I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4507 

To protect Saudi dissidents in the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 

Mr. CONNOLLY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 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 protect Saudi dissidents in the United States, 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 ‘‘Protection of Saudi 

5 Dissidents Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and 

9 Washington Post columnist, was killed and disVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Oct 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4507.IH H4507

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1 membered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Tur2 key on October 2, 2018, by agents with close ties to 

3 the Government of Saudi Arabia. 

4 (2) Khashoggi was a longtime resident of the 

5 United States, living in Virginia under an ‘‘O’’ visa 

6 and was in the process of applying for a permanent 

7 residency. Two of his four children are United 

8 States citizens. 

9 (3) For many years, Khashoggi wrote on Saudi 

10 political and cultural issues and after criticisms of 

11 Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Khashoggi 

12 chose to reside in the United States due to his grow13 ing fear of arrest in Saudi Arabia. From a self-im14 posed exile, he wrote monthly columns in the Wash15 ington Post, including columns that criticized var16 ious Saudi policies. 

17 (4) On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi visited the 

18 Saudi consulate in Istanbul with his fiance ́e to con19 duct routine consular matters. She waited for him 

20 for over ten hours outside the consulate, but he 

21 never re-emerged. The Turkish authorities subse22 quently reported that Khashoggi was murdered in23 side the Saudi consulate. 

24 (5) For over two weeks following the murder, 

25 Saudi Arabia denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s 


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1 whereabouts and claimed the allegations were 

2 ‘‘false’’ and ‘‘baseless’’. However, on October 20, 

3 2018, state television in Saudi Arabia reported that 

4 the journalist was murdered in a ‘‘rogue operation’’ 

5 under the orders of intelligence officers. 

6 (6) Though Saudi Arabia has detained 21 peo7 ple, dismissed two senior officials, and charged elev8 en people for Khashoggi’s murder, the Government 

9 of Saudi Arabia has denied that Saudi leadership or10 dered the killing and has refused to extradite any 

11 suspects to Turkey. 

12 (7) To date the United States Government has 

13 taken no actions to force an independent, inter14 national investigation of the killing of Jamal 

15 Khashoggi nor shown any willingness to hold ac16 countable the highest levels of Saudi leadership. 

17 SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS ON TRANSFERS OF DEFENSE ARTI18 CLES AND SERVICES, ANY DESIGN AND CON19 STRUCTION SERVICES, AND ANY MAJOR DE20 FENSE EQUIPMENT TO SAUDI ARABIA. 

21 (a) INITIAL PERIOD.—During the 120-day period be22 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

23 President may not transfer, sell, or authorize a license for 

24 export of any defense articles or services, any design and 

25 construction services, or any major defense equipment 


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1 under the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et 

2 seq.), regardless of the amount of such articles, services, 

3 or equipment, to an intelligence, internal security, or law 

4 enforcement agency or instrumentality of the Government 

5 of Saudi Arabia, or to any person acting as an agent of 

6 or on behalf of such agency or instrumentality. 

7 (b) SUBSEQUENT PERIODS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the 120-day period 

9 beginning on the day after the end of the 120-day 

10 period described in subsection (a), and every 120 

11 days thereafter, the President may not transfer, sell, 

12 or authorize a license for export of any defense arti13 cles or services, any design and construction serv14 ices, or any major defense equipment under the 

15 Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.), 

16 regardless of the amount of such articles, services, 

17 or equipment, to an intelligence, internal security, or 

18 law enforcement agency or instrumentality of the 

19 Government of Saudi Arabia, or to any person act20 ing as an agent of or on behalf of such agency or 

21 instrumentality, unless the President submits to the 

22 chairman and ranking member of the appropriate 

23 congressional committees a certification described in 

24 paragraph (2) with respect to such 120-day period. 


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1 (2) CERTIFICATION.—A certification described 

2 in this paragraph is a certification that contains a 

3 determination of the President that— 

4 (A) the Government of Saudi Arabia is co5 operating with an independent, international in6 vestigation into the murder of Jamal 

7 Khashoggi; 

8 (B) the Government of Saudi Arabia has 

9 released any individual who is a journalist, 

10 blogger, human rights defender, advocate for 

11 religious freedom, or civil society activist de12 tained by the Government of Saudi Arabia for 

13 such individual’s work; 

14 (C) the Government of Saudi Arabia is re15 fraining from arresting, detaining, and 

16 harassing individuals for blasphemy and apos17 tasy, and is protecting the equal rights of all 

18 citizens to freedom of religion or belief; 

19 (D) the Government of Saudi Arabia has 

20 taken verifiable steps to end the torture of de21 tainees; and 

22 (E) the Government of Saudi Arabia has 

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1 ation, silencing, or killing of dissidents in other 

2 countries. 

