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death (hereafter ‘‘harm’’) incident to combat activities of 
the United States Armed Forces during contingency oper-
ations. 
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED IN REPORT.—The Sec-
retary shall include in the report the following: 
(1) A description of the authorities under laws 
in effect as of the date of the enactment of this Act 
for the United States to provide compensation, mone-
tary payments, or other assistance to civilians who 
incur harm due directly or indirectly to the combat 
activities of the United States Armed Forces. 
(2) A description of the practices in effect as of 
the date of enactment of this Act for the United States 
to provide ex gratia, solatia, or other types of condo-
lence payments to civilians who incur harm due di-
rectly or indirectly to the combat activities of the 
United States Armed Forces. 
(3) A discussion of the historic practice of the 
United States to provide compensation, other mone-
tary payments, or other assistance to civilian foreign 
nationals who incur harm due directly or indirectly 
to combat activities of the United States Armed 
Forces. 
(4) A discussion of the practice of the United 
States in Operation Enduring Freedom and Oper-
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ation Iraqi Freedom to provide compensation, other 
monetary payments, or other assistance to civilian 
foreign nationals who incur harm due directly or in-
directly to the combat activities of the United States 
Armed Forces, including the procedures and guide-
lines used and an assessment of its effectiveness. This 
discussion will also include estimates of the total 
amount of funds disbursed to civilian foreign nation-
als who have incurred harm since the inception of 
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring 
Freedom. This discussion will also include how such 
procedures and guidelines compare to the processing 
of claims filed under the Foreign Claims Act. 
(5) A discussion of the positive and negative ef-
fects of using different authorities, procedure, and 
guidelines to provide monetary assistance to civilian 
foreign nationals, based upon the culture and eco-
nomic circumstances of the local populace and the 
operational impact on the military mission. This dis-
cussion will also include whether the use of different 
authorities, procedures, and guidelines has resulted in 
disparate monetary assistance to civilian foreign na-
tionals who have incurred substantially similar harm, 
and if so, the frequency and effect of such results.
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(6) A discussion of the positive and negative ef-
fects of establishing general uniform procedures and 
guidelines for the provision of such assistance, based 
upon the goals of timely commencement of a program 
of monetary assistance, efficient and effective imple-
mentation of such program, and consistency in the 
amount of assistance in relation to the harm in-
curred. This discussion will also include whether the 
implementation of general procedures and guidelines 
would create a legally enforceable entitlement to 
‘‘compensation’’ and, if so, any potential significant 
operational impact arising from such an entitlement. 
(7) Assuming general uniform procedures and 
guidelines were to be established, a discussion of the 
following: 
(A) Whether such assistance should be lim-
ited to specified types of combat activities or op-
erations, e.g., such as during counterinsurgency 
operations. 
(B) Whether such assistance should be con-
tingent upon a formal determination that a par-
ticular combat activity/operation is a qualifying 
activity, and the criteria, if any, for such a de-
termination.
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(C) Whether a time limit from the date of 
loss for providing such assistance should be pre-
scribed. 
(D) Whether only monetary or other types 
of assistance should be authorized, and what 
types of nonmonetary assistance, if any, should 
be authorized. 
(E) Whether monetary value limits should 
be placed on the assistance that may be provided, 
or whether the determination to provide assist-
ance and, if so, the monetary value of such as-
sistance, should be based, in whole or in part, on 
a legal advisor’s assessment of the facts. 
(F) Whether a written record of the deter-
mination to provide or to not provide such as-
sistance should be maintained and a copy made 
available to the civilian foreign national. 
(G) Whether in the event of a determination 
to not provide such assistance the civilian for-
eign national should be afforded the option of a 
review of the determination by a higher ranking 
authority. 
(c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Secretary shall include 
in the report such recommendations as the Secretary con-
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siders appropriate for legislative or administrative action 
with respect to the matters discussed in the report. 
(d) SUBMISSION OF REPORT.—The report shall be sub-
mitted not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. The report shall be submitted in unclassi-
fied form, but may include a classified annex. 
Subtitle D—VOICE Act 
SEC. 1241. SHORT TITLE. 
This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Victims of Iranian 
Censorship Act’’or the ‘‘VOICE Act’’. 
SEC. 1242. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the United States— 
(1) respects the sovereignty, proud history, and 
rich culture of the Iranian people; 
(2) respects the universal values of freedom of 
speech and freedom of the press in Iran and through-
out the world; 
(3) supports the Iranian people as they take 
steps to peacefully express their voices, opinions, and 
aspirations; 
(4) supports the Iranian people seeking access to 
news and other forms of information; 
(5) condemns the detainment, imprisonment, 
and intimidation of all journalists, in Iran and else-
where throughout the world;