I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5594 

To require the establishment of a national strategy for combating the 

financing of terrorism and related financial crimes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 28, 2016 

Mr. FITZPATRICK (for himself, Ms. SINEMA, and Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the establishment of a national strategy for combating the financing of terrorism and related financial 

crimes, 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 ‘‘National Strategy for 

5 Combating Terrorist, Underground, and Other Illicit Fi6 nancing Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 The Congress finds the following: 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 5594 IH

1 (1) The financing of terrorism and related 

2 forms of illicit finance present a direct threat to na3 tional security and a threat to global stability. 

4 (2) New terrorist groups or threats can form 

5 quickly, and other groups change tactics to adapt, 

6 creating a constantly changing terrorist environ7 ment, presenting ever-changing risks and challenges 

8 to programs to disrupt the financing of terrorism 

9 and related forms of illicit finance. 

10 (3) As demonstrated in hearings before the 

11 Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing, ter12 rorists in some instances have formed symbiotic rela13 tionships with, or are taking over, transnational 

14 crime syndicates, so that funding for both terrorism 

15 and profits from crime flow in the same fashion and 

16 often are indistinguishable. 

17 (4) Methods of concealing the movement of il18 licit funding change quickly in a globalized economy, 

19 and rapid technological changes and financial inno20 vation pose new risks that may be increasingly dif21 ficult for governments to stay abreast of without an 

22 agile, constantly adjusted strategy to spot, disrupt, 

23 and prevent the financing of terrorism and related 

24 forms of illicit finance. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 5594 IH

1 (5) A bipartisan requirement to create a na2 tional anti-money laundering strategy enacted in 

3 1998 expired in 2007. Given the rapid globalization 

4 and rapid technology changes of the financial sector, 

5 an updated strategy focused on the financing of ter6 rorism is necessary. 

7 (6) It is important for the Government to have 

8 a unified strategy to fight financial crime and to up9 date it annually, both to accommodate new and de10 veloping threats and to help Congress develop legis11 lative and funding priorities. 

12 (7) An effective strategy to counter terrorism 

13 financing is a critical component of the broader 

14 counter terrorism strategy of the United States. 

15 SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL STRATEGY. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President, acting through the 

17 Secretary of the Treasury (the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall, in con18 sultation with the Attorney General, the Secretaries of 

19 State, Defense, and Homeland Security, the Director of 

20 National Intelligence and the appropriate Federal banking 

21 agencies, develop a national strategy for combating the fi22 nancing of terrorism and related forms of illicit finance. 

23 (b) TRANSMITTAL TO CONGRESS.—By June 1 each 

24 year following the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

25 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 5594 IH

1 committees a national strategy developed in accordance 

2 with subsection (a) 

3 (c) EVALUATION OF EXISTING EFFORTS AND

4 BROADER STRATEGY.—The President shall accompany 

5 each strategy submitted under subsection (b) with a report 

6 that— 

7 (1) describes the effectiveness of efforts to en8 force existing prohibitions against illicit finance; 

9 (2) describes how the United States is address10 ing the highest levels of risk identified in the Na11 tional Money Laundering Risk Assessment and the 

12 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment pub13 lished by the Department of the Treasury; 

14 (3) evaluates the effectiveness of United States 

15 efforts to fight illicit finance at actually preventing, 

16 discovering, and countering terrorist financing and 

17 other forms of illicit finance (and the effectiveness of 

18 those efforts that the United States coordinates with 

19 foreign nations); and 

20 (4) describes how the strategy submitted under 

21 subsection (b) is integrated into, and supports, the 

22 broader counter terrorism strategy of the United 

23 States. 

24 (d) SEPARATE PRESENTATION OF CLASSIFIED MA25 TERIAL.—Any part of the national strategy that involves 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 5594 IH

1 information which is properly classified under criteria es2 tablished by the President shall be submitted to the Con3 gress separately in a classified annex and, if requested by 

4 the chairman or ranking Member of one of the appropriate 

5 congressional committees, as a briefing at an appropriate 

6 level of security. 

7 SEC. 4. CONTENTS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The strategy described under sec9 tion 3 shall contain, at a minimum, the following: 

10 (1) THREATS, GOALS, OBJECTIVES, AND PRIOR11 ITIES.—A comprehensive, research-based, long12 range, quantifiable discussion of threats, goals, ob13 jectives, and priorities for disrupting, preventing and 

14 reducing the number, dollar value, and effects of il15 licit finance in the United States and foreign coun16 tries that impact the security of the United States. 

17 (2) COORDINATION.—A discussion of methods 

18 to best coordinate such efforts with international, 

19 State, and local officials, law enforcement, regu20 lators, and financial institutions. 

21 (3) REVIEWS AND PROPOSED CHANGES.—Re22 views of enforcement efforts, relevant regulations 

23 and relevant provisions of law and, when appro24 priate, discussions of proposed changes determined 

25 to be appropriate to ensure that the United States 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 5594 IH

1 pursues coordinated and effective efforts at all levels 

2 of government in the fight against illicit finance and 

3 with international partners. 

4 (4) DETECTION AND PROSECUTION INITIA5 TIVES.—A description of efforts to improve detection 

6 and prosecution of illicit finance, including efforts to 

7 ensure that— 

8 (A) subject to legal restrictions, all appro9 priate data collected by the Government that is 

10 relevant to the efforts described in this Act be 

11 available in a timely fashion to all appropriate 

12 Federal departments and agencies and, as ap13 propriate and consistent with section 314 of the 

14 USA PATRIOT Act, to financial institutions to 

15 assist them in efforts to comply with laws 

16 aimed at curbing illicit finance; and 

17 (B) appropriate efforts are undertaken to 

18 ensure that Federal departments and agencies 

19 charged with reducing and preventing illicit fi20 nance make thorough use of publicly available 

21 data in furtherance of this effort. 

