[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 182 (Tuesday, December 15, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H9314-H9318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMBAT TERRORIST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACT OF 2015
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 3654) to require a report on United States strategy to combat
terrorist use of social media, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3654
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Combat Terrorist Use of
Social Media Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. REPORT ON STRATEGY TO COMBAT TERRORIST USE OF SOCIAL
MEDIA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report on United
States strategy to combat terrorists' and terrorist
organizations' use of social media.
(b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall
include the following:
(1) An evaluation of what role social media plays in
radicalization in the United States and elsewhere.
(2) An analysis of how terrorists and terrorist
organizations are using social media, including trends.
(3) A summary of the Federal Government's efforts to
disrupt and counter the use of social media by terrorists and
terrorist organizations, an evaluation of the success of such
efforts, and recommendations for improvement.
(4) An analysis of how social media is being used for
counter-radicalization and counter-propaganda purposes,
irrespective of whether or not such efforts are made by the
Federal Government.
(5) An assessment of the value of social media posts by
terrorists and terrorist organizations to law enforcement.
(6) An overview of social media training available to law
enforcement and intelligence personnel that enables such
personnel to understand and combat the use of social media by
terrorists and terrorist organizations, as well as
recommendations for improving or expanding existing training
opportunities.
(c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) should be
submitted in unclassified form, and may include a classified
annex in accordance with the protection of intelligence
sources and methods.
SEC. 3. POLICY AND COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO COUNTER
TERRORISTS' AND TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS' USE OF
SOCIAL MEDIA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report that
contains a comprehensive strategy to counter terrorists' and
terrorist organizations' use of social media, as committed to
in the President's 2011 ``Strategic Implementation Plan for
Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the
United States''.
(b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) should be
submitted in unclassified form, and may include a classified
annex in accordance with the protection of intelligence
sources and methods.
SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional
committees'' means the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the
Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland
Security, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations, the
Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on the
Judiciary, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the
Senate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include any extraneous material for the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this legislation, H.R.
3654. It is entitled the Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of
2015.
I want to recognize the leadership of Judge Ted Poe, a Member of this
body, on this critical issue.
The threats posed by Islamist terrorists have evolved, but the
administration's policies have not evolved. If we are going to prevent
additional attacks, then the President must lay out a broad,
overarching strategy needed to win. That strategy must include a plan
to counter terrorists' use of social media.
Terrorists are skillfully exploiting social media to recruit
supporters, to radicalize, to raise money, to spread fear. Two weeks
ago in San Bernardino, California, 14 innocent people were killed, and
21 people were injured by radical Islamist terrorists. We know these
extremists--husband and wife--used social media, with one of them
making a pledge on Facebook in support of ISIS. This pledge was
identified by Facebook and was taken down immediately.
Yesterday, it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security actually prohibited immigration officials from reviewing the
social media postings of all foreign citizens who were applying for
U.S. visas and that they only intermittently began looking at posts
from some visa applicants. So imagine a situation in which you have
people who are going to Syria, who are posting on social media, and you
have a blanket prohibition on reviewing those social media postings.
That was the state of the situation as we were trying to defend the
homeland.
Frankly, the failure of this administration to incorporate a review
of social media posts into the visa approval process is absurd.
Ignoring the online statements of terrorists who are trying to enter
the United States puts our country at risk. This must fixed.
This bill, frankly, is timely; it is important; and it forces the
administration to put forward a strategy to combat terrorists' use of
this social media. In 2011, the President promised to create that
strategy, but he never delivered anything. We are, simply, not going to
defeat ISIS or other terrorist groups without combating their social
media recruiting.
Following a bipartisan letter from Representatives Poe of Texas,
Engel, Sherman, and myself last March, Twitter strengthened its
policies to assert that statements threatening or promoting terrorism
were against Twitter's terms of service. Most of the other social media
companies have similar user guidelines that prohibit threats of
violence and the use of their platforms by terrorists.
