| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 1519 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require a United States security strategy for the Western Hemisphere, |
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| 6 | 6 | | and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | MAY10, 2023 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. R |
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| 10 | 10 | | UBIO(for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; which |
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| 11 | 11 | | was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To require a United States security strategy for the Western |
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| 14 | 14 | | Hemisphere, and for other purposes. |
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| 15 | 15 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 16 | 16 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 18 | 18 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere 4 |
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| 19 | 19 | | Security Strategy Act of 2023’’. 5 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 |
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| 21 | 21 | | It is the sense of Congress that— 7 |
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| 22 | 22 | | (1) the security, stability, prosperity, and state 8 |
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| 23 | 23 | | of democratic governance in the countries of the 9 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Western Hemisphere are vital to the national inter-10 |
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| 27 | 27 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 28 | 28 | | ests of the United States and to the national inter-1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | ests of such countries; 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | (2) the harmful and malign influence in Latin 3 |
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| 31 | 31 | | America and the Caribbean of the Government of 4 |
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| 32 | 32 | | the People’s Republic of China, the Government of 5 |
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| 33 | 33 | | the Russian Federation, and the Government of the 6 |
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| 34 | 34 | | Islamic Republic of Iran poses risks to— 7 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (A) the people and countries of the West-8 |
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| 36 | 36 | | ern Hemisphere; and 9 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (B) the national interests of the United 10 |
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| 38 | 38 | | States; 11 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (3) the United States should expand its engage-12 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ment in the Western Hemisphere by— 13 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (A) strengthening its alliances and part-14 |
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| 42 | 42 | | nerships with countries in the Western Hemi-15 |
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| 43 | 43 | | sphere; 16 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (B) fostering security cooperation among 17 |
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| 45 | 45 | | countries in the Western Hemisphere to facili-18 |
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| 46 | 46 | | tate trade, investment, training, and humani-19 |
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| 47 | 47 | | tarian assistance in the near and long term; 20 |
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| 48 | 48 | | and 21 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (C) working with security and law enforce-22 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ment agencies in the Western Hemisphere— 23 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (i) to address the shared challenges 24 |
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| 52 | 52 | | of— 25 |
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| 55 | 55 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 56 | 56 | | (I) narcotics trafficking, includ-1 |
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| 57 | 57 | | ing the trafficking of fentanyl, the il-2 |
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| 58 | 58 | | licit use of which is now the leading 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | cause of death among adults in the 4 |
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| 60 | 60 | | United States between the ages of 18 5 |
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| 61 | 61 | | and 45 years; 6 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (II) human trafficking; 7 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (III) other forms of illicit traf-8 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ficking; 9 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (IV) transnational criminal orga-10 |
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| 66 | 66 | | nizations; and 11 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (V) cybersecurity; and 12 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (ii) to support the rule of law, democ-13 |
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| 69 | 69 | | racy, and human rights in the region; 14 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (4) the United States should maintain credible 15 |
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| 71 | 71 | | security capabilities dedicated to Latin America and 16 |
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| 72 | 72 | | the Caribbean— 17 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (A) to build partner country capacity; 18 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (B) to support the delivery of humani-19 |
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| 75 | 75 | | tarian assistance and disaster relief; 20 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (C) to deter acts of aggression; and 21 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (D) to respond, if necessary, to regional 22 |
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| 78 | 78 | | threats and threats to the national security of 23 |
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| 79 | 79 | | the United States; and 24 |
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| 82 | 82 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 83 | 83 | | (5) the Department of State and the Depart-1 |
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| 84 | 84 | | ment of Defense should continue to commit addi-2 |
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| 85 | 85 | | tional assets and increase investments in the West-3 |
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| 86 | 86 | | ern Hemisphere so as to maintain robust United 4 |
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| 87 | 87 | | States security partnerships with countries in the re-5 |
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| 88 | 88 | | gion. 6 |
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| 89 | 89 | | SEC. 3. SECURITY STRATEGY FOR THE WESTERN HEMI-7 |
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| 90 | 90 | | SPHERE. 8 |
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| 91 | 91 | | (a) I |
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| 92 | 92 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 9 |
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| 93 | 93 | | date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 10 |
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| 94 | 94 | | and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly submit to the 11 |
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| 95 | 95 | | appropriate committees of Congress a multi-year strategy, 12 |
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| 96 | 96 | | to be known as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere Security Strat-13 |
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| 97 | 97 | | egy’’— 14 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (1) to enhance diplomatic engagement and se-15 |
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| 99 | 99 | | curity assistance and cooperation; 16 |
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| 100 | 100 | | (2) to promote regional security and stability; 17 |
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| 101 | 101 | | and 18 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (3) to advance United States strategic interests 19 |
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| 103 | 103 | | in the Western Hemisphere. 20 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (b) E |
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| 105 | 105 | | LEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 21 |
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| 106 | 106 | | (a) shall include the following: 22 |
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| 107 | 107 | | (1) A proposal for increasing and improving 23 |
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| 108 | 108 | | United States bilateral and multilateral security as-24 |
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| 111 | 111 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 112 | 112 | | sistance and cooperation in Latin America and the 1 |
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| 113 | 113 | | Caribbean. 2 |
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| 114 | 114 | | (2) Activities to build the defense and security 3 |
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| 115 | 115 | | capacity of partner countries in Latin America and 4 |
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| 116 | 116 | | the Caribbean so as to enable such countries to de-5 |
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| 117 | 117 | | fend themselves against conventional and unconven-6 |
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| 118 | 118 | | tional threats, including cyberattacks. 7 |
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| 119 | 119 | | (3) Activities to counter— 8 |
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| 120 | 120 | | (A) malign influence by state actors; 9 |
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| 121 | 121 | | (B) transnational criminal organizations 10 |
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| 122 | 122 | | with connections to— 11 |
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| 123 | 123 | | (i) illicit trafficking of gold, narcotics, 12 |
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| 124 | 124 | | and weapons; 13 |
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| 125 | 125 | | (ii) human trafficking and smuggling; 14 |
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| 126 | 126 | | and 15 |
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| 127 | 127 | | (iii) terrorism; and 16 |
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| 128 | 128 | | (C) corruption and kleptocracy in govern-17 |
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| 129 | 129 | | ments of countries in the Western Hemisphere. 18 |
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| 130 | 130 | | (4) Efforts to disrupt, degrade, and counter 19 |
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| 131 | 131 | | transnational illicit trafficking, with an emphasis on 20 |
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| 132 | 132 | | illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals that produce 21 |
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| 133 | 133 | | illicit narcotics. 22 |
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| 134 | 134 | | (5) Activities to increase transparency in, and 23 |
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| 135 | 135 | | support for, strong and accountable defense, secu-24 |
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| 136 | 136 | | rity, and law enforcement institutions through insti-25 |
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| 139 | 139 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 140 | 140 | | tutional capacity-building efforts, including efforts to 1 |
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| 141 | 141 | | ensure respect for human rights and direction and 2 |
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| 142 | 142 | | oversight by civilian authorities. 3 |
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| 143 | 143 | | (6) Programs and initiatives to enhance public 4 |
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| 144 | 144 | | diplomacy and engagement with the people of the 5 |
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| 145 | 145 | | Western Hemisphere for the purpose of dem-6 |
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| 146 | 146 | | onstrating that the security of their countries is en-7 |
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| 147 | 147 | | hanced to a greater extent if their countries are 8 |
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| 148 | 148 | | aligned with the United States and democratic val-9 |
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| 149 | 149 | | ues rather than with authoritarian countries such as 10 |
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| 150 | 150 | | the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federa-11 |
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| 151 | 151 | | tion, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. 12 |
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| 152 | 152 | | (7) Efforts to expand bilateral and multi-13 |
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| 153 | 153 | | national military training exercises with partner 14 |
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| 154 | 154 | | countries in the Western Hemisphere. 15 |
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| 155 | 155 | | (8) Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief 16 |
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| 156 | 156 | | initiatives to support partner countries by promoting 17 |
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| 157 | 157 | | the development and growth of responsive institu-18 |
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| 158 | 158 | | tions through activities such as— 19 |
