I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1299
To amend title 18, United States Code, to reauthorize and expand the
National Threat Assessment Center of the Department of Homeland Security.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. D
IAZ-BALART(for himself and Mr. MOSKOWITZ) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to reauthorize and
expand the National Threat Assessment Center of the
Department of Homeland Security.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘EAGLES Act of 4
2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) On February 14, 2018, 17 individuals were 1
murdered in a senseless and violent attack on Mar-2
jory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland 3
Florida, a school whose mascot is the eagle. 4
(2) These individuals—Alaina Petty, Alex 5
Schachter, Alyssa Alhadeff, Cara Loughran, Carmen 6
Schentrup, Gina Montalto, Helena Ramsay, Jaime 7
Guttenberg, Joaquin Oliver, Luke Hoyer, Martin 8
Duque, Meadow Pollack, Nicholas Dworet, Peter 9
Wang, Aaron Feis, Chris Hixon, and Scott Beigel— 10
lived lives of warmth, joy, determination, service, 11
and love, and their loss is mourned by the Nation. 12
(3) Like many attackers, the shooter in that at-13
tack exhibited patterns of threatening and con-14
cerning behavior prior to the massacre that were 15
alarming and that should have alerted law enforce-16
ment and other Federal, State, and local officials 17
about the potential for violence. 18
(4) Acts of targeted violence, including the at-19
tack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 20
are preventable. 21
(5) Lives were saved because of the brave and 22
exemplary conduct of many students, teachers, and 23
staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in-24
cluding several of the victims of the attack. 25
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(6) The Secret Service National Threat Assess-1
ment Center (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Cen-2
ter’’) was established in 1998 to conduct research on 3
all forms of targeted violence, including attacks tar-4
geting government officials, government facilities, 5
workplaces, houses of worship, K–12 schools, univer-6
sities, and mass attacks in public spaces. 7
(7) Research published by the Center on tar-8
geted violence has shown that— 9
(A) most incidents were planned in ad-10
vance; 11
(B) the attackers’ behavior gave some indi-12
cation that the individual was planning, or at 13
least contemplating, an attack; 14
(C) most attackers had already exhibited a 15
pattern of behavior that elicited concern to 16
other people in their lives; and 17
(D) prior to the attack, someone associated 18
with the attacker, such as a family member or 19
peer, often knew the attack was to likely to 20
occur. 21
(8) Through their research, the Center devel-22
oped the Secret Service’s behavioral threat assess-23
ment model for preventing targeted violence, which 24
includes a 3-step process— 25
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(A) identifying individuals who are exhib-1
iting threatening or concerning behaviors that 2
indicate they may pose a risk of violence; 3
(B) assessing whether the individual poses 4
a risk, based on articulable facts; and 5
(C) risk posed by the individualized 6
proactive and preventive measures. 7
(9) The Secret Service’s behavioral threat as-8
sessment model works most effectively when all the 9
relevant parties, including local law enforcement, 10
mental health professionals, workplace managers, 11
school personnel, and members of the community, 12
are part of a comprehensive protocol to identify, as-13
sess, and manage a potential threat. 14
(10) The primary goal of behavioral threat as-15
sessment programs is to prevent targeted violence, 16
with an emphasis on providing early intervention 17
and connecting individuals exhibiting threatening or 18
concerning behavior to existing community resources 19
for support. 20
(11) Early intervention is a proven and effective 21
way to prevent violent conduct that would otherwise 22
harm others and necessitate more punitive action, 23
including criminal penalties. 24
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(12) The parties involved need the appropriate 1
research, guidance, training, and tools to establish 2
the appropriate mechanisms for implementing this 3
type of preventative approach. 4
(13) In K–12 schools, a behavioral threat as-5
sessment is a proactive approach to identify, assess, 6
and provide age-appropriate interventions, resources, 7
and supports for students who display behavior that 8
elicits concerns for the safety of themselves or oth-9
ers. 10
(14) There has been a 79 percent decline in ju-11
venile arrests in K–12 school communities who have 12
