II Calendar No. 267 118THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION S. 61 [Report No. 118–123] To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to implement a strategy to combat the efforts of transnational criminal organizations to recruit individuals in the United States via social media platforms and other online services and assess their use of such platforms and services for illicit activities, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY24 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023 Ms. S INEMA(for herself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. KELLY, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. T ESTER, and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern- mental Affairs D ECEMBER11, 2023 Reported by Mr. P ETERS, with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to implement a strategy to combat the efforts of transnational criminal organizations to recruit individuals in the United States via social media platforms and other online services and assess their use of such platforms and services for illicit activities, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 61 RS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION1.SHORTTITLE. 3 ThisActmaybecitedasthe‘‘CombatingCartelson 4 SocialMediaActof2023’’. 5 SEC.2.DEFINITIONS. 6 InthisAct: 7 (1)APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT-8 TEES.—Theterm‘‘appropriatecongressionalcom-9 mittees’’means— 10 (A)theCommitteeonHomelandSecurity 11 andGovernmentalAffairsoftheSenate;and 12 (B)theCommitteeonHomelandSecurity 13 oftheHouseofRepresentatives. 14 (2)COVEREDOPERATOR.—Theterm‘‘covered 15 operator’’meanstheoperator,developer,orpub-16 lisherofacoveredservice. 17 (3)COVERED SERVICE.—Theterm‘‘covered 18 service’’means— 19 (A)asocialmediaplatform; 20 (B)amobileordesktopservicewithdirect 21 orgroupmessagingcapabilities,butnotinclud-22 ingtextmessagingserviceswithoutothersub-23 stantialsocialfunctionalitiesorelectronicmail 24 services,thattheSecretarydeterminesis,has 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 61 RS been,orwillbeusedbytransnationalcriminal 1 organizationsinconnectionwithmattersde-2 scribedinsection3;and 3 (C)adigitalplatform,oranelectronicap-4 plicationutilizingthedigitalplatform,involving 5 real-timeinteractivecommunicationbetween 6 multipleindividuals,includingmulti-player 7 gamingservicesandimmersivetechnologyplat-8 formsorapplications,thattheSecretarydeter-9 minesis,hasbeen,orwillbeusedby 10 transnationalcriminalorganizationsinconnec-11 tionwithmattersdescribedinsection3. 12 (4)DEPARTMENT.—Theterm‘‘Department’’ 13 meanstheDepartmentofHomelandSecurity. 14 (5)SECRETARY.—Theterm‘‘Secretary’’means 15 theSecretaryofHomelandSecurity. 16 SEC.3.ASSESSMENT OFILLICITUSAGE. 17 (a)INGENERAL.—Notlaterthan180daysafterthe 18 dateofenactmentofthisAct,theSecretaryshallsubmit 19 totheappropriatecongressionalcommitteesanassess-20 mentdescribing— 21 (1)theuseofcoveredservicesbytransnational 22 criminalorganizationsorcriminalenterprisesacting 23 ontheirbehalftoengageinrecruitmentefforts,in-24 cludingtherecruitmentofindividuals,includingin-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 61 RS dividualsundertheageof18,locatedintheUnited 1 Statestoengageinorprovidesupportwithrespect 2 toillicitactivitiesoccurringintheUnitedStates, 3 Mexico,orotherwiseinproximitytoaninternational 4 boundaryoftheUnitedStates; 5 (2)theuseofcoveredservicesbytransnational 6 criminalorganizationstoengageinotherillicitac-7 tivitiesorotherconductinsupportofillicitactivi-8 ties,including— 9 (A)smugglingortraffickinginvolvingnar-10 cotics,othercontrolledsubstances,precursors 11 thereof,orotheritemsprohibitedunderthe 12 lawsoftheUnitedStates,Mexico,oranother 13 relevantjurisdiction,includingfirearms;and 14 (B)humansmugglingortrafficking; 15 (3)theexistingeffortsoftheSecretaryandrel-16 evantgovernmentandlawenforcemententitiesto 17 counter,monitor,orotherwiserespondtotheusage 18 ofcoveredservicesdescribedinparagraphs(1)and 19 (2); 20 (4)theexistingeffortsofcoveredoperatorsto 21 counter,monitor,orotherwiserespondtotheusage 22 ofcoveredservicesdescribedinparagraphs(1)and 23 (2);and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 61 RS (5)theexistingcooperativeeffortsbetweenthe 1 Secretary,otherrelevantgovernmententities,and 2 coveredoperatorswithrespecttothemattersde-3 scribedinparagraphs(1)and(2). 4 SEC.4.STRATEGY TOCOMBAT CARTEL RECRUITMENT ON 5 SOCIALMEDIAANDONLINEPLATFORMS. 6 (a)INGENERAL.