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| 159 | 159 | | (A) the provision of appropriate equip-20 |
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| 160 | 160 | | ment, training, and logistical support; 21 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (B) transportation of humanitarian sup-22 |
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| 162 | 162 | | plies or personnel of foreign security forces; 23 |
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| 163 | 163 | | (C) making available, preparing, and 24 |
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| 164 | 164 | | transferring on-hand nonlethal supplies, and 25 |
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| 167 | 167 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 168 | 168 | | providing training on the use of such supplies, 1 |
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| 169 | 169 | | for humanitarian or health purposes to respond 2 |
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| 170 | 170 | | to unforeseen emergencies; 3 |
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| 171 | 171 | | (D) the provision of Department of State 4 |
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| 172 | 172 | | humanitarian demining assistance; and 5 |
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| 173 | 173 | | (E) conducting medical support operations 6 |
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| 174 | 174 | | and medical humanitarian missions, such as 7 |
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| 175 | 175 | | hospital ship deployments and base-operating 8 |
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| 176 | 176 | | services, to the extent required by the oper-9 |
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| 177 | 177 | | ation. 10 |
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| 178 | 178 | | (9) Continued support for the women, peace, 11 |
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| 179 | 179 | | and security initiatives of the Department of State 12 |
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| 180 | 180 | | to support the capacity of partner countries in the 13 |
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| 181 | 181 | | Western Hemisphere— 14 |
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| 182 | 182 | | (A) to ensure— 15 |
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| 183 | 183 | | (i) the safety and security of women 16 |
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| 184 | 184 | | and girls; and 17 |
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| 185 | 185 | | (ii) that the rights of women and girls 18 |
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| 186 | 186 | | are protected; and 19 |
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| 187 | 187 | | (B) to promote the meaningful participa-20 |
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| 188 | 188 | | tion of women in— 21 |
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| 189 | 189 | | (i) the defense and security sectors; 22 |
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| 190 | 190 | | and 23 |
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| 191 | 191 | | (ii) mediation and negotiation proc-24 |
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| 192 | 192 | | esses seeking to prevent, mitigate, or re-25 |
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| 195 | 195 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 196 | 196 | | solve violent conflict, in accordance with 1 |
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| 197 | 197 | | the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2 |
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| 198 | 198 | | 2017 (Public Law 115–68; 131 Stat. 3 |
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| 199 | 199 | | 1202). 4 |
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| 200 | 200 | | (10) Professional military education initiatives, 5 |
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| 201 | 201 | | such as the Department of State’s International 6 |
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| 202 | 202 | | Military and Education Training program. 7 |
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| 203 | 203 | | (11) A detailed assessment of the resources re-8 |
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| 204 | 204 | | quired to carry out such strategy and a plan to be 9 |
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| 205 | 205 | | executed not later than fiscal year 2024. 10 |
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| 206 | 206 | | (c) I |
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| 207 | 207 | | MPLEMENTATION.— 11 |
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| 208 | 208 | | (1) I |
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| 209 | 209 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 12 |
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| 210 | 210 | | after the date on which the Western Hemisphere Se-13 |
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| 211 | 211 | | curity Strategy is submitted under subsection (a), 14 |
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| 212 | 212 | | the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense 15 |
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| 213 | 213 | | shall commence implementation of the strategy. 16 |
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| 214 | 214 | | (2) B |
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| 215 | 215 | | RIEFING.—Not later than 1 year after the 17 |
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| 216 | 216 | | date on which the implementation of the Western 18 |
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| 217 | 217 | | Hemisphere Security Strategy commences, and an-19 |
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| 218 | 218 | | nually thereafter, the Secretary of State and the 20 |
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| 219 | 219 | | Secretary of Defense shall jointly provide a briefing 21 |
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| 220 | 220 | | to the appropriate committees of Congress on the 22 |
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| 221 | 221 | | implementation of the strategy. 23 |
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| 224 | 224 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 225 | 225 | | (3) TERMINATION.—The authority under this 1 |
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| 226 | 226 | | section shall terminate on the date that is three 2 |
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| 227 | 227 | | years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 3 |
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| 228 | 228 | | (d) A |
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| 229 | 229 | | PPROPRIATECOMMITTEES OF CONGRESSDE-4 |
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| 230 | 230 | | FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit-5 |
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| 231 | 231 | | tees of Congress’’ means— 6 |
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| 232 | 232 | | (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 7 |
