H. R. 4660
One Hundred Fifth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight
An Act
To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to provide rewards
for information leading to the arrest or conviction of any individual for the
commission of an act, or conspiracy to act, of international terrorism, narcotics
related offenses, or for serious violations of international humanitarian law relating
to the Former Yugoslavia, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I—DEPARTMENT OF STATE
REWARDS PROGRAM
SEC. 101. REVISION OF PROGRAM.
Section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of
1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘SEC. 36. DEPARTMENT OF STATE REWARDS PROGRAM.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established a program for the
payment of rewards to carry out the purposes of this section.
‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The rewards program shall be designed
to assist in the prevention of acts of international terrorism,
international narcotics trafficking, and other related criminal
acts.
‘‘(3) IMPLEMENTATION.—The rewards program shall be
administered by the Secretary of State, in consultation, as
appropriate, with the Attorney General.
‘‘(b) REWARDS AUTHORIZED.—In the sole discretion of the Sec-
retary (except as provided in subsection (c)(2)) and in consultation,
as appropriate, with the Attorney General, the Secretary may pay
a reward to any individual who furnishes information leading to—
‘‘(1) the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual
for the commission of an act of international terrorism against
a United States person or United States property;
‘‘(2) the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual
conspiring or attempting to commit an act of international
terrorism against a United States person or United States
property;
‘‘(3) the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual
for committing, primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction
of the United States, any narcotics-related offense if that offense
involves or is a significant part of conduct that involves—
‘‘(A) a violation of United States narcotics laws such
that the individual would be a major violator of such laws;
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‘‘(B) the killing or kidnapping of—
‘‘(i) any officer, employee, or contract employee
of the United States Government while such individual
is engaged in official duties, or on account of that
individual’s official duties, in connection with the
enforcement of United States narcotics laws or the
implementing of United States narcotics control objec-
tives; or
‘‘(ii) a member of the immediate family of any
such individual on account of that individual’s official
duties, in connection with the enforcement of United
States narcotics laws or the implementing of United
States narcotics control objectives; or
‘‘(C) an attempt or conspiracy to commit any act
described in subparagraph (A) or (B);
‘‘(4) the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual
aiding or abetting in the commission of an act described in
paragraph (1), (2), or (3); or
‘‘(5) the prevention, frustration, or favorable resolution of
an act described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3).
‘‘(c) COORDINATION.—
‘‘(1) PROCEDURES.—To ensure that the payment of rewards
pursuant to this section does not duplicate or interfere with
the payment of informants or the obtaining of evidence or
information, as authorized to the Department of Justice, the
offering, administration, and payment of rewards under this
section, including procedures for—
‘‘(A) identifying individuals, organizations, and offenses
with respect to which rewards will be offered;
‘‘(B) the publication of rewards;
‘‘(C) the offering of joint rewards with foreign govern-
ments;
‘‘(D) the receipt and analysis of data; and
‘‘(E) the payment and approval of payment,
shall be governed by procedures developed by the Secretary
of State, in consultation with the Attorney General.
‘‘(2) PRIOR APPROVAL OF ATTORNEY GENERAL REQUIRED.—
Before making a reward under this section in a matter over
which there is Federal criminal jurisdiction, the Secretary of
State shall obtain the concurrence of the Attorney General.
‘‘(d) FUNDING.—
‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Notwithstanding
section 102 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal
Years 1986 and 1987 (Public Law 99–93; 99 Stat. 408), but
subject to paragraph (2), there are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Department of State from time to time such
amounts as may be necessary to carry out this section.
‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—No amount of funds may be appropriated
under paragraph (1) which, when added to the unobligated
balance of amounts previously appropriated to carry out this
section, would cause such amounts to exceed $15,000,000.
‘‘(3) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—To the maximum extent prac-
ticable, funds made available to carry out this section should
be distributed equally for the purpose of preventing acts of
international terrorism and for the purpose of preventing inter-
national narcotics trafficking.
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‘‘(4) PERIOD OF AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated under
paragraph (1) shall remain available until expended.
‘‘(e) LIMITATIONS AND CERTIFICATION.—
‘‘(1) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—No reward paid under this section
may exceed $5,000,000.
‘‘(2) APPROVAL.—A reward under this section of more than
$100,000 may not be made without the approval of the Sec-
retary.
‘‘(3) CERTIFICATION
FOR
PAYMENT.—Any reward granted
under this section shall be approved and certified for payment
by the Secretary.
‘‘(4) NONDELEGATION
OF
AUTHORITY.—The authority to
approve rewards of more than $100,000 set forth in paragraph
(2) may not be delegated.
‘‘(5) PROTECTION MEASURES.—If the Secretary determines
that the identity of the recipient of a reward or of the members
of the recipient’s immediate family must be protected, the Sec-
retary may take such measures in connection with the payment
of the reward as he considers necessary to effect such protection.
‘‘(f ) INELIGIBILITY.—An officer or employee of any entity of
Federal, State, or local government or of a foreign government
who, while in the performance of his or her official duties, furnishes
information described in subsection (b) shall not be eligible for
a reward under this section.
‘‘(g) REPORTS.—
‘‘(1) REPORTS ON PAYMENT OF REWARDS.—Not later than
30 days after the payment of any reward under this section,
the Secretary shall submit a report to the appropriate congres-
sional committees with respect to such reward. The report,
which may be submitted in classified form if necessary, shall
specify the amount of the reward paid, to whom the reward
was paid, and the acts with respect to which the reward was
paid. The report shall also discuss the significance of the
information for which the reward was paid in dealing with
those acts.
‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 60 days after the
end of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit a report
to the appropriate congressional committees with respect to
the operation of the rewards program. The report shall provide
information on the total amounts expended during the fiscal
year ending in that year to carry out this section, including
amounts expended to publicize the availability of rewards.
‘‘(h) PUBLICATION REGARDING REWARDS OFFERED BY FOREIGN
GOVERNMENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec-
tion, in the sole discretion of the Secretary, the resources of the
rewards program shall be available for the publication of rewards
offered by foreign governments regarding acts of international
terrorism which do not involve United States persons or property
or a violation of the narcotics laws of the United States.
‘‘(i) DETERMINATIONS
OF
THE SECRETARY.—A determination
made by the Secretary under this section shall be final and conclu-
sive and shall not be subject to judicial review.
‘‘( j) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
‘‘(1) ACT OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM.—The term ‘act of
international terrorism’ includes—
‘‘(A) any act substantially contributing to the acquisi-
tion of unsafeguarded special nuclear material (as defined
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in paragraph (8) of section 830 of the Nuclear Proliferation
Prevention Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 3201 note)) or any
nuclear explosive device (as defined in paragraph (4) of
that section) by an individual, group, or non-nuclear-
weapon state (as defined in paragraph (5) of that section);
and
‘‘(B) any act, as determined by the Secretary, which
materially supports the conduct of international terrorism,
including the counterfeiting of United States currency or
the illegal use of other monetary instruments by an individ-
ual, group, or country supporting international terrorism
as determined for purposes of section 6( j)(1)(A) of the
Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App.
2405( j)(1)(A)).
‘‘(2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—The term
‘appropriate congressional committees’ means the Committee
on International Relations of the House of Representatives
and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
‘‘(3) MEMBER OF THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY.—The term ‘mem-
ber of the immediate family’, with respect to an individual,
includes—
‘‘(A) a spouse, parent, brother, sister, or child of the
individual;
‘‘(B) a person with respect to whom the individual
stands in loco parentis; and
‘‘(C) any person not covered by subparagraph (A) or
(B) who is living in the individual’s household and is related
to the individual by blood or marriage.
‘‘(4) REWARDS
PROGRAM.—The term ‘rewards program’
means the program established in subsection (a)(1).
‘‘(5) UNITED STATES NARCOTICS LAWS.—The term ‘United
States narcotics laws’ means the laws of the United States
for the prevention and control of illicit trafficking in controlled
substances (as such term is defined in section 102(6) of the
Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(6))).
‘‘(6) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term ‘United States per-
son’ means—
‘‘(A) a citizen or national of the United States; and
‘‘(B) an alien lawfully present in the United States.’’.
SEC. 102. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING INDIVIDUALS
SOUGHT FOR SERIOUS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN LAW RELATING TO THE FORMER YUGO-
SLAVIA.
(a) AUTHORITY.—In the sole discretion of the Secretary of State
(except as provided in subsection (b)(2)) and in consultation, as
appropriate, with the Attorney General, the Secretary may pay
a reward to any individual who furnishes information leading to—
(1) the arrest or conviction in any country; or
(2) the transfer to, or conviction by, the International Crimi-
nal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia,
of any individual who is the subject of an indictment confirmed
by a judge of such tribunal for serious violations of international
humanitarian law as defined under the statute of such tribunal.
(b) PROCEDURES.—
(1) To ensure that the payment of rewards pursuant to
this section does not duplicate or interfere with the payment
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of informants or the obtaining of evidence or information, as
authorized to the Department of Justice, subject to paragraph
(3), the offering, administration, and payment of rewards under
this section, including procedures for—
(A) identifying individuals, organizations, and offenses
with respect to which rewards will be offered;
(B) the publication of rewards;
(C) the offering of joint rewards with foreign govern-
ments;
(D) the receipt and analysis of data; and
(E) the payment and approval of payment,
shall be governed by procedures developed by the Secretary
of State, in consultation with the Attorney General.
(2) Before making a reward under this section in a matter
over which there is Federal criminal jurisdiction, the Secretary
of State shall obtain the concurrence of the Attorney General.
(3) Rewards under this section shall be subject to any
requirements or limitations that apply to rewards under section
36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956
(22 U.S.C. 2708) with respect to the ineligibility of government
employees for rewards, maximum reward amount, and proce-
dures for the approval and certification of rewards for payment.
(c) REFERENCE.—For the purposes of subsection (a), the statute
of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
means the Annex to the Report of the Secretary General of the
United Nations pursuant to paragraph 2 of Security Council Resolu-
tion 827 (1993) (S/25704).
(d) DETERMINATION OF THE SECRETARY.—A determination made
by the Secretary of State under this section shall be final and
conclusive and shall not be subject to judicial review.
(e) PRIORITY.—Rewards under this section may be paid from
funds authorized to carry out section 36 of the State Department
Basic Authorities Act of 1956. In the Administration and payment
of rewards under the rewards program of section 36 of the State
Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956, the Secretary of State
shall ensure that priority is given for payments to individuals
described in section 36 of that Act and that funds paid under
this section are paid only after any and all due and payable
demands are met under section 36 of that Act.
(f ) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall inform the appropriate
committees of rewards paid under this section in the same manner
as required by section 36(g) of the State Department Basic Authori-
ties Act of 1956.
TITLE II—EXTRADITION TREATIES
INTERPRETATION ACT OF 1998
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Extradition Treaties Interpreta-
tion Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 202. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that—
(1) each year, several hundred children are kidnapped by
a parent in violation of law, court order, or legally binding
agreement and brought to, or taken from, the United States;
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(2) until the mid-1970’s, parental abduction generally was
not considered a criminal offense in the United States;
(3) since the mid-1970’s, United States criminal law has
evolved such that parental abduction is now a criminal offense
in each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia;
(4) in enacting the International Parental Kidnapping
Crime Act of 1993 (Public Law 103–173; 107 Stat. 1998; 18
U.S.C. 1204), Congress recognized the need to combat parental
abduction by making the act of international parental kidnap-
ping a Federal criminal offense;
(5) many of the extradition treaties to which the United
States is a party specifically list the offenses that are extra-
ditable and use the word ‘‘kidnapping’’, but it has been the
practice of the United States not to consider the term to include
parental abduction because these treaties were negotiated by
the United States prior to the development in United States
criminal law described in paragraphs (3) and (4);
(6) the more modern extradition treaties to which the
United States is a party contain dual criminality provisions,
which provide for extradition where both parties make the
offense a felony, and therefore it is the practice of the United
States to consider such treaties to include parental abduction
if the other foreign state party also considers the act of parental
abduction to be a criminal offense; and
(7) this circumstance has resulted in a disparity in United
States extradition law which should be rectified to better protect
the interests of children and their parents.
SEC. 203. INTERPRETATION OF EXTRADITION TREATIES.
For purposes of any extradition treaty to which the United
States is a party, Congress authorizes the interpretation of the
terms ‘‘kidnaping’’ and ‘‘kidnapping’’ to include parental kidnapping.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.