3 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE4 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres5 sional committees’’ means— 

6 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

7 Committee on Armed Services of the House of Rep8 resentatives; and 

9 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

10 the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate. 

11 SEC. 4. REPORT ON CONSISTENT PATTERN OF ACTS OF IN12 TIMIDATION OR HARASSMENT DIRECTED 

13 AGAINST INDIVIDUALS IN THE UNITED 

14 STATES. 

15 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

16 (1) Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act 

17 (22 U.S.C. 2756) states that no export licenses may 

18 be issued to any country determined by the Presi19 dent to be engaged in a consistent pattern of acts 

20 of intimidation or harassment directed against indi21 viduals in the United States. 

22 (2) Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act 

23 further requires the President to report any such de24 termination promptly to the Speaker of the House of 

25 Representatives, the Committee on Foreign Affairs 


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1 of the House of Representatives, and to the chair2 man of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

3 Senate. 

4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit 

6 to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep7 resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

8 the Senate a report on whether any official of the Govern9 ment of Saudi Arabia engaged in a consistent pattern of 

10 acts of intimidation or harassment directed against Jamal 

11 Khashoggi or any individual in the United States. 

12 (c) FORM.—The report required by subsection (b) 

13 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may contain 

14 a classified annex. 

15 SEC. 5. REPORT AND CERTIFICATION WITH RESPECT TO 

16 SAUDI DIPLOMATS AND DIPLOMATIC FACILI17 TIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 

18 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

19 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State and 

20 the Director of National Intelligence shall submit to the 

21 appropriate congressional committees a report covering 

22 the three year period before such date regarding whether 

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1 ass, or harm other Saudi nationals living in the United 

2 States. 

3 (b) CERTIFICATION.— 

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

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act and an6 nually thereafter for five years, the Secretary of 

7 State shall, if the Secretary determines that such is 

8 the case, submit to the appropriate congressional 

9 committees a certification that covered persons are 

10 not using diplomatic credentials or covered facilities 

11 to monitor, track, surveil, harass, or harm Saudi na12 tionals living in the United States during the time 

13 period covered by each such certification. 

14 (2) FAILURE TO SUBMIT CERTIFICATION.—If 

15 the Secretary of State does not submit a certifi16 cation under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 

17 (A) close one or more covered facilities for 

18 such period of time until the Secretary does 

19 submit such a certification; and 

20 (B) submit to the appropriate congres21 sional committee a report that contains— 

22 (i) a detailed explanation of why the 

23 Secretary is unable to make such a certifi24 cation; and 


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1 (ii) an identification of the locations 

2 of the covered facilities referred to in sub3 paragraph (A). 

4 (c) FORM.—Each report required by subsection (a) 

5 and the certification and report required by subsection (b) 

6 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may contain 

7 a classified annex. 

8 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT10 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com11 mittees’’ means— 

12 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

13 the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

14 of the House of Representatives; and 

15 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

16 and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

17 Senate. 

18 (2) COVERED FACILITY.—The term ‘‘covered 

19 facility’’ means a diplomatic or consular facility of 

20 Saudi Arabia in the United States. 

21 (3) COVERED PERSON.—The term ‘‘covered 

22 person’’ means a Saudi national credentialed to a 

23 covered facility. 


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1 SEC. 6. REPORT ON THE DUTY TO WARN OBLIGATION OF 

2 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

3 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that Intelligence 

4 Community Directive 191 provides that— 

5 (1) when an element of the intelligence commu6 nity of the United States collects or acquires credible 

7 and specific information indicating an impending 

8 threat of intentional killing, serious bodily injury, or 

9 kidnapping directed at a person, the agency must 

10 ‘‘warn the intended victim or those responsible for 

11 protecting the intended victim, as appropriate’’; and 

12 (2) when issues arise with respect to whether 

13 the threat information rises to the threshold of 

14 ‘‘duty to warn’’, the directive calls for resolution in 

15 favor of warning the intended victim. 

16 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

17 of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National In18 telligence shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

19 committees a report with respect to— 

20 (1) whether and how the intelligence community 

21 fulfilled its duty to warn Jamal Khashoggi of threats 

22 to his life and liberty pursuant to Intelligence Com23 munity Directive 191; and 

24 (2) in the case of the intelligence community 

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1 graph (1), why the intelligence community did not 

2 fulfill this duty. 

3 (c) FORM.—The report required by subsection (b) 

4 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may contain 

5 a classified annex. 

6 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT8 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com9 mittees’’ means— 

10 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

11 the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

12 of the House of Representatives; and 

13 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

14 and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

15 Senate. 

16 (2) DUTY TO WARN.—The term ‘‘duty to warn’’ 

17 has the meaning given that term in Intelligence 

18 Community Directive 191, as in effect on July 21, 

19 2015. 

20 (3) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

21 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 

22 such term in section 3(4) of the National Security 

23 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 

Æ 


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