We need a strategy that clearly articulates our country's goals, the
responsibilities of each Federal agency, what role each one will play,
a vision of how our government is going to work with the private
sector, and a vision of how we are going to pull civil society into
this effort. Without a strategy, the administration's effort to combat
terrorists' use of social media appears to be disconnected, and it
appears to be ineffective.
Then, of course, after we have that strategy, we are going to need
action. It is ironic that extremist groups have turned to Twitter, to
Facebook, and to YouTube in order to encourage attacks on a free
society when these companies would not have been created without there
having been a free society, one which upholds free speech, free
thought, and encourages entrepreneurship.
Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that the administration lays out how we
will contend with these terrorists in their hijacking of the social
network for their twisted purposes. We truly have, basically, a
caliphate today on the Internet--a virtual caliphate, if you will, on
the Internet. This bill by Judge Ted Poe is intended to force a
strategy to solve this problem.
I reserve the balance of my time.
[[Page H9315]]
House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence,
December 10, 2015.
Hon. Ed Royce,
Chairman,
House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Dear Chairman Royce: On December 9, 2015, your committee
ordered H.R. 3654, the ``Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media
Act of 2015,'' reported.
As you know, H.R. 3654 contains provisions within the
jurisdiction of the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence. On the basis of your consultations with the
Committee and in order to expedite the House's consideration
of the bill, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
will not assert a jurisdictional claim over the bill by
seeking a sequential referral. This courtesy is, however,
conditioned on our mutual understanding and agreement that it
will in no way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the
Permanent Select Committee with respect to the appointment of
conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the
subject matter contained in the bill or any similar
legislation.
I would appreciate your response to this letter confirming
this understanding and would request that you include a copy
of this letter and your response in the committee report for
the bill and in the Congressional Record during floor its
consideration. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Devin Nunes,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, December 11, 2015.
Hon. Devin Nunes,
Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for consulting with the
Committee on Foreign Affairs on H.R. 3654, the Combat
Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2015, and for agreeing
to forgo seeking a sequential referral of that bill to the
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure
does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of
your Committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives
on this bill or similar legislation in the future. I would
support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate
number of conferees to any House-Senate conference involving
this legislation.
I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 3564 into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill.
I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and
look forward to continuing to work with your Committee as
this measure moves through the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Edward R. Royce,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC, December 11, 2015.
Hon. Ed Royce,
Chairman,
Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Dear Chairman Royce: I am writing with respect to H.R.
3654, the ``Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of
2015,'' which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary. As
a result of your having consulted with us on provisions in
H.R. 3654 that fall within the Rule X jurisdiction of the
Committee on the Judiciary, I agree to discharge our
Committee from further consideration of this bill so that it
may proceed expeditiously to the House floor for
consideration.
The Judiciary Committee takes this action with our mutual
understanding that by foregoing consideration of H.R. 3654 at
this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction over subject
matter contained in this or similar legislation, and that our
Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as
this bill or similar legislation moves forward so that we may
address any remaining issues in our jurisdiction. Our
Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of an
appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate
conference involving this or similar legislation, and asks
that you support any such request.
I would appreciate a response to this letter confirming
this understanding with respect to H.R. 3654, and would ask
that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be
included in the Congressional Record during Floor
consideration of H.R. 3654.
Sincerely,
Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, December 11, 2015.
Hon. Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman,
House Committee on the Judiciary.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Thank you for consulting with the
Committee on Foreign Affairs on H.R. 3654, the Combat
Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2015, and for agreeing
to be discharged from further consideration of that bill.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure
does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the
Committee on the Judiciary, or prejudice its jurisdictional
prerogatives on this bill or similar legislation in the
future. I would support your effort to seek appointment of an
appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate
conference involving this legislation.
I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 3564 into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill.
I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and
look forward to continuing to work with your Committee as
this measure moves through the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Edward R. Royce,
Chairman.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of this measure that would push back against the
use of social media by terrorist groups.
