Should Intelligence Agencies Report to Congress About Foreign Fighters in Terror Groups? (H.R. 4239)

What is H.R. 4239?

(Updated March 9, 2017)

This bill would require the intelligence community to provide the congressional intelligence committees with a report on foreign fighter flows to and from overseas safe havens. The initial report would be delivered within 60 days of this bill’s enactment, and would be updated every 180 days thereafter.

For each area designated as a terrorist safe haven in the report, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) would include the following information about foreign fighters in those areas:

• The total number of foreign fighters who have traveled or are suspected of having traveled to the terrorist safe haven since 2011, including the foreign fighters’ country of origin;

• The total number of U.S. citizens present in the terrorist safe haven;

• The total number of foreign fighters who have left the terrorist safe haven or whose whereabouts are unknown.

The requirement to submit these reports would expire two years after this bill’s enactment, so unless Congress extends the requirement it would sunset on that date.

Argument in favor

The intelligence community needs to track American citizens and other foreign fighters that go to terrorist safe havens to prevent them from carrying out attacks on the U.S.

Argument opposed

There is no need for this bill because intelligence agencies already routinely compile reports on the number of American citizens and foreign fighters working with terror groups.

Impact

U.S. citizens that fight for terrorist groups and other foreign fighters, the intelligence community, and relevant congressional committees.

Cost of H.R. 4239

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) introduced this bill to ensure that Congress is provided with periodic reports on the issue of American citizens and other foreign fighters joining terrorist groups like ISIS:

“To fully combat the threat of terrorism, we must have a clear assessment of the number of terrorists being trained in safe havens across the globe so that our strategic counterterrorism efforts can succeed. Furthermore, in order to prevent future attacks like San Bernardino, we must know if U.S. citizens are being radicalized to bring terrorism to our shores. The legislation Ranking Member Swalwell and I have introduced will give Congress a more accurate picture of the threats we face and how our national security agencies are combating them.”

This bill has six cosponsors in the House, including one Democrat and five Republicans.

Of Note: According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) more than 200 Americans had tried to join ISIS as of July 2015. It has been estimated that as many as 30,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Iraq and Syria since 2011.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) Press Release