SECTION 1. AWARD OF PURPLE HEART TO MEMBERS OF 
THE ARMED FORCES KILLED OR WOUNDED 
IN TERRORIST ATTACKS WITHIN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) The Final Report of the National Commis-
sion on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 
(commonly known as the ‘‘9/11 Commission Re-
port’’) recognizes that there is a certain ideology 
that gives rise to terrorism. 
(2) This ideology, which gives rise to terrorism, 
can even influence citizens and residents of the 
United States to perpetrate attacks within the 
United States against members of the Armed 
Forces. 
(3) Two such attacks have already occurred 
within the United States, one at a recruiting station 
in Little Rock, Arkansas, on June 1, 2009, and one 
at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009. 
(4) According to investigative reports released 
by the Committee on Homeland Security of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 
Senate at least 34 threats, plots and strikes related 
to domestic terrorism against United States military 
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communities have been uncovered since September 
11, 2001. 
(5) These threats, plots and attacks dem-
onstrate that members of the Armed Forces are at 
risk of terrorist attack not only when deployed over-
seas but also while stationed within the United 
States. 
(6) The Department of Defense has recognized 
the threat posed by terrorist attacks, including those 
perpetrated by a member of the Armed Forces, by 
issuing revised regulations, including Army Regula-
tion 381–12 regarding the Military Intelligence 
Threat Awareness and Reporting Program, to re-
quire reporting of potential terrorist insider threat 
activity, to include if a member of the Armed Forces 
is ‘‘advocating the use of unlawful violence or force 
to achieve goals that are political, religious, or ideo-
logical in nature’’. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Secretary of Defense (and the Secretary of 
Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard) 
should duly honor those members of the Armed Forces 
who are killed or wounded in terrorist attacks within the 
United States that are inspired by the ideology that gives 
rise to terrorism, as defined by the Final Report of the 
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National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the 
United States (commonly known as the ‘‘9/11 Commission 
Report’’). 
(c) AWARD OF PURPLE HEART.— 
(1) AWARD REQUIRED.—Chapter 57 of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting after 
section 1129 the following new section: 
‘‘§ 1129a. Purple Heart: members killed or wounded 
by terrorist attacks perpetrated within 
the United States 
‘‘(a) For purposes of the award of the Purple Heart, 
the Secretary concerned shall treat a member of the armed 
forces described in subsection (b) in the same manner as 
a member who is killed or wounded in action as the result 
of an act of the enemy of the United States. 
‘‘(b)(1) A member of the armed forces described in 
this subsection is a member who the Secretary concerned 
determines was killed or wounded in a terrorist attack 
within the United States perpetrated by an individual or 
individuals expressing a political, religious or ideological 
obligation to engage in unlawful violence directed against 
United States military operations or foreign policy, as de-
scribed in Army Regulation 318–12 of October 2010 re-
garding the Military Intelligence Threat Awareness and 
Reporting Program. 
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‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘terrorist attack’ 
means the calculated use of unlawful violence or the threat 
of unlawful violence to inculcate fear and coerce or intimi-
date governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that 
are generally political, religious or ideological. 
‘‘(3) If a terrorist attack referred to in paragraph (1) 
includes, as victims, members of more than one armed 
force, the determination required by such paragraph shall 
be made jointly by the Secretaries of the armed forces con-
cerned. 
‘‘(c) In implementing this section, the Secretary con-
cerned shall make no distinction between ‘international 
terrorism’ and ‘domestic terrorism’, as those terms are de-
fined in section 2331 of title 18. 
‘‘(d) Subsection (a) shall not apply to a member of 
the armed forces whose death or wounding is the result 
of the willful misconduct of the member. 
‘‘(e) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted— 
‘‘(1) to affect the designation of any individual 
alleged to have perpetrated an attack referred to in 
subsection (b)(1) as an enemy combatant for any 
purposes under law; or 
‘‘(2) to preempt or otherwise affect any legal 
proceedings relating to such an attack.’’. 
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(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 
by inserting after the item relating to section 1129 
the following new item: 
‘‘1129a. Purple Heart: members killed or wounded by terrorist attacks per-
petrated within the United States.’’. 
(3) RETROACTIVE EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLI-
CATION.— 
(A) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments 
made by this subsection shall take effect as of 
January 1, 2009. 
(B) REVIEW OF CERTAIN PREVIOUS INCI-
DENTS.—The Secretaries of the military de-
partments (and the Secretary of Homeland Se-
curity with respect to the Coast Guard) shall 
undertake a review of each death or wounding 
of a member of the Armed Forces that occurred 
within the United States between January 1, 
2009, and the date of the enactment of this Act 
under circumstances that could qualify the 
death or wounding as being the result of a ter-
rorist attack within the United States to deter-
mine whether the death or wounding does qual-
ify as a death or wounding resulting from a ter-
rorist attack within the United States for pur-
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poses of section 1129a of title 10, United 
States Code, as added by this subsection. 
(C) ACTIONS FOLLOWING REVIEW.—If the 
death or wounding of a member of the Armed 
Forces reviewed under subparagraph (B) is de-
termined to qualify as a death or wounding re-
sulting from a terrorist attack within the 
United States for purposes of such section 
1129a, the Secretary of the military department 
concerned (or the Secretary of Homeland Secu-
rity with respect to a member of the Coast 
Guard) shall take appropriate action under 
such section to award the Purple Heart to the 
member. 
Æ 
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