Let me start by thanking Congressman Poe of Texas for introducing
this legislation. I am very glad to be an original cosponsor. I want to
thank Congressman Sherman for his hard work, and I want to thank, of
course, our chairman, Chairman Royce. This is a real bipartisan,
important, strong measure.
I think we need to be using every tool at our disposal to meet the
challenge posed by ISIS and other terrorist groups, and this bill will
help us to meet them on the virtual battlefield, which is where they
have been having such great success--on social media. Anyone who has
looked at the situation over the past months or years knows that the
one major difference is social media. Social media, of course, riles up
jihadists and also enables them to surreptitiously communicate in terms
of plotting terrorist attacks. We have to be one step ahead of them,
and we cannot let them be one step ahead of us.
That is why legislation like this is so important. I cannot think of
a conflict in the past in which our enemies have been able to broadcast
such horrific depictions of destruction and bloodshed, like we are
seeing from ISIS. We all know the images of Mohammed Emwazi, who was
known as Jihadi John, as he brutally murdered innocent people. Those
videos spread across the Internet with staggering speed, showing
everyone in the world the threat that ISIS posed and the tactics ISIS
fighters were willing to use. Fortunately, the administration's efforts
succeeded in taking him out, but we know there are far too many who are
waiting to take his place.
ISIS isn't just using social media to foment fear and panic. ISIS and
other groups have taken full advantage of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube,
and other platforms to spread their violent ideology, to recruit new
fighters, and to radicalize members of vulnerable and marginalized
populations. For example, as more and more information comes out about
the San Bernardino shooters, it is becoming clear that Tashfeen Malik
used Facebook to convey her commitment to violent extremism to overseas
contacts.
We need to find a way to deal with this challenge on social media
without violating free expression or privacy concerns. It is going to
require creative thinking, but I am confident that we can do it. We
have to do it. We don't have a choice but to do it. We have already
taken some steps. I worked with Chairman Royce and with Representatives
Poe of Texas and Sherman to push Twitter to make it easier for users to
report recruitment efforts. This is a small step to help with one of
the tools that ISIS is using, but they are constantly evolving, and we
need to keep looking for ways to push back.
That is where this legislation comes in. This bill would require the
administration to devise a strategy to combat terrorists' use of social
media and to foster greater collaboration between government and
private sector companies to help identify and stop terrorist activities
online. Again, we need to look for every advantage possible in taking
the fight to ISIS. This bill would help us push back on one of the ways
ISIS has achieved such a global reach.
Again, I commend Mr. Poe of Texas for his tireless efforts in
bringing in legislation to the floor. I commend the chairman as well
and Mr. Sherman. I support this measure, and I urge my colleagues to do
the same.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Poe), the author of this bill and the chairman of the Foreign
Affairs
[[Page H9316]]
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Representative
Sherman, on the other side, for cosponsoring this legislation; and I
want to thank Chairman Royce and Chairman Engel for being original
cosponsors of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, this is another piece of legislation that has come out
of the Foreign Affairs Committee--bipartisan, unanimously voted on, and
approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee, as much of our legislation
is.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank three staffers who have worked on
the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade--Luke Murry,
Oren Adaki, and Jeff Dressler, who now works with the majority leader's
staff. These three individuals know more about terrorism, I think, than
any three people on the Hill, and I want to thank them for their work
not only on this bill but on legislation in general.
As has been said, Mr. Speaker, terrorists' use of social media has
exploded over the last several years. A recent study by The Brookings
Institute found that ISIS now uses 40,000 Twitter accounts. Terrorists
use social media to do the following: to recruit others, to raise
money, to spread propaganda, and to even train future fighters.
This legislation deals with foreign terrorist organizations. We are
not talking about a person who claims to be a terrorist or who we think
is a terrorist. It is specifically dealing with foreign terrorist
organizations that are designated by our government.
The recipes for the bombs used at the Boston Marathon were in al
Qaeda's magazine, which was posted on social media before the attack.