received Center training, thus successfully diverting 13
youth away from the criminal justice system. 14
(15) The demand from local communities 15
throughout the United States for behavioral threat 16
assessment trainings has significantly increased. 17
Since its inception, the Center has provided over 18
2,575 training sessions to over 273,000 attendees. 19
(16) From fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2022, 20
the Center has experienced a 117 percent increase in 21
demand for training sessions, with five times as 22
many participants. 23
(17) The Center additionally provides consulta-24
tion and follow-up engagements with government 25
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agencies, law enforcement, schools, and other organi-1
zations with public safety responsibilities. From fis-2
cal year 2018 to fiscal year 2022 the Center has 3
seen a 553 percent increase in consultation activi-4
ties. 5
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-6
gress that a fact-based behavioral threat assessment ap-7
proach, involving local law enforcement, mental health 8
professionals, workplace managers, school personnel, other 9
public safety officials, and members of the community, is 10
one of the most effective ways to prevent targeted violence 11
impacting communities across the country, and is a fitting 12
memorial to those whose lives were taken in the February 13
14, 2018, attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High 14
School and those who heroically acted to preserve the lives 15
of their friends, students, and colleagues. 16
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION AND EXPANSION OF THE NA-17
TIONAL THREAT ASSESSMENT CENTER OF 18
THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 203 of title 18, United 20
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3056A 21
the following: 22
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‘‘§ 3056B. Functions of the National Threat Assess-1
ment Center of the United States Secret 2
Service 3
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is established a National 4
Threat Assessment Center (in this section referred to as 5
the ‘Center’), to be operated by the United States Secret 6
Service, at the direction of the Secretary of Homeland Se-7
curity. 8
‘‘(b) F
UNCTIONS.—The functions of the Center shall 9
include the following: 10
‘‘(1) Training and education in the area of best 11
practices on threat assessment and the prevention of 12
targeted violence. 13
‘‘(2) Consultation on complex threat assessment 14
cases and programs. 15
‘‘(3) Research on threat assessment and the 16
prevention of targeted violence, consistent with evi-17
dence-based standards and existing laws and regula-18
tions. 19
‘‘(4) Facilitation of information sharing on 20
threat assessment and the prevention of targeted vi-21
olence among agencies and organizations with pro-22
tective or public safety responsibilities, as well as 23
other public or private entities. 24
‘‘(5) Development of evidence-based programs 25
to promote the standardization of Federal, State, 26
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and local threat assessments and best practices for 1
the prevention of targeted violence. 2
‘‘(c) S
AFESCHOOLINITIATIVE.—In carrying out the 3
functions described in subsection (b), the Center shall es-4
tablish a national program on targeted school violence pre-5
vention, focusing on the following activities: 6
‘‘(1) R
ESEARCH.—The Center shall— 7
‘‘(A) conduct research into targeted school 8
violence and evidence-based practices in tar-9
geted school violence prevention, including 10
school threat assessment; and 11
‘‘(B) publish the findings of the Center on 12
the public website of the United States Secret 13
Service and on the School Safety Clearinghouse 14
website, known as www.SchoolSafety.gov. 15
‘‘(2) T
RAINING.— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Center shall de-17
velop and offer training courses on targeted 18
school violence prevention to agencies with pro-19
tective or public safety responsibilities and 20
other public or private entities, including local 21
educational agencies. 22
‘‘(B) P
LAN.—Not later than one year after 23
the date of enactment of this section, the Cen-24
ter shall establish a plan to offer its training 25
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and other educational resources to public or pri-1
vate entities within each State. 2
‘‘(3) C
OORDINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL 3
AGENCIES.—The Center shall develop research and 4
training programs under this section in coordination 5
with the Department of Justice, the Department of 6
Education, and the Department of Health and 7
Human Services. 8
‘‘(4) C
ONSULTATION WITH ENTITIES OUTSIDE 9
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT .—The Center is au-10
thorized to consult with State and local educational, 11
law enforcement, and mental health officials and pri-12
vate entities in the development of research and 13
training programs under this section. 14
‘‘(5) I
NTERACTIVE WEBSITE .—The Center may 15
create an interactive website to disseminate informa-16
tion and data on evidence-based practices in tar-17
geted school violence prevention. 18
‘‘(d) H
IRING OFADDITIONALPERSONNEL.—The Di-19
rector of the United States Secret Service may hire addi-20
tional personnel to comply with the requirements of this 21
section, which, if the Director exercises such authority, 22
shall include— 23
‘‘(1) at least one employee with expertise in 24
child psychological development; and 25
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‘‘(2) at least one employee with expertise in 1
school threat assessment. 2
‘‘(e) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than two 3
years after the date of enactment of this section, the Di-4
rector of the Secret Service shall submit to the Committee 5
on the Judiciary, the Committee on Health, Education, 6
Labor, and Pensions, and the Committee on Appropria-7
tions of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary, 8
the Committee on Education and Labor, and the Com-9
mittee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 10
a report on actions taken by the United States Secret 11
Service to implement provisions of this section, which shall 12
include information relating to the following: 13
‘‘(1) The number of employees hired (on a full- 14
time equivalent basis). 15
‘‘(2) The number of individuals in each State 16
trained in threat assessment. 17
‘‘(3) The number of school districts in each 18
State trained in school threat assessment or targeted 19
school violence prevention. 20
‘‘(4) Information on Federal, State, and local 21
agencies trained or otherwise assisted by the Center. 22
‘‘(5) A formal evaluation indicating whether the 23
training and other assistance provided by the Center 24
is effective. 25
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‘‘(6) A formal evaluation indicating whether the 1
training and other assistance provided by the Center 2
was implemented by the school. 3
‘‘(7) A summary of the Center’s research activi-4
ties and findings. 5
‘‘(8) A strategic plan for disseminating the 6
Center’s educational and training resources to each 7
State. 8
‘‘(f) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 9
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 10
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030. 11
‘‘(g) N
OFUNDSTOPROVIDEFIREARMSTRAIN-12
ING.—Amounts made available to carry out this section 13
may not be used to train any person in the use of a fire-14
arm. 15
‘‘(h) N
OEFFECT ONOTHERLAWS.—Nothing in this 16
section may be construed to preclude or contradict any 17
other provision of law authorizing training in the use of 18
firearms. 19
‘‘(i) T
ERMINATION.—This section shall terminate on 20
September 30, 2030. 21
‘‘(j) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 22
‘‘(1) E
VIDENCE-BASED.—The term ‘evidence- 23
based’ means— 24
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‘‘(A) strong evidence from at least one 1
well-designed and well-implemented experi-2
mental study; 3
‘‘(B) moderate evidence from at least one 4
well-designed and well-implemented quasi-exper-5
imental study; or 6
‘‘(C) promising evidence from at least one 7
well-designed and well-implemented correla-8
tional study with statistical controls for selec-9
tion bias. 10
‘‘(2) L
OCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY .—The term 11
‘local educational agency’ has the meaning given 12
such term under section 8101 of the Elementary 13
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 14
7801); and 15
‘‘(3) S
TATE.—The term ‘State’ means any 16
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 17
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is-18
lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common-19
wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.’’. 20
(b) T
ECHNICAL, CONFORMING, ANDCLERICAL 21
A
MENDMENTS.— 22
(1) T
ECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND -23
MENT.—Section 4 of the Presidential Threat Protec-24
tion Act of 2000 (18 U.S.C. 3056 note) is repealed. 25
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(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-1
tions for chapter 203 of title 18, United States 2
Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating 3
to section 3056A the following new item: 4
‘‘3056B. Functions of the National Threat Assessment Center of the United
States Secret Service.’’.
Æ
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