I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1229 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to reauthorize and expand the 

National Threat Assessment Center of the Department of Homeland Security. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 23, 2021 

Mr. DEUTCH (for himself and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 

to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to reauthorize and 

expand the National Threat Assessment Center of the 

Department of Homeland Security. 

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 ‘‘EAGLES Act of 

5 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) On February 14, 2018, 17 individuals lost 

2 their lives in a senseless and violent attack on Mar3 jory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland 

4 Florida, a school whose mascot is the eagle. 

5 (2) These individuals lived lives of warmth, joy, 

6 determination, service, and love, and their loss is 

7 mourned by the Nation. 

8 (3) The shooter in that attack exhibited pat9 terns of behavior that were alarming and that should 

10 have alerted law enforcement and other Federal, 

11 State, and local officials. 

12 (4) The attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas 

13 High School was preventable. 

14 (5) Lives were saved because of the brave and 

15 exemplary conduct of many students, teachers, and 

16 staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in17 cluding several of the victims of the attack. 

18 (6) The National Threat Assessment Center 

19 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Center’’) was estab20 lished in 1998 to conduct research on various types 

21 of targeted violence. 

22 (7) Studies conducted by the Center on tar23 geted school violence, in particular, have shown 

24 that— 


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1 (A) most incidents were planned in ad2 vance; 

3 (B) the attackers’ behavior gave some indi4 cation that the individual was planning, or at 

5 least contemplating, an attack; 

6 (C) most attackers had already exhibited a 

7 pattern of behavior that was of concern to other 

8 people in their lives; and 

9 (D) prior to the attack, someone associated 

10 with the attacker, such as a family member or 

11 peer, knew the attack was to likely to occur. 

12 (8) Through their research, the Center devel13 oped the threat assessment model for responding to 

14 indicators of targeted violence, which includes a 3- 

15 step process— 

16 (A) identifying individuals who are exhib17 iting behaviors that indicate they are planning 

18 an attack on a school; 

19 (B) assessing whether the individual poses 

20 a threat to the school, based on articulable 

21 facts; and 

22 (C) managing the threat the individual 

23 may pose to the school. 

24 (9) The threat assessment model works most 

25 effectively when all the relevant parties, including 


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1 school officials, local law enforcement, and members 

2 of the community, are part of a comprehensive pro3 tocol to identify, assess, and manage a potential 

4 threat to the school. 

5 (10) The primary goal of threat assessment 

6 programs in schools should be to prevent violent con7 duct, with an emphasis on early intervention, treat8 ment, and care of individuals exhibiting behaviors 

9 associated with targeted violence. 

10 (11) Early intervention, treatment, and preven11 tion of violent behavior is an effective way to prevent 

12 violent conduct that would harm others and neces13 sitate disciplinary action, including criminal pen14 alties. 

15 (12) The parties involved need the appropriate 

16 training and tools to establish the appropriate mech17 anisms for implementing this type of approach. 

18 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con19 gress that a fact-based threat assessment approach, in20 volving school officials, local law enforcement, and mem21 bers of the community, is one of the most effective ways 

22 to prevent targeted violence in schools, and is a fitting me23 morial to those who lost their lives in the February 14, 

24 2018 attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School 


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1 and those who heroically acted to preserve the lives of their 

2 friends, students, and colleagues. 

3 SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION AND EXPANSION OF THE NA4 TIONAL THREAT ASSESSMENT CENTER OF 

5 THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 203 of title 18, United 

7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3056A 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘§ 3056B. Functions of the National Threat Assess10 ment Center of the United States Secret 

11 Service 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a National 

13 Threat Assessment Center (in this section referred to as 

14 the ‘Center’), to be operated by the United States Secret 

15 Service, at the direction of the Secretary of Homeland Se16 curity. 

17 ‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the Center shall 

18 include the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) Training in the area of best practices on 

20 threat assessment. 

21 ‘‘(2) Consultation on complex threat assessment 

22 cases or programs. 

23 ‘‘(3) Research on threat assessment and the 

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1 dence-based standards and existing laws and regula2 tions. 

3 ‘‘(4) Facilitation of information sharing on 

4 threat assessment and the prevention of targeted vi5 olence among agencies with protective or public safe6 ty responsibilities, as well as other public or private 

7 entities. 

8 ‘‘(5) Development of evidence-based programs 

9 to promote the standardization of Federal, State, 

10 and local threat assessments, best practices in inves11 tigations involving threats, and the prevention of 

12 targeted violence. 