—Notlaterthan1yearafterthe 7 dateofenactmentofthisAct,theSecretaryshallsubmit 8 totheappropriatecongressionalcommitteesastrategy,to 9 beknownastheNationalStrategytoCombatIllicitRe-10 cruitmentActivitybyTransnationalCriminalOrganiza-11 tionsonSocialMediaandOnlinePlatforms,tocombat 12 theuseofcoveredservicesbytransnationalcriminalorga-13 nizationsorcriminalenterprisesactingontheirbehalfto 14 recruitindividualslocatedintheUnitedStatestoengage 15 inorprovidesupportwithrespecttoillicitactivitiesoccur-16 ringintheUnitedStates,Mexico,orotherwiseinprox-17 imitytoaninternationalboundaryoftheUnitedStates. 18 (b)ELEMENTS.— 19 (1)INGENERAL.—Thestrategyrequiredunder 20 subsection(a)shall,ataminimum,includethefol-21 lowing: 22 (A)Aproposaltoimprovecooperationand 23 thereaftermaintaincooperationbetweenthe 24 Secretary,relevantlawenforcemententities, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 61 RS andappropriatecoveredoperatorswithrespect 1 tothemattersdescribedinsubsection(a). 2 (B)Recommendationstoimplementthere-3 quirementundersection5(a)(2)toestablisha 4 centralizedmechanismforreportinginforma-5 tionregardingtheUnitedStatesrecruitment 6 effortsoftransnationalcriminalorganizations 7 involvingcoveredservices. 8 (C)A proposaltoimprove 9 intragovernmentalcoordinationwithrespectto 10 themattersdescribedinsubsection(a),includ-11 ingbetweentheDepartmentandState,Tribal, 12 andlocalgovernments. 13 (D)Aproposaltoimprovecoordination 14 withintheDepartmentandbetweenthecompo-15 nentsoftheDepartmentwithrespecttothe 16 mattersdescribedinsubsection(a). 17 (E)Activitiestofacilitateincreasedintel-18 ligenceanalysisforlawenforcementpurposesof 19 effortsoftransnationalcriminalorganizations 20 toutilizecoveredservicesforrecruitmentpur-21 poses. 22 (F)Activitiestofosterinternationalpart-23 nershipsandenhancecollaborationwithforeign 24 governmentsand,asapplicable,multilateralin-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 61 RS stitutionswithrespecttothemattersdescribed 1 insubsection(a). 2 (G)Activitiestofacilitateproactivelawen-3 forcementandothergovernmentaleffortsrelat-4 ingtotheeffortsoftransnationalcriminalor-5 ganizationstoutilizecoveredservicesforre-6 cruitmentpurposes,includingactivitiesin-7 tendedtopreemptthroughoutreachanden-8 gagementthecommissionofcriminaloffenses 9 byindividualslocatedintheUnitedStateswho 10 aretargetedforrecruitmentbythose 11 transnationalcriminalorganizations. 12 (H)Activitiestospecificallyincreaseen-13 gagementandoutreachwithyouthinborder 14 communities,includingregardingtherecruit-15 menttacticsoftransnationalcriminalorganiza-16 tionsandtheconsequencesofparticipationin 17 illicitactivities. 18 (2)LIMITATION.—Thestrategyrequiredunder 19 subsection(a)shallnotincludelegislativerec-20 ommendationsorelementspredicatedonthepassage 21 oflegislationthatisnotenactedasofthedateon 22 whichthestrategyissubmittedundersubsection 23 (a),includingwithrespecttoencryptionpoliciesor 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 61 RS reformstosection230oftheCommunicationsAct 1 of1934(47U.S.C.230). 2 (c)CONSULTATION.—Indraftingandimplementing 3 thestrategyrequiredundersubsection(a),theSecretary 4 shall,ataminimum,consultandengagewith— 5 (1)theheadsofrelevantcomponentsoftheDe-6 partment,including— 7 (A)theCommissionerofU.S.Customs 8 andBorderProtection; 9 (B)theUnderSecretaryforIntelligence 10 andAnalysis; 11 (C)theUnderSecretaryforScienceand 12 Technology; 13 (D)theDirectorofU.S.Immigrationand 14 CustomsEnforcement; 15 (E)theOfficerforCivilRightsandCivil 16 Liberties;and 17 (F)thePrivacyOfficer; 18 (2)theSecretaryofState; 19 (3)theDirectoroftheFederalBureauofIn-20 vestigation; 21 (4)theAdministratoroftheDrugEnforcement 22 Agency; 23 (5)representativesofbordercommunities,in-24 cludingrepresentativesof— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 61 RS (A)State,Tribal,andlocalgovernments, 1 includingschooldistrictsandlocallawenforce-2 ment;and 3 (B)nongovernmentalorganizations; 4 (6)coveredoperators,includingrepresentatives 5 of— 6 (A)socialmediaplatforms,includingoper-7 atorsofplatformsorapplications— 8 (i)displayingshort-formvideoscre-9 atedbyusersorthirdparties; 10 (ii)providingephemeralcontent 11 transmissionservices;or 12 (iii)usingalgorithmsorothermeans 13 ofcontentprioritizationtodisplayafeed 14 ofcontentoradvertisementscreatedby 15 usersorthirdpartiestootherusers; 16 (B)interactiveentertainmentplatforms 17 andpublishers;and 18 (C)companiesdevelopingimmersivetech-19 nologyplatformsandapplicationsonthoseplat-20 forms;and 21 (7)nongovernmentalexpertsinthefieldsof— 22 (A)civilrightsandcivilliberties; 23 (B)onlineprivacy; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 61 RS (C)humanitarianassistanceformigrants; 1 and 2 (D)youthoutreachandrehabilitation. 3 (d)IMPLEMENTATION.— 4 (1)INGENERAL.—Notlaterthan90daysafter 5 thedateonwhichthestrategyrequiredundersub-6 section(a)issubmittedtotheappropriatecongres-7 sionalcommittees,theSecretaryshallcommenceim-8 plementationofthestrategy. 9 (2)REPORT.— 10 (A)INGENERAL.—Notlaterthan180 11 daysafterthedateonwhichthestrategyre-12 quiredundersubsection(a)isimplemented 13 underparagraph(1),andsemiannuallythere-14 afterfor5years,theSecretaryshallsubmitto 15 theappropriatecongressionalcommitteesare-16 portdescribingtheeffortsoftheSecretaryto 17 implementthestrategyrequiredundersub-18 section(a)andtheprogressofthoseefforts, 19 whichshallincludeadescriptionof— 20 (i)therecommendations,andcor-21 respondingimplementationofthoserec-22 ommendations,withrespecttothematters 23 describedinsubsection(b)(1)(B)relating 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 61 RS tothemechanismrequiredundersection 1 5(a)(2); 2 (ii)theinteragencyposturewithre-3 specttothematterscoveredbythestrat-4 egyrequiredundersubsection(a),which 5 shallincludeadescriptionofcollaboration 6 betweentheSecretary,otherFederalenti-7 ties,State,local,andTribalentities,and 8 foreigngovernments; 9 (iii)actionstakenpursuanttosub-10 section(c)thatoccurredbetweentheSec-11 retaryandtheentitiesdescribedinpara-12 graphs(5)through(7)ofthatsubsection, 13 providedthatsuchsummariesareprovided 14 onlyinaclassifiedorothernon-public 15 manner;and 16 (iv)thethreatlandscape,including 17 newdevelopmentsrelatedtotheUnited 18 Statesrecruitmenteffortsoftransnational 19 criminalorganizationsandtheuseby 20 thoseorganizationsofneworemergent 21 coveredservicesandrecruitmentmethods. 22 (B)FORM.—Eachreportrequiredunder 23 subparagraph(A)shallbesubmittedinunclas-24 sifiedform,butmaycontainaclassifiedannex. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 61 RS SEC.5.INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION ANDDISSEMINATION. 1 (a)INGENERAL.—Notlaterthan90daysafterthe 2 dateonwhichthestrategyrequiredundersection4(a)is 3 requiredtobesubmittedtotheappropriatecongressional 4 committees,theSecretaryshallidentifyadesignee— 5 (1)toreceive,process,anddisseminateinfor-6 mationandcommunicationsinvolvingtheuseofcov-7 eredservicesbytransnationalcriminalorganizations 8 orcriminalenterprisesactingontheirbehalftore-9 cruitindividualslocatedintheUnitedStatestoen-10 gageinorprovidesupportwithrespecttoillicitac-11 tivitiesoccurringintheUnitedStates,Mexico,or 12 otherwiseinproximitytoaninternationalboundary 13 oftheUnitedStates;and 14 (2)toestablishamechanism,orifthedesignee 15 determinesappropriate,multiplemechanisms,for 16 coveredoperatorstovoluntarilyreportrelevantin-17 formationorcommunicationsdescribedinparagraph 18 (1). 19 (b)PROCEDURE.—Upontheidentificationofthedes-20 igneeandtheestablishmentofthevoluntaryreporting 21 mechanismrequiredundersubsection(a)(2),theSec-22 retaryshallnotifyappropriatecoveredoperatorsinwriting 23 regardingthevoluntaryreportingmechanism,including 24 informationregardinghowtocontactthedesigneeanduti-25 lizethevoluntaryreportingmechanism. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13 •S 61 RS (c)PLACEMENT.—Thedesigneeidentifiedundersub-1 section(a)shallbelocatedinU.S.CustomsandBorder 2 Protection. 3 (d)DISSEMINATION.—Thedesigneeidentifiedunder 4 subsection(a)shallutilizetheinformationandcommu-5 nicationsreceivedpursuanttothissectionto— 6 (1)provideFederal,Tribal,State,andlocalen-7 titieswithintelligencetoassistwithoutreachand 8 engagementeffortsintendedtopreemptthecommis-9 sionofcriminaloffensesbyindividualslocatedinthe 10 UnitedStateswhoaretargetedbytransnational 11 criminalorganizationsforrecruitment; 12 (2)provideFederal,Tribal,State,andlocallaw 13 enforcementwithactionableintelligenceforlawen-14 forcementrelatingtotheUnitedStatesrecruitment 15 effortsoftransnationalcriminalorganizations;and 16 (3)furtherotherappropriategovernmentfunc-17 tionsinvolvingeffortstopreventtherecruitmentof 18 individualslocatedintheUnitedStatesby 19 transnationalcriminalorganizations. 20 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 21 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Cartels on 22 Social Media Act of 2023’’. 23 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 24 In this Act: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14 •S 61 RS (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -1 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit-2 tees’’ means— 3 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 4 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 5 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security of 6 the House of Representatives. 7 (2) C OVERED OPERATOR .—The term ‘‘covered 8 operator’’ means the operator, developer, or publisher 9 of a covered service. 