II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2885 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 8, 2012 

Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. PRYOR, 

and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and 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, 

3 SECTION 1. AWARD OF PURPLE HEART TO MEMBERS OF 

4 THE ARMED FORCES KILLED OR WOUNDED 

5 IN TERRORIST ATTACKS WITHIN THE UNITED 

6 STATES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 


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1 (1) The Final Report of the National Commis2 sion on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 

3 (commonly known as the ‘‘9/11 Commission Re4 port’’) recognizes that there is a certain ideology 

5 that gives rise to terrorism. 

6 (2) This ideology that gives rise to terrorism 

7 can even influence citizens and residents of the 

8 United States to perpetrate attacks within the 

9 United States against members of the Armed 

10 Forces. 

11 (3) Two such attacks have already occurred 

12 within the United States, one at a recruiting station 

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

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

15 (4) According to investigative reports released 

16 by the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

17 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

18 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

19 Senate at least 33 threats, plots, and strikes related 

20 to domestic terrorism against United States military 

21 communities have been uncovered since September 

22 11, 2001. 

23 (5) These threats, plots, and strikes dem24 onstrate that members of the Armed Forces are at 

25 risk of terrorist attack not only when deployed overVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:03 May 14, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2885.IS S2885

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1 seas, but also while stationed within the United 

2 States. 

3 (6) The Department of Defense has recognized 

4 the threat posed by terrorist attacks, including those 

5 perpetrated by a member of the Armed Forces, by 

6 issuing revised regulations, including Army Regula7 tion 381–12 regarding the Military Intelligence 

8 Threat Awareness and Reporting Program, to re9 quire reporting of potential terrorist insider threat 

10 activity, including when a member of the Armed 

11 Forces is ‘‘advocating the use of unlawful violence or 

12 force to achieve goals that are political, religious, or 

13 ideological in nature’’. 

14 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con15 gress that the Secretary of Defense (and the Secretary of 

16 Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard) 

17 should duly honor those members of the Armed Forces 

18 who are killed or wounded in terrorist attacks within the 

19 United States that are inspired by the ideology that gives 

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

21 National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the 

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

23 Report’’). 

24 (c) AWARD OF PURPLE HEART.— 


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

2 United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

3 section 1129 the following new section: 

4 ‘‘§ 1129a. Purple Heart: members killed or wounded 

5 by terrorist attacks perpetrated within 

6 the United States 

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

8 the Secretary concerned shall treat a member of the armed 

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

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

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

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

13 this subsection is a member who the Secretary concerned 

14 determines was killed or wounded in a terrorist attack 

15 within the United States perpetrated by an individual or 

16 individuals expressing a political, religious, or ideological 

17 obligation to engage in unlawful violence directed against 

18 United States military operations or foreign policy, as de19 scribed in Army Regulation 318–12 of October 2010 re20 garding the Military Intelligence Threat Awareness and 

21 Reporting Program. 

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

23 means the calculated use of violence or threat of violence 

24 to inculcate fear intended to coerce or to intimidate gov25 ernments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are genVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:03 May 14, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2885.IS S2885

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1 erally political, religious, or ideological, as described in the 

2 Army Regulation referred to in paragraph (1). 

3 ‘‘(3) In implementing this section, the Secretary con4 cerned shall make no distinction between ‘international 

5 terrorism’ and ‘domestic terrorism’, as those terms are de6 fined in section 2331 of title 18. 

7 ‘‘(4) If a terrorist attack referred to in paragraph (1) 

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

9 force, the determination required by such paragraph shall 

10 be made jointly by the Secretaries of the armed forces con11 cerned. 

12 ‘‘(c) Subsection (a) shall not apply to a member of 

13 the armed forces whose death or wound is the result of 

14 the willful misconduct of the member. 

15 ‘‘(d) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted— 

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

17 alleged to have perpetrated an attack referred to in 

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

19 purposes under law; or 

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

21 proceedings relating to such an attack.’’. 

22 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec23 tions at the beginning of chapter 57 of such title is 

24 amended by inserting after the item relating of sec25 tion 1129 the following new item: 


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

1 (3) RETROACTIVE EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLI2 CATION.— 

3 (A) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments 

4 made by this subsection shall take effect as of 

5 January 1, 2009. 

6 (B) REVIEW OF CERTAIN PREVIOUS INCI7 DENTS.—The Secretaries of the military de8 partments (and the Secretary of Homeland Se9 curity with respect to the Coast Guard) shall 

10 undertake a review of each death or wounding 

11 of a member of the Armed Forces that occurred 

12 within the United States between January 1, 

13 2009, and the date of the enactment of this Act 

14 under circumstances that could qualify the 

15 death or wounding as being the result of a ter16 rorist attack within the United States to deter17 mine whether the death or wounding does qual18 ify as a death or wounding resulting from a ter19 rorist attack within the United States for pur20 poses of section 1129a of title 10, United 

21 States Code, as added by this subsection. 

22 (C) ACTIONS FOLLOWING REVIEW.—If the 

23 death or wounding of a member of the Armed 

24 Forces reviewed under subparagraph (B) is deVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:03 May 14, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2885.IS S2885

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1 termined to qualify as a death or wounding re2 sulting from a terrorist attack within the 

3 United States for purposes of such section 

4 1129a, the Secretary of the military department 

5 concerned (or the Secretary of Homeland Secu6 rity with respect to a member of the Coast 

7 Guard) shall take appropriate action under 

8 such section to award the Purple Heart to the 

9 member. 

Æ 


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