The al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab live tweeted the attack on a Kenyan
mall that killed 72 people. The al Qaeda branch in Yemen, known as
AQAP, which is another terrorist organization, held a press conference
on Twitter, allowing users to submit questions that were then answered
by AQAP and were posted back on Twitter the following week--a
conference call by terrorists. In October, ISIS issued a new
instruction manual on how terrorists can use social media. Today,
wannabe terrorists don't have to go to the battlefield--to Syria--to
get trained. They can get trained online--like receiving college
credits--on how to be a terrorist and on how to be a fighter.
Nationwide, the FBI is currently investigating 900 potential lone
wolf terrorists in the United States. The Internet and social media
serve as their playbook to carry out attacks. Since March of 2014, 71
people in the United States have been charged with crimes related to
ISIS.
{time} 1615
Their backgrounds are very different, but nearly all of them had
spent time online voicing their support for ISIS. Later, they were
arrested after their online posts drew some attention by the FBI.
In 2011, as the chairman has said, the administration released a
report on countering violent extremists that recognized that online
radicalization was a growing problem. The administration promised a
strategy of how we can deal with this. Four years later, unfortunately,
we don't have a strategy, and we don't have a plan. This is a problem
because individual agencies are making their own unilateral decisions.
This week, we learned that the Department of Homeland Security did
not review the social media posts of Tashfeen Malik, who was granted a
fiancee visa, but posted her radical views on social media prior to
obtaining the visa.
The State Department does not know how to effectively counter
terrorist messaging because it does not have the expertise of the
intelligence community. The intelligence community approaches social
media as a ``capture everything'' because it has not been made clear
what it can do and what it cannot do. The FBI does not know how far it
should push social media companies to prohibit them from allowing
terrorist organizations' content on their sites.
So we must have a comprehensive strategy before we can effectively
defeat the enemy on the cyber battlefield. Mr. Speaker, all U.S.
departments really must be singing the same song on the same page in
the hymnal about how to defeat foreign terrorist organizations that use
social media--American social media companies.
I will say this: Facebook has done a fairly decent job of bringing
down terrorist sites, and Facebook has seen a drop in the number of
terrorists that try to use their site, but not all social media
companies have been as responsive to terrorism.
Mr. Speaker, we already have technology that is used to make sure
that child pornography is not posted online. Thanks to Hany Farid, the
chairman of the computer science department at Dartmouth College, who
invented a technology that is used with Microsoft. He said that we can
use that same protocol that we do to bring down child pornography to
bring down social media sites that deal with foreign terrorist
organizations' propaganda and their spreading of murder. Here is what
he said:
``There's no fundamental technology or engineering limitation. This
is a business or policy decision. Unless the companies have decided
that they just can't be bothered.''
So that is his opinion on how we can use this same protocol. This can
be done. We can use the same protocol, and we can bring down those
foreign terrorist organization sites.
This is not a free speech issue--that has been discussed, and some
are concerned about that--because we are dealing specifically with
foreign terrorist organizations. The Supreme Court has already ruled
regarding that issue in 2010 in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project that
a foreign terrorist organization does not have constitutional rights in
the United States under the First Amendment. So this is not a problem.
In this 21st century fight against terrorists who are sophisticated
and tech savvy, we have to defeat these organizations on all the
battlefields: overseas, over here, and online.
And that is just the way it is.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms.
Ros-Lehtinen), the chair of the Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on the
Middle East and North Africa.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking
member, who lead this committee in such an able, expert manner and in a
bipartisan way. I thank especially the author of this important
resolution, one of our subcommittee chairmen, Ted Poe.
I rise in strong support of Judge Poe's bill, the Combat Terrorist
Use of Social Media Act. I urge all of my colleagues to support this
important measure.
Extremist groups like ISIS are well-known for their extensive use of
social media, spreading their hateful ideology, inciting violence, and
attempting to recruit susceptible individuals to their hateful and
twisted cause.