10 (3) C OVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘‘covered serv-11 ice’’ means— 12 (A) a social media platform; 13 (B) a mobile or desktop service with direct 14 or group messaging capabilities, but not includ-15 ing text messaging services without other sub-16 stantial social functionalities or electronic mail 17 services, that the Secretary determines is being 18 or has been used by transnational criminal orga-19 nizations in connection with matters described 20 in section 3; and 21 (C) a digital platform, or an electronic ap-22 plication utilizing the digital platform, involving 23 real-time interactive communication between 24 multiple individuals, including multi-player 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 15 •S 61 RS gaming services and immersive technology plat-1 forms or applications, that the Secretary deter-2 mines is being or has been used by transnational 3 criminal organizations in connection with mat-4 ters described in section 3. 5 (4) C RIMINAL ENTERPRISE.—The term ‘‘crimi-6 nal enterprise’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘con-7 tinuing criminal enterprise’’ in section 408 of the 8 Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 848). 9 (5) D EPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 10 means the Department of Homeland Security. 11 (6) I LLICIT ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘‘illicit ac-12 tivities’’ means the following criminal activities that 13 transcend national borders: 14 (A) A violation of section 401 of the Con-15 trolled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841). 16 (B) Narcotics trafficking, as defined in sec-17 tion 808 of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Des-18 ignation Act (21 U.S.C. 1907). 19 (C) Trafficking of weapons, as defined in 20 section 922 of title 18, United States Code. 21 (D) Migrant smuggling, defined as a viola-22 tion of section 274(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Immigra-23 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 24 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 16 •S 61 RS (E) Human trafficking, defined as— 1 (i) a violation of section 1590, 1591, or 2 1592 of title 18, United States Code; or 3 (ii) engaging in severe forms of traf-4 ficking in persons, as defined in section 103 5 of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence 6 Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102). 7 (F) Cyber crime, defined as a violation of 8 section 1030 of title 18, United States Code. 9 (G) A violation of any provision that is 10 subject to intellectual property enforcement, as 11 defined in section 302 of the Prioritizing Re-12 sources and Organization for Intellectual Prop-13 erty Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 8112). 14 (H) Bulk cash smuggling of currency, de-15 fined as a violation of section 5332 of title 31, 16 United States Code. 17 (I) Laundering the proceeds of the criminal 18 activities described in subparagraphs (A) 19 through (H). 20 (7) S ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 21 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 22 (8) T RANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION .— 23 The term ‘‘transnational criminal organization’’ 24 means groups, networks, and associated individuals 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 17 •S 61 RS who operate transnationally for the purposes of ob-1 taining power, influence, or monetary or commercial 2 gain, wholly or in part by certain illegal means, 3 while advancing their activities through a pattern of 4 crime, corruption, or violence, and while protecting 5 their illegal activities through a transnational organi-6 zational structure and the exploitation of public cor-7 ruption or transnational logistics, financial, or com-8 munication mechanisms. 9 SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF ILLICIT USAGE. 10 (a) I NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 11 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 12 to the appropriate congressional committees an assessment 13 describing— 14 (1) the use of covered services by transnational 15 criminal organizations, or criminal enterprises acting 16 on behalf of transnational criminal organizations, to 17 engage in recruitment efforts, including the recruit-18 ment of individuals, including individuals under the 19 age of 18, located in the United States to engage in 20 or provide support with respect to illicit activities oc-21 curring in the United States, Mexico, or otherwise in 22 proximity to an international boundary of the United 23 States; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 18 •S 61 RS (2) the use of covered services by transnational 1 criminal organizations to engage in illicit activities 2 or conduct in support of illicit activities, including— 3 (A) smuggling or trafficking involving nar-4 cotics, other controlled substances, precursors 5 thereof, or other items prohibited under the laws 6 of the United States, Mexico, or another relevant 7 jurisdiction, including firearms; 8 (B) human smuggling or trafficking, in-9 cluding the exploitation of children; and 10 (C) transportation of bulk currency or mon-11 etary instruments in furtherance of smuggling 12 activity; and 13 (3) the existing efforts of the Secretary and rel-14 evant government and law enforcement entities to 15 counter, monitor, or otherwise respond to the usage of 16 covered services described in paragraphs (1) and (2). 17 SEC. 4. STRATEGY TO COMBAT CARTEL RECRUITMENT ON 18 SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE PLATFORMS. 19 (a) I NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date 20 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the 21 appropriate congressional committees a strategy, to be 22 known as the National Strategy to Combat Illicit Recruit-23 ment Activity by Transnational Criminal Organizations on 24 Social Media and Online Platforms, to combat the use of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 19 •S 61 RS covered services by transnational criminal organizations, or 1 criminal enterprises acting on behalf of transnational 2 criminal organizations, to recruit individuals located in the 3 United States to engage in or provide support with respect 4 to illicit activities occurring in the United States, Mexico, 5 or otherwise in proximity to an international boundary of 6 the United States. 7 (b) E LEMENTS.— 8 (1) I N GENERAL.—The strategy required under 9 subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, include the fol-10 lowing: 11 (A) A proposal to improve cooperation and 12 thereafter maintain cooperation between the Sec-13 retary and relevant law enforcement entities 14 with respect to the matters described in sub-15 section (a). 16 (B) Recommendations to implement a proc-17 ess for the voluntary reporting of information re-18 garding the recruitment efforts of transnational 19 criminal organizations in the United States in-20 volving covered services. 21 (C) A proposal to improve 22 intragovernmental coordination with respect to 23 the matters described in subsection (a), including 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 20 •S 61 RS between the Department and State, Tribal, and 1 local governments. 2 (D) A proposal to improve coordination 3 within the Department and between the compo-4 nents of the Department with respect to the mat-5 ters described in subsection (a). 6 (E) Activities to facilitate increased intel-7 ligence analysis for law enforcement purposes of 8 efforts of transnational criminal organizations to 9 utilize covered services for recruitment to engage 10 in or provide support with respect to illicit ac-11 tivities. 12 (F) Activities to foster international part-13 nerships and enhance collaboration with foreign 14 governments and, as applicable, multilateral in-15 stitutions with respect to the matters described 16 in subsection (a). 17 (G) Activities to specifically increase en-18 gagement and outreach with youth in border 19 communities, including regarding the recruit-20 ment tactics of transnational criminal organiza-21 tions and the consequences of participation in il-22 licit activities. 23 (H) A detailed description of the measures 24 used to ensure— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 21 •S 61 RS (i) law enforcement and intelligence 1 activities focus on the recruitment activities 2 of transitional criminal organizations, not 3 individuals the transnational criminal or-4 ganizations attempt to or successfully re-5 cruit; and 6 (ii) the privacy rights, civil rights, and 7 civil liberties protections in carrying out 8 the activities described in clause (i), with a 9 particular focus on the protections in place 10 to protect minors and constitutionally pro-11 tected activities. 12 (2) L IMITATION.—The strategy required under 13 subsection (a) shall not include legislative rec-14 ommendations or elements predicated on the passage 15 of legislation that is not enacted as of the date on 16 which the strategy is submitted under subsection (a). 17 (c) C ONSULTATION.—In drafting and implementing 18 the strategy required under subsection (a), the Secretary 19 shall, at a minimum, consult and engage with— 20 (1) the heads of relevant components of the De-21 partment, including— 22 (A) the Under Secretary for Intelligence 23 and Analysis; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 22 •S 61 RS (B) the Under Secretary for Strategy, Pol-1 icy, and Plans; 2 (C) the Under Secretary for Science and 3 Technology; 4 (D) the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 5 Border Protection; 6 (E) the Director of U.S. Immigration and 7 Customs Enforcement; 8 (F) the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 9 Liberties; 10 (G) the Privacy Officer; and 11 (H) the Assistant Secretary of the Office for 12 State and Local Law Enforcement; 13 (2) the Secretary of State; 14 (3) the Attorney General; 15 (4) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-16 ices; 17 (5) the Secretary of Education; and 18 (6) as selected by the Secretary or his or her des-19 ignee in the Office of Public Engagement, representa-20 tives of border communities, including representatives 21 of— 22 (A) State, Tribal, and local governments, 23 including school districts and local law enforce-24 ment; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 23 •S 61 RS (B) nongovernmental experts in the fields 1 of— 2 (i) civil rights and civil liberties; 3 (ii) online privacy; 4 (iii) humanitarian assistance for mi-5 grants; and 6 (iv) youth outreach and rehabilitation. 7 (d) I MPLEMENTATION.— 8 (1) I N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 9 the date on which the strategy required under sub-10 section (a) is submitted to the appropriate congres-11 sional committees, the Secretary shall commence im-12 plementation of the strategy. 13 (2) R EPORT.— 14 (A) I N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 15 after the date on which the strategy required 16 under subsection (a) is implemented under para-17 graph (1), and semiannually thereafter for 5 18 years, the Secretary shall submit to the appro-19 priate congressional committees a report describ-20 ing the efforts of the Secretary to implement the 21 strategy required under subsection (a) and the 22 progress of those efforts, which shall include a de-23 scription of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 24 •S 61 RS (i) the recommendations, and cor-1 responding implementation of those rec-2 ommendations, with respect to the matters 3 described in subsection (b)(1)(B); 4 (ii) the interagency posture with re-5 spect to the matters covered by the strategy 6 required under subsection (a), which shall 7 include a description of collaboration be-8 tween the Secretary, other Federal entities, 9 State, local, and Tribal entities, and foreign 10 governments; and 11 (iii) the threat landscape, including 12 new developments related to the United 13 States recruitment efforts of transnational 14 criminal organizations and the use by those 15 organizations of new or emergent covered 16 services and recruitment methods. 17 (B) F ORM.—Each report required under 18 subparagraph (A) shall be submitted in unclassi-19 fied form, but may contain a classified annex. 20 (3) C IVIL RIGHTS, CIVIL LIBERTIES, AND PRI-21 VACY ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 2 years after the 22 date on which the strategy required under subsection 23 (a) is implemented under paragraph (1), the Office 24 for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Privacy 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 25 •S 61 RS Office of the Department shall submit to the appro-1 priate congressional committees a joint report that 2 includes— 3 (A) a detailed assessment of the measures 4 used to ensure the protection of civil rights, civil 5 liberties, and privacy rights in carrying out this 6 section; and 7 (B) recommendations to improve the imple-8 mentation of the strategy required under sub-9 section (a). 10 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 11 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to expand the 12 statutory law enforcement or regulatory authority of the 13 Department. 14 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB Calendar No. 267 118 TH CONGRESS 1 ST S ESSION S. 61 [Report No. 118–123] A BILL To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to implement a strategy to combat the efforts of transnational criminal organizations to recruit in- dividuals in the United States via social media platforms and other online services and assess their use of such platforms and services for illicit activities, and for other purposes. D ECEMBER 11, 2023 Reported with an amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Dec 12, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S61.RS S61 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB