IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5594 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 12, 2016 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Strategy for 

3 Combating Terrorist, Underground, and Other Illicit Fi4 nancing Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 The Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) The financing of terrorism and related 

8 forms of illicit finance present a direct threat to na9 tional security and a threat to global stability. 

10 (2) New terrorist groups or threats can form 

11 quickly, and other groups change tactics to adapt, 

12 creating a constantly changing terrorist environ13 ment, presenting ever-changing risks and challenges 

14 to programs to disrupt the financing of terrorism 

15 and related forms of illicit finance. 

16 (3) As demonstrated in hearings before the 

17 Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing, ter18 rorists in some instances have formed symbiotic rela19 tionships with, or are taking over, transnational 

20 crime syndicates, so that funding for both terrorism 

21 and profits from crime flow in the same fashion and 

22 often are indistinguishable. 

23 (4) Methods of concealing the movement of il24 licit funding change quickly in a globalized economy, 

25 and rapid technological changes and financial inno26 vation pose new risks that may be increasingly difVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 13, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5594.RFS H5594

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1 ficult for governments to stay abreast of without an 

2 agile, constantly adjusted strategy to spot, disrupt, 

3 and prevent the financing of terrorism and related 

4 forms of illicit finance. 

5 (5) A bipartisan requirement to create a na6 tional anti-money laundering strategy enacted in 

7 1998 expired in 2007. Given the rapid globalization 

8 and rapid technology changes of the financial sector, 

9 an updated strategy focused on the financing of ter10 rorism is necessary. 

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

12 a unified strategy to fight financial crime and to up13 date it annually, both to accommodate new and de14 veloping threats and to help Congress develop legis15 lative and funding priorities. 

16 (7) An effective strategy to counter terrorism 

17 financing is a critical component of the broader 

18 counter terrorism strategy of the United States. 

19 SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL STRATEGY. 

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

21 Secretary of the Treasury (the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall, in con22 sultation with the Attorney General, the Secretaries of 

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

24 National Intelligence and the appropriate Federal banking 


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1 agencies, develop a national strategy for combating the fi2 nancing of terrorism and related forms of illicit finance. 

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

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

5 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

6 committees a national strategy developed in accordance 

7 with subsection (a). 

8 (c) EVALUATION OF EXISTING EFFORTS AND

9 BROADER STRATEGY.—The President shall accompany 

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

11 that— 

12 (1) describes the effectiveness of efforts to en13 force existing prohibitions against illicit finance; 

14 (2) describes how the United States is address15 ing the highest levels of risk identified in the Na16 tional Money Laundering Risk Assessment and the 

17 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment pub18 lished by the Department of the Treasury; 

19 (3) evaluates the effectiveness of United States 

20 efforts to fight illicit finance at actually preventing, 

21 discovering, and countering terrorist financing and 

22 other forms of illicit finance (and the effectiveness of 

23 those efforts that the United States coordinates with 

24 foreign nations); and 


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1 (4) describes how the strategy submitted under 

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

3 broader counter terrorism strategy of the United 

4 States. 

5 (d) SEPARATE PRESENTATION OF CLASSIFIED MA6 TERIAL.—Any part of the national strategy that involves 

7 information which is properly classified under criteria es8 tablished by the President shall be submitted to the Con9 gress separately in a classified annex and, if requested by 

10 the chairman or ranking Member of one of the appropriate 

11 congressional committees, as a briefing at an appropriate 

12 level of security. 

13 SEC. 4. CONTENTS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The strategy described under sec15 tion 3 shall contain, at a minimum, the following: 

16 (1) THREATS, GOALS, OBJECTIVES, AND PRIOR17 ITIES.—A comprehensive, research-based, long18 range, quantifiable discussion of threats, goals, ob19 jectives, and priorities for disrupting, preventing and 

20 reducing the number, dollar value, and effects of il21 licit finance in the United States and foreign coun22 tries that impact the security of the United States. 

23 (2) COORDINATION.—A discussion of methods 

24 to best coordinate such efforts with international, 


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1 State, and local officials, law enforcement, regu2 lators, and financial institutions. 

3 (3) REVIEWS AND PROPOSED CHANGES.—Re4 views of enforcement efforts, relevant regulations 

5 and relevant provisions of law and, when appro6 priate, discussions of proposed changes determined 

7 to be appropriate to ensure that the United States 

8 pursues coordinated and effective efforts at all levels 

9 of government in the fight against illicit finance and 

10 with international partners. 

11 (4) DETECTION AND PROSECUTION INITIA12 TIVES.—A description of efforts to improve detection 

13 and prosecution of illicit finance, including efforts to 

14 ensure that— 

15 (A) subject to legal restrictions, all appro16 priate data collected by the Government that is 

17 relevant to the efforts described in this Act be 

18 available in a timely fashion to all appropriate 

19 Federal departments and agencies and, as ap20 propriate and consistent with section 314 of the 

21 USA PATRIOT Act, to financial institutions to 

22 assist them in efforts to comply with laws 

23 aimed at curbing illicit finance; and 

24 (B) appropriate efforts are undertaken to 

25 ensure that Federal departments and agencies 


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1 charged with reducing and preventing illicit fi2 nance make thorough use of publicly available 

3 data in furtherance of this effort. 

4 (5) THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE FINANCIAL

5 SECTOR IN PREVENTION OF ILLICIT FINANCE.—A 

6 discussion of ways to enhance partnerships between 

7 the private financial sector and Federal departments 

8 and agencies with regard to the prevention and de9 tection of illicit money laundering finance, includ10 ing— 

11 (A) efforts to facilitate compliance with 

12 laws aimed at stopping such illicit finance while 

13 maintaining the effectiveness of such efforts; 

14 and 

15 (B) providing incentives to strengthen in16 ternal controls and to adopt on an industry17 wide basis more effective policies. 

18 (6) ENHANCEMENT OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL

19 COOPERATION.—A discussion of ways to combat il20 licit finance by enhancing— 

21 (A) cooperative efforts between Federal, 

22 State, and local officials, including State and 

23 local prosecutors and other law enforcement of24 ficials; 


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1 (B) to the extent possible, cooperative ef2 forts among States and between State and local 

3 officials, including State and local regulators, 

4 prosecutors, and law enforcement officials; and 

5 (C) cooperative efforts with and between 

6 governments of countries and with and between 

7 multinational institutions with expertise in 

8 fighting illicit finance. 

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

10 year projection for program and budget priorities 

11 and achievable projects for reductions in illicit fi12 nance. 

13 (8) ASSESSMENT OF FUNDING.—A complete as14 sessment of how the proposed budget described 

15 under paragraph (7) is intended to implement the 

16 strategy described in this Act and whether the fund17 ing levels contained in the proposed budget are suffi18 cient to implement the strategy, including a discus19 sion of the extent to which funding for such efforts 

20 is or should be funded from fines, settlements, sei21 zures or forfeitures related to illicit finance. 

22 (9) TREND ANALYSIS.—Data regarding trends 

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

24 of terrorism. 


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1 (10) ENFORCEMENT REPORT.—A report con2 taining an evaluation of the enforcement of policies 

3 to combat illicit finance. 

4 (11) ENFORCEMENT.—A discussion of the cur5 rent policies of the United States to enforce the pro6 visions of the Bank Secrecy Act and related laws re7 garding the financing of terrorism and other forms 

8 of illicit finance, together with recommendations for 

9 improving enforcement. 

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

11 the Department of the Treasury attache ́s, includ12 ing— 

13 (A) a list of embassies where Department 

14 of the Treasury attache ́s are posted and a dis15 cussion of their effectiveness in the fight 

16 against illicit finance; 

17 (B) a list of the United States embassies 

18 at which a Department of the Treasury attache ́

19 is assigned for temporary duty, the length of 

20 such assignments, and the reason why such as21 signments are not considered to be permanent 

22 assignments; 

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

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1 cluding a discussion of the reporting structure 

2 by which such issues are brought to the direct 

3 attention of the ambassador; and 

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

5 in embassies that are most vulnerable to illicit 

6 finance threats and a discussion of whether the 

7 Department of the Treasury’s economic or anti8 illicit finance issues are thought to be under9 represented in some embassies or regions. 

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

11 discussion of terrorist financing and other forms of 

12 illicit finance that involve cyber attacks, evolving 

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

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

15 telecommunications, or Internet-based. 

16 (14) TECHNOLOGY.—An analysis of current 

17 and developing ways to leverage technology to im18 prove the effectiveness of the fight against the fi19 nancing of terror and other forms of illicit finance, 

20 including the use of ‘‘big data’’ analytics, the merg21 ing of publicly sourced data with Bank Secrecy Act 

22 data and with other forms of secure Government 

23 data to increase such effectiveness, and ways to en24 hance the role of the private sector in combating il25 licit finance. 


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1 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For purposes of this Act: 

3 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT4 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com5 mittees’’ means the Committee on Financial Serv6 ices, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on 

7 Armed Services, Committee on Homeland Security, 

8 and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

9 of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

10 on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Com11 mittee on Foreign Relations, Committee on Armed 

12 Services, Committee on Homeland Security and Gov13 ernmental Affairs, and the Select Committee on In14 telligence of the Senate. 

15 (2) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL BANKING AGEN16 CIES.—The term ‘‘appropriate Federal banking 

17 agencies’’ has the meaning given that term under 

18 section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 

19 U.S.C. 1813). 

20 (3) BANK SECRECY ACT.—The term ‘‘Bank Se21 crecy Act’’ means— 

22 (A) section 21 of the Federal Deposit In23 surance Act; 

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

25 508; and 


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

2 United States Code. 

3 (4) ILLICIT FINANCE.—The term ‘‘illicit fi4 nance’’ means the financing of terrorism, money 

5 laundering, and other forms of illicit or underground 

6 financing or other illicit finance domestically and 

7 internationally, as defined by the President. 

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

9 the several States, the District of Columbia, and 

10 each territory or possession of the United States. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 11, 2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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