22 (5) THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE FINANCIAL

23 SECTOR IN PREVENTION OF ILLICIT FINANCE.—A 

24 discussion of ways to enhance partnerships between 

25 the private financial sector and Federal departments 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 5594 IH

1 and agencies with regard to the prevention and de2 tection of illicit money laundering finance, includ3 ing— 

4 (A) efforts to facilitate compliance with 

5 laws aimed at stopping such illicit finance while 

6 maintaining the effectiveness of such efforts; 

7 and 

8 (B) providing incentives to strengthen in9 ternal controls and to adopt on an industry10 wide basis more effective policies. 

11 (6) ENHANCEMENT OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL

12 COOPERATION.—A discussion of ways to combat il13 licit finance by enhancing— 

14 (A) cooperative efforts between Federal, 

15 State, and local officials, including State and 

16 local prosecutors and other law enforcement of17 ficials; 

18 (B) to the extent possible, cooperative ef19 forts among States and between State and local 

20 officials, including State and local regulators, 

21 prosecutors, and law enforcement officials; and 

22 (C) cooperative efforts with and between 

23 governments of countries and with and between 

24 multinational institutions with expertise in 

25 fighting illicit finance. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 5594 IH

1 (7) PROJECT AND BUDGET PRIORITIES.—A 3- 

2 year projection for program and budget priorities 

3 and achievable projects for reductions in illicit fi4 nance. 

5 (8) ASSESSMENT OF FUNDING.—A complete as6 sessment of how the proposed budget described 

7 under paragraph (7) is intended to implement the 

8 strategy described in this Act and whether the fund9 ing levels contained in the proposed budget are suffi10 cient to implement the strategy, including a discus11 sion of the extent to which funding for such efforts 

12 is or should be funded from fines, settlements, sei13 zures or forfeitures related to illicit finance. 

14 (9) TREND ANALYSIS.—Data regarding trends 

15 in illicit finance, with a special focus on the funding 

16 of terrorism. 

17 (10) ENFORCEMENT REPORT.—A report con18 taining an evaluation of the enforcement of policies 

19 to combat illicit finance. 

20 (11) ENFORCEMENT.—A discussion of the cur21 rent policies of the United States to enforce the pro22 visions of the Bank Secrecy Act and related laws re23 garding the financing of terrorism and other forms 

24 of illicit finance, together with recommendations for 

25 improving enforcement. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 5594 IH

1 (12) TREASURY ATTACHE ́S.—A discussion of 

2 the Department of the Treasury attache ́s, includ3 ing— 

4 (A) a list of embassies where Department 

5 of the Treasury attache ́s are posted and a dis6 cussion of their effectiveness in the fight 

7 against illicit finance; 

8 (B) a list of the United States embassies 

9 at which a Department of the Treasury attache ́

10 is assigned for temporary duty, the length of 

11 such assignments, and the reason why such as12 signments are not considered to be permanent 

13 assignments; 

14 (C) how the Department of the Treasury’s 

15 interests relating to economic and anti-terror fi16 nance issues are handled at other embassies, in17 cluding a discussion of the reporting structure 

18 by which such issues are brought to the direct 

19 attention of the ambassador; and 

20 (D) the effect of not having more attache ́s 

21 in embassies that are most vulnerable to illicit 

22 finance threats and a discussion of whether the 

23 Department of the Treasury’s economic or anti24 illicit finance issues are thought to be under25 represented in some embassies or regions. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 5594 IH

1 (13) ILLICIT FINANCE AND CYBER CRIME.—A 

2 discussion of terrorist financing and other forms of 

3 illicit finance that involve cyber attacks, evolving 

4 forms of value transfer, including so-called ‘‘crypto 

5 currencies’’, and other methods that are computer, 

6 telecommunications, or internet-based. 

7 (14) TECHNOLOGY.—An analysis of current 

8 and developing ways to leverage technology to im9 prove the effectiveness of the fight against the fi10 nancing of terror and other forms of illicit finance, 

11 including the use of ‘‘big data’’ analytics, the merg12 ing of publicly sourced data with Bank Secrecy Act 

13 data and with other forms of secure Government 

14 data to increase such effectiveness, and ways to en15 hance the role of the private sector in combating il16 licit finance. 

17 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

18 For purposes of this Act: 

19 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT20 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com21 mittees’’ means the Committee on Financial Serv22 ices, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on 

23 Armed Services, Committee on Homeland Security, 

24 and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

25 of the House of Representatives and the Committee 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 5594 IH

1 on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Com2 mittee on Foreign Relations, Committee on Armed 

3 Services, Committee on Homeland Security and Gov4 ernmental Affairs, and the Select Committee on In5 telligence of the Senate. 

6 (2) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL BANKING AGEN7 CIES.—The term ‘‘appropriate Federal banking 

8 agencies’’ has the meaning given that term under 

9 section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 

10 U.S.C. 1813). 

11 (3) BANK SECRECY ACT.—The term ‘‘Bank Se12 crecy Act’’ means— 

13 (A) section 21 of the Federal Deposit In14 surance Act; 

15 (B) chapter 2 of title I of Public Law 91– 

16 508; and 

17 (C) subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, 

18 United States Code. 

19 (4) ILLICIT FINANCE.—The term ‘‘illicit fi20 nance’’ means the financing of terrorism, money 

21 laundering, and other forms of illicit or underground 

22 financing or other illicit finance domestically and 

23 internationally, as defined by the President. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 5594 IH

1 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the several States, the District of Columbia, and 

3 each territory or possession of the United States. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS