I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2201 

To amend the National Security Act of 1947 to establish a committee of 

the National Security Council on hostage recovery, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 1, 2015 

Mr. DELANEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Armed 

Services and Select Intelligence (Permanent Select), 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 the National Security Act of 1947 to establish 

a committee of the National Security Council on hostage 

recovery, 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 ‘‘Warren Weinstein 

5 Hostage Rescue Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON 

2 HOSTAGE RECOVERY. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Section 101 of the National 

4 Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021) is amended by 

5 adding at the end the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(m) COMMITTEE ON HOSTAGE RECOVERY.—(1) 

7 There is established within the National Security Council 

8 a committee to be known as the Committee on Hostage 

9 Recovery (in this subsection referred to as the ‘Com10 mittee’). 

11 ‘‘(2) The Committee shall consist of the following 

12 members (or designees): 

13 ‘‘(A) An individual who is appointed by the 

14 President to serve as chair of the Committee. 

15 ‘‘(B) The Secretary of State. 

16 ‘‘(C) The Secretary of the Treasury. 

17 ‘‘(D) The Secretary of Defense. 

18 ‘‘(E) The Attorney General. 

19 ‘‘(F) The Director of the Federal Bureau of In20 vestigation. 

21 ‘‘(G) The Director of National Intelligence. 

22 ‘‘(H) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

23 Staff. 

24 ‘‘(I) The Assistant to the President for Na25 tional Security Affairs. 

26 ‘‘(3) The functions of the Committee shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(A) coordinating among the departments and 

2 agencies of the Federal Government and coordi3 nating among the United States and the allies of the 

4 United States regarding retrieval of United States 

5 person hostages; 

6 ‘‘(B) coordinating with the Interagency Fusion 

7 Cell on Hostage Recovery; 

8 ‘‘(C) developing strategies and guidelines for 

9 hostage retrieval and analyzing all options and 

10 methods of rescue; 

11 ‘‘(D) developing policies and procedures to ef12 fectively share information between departments and 

13 agencies of the Federal Government responsible for 

14 activities relating to hostage rescue; and 

15 ‘‘(E) developing a strategy to keep family mem16 bers of United States person hostages informed of 

17 the status of such hostages and inform such family 

18 members of updates, procedures, and policies that do 

19 not compromise the national security of the United 

20 States. 

21 ‘‘(4) The chair of the Committee may not have duties 

22 or responsibilities in the Federal Government other than 

23 such duties or responsibilities relating to serving as the 

24 chair of the Committee. 


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1 ‘‘(5)(A) On a quarterly basis, the Committee shall 

2 submit to the appropriate congressional committees and 

3 the members of Congress described in subparagraph (B) 

4 a report that includes a summary of— 

5 ‘‘(i) the general activities of the Committee and 

6 the Interagency Fusion Cell on Hostage Recovery 

7 during the period covered by the report; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) specific actions conducted during such pe9 riod by the Committee and the Interagency Fusion 

10 Cell on Hostage Recovery with respect to United 

11 States person hostages. 

12 ‘‘(B) The members of Congress described in this sub13 paragraph are, with respect to a United States person hos14 tage covered by a report under subparagraph (A), the Sen15 ators representing the State, and the Member, Delegate, 

16 or Resident Commissioner of the House of Representatives 

17 representing the district, that includes the United States 

18 person hostage. 

19 ‘‘(C) Each report under subparagraph (A) may be 

20 submitted in classified form. 

21 ‘‘(6) In this subsection: 

22 ‘‘(A) The term ‘Interagency Fusion Cell on 

23 Hostage Recovery’ means the Interagency Fusion 

24 Cell on Hostage Recovery established by section 

25 119C of this Act. 


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1 ‘‘(B) The term ‘United States person hostage’ 

2 means a citizen of the United States or an alien law3 fully admitted for permanent residence (as defined 

4 in section 101(a)(20) of the Immigration and Na5 tionality Act) who has been abducted or is suspected 

6 of having been abducted outside of the United 

7 States or is being held outside of the United 

8 States.’’. 

9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con10 gress that the President should appoint a Special Advisor 

11 on Hostage Affairs who— 

12 (1) serves as the chair of the Committee on 

13 Hostage Recovery of the National Security Council; 

14 (2) has extensive experience in foreign policy, 

15 counterterrorism, and hostage recovery; and 

16 (3) serves (or the designee of the Special Advi17 sor serves) as a primary liaison between the Federal 

18 Government and the family of a United States per19 son hostage (as defined in subsection (m) of section 

20 101 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 

21 3021), as added by subsection (a) of this section). 

22 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec23 tion, or the amendment made by this section, shall be con24 strued as authorizing the Federal Government to negotiate 

25 with a state sponsor of terrorism or an organization that 


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1 the Secretary of State has designated as a foreign terrorist 

2 organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration 

3 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 

4 SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY GROUP ON HOSTAGES. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Title I of the National Secu6 rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021 et seq.) is amended by 

7 adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 119C. INTERAGENCY GROUP ON HOSTAGES. 

9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an 

10 interagency group on hostages to be known as the ‘Inter11 agency Fusion Cell on Hostage Recovery’. 

12 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.—The chair of the Committee on 

13 Hostage Recovery established by section 101(m) of this 

14 Act shall serve as the director of the Interagency Fusion 

15 Cell on Hostage Recovery. 

16 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The Interagency Fusion Cell on Hos17 tage Recovery shall execute the strategies regarding hos18 tage retrieval of the Committee on Hostage Recovery. 

19 ‘‘(d) ELEMENTS.—The Interagency Fusion Cell on 

20 Hostage Recovery shall be composed of officials of the fol21 lowing departments or agencies of the Federal Govern22 ment who are proficient in hostage recovery strategy: 

23 ‘‘(1) The Department of State. 

24 ‘‘(2) The Department of the Treasury. 

25 ‘‘(3) The Department of Defense. 


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1 ‘‘(4) The Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

2 ‘‘(5) The Office of the Director of National In3 telligence. 

4 ‘‘(e) REPORTING.—The Interagency Fusion Cell on 

5 Hostage Recovery shall report to the Committee on Hos6 tage Recovery.’’. 

7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

8 for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relat9 ing to section 119B the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 119C. Interagency group on hostages.’’. 

Æ 


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