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| 233 | 233 | | the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and 8 |
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| 234 | 234 | | (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 9 |
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| 235 | 235 | | Committee on Armed Services of the House of Rep-10 |
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| 236 | 236 | | resentatives. 11 |
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| 237 | 237 | | SEC. 4. REPORT ON EFFORTS TO CAPTURE AND DETAIN 12 |
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| 238 | 238 | | UNITED STATES CITIZENS AS HOSTAGES. 13 |
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| 239 | 239 | | (a) I |
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| 240 | 240 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 14 |
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| 241 | 241 | | date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 15 |
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| 242 | 242 | | shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 16 |
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| 243 | 243 | | Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 17 |
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| 244 | 244 | | House of Representatives a report on efforts by the 18 |
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| 245 | 245 | | Maduro regime of Venezuela to detain United States citi-19 |
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| 246 | 246 | | zens and lawful permanent residents. 20 |
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| 247 | 247 | | (b) E |
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| 248 | 248 | | LEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 21 |
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| 249 | 249 | | (a) shall include, regarding the arrest, capture, detain-22 |
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| 250 | 250 | | ment, and imprisonment of United States citizens and 23 |
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| 251 | 251 | | lawful permanent residents— 24 |
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| 254 | 254 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 255 | 255 | | (1) the names, positions, and institutional affili-1 |
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| 256 | 256 | | ation of Venezuelan individuals, or those acting on 2 |
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| 257 | 257 | | their behalf, who have engaged in such activities; 3 |
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| 258 | 258 | | (2) a description of any role played by 4 |
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| 259 | 259 | | transnational criminal organizations, and an identi-5 |
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| 260 | 260 | | fication of such organizations; and 6 |
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| 261 | 261 | | (3) where relevant, an assessment of whether 7 |
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| 262 | 262 | | and how United States citizens and lawful perma-8 |
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| 263 | 263 | | nent residents have been lured to Venezuela. 9 |
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| 264 | 264 | | (c) F |
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| 265 | 265 | | ORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 10 |
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| 266 | 266 | | shall be submitted in unclassified form, but shall include 11 |
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| 267 | 267 | | a classified annex, which shall include a list of the total 12 |
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| 268 | 268 | | number of United States citizens and lawful permanent 13 |
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| 269 | 269 | | residents detained or imprisoned in Venezuela as of the 14 |
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| 270 | 270 | | date on which the report is submitted. 15 |
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| 271 | 271 | | SEC. 5. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 16 |
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| 272 | 272 | | The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Sec-17 |
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| 273 | 273 | | retary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the United 18 |
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| 274 | 274 | | States Trade Representative, and the Chief Executive Of-19 |
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| 275 | 275 | | ficer of the Development Finance Corporation, shall pro-20 |
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| 276 | 276 | | vide technical assistance to partner countries in the West-21 |
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| 277 | 277 | | ern Hemisphere to establish frameworks or mechanisms, 22 |
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| 278 | 278 | | similar to the frameworks set forth in section 721 of the 23 |
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| 279 | 279 | | Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4565), for the 24 |
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| 280 | 280 | | purpose of enabling such partner countries to screen, re-25 |
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| 283 | 283 | | •S 1519 IS |
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| 284 | 284 | | view, and address the long-term financial sustainability 1 |
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| 285 | 285 | | and national security implications of investments in stra-2 |
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| 286 | 286 | | tegic sectors or services, including energy, telecommuni-3 |
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| 287 | 287 | | cations, and infrastructure, by entities controlled or di-4 |
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| 288 | 288 | | rected by the governments of adversarial countries, includ-5 |
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| 289 | 289 | | ing— 6 |
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| 290 | 290 | | (1) the People’s Republic of China; 7 |
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| 291 | 291 | | (2) the Russian Federation; 8 |
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| 292 | 292 | | (3) the Islamic Republic of Iran; 9 |
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| 293 | 293 | | (4) the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; 10 |
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| 294 | 294 | | and 11 |
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| 295 | 295 | | (5) any other country the Secretary of State de-12 |
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| 296 | 296 | | termines to be adversarial to the national security 13 |
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| 297 | 297 | | interests of the United States. 14 |
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| 298 | 298 | | Æ |
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