I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4209 
To enhance the national interest and security of the United States and 
its European allies and partners by countering malign Russian influence, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 27, 2019 
Mr. ENGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To enhance the national interest and security of the United 
States and its European allies and partners by coun-
tering malign Russian influence, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Countering Russian 
Influence Through Interagency Coordination And Leader-
ship Act’’ or the ‘‘CRITICAL Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Foreign adversaries of the United States 
are currently using malign influence to disrupt, 
alter, and undermine United States foreign and do-
mestic policy and democratic processes at low cost 
and low risk to themselves. 
(2) In exporting malign influence, foreign ad-
versaries use ambiguity to their advantage, employ-
ing proxies, hackers, private sector companies, 
‘‘independent’’ research agencies, and other actors 
with varying degrees of separation from their gov-
ernments in an effort to obscure foreign government 
involvement and maintain deniability. 
(3) Since the Cold War, the Soviet Union and 
now the Russian Federation (in this Act referred to 
as ‘‘Russia’’) has attempted to use these types of 
tools of statecraft to influence the foreign and do-
mestic policies and actions of the United States gov-
ernment, as well as the beliefs and political decisions 
of America and its citizens. 
(4) The United States intelligence community 
has credibly concluded that Russia interfered in the 
2016 election for President of the United States, 
and European allies and partners have credibly con-
cluded that Russia attempted to influence several 
key European votes in 2016 and 2017, including the 
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Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and elec-
tions in the Netherlands, France, and Germany. 
(5) Russia has attempted to deter or derail as-
piring NATO members from achieving accession, as 
evidenced by their aggression against Ukraine and 
Georgia and the attempted violent coup in Monte-
negro in 2016 with the assistance of local Serbian 
nationalists. 
(6) Russia has leveraged its gas monopoly over 
Europe to influence politics and political decisions of 
our NATO allies and European Union partners, as 
it has done repeatedly in Ukraine and across East-
ern Europe. 
(7) Russia has attempted to finance fringe po-
litical movements in countries throughout Europe, 
using a network of oligarchs and organized criminal 
enterprises in an effort to obscure Kremlin involve-
ment. 
(8) Russia operates Russia Today (RT), Sput-
nik, and other state-sponsored media outlets in doz-
ens of languages across Europe and the United 
States to spread disinformation and undermine gov-
ernment and electoral systems. It also assaults 
American institutions and those of our European al-
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lies using cyber proxies, troll farms, and other tools 
in the information space. 
(9) The United States national security appa-
ratus has credibly concluded that Russia continues 
to utilize malign influence to undermine our democ-
racies and will continue to do so for the foreseeable 
future. 
(10) Parts of the United States Government 
interagency response, such as the Global Engage-
ment Center (GEC), were empowered to address 
specific elements of Russian malign influence, par-
ticularly disinformation. 
(11) The mission of the GEC is ‘‘to direct, lead, 
synchronize, integrate, and coordinate efforts of the 
Federal Government to recognize, understand, ex-
pose, and counter foreign state and foreign non-state 
propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at un-
dermining or influencing the policies, security, or 
stability of the United States and its allies and part-
ner nations’’. 
(12) The GEC plays an important role in coun-
tering the disinformation tactics used by foreign ad-
versaries and coordinating these responses across 
the United States Government. 
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(13) Russia’s use of a broad range of tools of 
malign influence, including disinformation, neces-
sitates a robust, dynamic, and coordinated United 
States Government interagency response. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that United States Gov-
ernment efforts to counter Russian malign influence 
should be led by the Department of State in close coordi-
nation with the Department of Defense, the intelligence 
community, and other relevant Federal departments and 
agencies and relevant private sector and civil society enti-
ties. 
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It shall be the policy of the United States to— 
(1) continually seek to strengthen the United 
States defenses, and the defenses of its European al-
lies and partners, against malign Russian influence 
by closing off vulnerabilities that Russia can exploit, 
including by strengthening civil society, media lit-
eracy, and cyber defenses; 
(2) clearly state the costs that should be im-
posed on Russia for its attempts to utilize tools of 
malign influence against the United States and its 
European allies and partners; 
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(3) proactively mitigate Russian attempts to in-
fluence or interfere with the United States and its 
European allies and partners through deterrence, de-
nial, and resilience measures such that the damage 
inflicted upon the United States and its allies and 
partners when attacks do occur is reduced; and 
(4) promote stronger ties with democratic coun-
tries around the world, understanding that the best 
defense against malign Russian influence is a strong 
democracy and respect for individual liberty and the 
rule of law. 
SEC. 5. RUSSIA INFLUENCE GROUP. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Russia 
Influence Group (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘RIG’’). 
(b) FUNCTIONS.—The RIG shall— 
(1) hold not fewer than two senior-level meet-
ings annually, at which all members are present, to 
coordinate and provide guidance on the interagency 
efforts to counter malign Russian influence in Eu-
rope and the United States; 
(2) hold not fewer than four working-level meet-
ings annually, at which the RIG shall— 
(A) conduct interim assessments and for-
mulate proposed improvements to the RIG’s ef-
forts to counter malign Russian influence in 
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Europe and the United States, which shall be 
presented at the senior-level meetings; 
(B) review monitoring and evaluation as-
sessments by the individual agencies, depart-
ments, and third-party evaluators for programs 
and efforts designed to counter malign Russian 
influence, with particular emphasis on programs 
designed to counter such influence in Europe 
and the United States; and 
(C) develop methods and plans for apply-
ing the results of such assessments to modify 
activities on an iterative basis across relevant 
Federal departments and agencies; 
(3) hold additional subgroup meetings on a reg-
ular basis with relevant Federal departments or 
agencies to address different tools of malign Russian 
influence individually, including election interference, 
disinformation, illicit finance, political influence and 
corruption, energy influence, and economic influence; 
(4) collaborate with United States embassies in 
each relevant country, and work with domestic and 
international actors, as appropriate, such as partner 
governments, intergovernmental organizations, non-
governmental organizations, academic institutions, 
private sector entities, and research institutions, to 
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counter malign Russian influence in a more effective 
and collective manner; and 
(5) provide recommendations and best practices 
that could be applied to countering malign Russian 
influence in other regions. 
(c) CHAIR AND MEMBERSHIP.—The RIG— 
(1) shall be chaired by the Assistant Secretary 
of State for European and Eurasian Affairs; 
(2) shall include representatives of— 
(A) the Department of State, including the 
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, the 
Global Engagement Center (GEC), and the Bu-
reau of Energy Resources; 
(B) the Department of Defense, including 
United States European Command; 
(C) the Department of Homeland Security; 
(D) the Department of Energy; 
(E) the Department of Justice; 
(F) the Department of the Treasury; 
(G) the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development; 
(H) the staff of the National Security 
Council; and 
(I) the Office of the Director of National 
Intelligence; and 
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