I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2899 

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 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize 

the Office for Countering Violent Extremism. 

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’’. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 2899 IH

1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE OFFICE FOR COUNTERING 

2 VIOLENT EXTREMISM OF THE DEPARTMENT 

3 OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 

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

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

6 at the end the following new section: 

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

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

9 an Office for Countering Violent Extremism. The head of 

10 the Office shall be the Assistant Secretary for Countering 

11 Violent Extremism, who shall be appointed by the Sec12 retary. The Secretary shall also appoint a career Deputy 

13 Assistant Secretary for Countering Violent Extremism. 

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

15 shall assign or hire, as appropriate, permanent staff to 

16 the Office for Countering Violent Extremism. In carrying 

17 out this subsection, the Secretary shall, to the maximum 

18 extent practicable, seek to assign to or hire for the Office 

19 an individual who has a demonstrated background in tech20 nical matters, on and offline media, or marketing. 

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

22 each appropriate component and office of the Department, 

23 including at a minimum, U.S. Customs and Border Pro24 tection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 

25 United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the 

26 Office of Privacy, the National Protection and Programs 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 2899 IH

1 Directorate, the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, 

2 and the Science and Technology Directorate, an individual 

3 to serve as liaison to the Office for Countering Violent Ex4 tremism. 

5 ‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Assistant Secretary 

6 for Countering Violent Extremism shall be responsible for 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) Coordinating the Department’s efforts to 

9 counter violent extremism across all the components 

10 and offices of the Department that conduct strategic 

11 and supportive efforts to counter violent extremism. 

12 Such efforts shall include the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) Identifying risk factors that con14 tribute to violent extremism in communities in 

15 the United States and potential remedies for 

16 Government and non-government institutions. 

17 ‘‘(B) Identifying populations targeted by 

18 violent extremist propaganda, messaging, or re19 cruitment. 

20 ‘‘(C) Managing the outreach and engage21 ment efforts of the Department directed toward 

22 communities at risk for radicalization and re23 cruitment for violent extremist activities. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 2899 IH

1 ‘‘(D) Ensuring relevant information, re2 search, and products inform efforts to counter 

3 violent extremism. 

4 ‘‘(E) Developing and maintaining a De5 partment-wide strategy guiding policies and 

6 programs to counter violent extremism. Such 

7 strategy shall, at a minimum, address each of 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘(i) The Department’s counter-mes10 saging program pursuant to paragraph (2), 

11 including a plan to leverage new and exist12 ing Internet and other technologies and so13 cial media platforms to counter violent ex14 tremism, as well as the best practices and 

15 lessons learned of other Federal, State, 

16 local, tribal, territorial, and foreign part17 ners engaged in similar counter-messaging 

18 efforts. 

19 ‘‘(ii) The Department’s countering 

20 violent extremism-related engagement ef21 forts. 

22 ‘‘(iii) The use of cooperative agree23 ments with State, local, tribal, territorial, 

24 and other Federal departments and agenVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:20 Jul 01, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2899.IH H2899

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 2899 IH

1 cies responsible for efforts relating to 

2 countering violent extremism. 

3 ‘‘(iv) Ensuring all activities related to 

4 countering violent extremism fully respect 

5 the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties 

6 of all Americans. 

7 ‘‘(F) Identifying and recommending new 

8 research and analysis requirements in coordina9 tion with the Under Secretary for Science and 

10 Technology and the Under Secretary for Intel11 ligence and Analysis and ensure the dissemina12 tion of information and methods for Federal, 

13 State, local, tribal, and territorial countering 

14 violent extremism practitioners, officials, law 

15 enforcement, and non-governmental partners to 

16 utilize such research and analysis. 

17 ‘‘(G) Assessing the methods used by vio18 lent extremists to disseminate propaganda and 

19 messaging to communities at risk for 

20 radicalization and recruitment. 

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

22 to craft strategic counter-messages to the propa23 ganda and messaging referred to in subparagraph 

24 (G) of paragraph (1) which shall— 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 2899 IH

1 ‘‘(A) explore ways to utilize relevant Inter2 net and other technologies and social media 

3 platforms; and 

4 ‘‘(B) maximize other resources available to 

5 the Department. 

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

7 the Department in coordinating countering violent 

8 extremism efforts with other Federal departments 

9 and agencies and non-governmental organizations. 

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

11 representative in coordinating with the Department 

12 of State on international countering violent extre13 mism issues. 

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

15 the Federal Emergency Management Agency, pro16 viding guidance regarding the use of grants made to 

17 State, local, and tribal governments under sections 

18 2003 and 2004 under the allowable uses guidelines 

19 related to countering violent extremism. 

20 ‘‘(e) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The As21 sistant Secretary for Countering Violent Extremism shall 

22 enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Ad23 ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen24 cy outlining the roles of the Assistant Secretary and the 

25 Administrator with respect to the administration of grants 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 2899 IH

1 under sections 2003 and 2004 related to countering vio2 lent extremism. 

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

4 Countering Violent Extremism shall submit to Congress 

5 an annual report for each of the next five fiscal years (be6 ginning in the fiscal year that begins after the date of the 

7 enactment of this section) on the Office for Countering 

8 Violent Extremism. Each such report shall include the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(1) A description of the status of the pro11 grams and policies of the Department for countering 

12 violent extremism in the United States, including the 

13 budget of the Department for countering violent ex14 tremism and the number of full-time employees dedi15 cated to countering violent extremism programs, as 

16 well as the number of part-time employees sup17 porting countering violent extremism programs. 

18 Each such budget shall include an accounting of all 

19 funding amounts for all departmental programs, ini20 tiatives, and personnel related to countering violent 

21 extremism. 

22 ‘‘(2) A description of the efforts of the Office 

23 to cooperate with and provide assistance to other de24 partments and agencies. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 2899 IH

1 ‘‘(3) Qualitative and quantitative metrics for 

2 evaluating the success of such programs and policies 

3 and the steps taken to evaluate the success of such 

4 programs and policies. 

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

6 with which the Department conducted outreach to 

7 discuss countering violent extremism, an accounting 

8 of grants awarded by the Department to counter vio9 lent extremism, and an accounting of all training 

10 specifically aimed at countering violent extremism 

11 sponsored by the Department. 

12 ‘‘(5) Details of the optimal level of personnel 

13 and funding for the Office. 

14 ‘‘(g) VIOLENT EXTREMISM DEFINED.—In this sec15 tion, the term ‘violent extremism’ means ideologically mo16 tivated terrorist activities. 

17 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.—Out of funds 

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

19 is authorized for the Office for Countering Violent Extre20 mism for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020.’’. 

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

22 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after 

23 the item relating to section 103 the following new item: 

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

Æ 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS