I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 401

To create an office within the Department of Justice to undertake certain 

specific steps to ensure that all American citizens harmed by terrorism 

overseas receive equal treatment by the United States government regardless of the terrorists’ country of origin or residence, and to ensure 

that all terrorists involved in such attacks are pursued, prosecuted, 

and punished with equal vigor, regardless of the terrorists’ country of 

origin or residence. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 28, 2003

Mr. ANDREWS (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. SOUDER, 

Mr. SCHROCK, Mr. SAXTON, and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To create an office within the Department of Justice to 

undertake certain specific steps to ensure that all American citizens harmed by terrorism overseas receive equal 

treatment by the United States government regardless 

of the terrorists’ country of origin or residence, and 

to ensure that all terrorists involved in such attacks 

are pursued, prosecuted, and punished with equal vigor, 

regardless of the terrorists’ country of origin or residence.
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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 ‘‘Koby Mandell Act of 

5 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Numerous American citizens have been 

9 murdered or maimed by terrorists around the world, 

10 including more than one hundred murdered since 

11 1968 in terrorist attacks occurring in Israel or in 

12 territories administered by Israel or in territories ad13 ministered by the Palestinian Authority. 

14 (2) Some American citizens who have been vic15 tims of terrorism overseas, especially those harmed 

16 by terrorists operating from areas administered by 

17 the Palestinian Authority, have not received from 

18 the United States Government services equal to 

19 those received by other such victims of overseas ter20 rorism. 

21 (3) The United States Government has not de22 voted adequate efforts or resources to the apprehen23 sion of terrorists who have harmed American citi24 zens overseas, particularly in cases involving terror25 ists operating from areas administered by the Pales-
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1 tinian Authority. Monetary rewards for information 

2 leading to the capture of terrorists overseas, which 

3 the government advertises in regions where the ter4 rorists are believed to be hiding, have not been ad5 vertised in areas administered by the Palestinian 

6 Authority. 

7 (4) This situation is especially grave in the 

8 areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, be9 cause many terrorists involved in the murders of 

10 Americans are walking free there; some of these ter11 rorists have been given positions in the Palestinian 

12 Authority security forces or other official Palestinian 

13 Authority agencies; and a number of schools, streets, 

14 and other public sites have been named in honor of 

15 terrorists who were involved in the murder of Ameri16 cans. 

17 (5) To remedy these and related problems, an 

18 office should be established within the Department 

19 of Justice for the purpose of ensuring equally vig20 orous efforts to capture all terrorists who have 

21 harmed American citizens overseas and equal treat22 ment for all American victims of overseas terrorism. 
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1 SEC. 3. ETABLISHMENT OF AN OFFICE IN THE DEPART2 MENT OF JUSTICE TO UNDERTAKE SPECIFIC 

3 STEPS TO FACILITATE THE CAPTURE OF TER4 RORISTS WHO HAVE HARMED AMERICAN 

5 CITIZENS OVERSEAS AND TO ENSURE THAT 

6 ALL AMERICAN VICTIMS OF OVERSEAS TER7 RORISM ARE TREATED EQUALLY. 

8 The President shall establish within the Department 

9 of Justice an office (hereafter the ‘‘Office’’) to carry out 

10 the following activities: 

11 (1) The Office shall assume responsibility for 

12 administration of the Rewards for Justice program 

13 and its web site, www.rewardsforjustice.com, and in 

14 so doing will ensure that—

15 (A) rewards are offered to capture all ter16 rorists involved in harming American citizens 

17 overseas, regardless of the terrorists’ country of 

18 origin or residence; 

19 (B) such rewards are prominently adver20 tised in the mass media and public sites in all 

21 countries or regions where such terrorists re22 side; 

23 (C) the names and photographs and sus24 pects in all such cases are included on the web 

25 site; and 
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1 (D) the names of the specific organizations 

2 claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks 

3 mentioned on the site are included in the de4 scriptions of those attacks. 

5 (2) The Office shall establish and administer a 

6 program which will provide notification for American 

7 victims of overseas terrorism or their immediate 

8 family to update them on the status of efforts to 

9 capture the terrorists who harmed them. 

10 (3) The Office shall assume responsibility for 

11 providing twice-annual reports to Congress as de12 fined by section 805 of the Admiral James W. 

13 Nance and Meg Donovan Foreign Relations Author14 ization Act, Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001. 

15 (4) The Office shall work with the other United 

16 States government agencies to expand legal restric17 tions on the ability of murderers to reap profits from 

18 books or movies concerning their crimes—the ‘‘Son 

19 of Sam’’ laws that currently exist in many States, so 

20 as to ensure that terrorists who harm American citi21 zens overseas are unable to profit from book or 

22 movie sales in the United States. 

23 (5) The Office shall endeavor to determine if 

24 terrorists who have harmed American citizens over25 seas are serving in their local police or security 
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1 forces. Whenever it is found that terrorists who have 

2 harmed American citizens overseas are serving in 

3 their local police or security forces, the Office shall 

4 alert those United States Government agencies in5 volved in providing assistance, directly or indirectly, 

6 to those forces, and shall request of those agencies 

7 that all such assistance be halted until the aforemen8 tioned terrorists are removed from their positions. 

9 (6) The Office shall undertake a comprehensive 

10 assessment of the pattern of United States indict11 ments and prosecution of terrorists who have 

12 harmed American citizens overseas, in order to de13 termine the reasons for the absence of indictments 

14 of terrorists residing in some regions, such as the 

15 territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority. 

16 The Office’s assessment shall then be provided to 

17 the Attorney General, together with its recommenda18 tions. 

19 (7) The Office shall endeavor to monitor public 

20 actions by governments and regimes overseas per21 taining to terrorists who have harmed American citi22 zens, such as naming of schools, streets, or other 

23 public institutions or sites after such terrorists. In 

24 such instances, the Office shall encourage other 

25 United States Government agencies to halt their 
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1 provision of assistance, directly or indirectly, to 

2 those institutions. 

3 (8) In instances in which specific organizations 

4 that claimed responsibility for acts of terrorism 

5 against Americans overseas subsequently became 

6 part of a governing regime with which the United 

7 States Government maintains diplomatic or other of8 ficial contacts, such as the Palestinian Authority, 

9 the Office will initiate negotiations to secure appro10 priate financial compensation for American citizens, 

11 or the families of such citizens, who were harmed by 

12 those organizations’ terrorism. 

13 (9) In cases where terrorists who have harmed 

14 Americans overseas, and are subsequently released 

15 from incarceration abroad, are eligible for further 

16 prosecution in the United States, the Office shall co17 ordinate with other government agencies to seek the 

18 transfer of those terrorists to the United States for 

19 further prosecution. 

20 (10) The Office shall strive to ensure that all 

21 terrorists who have harmed Americans overseas are 

22 treated by the United States Government as persona 

23 non grata, including, but not limited to, steps such 

24 as denying those individuals visas for entry to the 

25 United States; urging United States Government 
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1 agencies to refrain from political and diplomatic con2 tacts with those individuals; and instructing United 

3 States embassies and consulates to urge American 

4 visitors in those countries to refrain from patron5 izing businesses that are owned or operated by such 

6 individuals. 

7 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro9 priated for fiscal year 2003 and subsequent fiscal years 

10 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 

11 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated under 

12 subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until ex13 pended.

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