I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8405 

To direct the Department of State to ensure persons representing the United 

States in international athletic competitions in certain countries are appropriately informed, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 

Mr. MCCAUL (for himself and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Department of State to ensure persons representing the United States in international athletic competitions in certain countries are appropriately informed, 

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 ‘‘American Values and 

5 Security in International Athletics Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In 2017, the International Olympic Com2 mittee (IOC) revised its Host City Contract to re3 quire host countries to ‘‘protect and respect human 

4 rights and ensure any violation of human rights is 

5 remedied in a manner consistent with international 

6 agreements, laws, and regulations applicable in the 

7 Host Country and in a manner consistent with all 

8 internationally recognised human rights standards 

9 and principles, including the United Nations Guiding 

10 Principles on Business and Human Rights, applica11 ble in the Host Country’’. 

12 (2) The Olympic Charter states the goal of 

13 Olympism is ‘‘to place sport at the service of the 

14 harmonious development of humankind, with a view 

15 to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the 

16 preservation of human dignity’’. 

17 (3) The IOC set up an advisory committee on 

18 human rights in December 2018, and IOC President 

19 Thomas Bach said, ‘‘Promoting humanistic values in 

20 sport has been a core feature of the IOC since its 

21 beginning. Our mission, to put sport at the service 

22 of humanity, goes hand-in-hand with human rights, 

23 which is part of our DNA.’’. 

24 (4) In the report, ‘‘The Cybersecurity of Olym25 pic Sports: New Opportunities, New Risks’’, the UC 


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1 Berkley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity listed 

2 the ‘‘hacking and release of sensitive athletic data’’ 

3 as one of the four significant categories of 

4 cyberattacks on major sporting events. 

5 (5) According to the State Department’s 2019 

6 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the 

7 People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Public Se8 curity employs ‘‘tens of millions of surveillance cam9 eras’’ to monitor the general public, as well as ‘‘po10 litical dissidents, religious leaders and adherents, Ti11 betans, and Uyghurs’’. 

12 (6) The People’s Republic of China (PRC) Gov13 ernment’s extensive use of artificial intelligence sur14 veillance technology, including facial and voice pat15 tern recognition technology, poses grave humani16 tarian, privacy, and security concerns. PRC authori17 ties have used surveillance technology to monitor, 

18 control, and repress an estimated 1.8 million 

19 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the 

20 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. PRC State 

21 media has confirmed that ‘‘voice, image, position 

22 and behavior recognition technologies’’ will be used 

23 in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. 


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1 SEC. 3. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS FOR AMERICAN ATH2 LETIC DELEGATIONS. 

3 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that individuals representing the United States at 

5 international athletic competitions in foreign countries 

6 should have the opportunity to be informed about human 

7 rights and security concerns in such countries and how 

8 best to safeguard their personal security and privacy. 

9 (b) IN GENERAL.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

11 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec12 retary of State shall devise and implement a strategy 

13 for disseminating briefing materials, including infor14 mation described in subsection (c), to individuals 

15 representing the United States at international ath16 letic competitions in a covered country. 

17 (2) TIMING AND FORM OF MATERIALS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The briefing materials 

19 referred to in paragraph (1) shall be offered not 

20 later than 180 days prior to the commencement 

21 of an international athletic competition in a 

22 covered country. 

23 (B) FORM OF DELIVERY.—Briefing mate24 rials related to the human rights record of cov25 ered countries may be delivered electronically or 

26 disseminated in person, as appropriate. 


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1 (C) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—Informa2 tion briefing materials related to personal secu3 rity risks may be offered electronically, in writ4 ten format, by video teleconference, or 

5 prerecorded video. 

6 (3) CONSULTATIONS.—In devising and imple7 menting the strategy required under paragraph (1), 

8 the Secretary of State shall consult with the fol9 lowing: 

10 (A) The Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

11 the House of Representatives and the Com12 mittee on Foreign Relations in the Senate, not 

13 later than 90 days after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act. 

15 (B) Leading human rights nongovern16 mental organizations and relevant subject-mat17 ter experts in determining the content of the 

18 briefings required under this subsection. 

19 (C) The United States Olympic and 

20 Paralympic Committee and the national gov21 erning bodies of amateur sports that play a role 

22 in determining which individuals represent the 

23 United States in international athletic competi24 tions, regarding the most appropriate and effec25 tive method to disseminate briefing materials. 


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1 (c) CONTENT OF BRIEFINGS.—The briefing mate2 rials required under subsection (b) shall include, with re3 spect to a covered country hosting an international athletic 

4 competition in which individuals may represent the United 

5 States, the following: 

6 (1) Information on the human rights concerns 

7 present in such covered country, as described in the 

8 Department of State’s Annual Country Reports on 

9 Human Rights Practices. 

10 (2) Information, as applicable, on risks such in11 dividuals may face to their personal and digital pri12 vacy and security, and recommended measures to 

13 safeguard against certain forms of foreign intel14 ligence targeting, as appropriate. 

15 (d) COVERED COUNTRY DEFINED.—In this section, 

16 the term ‘‘covered country’’ means, with respect to a coun17 try hosting an international athletic competition in which 

18 individuals representing the United States may partici19 pate, any of the following: 

20 (1) Any Communist country specified in sub21 section (f) of section 620 of the Foreign Assistance 

22 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2370(f)). 

23 (2) Any country ranked as a Tier 3 country in 

24 the most recent Department of State’s annual Traf25 ficking in Persons Report. 


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1 (3) Any other country the Secretary of State 

2 determines present serious human rights concerns 

3 for the purpose of informing such individuals. 

4 (4) Any country the Secretary of State, in con5 sultation with other cabinet officials as appropriate, 

6 determines presents a serious counterintelligence 

7 risk. 

Æ 


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