including the budget 

12 of the Department for countering violent extremism 

13 and the number of full-time employees dedicated to 

14 countering violent extremism programs, as well as the 

15 number of part-time employees supporting countering 

16 violent extremism programs. Each such budget shall 

17 include an accounting of all funding amounts for all 

18 departmental programs, initiatives, and personnel re19 lated to countering violent extremism. 

20 ‘‘(2) A description of the activities of the Office 

21 to cooperate with and provide assistance to other de22 partments and agencies. 

23 ‘‘(3) The qualitative and quantitative outcome24 based metrics under clause (v) of subsection (d)(1)(E) 

25 used for evaluating the success of such programs and 

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1 policies and the steps taken to evaluate the success of 

2 such programs and policies. 

3 ‘‘(4) A detailed summary of the organizations 

4 with which the Department conducted outreach to dis5 cuss countering violent extremism, an accounting of 

6 grants awarded by the Department to counter violent 

7 extremism, and an accounting of all training specifi8 cally aimed at countering violent extremism spon9 sored by the Department. 

10 ‘‘(5) Details of the optimal level of personnel and 

11 funding for the Office. 

12 ‘‘(6) An analysis of how the Department’s activi13 ties to counter violent extremism correspond and 

14 adapt to the threat environment. 

15 ‘‘(7) A summary of how civil rights and civil lib16 erties are protected in the Department’s activities to 

17 counter violent extremism. 

18 ‘‘(8) An evaluation of the grant program under 

19 subsection (f), including information on the effective20 ness of such grants in countering violent extremism. 

21 ‘‘(9) A description of how the Office incorporated 

22 lessons learned from the countering violent extremism 

23 programs and policies of other Foreign departments 

24 and agencies, as well as foreign, State, local, tribal, 

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1 and territorial governments and stakeholder commu2 nities. 

3 ‘‘(h) VIOLENT EXTREMISM DEFINED.—In this section, 

4 the term ‘violent extremism’ means ideologically motivated 

5 terrorist activities. 

6 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.—Out of funds 

7 made available to the Office of the Secretary, $10,000,000 

8 is authorized to be used for the Office for Countering Violent 

9 Extremism for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020, of 

10 which $6,000,000 shall be used to carry out the grant pro11 gram under subsection (f). 

12 ‘‘(j) SUNSET.—This section shall terminate on the date 

13 that is five years after the date of the enactment of this 

14 section.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents in 

16 section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after the 

17 item relating to section 103 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 104. Office for Countering Violent Extremism.’’. 

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Union Calendar No. 263 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2899 

[Report No. 114–344] 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to 

tremism. authorize the Office for Countering Violent ExNOVEMBER 19, 2015 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 

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