(1) Transnational repression is not currently 
codified or defined in United States law. 
(2) The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines 
transnational repression as foreign government 
transgression of national borders through physical 
and digital means to intimidate, silence, coerce, har-
ass, or harm members of diaspora and exile commu-
nities. Transnational repression is often used to si-
lence individuals who oppose or are critical of a gov-
ernment, including journalists, human rights defend-
ers, religious or ethnic minority groups, and political 
opponents. Methods of transnational repression are 
known to include physical and digital stalking, har-
assment, computer hacking, criminal threats, as-
saults, attempted kidnappings, coerced repatriation, 
and detaining family members in the home country. 
(3) Transnational repression is not limited to 
physical acts of intimidation and harassment. Ac-
cording to Citizen Lab, ‘‘digital transnational repres-
sion’’ tools are used to facilitate government reach 
beyond borders to gain access to social media and 
email accounts, including through phishing attacks, 
zero-click spyware hacks, social media page take-
downs, SIM card hacks, and fake invitations to con-
ferences. For human rights activists and dissidents, 
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this has a serious impact on their advocacy work 
and sense of security, even if they have relocated to 
escape physical intimidation. 
(4) On February 23, 2022, the National Secu-
rity Division of the Department of Justice launched 
a ‘‘Strategy for Countering Nation-State Threats’’ 
in order to take a comprehensive, ‘‘whole-of-govern-
ment’’ approach to addressing threats the United 
States 
faces 
from 
hostile 
nations, 
including 
transnational repression. 
(5) Throughout 2022, the Department of Jus-
tice has charged a number of individuals with stalk-
ing, harassing, and spying, who allegedly perpetrated 
transnational repression to silence United States 
residents who were critics of the People’s Republic 
of China. 
(6) Transnational repression is a growing prob-
lem. As of August 2022, Freedom House has docu-
mented 735 direct, physical cases of transnational 
repression that took place between 2014 and 2021. 
(7) A total of 85 new incidents of transnational 
repression were recorded around the globe in 2021. 
Four governments, Algeria, Belarus, Comoros, and 
Nigeria, attacked exiles abroad for the first time last 
year, bringing the total number of states engaged in 
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transnational repression to 36. The number of host 
countries, or countries where acts of transnational 
repression took place, rose from 79 to 84, including 
the United States. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that hostile nations and 
authoritarian regimes have increasingly and aggressively 
targeted individuals in the United States. Agents of these 
governments have acted outside diplomatic channels to 
threaten, intimidate, harass, surveil, stalk, silence, and 
even plot to physically harm or kidnap persons within U.S. 
borders. Although transnational repression often involves 
actions that are already prohibited by U.S. law, their for-
eign government backing render these activities more egre-
gious than the underlying acts of intimidation or harass-
ment alone. Therefore, it is necessary to formally define 
and criminalize transnational repression in Federal law, 
and more actively track and report on instances 
transnational repression in the United States. 
SEC. 4. CRIMINALIZING TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION. 
(a) OFFENSE.—Chapter 45 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘§ 971. Transnational repression 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly commits an 
act of transnational repression shall be fined under this 
title and imprisoned not more than 10 years. 
‘‘(b) ATTEMPT OR CONSPIRACY.—Whoever attempts 
or conspires to commit an offense under this section shall 
be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for 
the offense, the commission of which was the object of the 
attempt or conspiracy. 
‘‘(c) EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.—There is 
extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction over an offense under 
this section. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) AGENT OF A FOREIGN POWER.—The term 
‘agent of a foreign power’ means an individual who 
operates subject to the direction or control of a for-
eign government or official. 
‘‘(2) 
EXTRAJUDICIAL
KILLING.—The 
term 
‘extrajudicial killing’ means an act with the intention 
to or in the knowledge that such act will end the life 
of another person, when that act is not incident to 
lawful sanction, public necessity, self-defense or the 
defense of others, or the law of armed conflict. 
‘‘(3) PROXY.—The term ‘proxy’ means an indi-
vidual acting on behalf of an agent of a foreign 
power. 
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‘‘(4) TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION.—The term 
‘transnational repression’ means any activity by a 
foreign government, or an agent of a foreign power 
or a proxy thereof, that meets each of the following 
criteria: 
‘‘(A) The activity involves— 
‘‘(i) any effort intended to intimidate 
or coerce, including by force or fear, a per-
son to take an action in the interest of a 
foreign government; 
‘‘(ii) any effort intended to intimidate 
or coerce, including by force or fear, a per-
son to take an action to forebear from ex-
ercising a right guaranteed to the person 
by the Constitution or laws of the United 
States; 
‘‘(iii) enabling an effort specified in 
clause (i) or (ii); or 
‘‘(iv) an extrajudicial killing. 
‘‘(B) The activity is engaged in for the 
purpose of stifling dissent against or otherwise 
advancing the interests of a foreign govern-
ment. 
‘‘(C) The activity— 
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‘‘(i) occurs, in whole or in part, in the 
United States; or 
‘‘(ii) is committed against— 
‘‘(I) a United States person; 
‘‘(II) a person in the United 
States; or 
‘‘(III) a person not specified in 
subclause (I) or (II) if the activity 
could reasonably be expected to result 
in the deprivation of any rights, privi-
leges, or immunities of such person 
secured or protected by the Constitu-
tion or laws of the United States. 
‘‘(5) UNITED
STATES
PERSON.—The term 
‘United States person’ has the meaning given such 
term in section 105A(c) of the National Security Act 
of 1947.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for chapter 45 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘971. Transnational repression.’’. 
SEC. 
5. 
CENTRALIZATION 
OF 
OVERSIGHT 
OF 
TRANSNATIONAL 
REPRESSION 
PROSECU-
TIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS. 
(a) NATIONAL SECURITY DIVISION.—The Attorney 
General shall centralize oversight of transnational repres-
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sion prosecutions in the National Security Division of the 
Department of Justice, or any successor organization. 
(b) COUNTERINTELLIGENCE DIVISION.—The Attor-
ney General, acting through the Director of the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation, shall centralize oversight of 
transnational repression investigations in the Counter-
intelligence Division of the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion, or any successor organization. 
(c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out oversight under 
this section— 
(1) the Assistant Attorney General for the Na-
tional Security Division of the Department of Jus-
tice may coordinate with other divisions of the De-
partment of Justice, as appropriate; and 
(2) the head of the Counterintelligence Division 
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation may coordi-
nate with other divisions of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, as appropriate. 
SEC. 6. REPORTING ON TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION. 
(a) REPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 
the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security 
Division of the Department of Justice and the Director 
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in consultation 
with the Director of National Intelligence and the head 
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of any other department or agency the Assistant Attorney 
General and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion determines appropriate, shall submit to the appro-
priate congressional committees a joint report on incidents 
of transnational repression against or otherwise impacting 
a United States person. Each report shall contain the fol-
lowing: 
(1) An overview of transnational repression in 
the United States or against United States persons 
outside of the United States, including the govern-
ments that perpetrate transnational repression and 
the tactics that they use. 
(2) A description of any activities that the As-
sistant Attorney General of the National Security 
Division of the Department of Justice or the Direc-
tor of the Federal Bureau of Investigation deter-
mines to be substantially similar to transnational re-
pression that do not fall within the definition of 
transnational repression. 
(3) A description of efforts during the previous 
calendar year to disrupt transnational repression 
through investigation and criminal prosecution. 
(4) A description of efforts during the previous 
calendar year by any agency of the United States 
Government to disrupt transnational repression 
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through means other than investigation and criminal 
prosecution, including through diplomatic means. 
(b) FORM.—Each report submitted under subsection 
(a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may in-
clude a classified annex. 
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on the Judiciary, the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Perma-
nent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
House of Representatives; and 
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary, the 
Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Select 
Committee on Intelligence of the Senate. 
(2) TRANSNATIONAL
REPRESSION.—The term 
‘‘transnational repression’’ has the meaning given 
the term in section 971 of title 18, United States 
Code, as added by section 4. 
Æ 
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