When we hear reports and statistics that we have heard today--like
ISIS having over 40,000 Twitter accounts or that there are an estimated
200,000 pro-ISIS social media posts per day--clearly, more needs to be
done. These jihadists have become more and more tech savvy and are more
adept at manipulating the tools of social media. Yet we in the United
States lack any comprehensive strategy to counter their perverted
ideology via social media.
As Judge Poe has very ably argued, the administration could be
stopping pro-extremists' social media in much the same way that we now
stop online child pornography. ISIS and other foreign terrorist
organizations do not have free speech rights under American law.
Now, we were all shocked, as you heard today, that our very own
Department of Homeland Security maintained a policy that prevented the
screening of visa applicants' social media accounts because we worried
about bad public relations; we worried about intrusions into their
privacy, even though social media posts, by their very definition, are
exactly that, reaching out to the public through social manners,
meaning through public ways.
Every pro-ISIS post or any post by any other foreign terrorist
organization that uses Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter, every one that we
are able to take down before action is being taken is one less chance
for these extremists
[[Page H9317]]
to recruit and spread their vicious propaganda, and the administration
needs to start getting serious about stopping it.
This bill will require the administration to provide Congress--and,
therefore, the American public--with a strategy to fight Islamic
extremists' use of social media, as well as require that the
administration give us a policy that enhances the collaboration between
the Federal Government and social media companies so that we can
counter this troubling and dangerous threat.
I applaud Judge Poe for introducing this bill. I thank our esteemed
chairman and ranking member for bringing it to the floor in such a
speedy manner.
I offer my full support, and I urge all of my colleagues to do the
same.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, every day ISIS is working to bring new
fighters into its ranks, recruiting candidates from South Asia, from
France, the U.K., and right here in the United States. ISIS is able to
cast such a wide net because they are taking full advantage of social
media. We need to take this tool out of their hands, even as we press
forward with our partners to fight ISIS on the battlefield.
This legislation will enable us to work more closely with social
media companies and put together a strategy to meet this challenge.
Again, I want to commend my friend, Judge Poe.
I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), you
are right: ``That is just the way it is.''
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, again, it was revealed yesterday that the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security actually prohibited immigration
officials from reviewing the social media postings of all foreign
citizens applying for U.S. visas and only sporadically began looking at
posts from some visa applicants.
The failure to incorporate a review of social media posts into the
visa approval process is absurd. Ignoring the online statements of
those terrorists trying to enter the United States puts our country at
risk. This must be fixed.
Destroying ISIS will require determined leadership. It is going to
require Presidential leadership. And the President must use his
authority as Commander in Chief to lead this fight to destroy ISIS--not
to contain it--to destroy ISIS and other extremist groups.
So it has been said that a virtual caliphate awash in hate and
propaganda exists online. Yet U.S. Government efforts in this area are
failing. A strategy to combat terrorist use of social media is one of
many measures the administration must develop so we can win the fight.
Promised in 2011, this strategy is overdue.
With this bill, Congress is demanding that the administration deliver
its strategy so that the Federal agencies can effectively prevent
terrorists from using social media to spread hate, fear, and violence.
I again want to recognize my colleagues Representative Poe of Texas
and Representative Engel of New York for their leadership on this
measure, which I encourage all the Members of this House to support.
I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Congressman Ted
Poe from Texas for his work on H.R. 3654, Combatting Terrorists' Use of
Social Media Act of 2015.
The proliferation of terrorism is an existential threat to our
homeland greater than ever before because of the viral spread of
extremism on the world-wide web.
The challenge before us is balancing civil liberties such as freedom
of speech with our national security interests.
Various social media platforms are being utilized by Daesh leaders
and their affiliates across the globe to reach, engage and radicalize--
instantly and for free.
One only needs to view the gruesome propaganda videos put online by
Daesh with evocative music, clearly edited to inspire violence with
imagery that conjures an ``us vs. them'' emotion.
The world-wide web was intended as a platform to share productive and
creative knowledge and ideas.
The sensory impact of the violent propaganda video is so powerful
that a powerful counter-narrative is imperative.
Through its online campaign, Daesh instantly gains access to
vulnerable and impressionable minds, whether teenagers going through
teenage angst or unemployed educated women and men who have limited
economic prospects and feel disenfranchised from society.
So what we have is a melange of Daesh recruits, copycats and wannabes
all inspired vis a vis the worldwide web, ready to carry on and die for
an ideology they don't fully grasp its gravity on them and their
future.
The evidence of this is tens of thousands of foreign fighters from
all over the world who have left their homes and joined Daesh in Iraq
and Syria.
But then we also have those who do not even leave the comforts of
their homes in carrying out their crimes.
Part of what our government and governments across the globe must do
is to fight back by cutting off terrorist bank accounts, Twitter,
Facebook, Google and other social media accounts.
Whereas money is the currency for compensating Daesh's recruits,
social media is being utilized as a currency and tool for engaging and
brainwashing these recruits.
I commend our powerful military's might and professionalism of
neutralizing Abu Salah who has been described as one of the most senior
and experienced members of Daesh's financial network and in fact has
been referred to as the organization's finance minister.
I hope that our friends in Silicon Valley and the tech industry will
join us in our fight against Daesh with their genius as we continue our
collective efforts of addressing the role that social media will play
in defeating enemies of the peace on the traditional battlefield as
well as on the contemporary battlefield of the web.
The past few months have been marked by senseless threats or actual
violence and tragedy across the globe from the most recent details of
the threat triggering the Los Angeles Public School District shut down,
to the San Bernardino shootings, to Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria,
shootings in Bamako, Mali, at the Bartaclan Theatre and other social
venues in Paris, to attacks in Beirut, Lebanon and the downing of a
plane claiming innocent lives of Egyptians and Russians.
Violent extremism cannot be the ``new-normal'' in our nation and in
our world.
To combat the scourge of violent extremism, and make sure this is not
our ``new normal'' it is important that we adapt to the capabilities of
adversaries of peace through a multipronged approach, which is why I
support H.R. 3654.
Specifically, this bill requires the President to transmit to
Congress a report on U.S. strategy to combat terrorists' and terrorist
organizations' use of social media.
This bill is in tandem with the President's comprehensive strategy to
counter terrorists' and terrorist organizations' use of social media,
encapsulated in the President's 2011 Strategic Implementation Plan for
Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United
States.
Among other things, the President's robust plan seeks to protect our
communities from violent extremist recruitment and radicalization.
This is a top national security priority for the Administration and
those of us here in Congress.
The President's strategic plan and H.R. 3654 facilitate the creation
of a report which will enable our country in our efforts at combatting
violent extremism through: evaluation of the role social media plays in
radicalization in the United States and across the globe; analysis of
how terrorists and terrorist organizations are using social media;
recommendations to improve the federal government's efforts to disrupt
and counter the use of social media by terrorists and terrorist
organizations; a classified assessment of the intelligence value of
terrorists' social media posts; and a classified overview of training
available to law enforcement and intelligence personnel to combat
terrorists' use of social media and recommendations for improving or
expanding existing training opportunities.
Part of what the Bill seeks to achieve is information on our nation's
policy that enhances the exchange of information and dialogue between
the federal government and social media companies as it relates to the
use of social media platforms by terrorists.
Finally, among other things, the Bill also calls for our updated
comprehensive strategy to counter terrorists' and terrorist
organizations' use of social media, as committed to in the President's
2011 Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to
Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.
As a nation, we must work together, private and public sector to
prevent all types of extremism regardless of who inspires it.
At the same time, countering ISIS, better to be referred to as Daesh,
Boko Haram, al-Qa'ida and other extremists' violent ideologues requires
our coordinated social media, intelligence sharing, law enforcement and
community engagement strategy that will enable us to thwart violent
extremism, saving many American lives.
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The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3654, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
____________________