13 ‘‘(c) SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVE.—In carrying out the 

14 functions described in subsection (b), the Center shall es15 tablish a national program on targeted school violence pre16 vention, focusing on the following activities: 

17 ‘‘(1) RESEARCH.—The Center shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) conduct research into targeted school 

19 violence and evidence-based practices in tar20 geted school violence prevention, including 

21 school threat assessment; and 

22 ‘‘(B) publish the findings of the Center on 

23 the public website of the United States Secret 

24 Service. 

25 ‘‘(2) TRAINING.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall de2 velop and offer training courses on targeted 

3 school violence prevention to agencies with pro4 tective or public safety responsibilities and 

5 other public or private entities, including local 

6 educational agencies. 

7 ‘‘(B) PLAN.—Not later than 1 year after 

8 the date of enactment of this section, the Cen9 ter shall establish a plan to offer its training 

10 and other educational resources to public or pri11 vate entities within each State. 

12 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL

13 AGENCIES.—The Center shall develop research and 

14 training programs under this section in coordination 

15 with the Department of Justice, the Department of 

16 Education, and the Department of Health and 

17 Human Services. 

18 ‘‘(4) CONSULTATION WITH ENTITIES OUTSIDE

19 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The Center is au20 thorized to consult with State and local educational, 

21 law enforcement, and mental health officials and pri22 vate entities in the development of research and 

23 training programs under this section. 

24 ‘‘(5) INTERACTIVE WEBSITE.—The Center may 

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1 tion and data on evidence-based practices in tar2 geted school violence prevention. 

3 ‘‘(d) HIRING OF ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL.—The Di4 rector of the United States Secret Service may hire addi5 tional personnel to comply with the requirements of this 

6 section, which, if the Director exercises that authority, 

7 shall include— 

8 ‘‘(1) at least 1 employee with expertise in child 

9 psychological development; and 

10 ‘‘(2) at least 1 employee with expertise in school 

11 threat assessment. 

12 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the func14 tions of the Center $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

15 2022 through 2025. 

16 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 

17 after the date of enactment of this section, the Director 

18 of the Secret Service shall submit to the Committee on 

19 the Judiciary and the Committee on Health, Education, 

20 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on 

21 the Judiciary and the Committee on Education and Labor 

22 of the House of Representatives a report on actions taken 

23 by the United States Secret Service to implement provi24 sions of this section, which shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the number of employees hired (on a full2 time equivalent basis); 

3 ‘‘(2) the number of individuals in each State 

4 trained in threat assessment; 

5 ‘‘(3) the number of school districts in each 

6 State trained in school threat assessment or targeted 

7 school violence prevention; 

8 ‘‘(4) information on Federal, State, and local 

9 agencies trained or otherwise assisted by the Center; 

10 ‘‘(5) a formal evaluation indicating whether the 

11 training and other assistance provided by the Center 

12 is effective; 

13 ‘‘(6) a formal evaluation indicating whether the 

14 training and other assistance provided by the Center 

15 was implemented by the school; 

16 ‘‘(7) a summary of the Center’s research activi17 ties and findings; and 

18 ‘‘(8) a strategic plan for disseminating the Cen19 ter’s educational and training resources to each 

20 State. 

21 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

22 ‘‘(1) the term ‘evidence-based’ means— 

23 ‘‘(A) strong evidence from at least 1 well24 designed and well-implemented experimental 

25 study; 


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1 ‘‘(B) moderate evidence from at least 1 

2 well-designed and well-implemented quasi-exper3 imental study; or 

4 ‘‘(C) promising evidence from at least 1 

5 well-designed and well-implemented correla6 tional study with statistical controls for selec7 tion bias; 

8 ‘‘(2) the term ‘local educational agency’ has the 

9 meaning given that term under section 8101 of the 

10 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

11 (20 U.S.C. 7801); and 

12 ‘‘(3) the term ‘State’ means any State of the 

13 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com14 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 

15 Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of 

16 the Northern Mariana Islands. 

17 ‘‘(h) NO FUNDS TO PROVIDE FIREARMS TRAIN18 ING.—None of the funds authorized to be appropriated 

19 under this section may be used to train any person in the 

20 use of a firearm. 

21 ‘‘(i) NO EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this 

22 section may be construed to preclude or contradict any 

23 other provision of law authorizing training in the use of 

24 firearms.’’. 

25 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (1) Section 4 of the Presidential Threat Protec2 tion Act of 2000 (18 U.S.C. 3056 note) is repealed. 

3 (2) The table of sections for chapter 203 of title 

4 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting 

5 after the item relating to section 3056A the fol6 lowing: 

‘‘3056B. Functions of the National Threat Assessment Center of the United 

States Secret Service.’’. 

Æ 


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