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Us Congress Senate Bill SB1478

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1478 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 1478
55 To provide the United States Government with additional tools to deter
66 state and non-state actors from wrongfully detaining United States na-
77 tionals for political leverage, and for other purposes.
88 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
99 APRIL10, 2025
1010 Mr. R
1111 ISCH(for himself and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which
1212 was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
1313 A BILL
1414 To provide the United States Government with additional
1515 tools to deter state and non-state actors from wrongfully
1616 detaining United States nationals for political leverage,
1717 and for other purposes.
1818 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1919 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2020 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
2121 (a) S
2222 HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
2323 ‘‘Countering Wrongful Detention Act of 2025’’. 5
2424 (b) T
2525 ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
2626 this Act is as follows: 7
2727 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
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3131 TITLE I—DETERRING AND PREVENTING UNLAWFUL OR
3232 WRONGFUL DETENTION
3333 Sec. 101. Designation of a foreign country as a State Sponsor of Unlawful or
3434 Wrongful Detention.
3535 Sec. 102. Required certification regarding international travel advisories.
3636 TITLE II—STRENGTHENING PROCESSES AND SERVICES FOR
3737 HOSTAGES AND UNLAWFUL OR WRONGFUL DETAINEES
3838 Sec. 201. Advisory Council on Hostage Taking and Unlawful or Wrongful De-
3939 tention.
4040 Sec. 202. Congressional Report on Components Related to Hostage Affairs and
4141 Recovery.
4242 TITLE I—DETERRING AND PRE-1
4343 VENTING UNLAWFUL OR 2
4444 WRONGFUL DETENTION 3
4545 SEC. 101. DESIGNATION OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY AS A 4
4646 STATE SPONSOR OF UNLAWFUL OR WRONG-5
4747 FUL DETENTION. 6
4848 The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage- 7
4949 Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 et seq.) is 8
5050 amended by inserting after section 306 the following: 9
5151 ‘‘SEC. 306A. DESIGNATION OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY AS A 10
5252 STATE SPONSOR OF UNLAWFUL OR WRONG-11
5353 FUL DETENTION. 12
5454 ‘‘(a) I
5555 NGENERAL.—Subject to the notice require-13
5656 ment of subsection (c)(1)(A), the Secretary of State, in 14
5757 consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal 15
5858 agencies, may designate a foreign country that has pro-16
5959 vided support for or directly engaged in the unlawful or 17
6060 wrongful detention of a United States national as a State 18
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6464 Sponsor of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention based on any 1
6565 of the following criteria: 2
6666 ‘‘(1) The unlawful or wrongful detention of a 3
6767 United States national occurs in the foreign country. 4
6868 ‘‘(2) The government of the foreign country or 5
6969 an entity organized under the laws of a foreign 6
7070 country has failed to release an unlawfully or wrong-7
7171 fully detained United States national within 30 days 8
7272 of being officially notified by the Department of 9
7373 State of the unlawful or wrongful detention. 10
7474 ‘‘(3) Actions taken by the government of the 11
7575 foreign country indicate that the government is re-12
7676 sponsible for, complicit in, or materially supports the 13
7777 unlawful or wrongful detention of a United States 14
7878 national, including by acting as described in para-15
7979 graph (2) after having been notified by the Depart-16
8080 ment of State. 17
8181 ‘‘(4) The actions of a state or nonstate actor in 18
8282 the foreign country, including any previous action 19
8383 relating to unlawful or wrongful detention or hostage 20
8484 taking of a United States national, pose a risk to 21
8585 the safety and security of United States nationals 22
8686 abroad sufficient to warrant designation of the for-23
8787 eign country as a State Sponsor of Unlawful or 24
8888 Wrongful Detention, as determined by the Secretary. 25
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9292 ‘‘(b) TERMINATION OF DESIGNATION.—The Sec-1
9393 retary of State may terminate the designation of a foreign 2
9494 country under subsection (a) if the Secretary certifies to 3
9595 Congress that the government of the foreign country— 4
9696 ‘‘(1) has released the United States nationals 5
9797 unlawfully or wrongfully detained within the terri-6
9898 tory of the foreign country; 7
9999 ‘‘(2) has positively contributed to the release of 8
100100 United States nationals taken hostage within the 9
101101 territory of the foreign country or from the custody 10
102102 of a nonstate entity; 11
103103 ‘‘(3) has demonstrated changes in leadership or 12
104104 policies with respect to unlawful or wrongful deten-13
105105 tion and hostage taking; or 14
106106 ‘‘(4) has provided assurances that the govern-15
107107 ment of the foreign country will not engage or be 16
108108 complicit in or support acts described in subsection 17
109109 (a). 18
110110 ‘‘(c) B
111111 RIEFING ANDREPORTS TOCONGRESS; PUBLI-19
112112 CATION.— 20
113113 ‘‘(1) R
114114 EPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 21
115115 ‘‘(A) I
116116 N GENERAL.—Not later than 7 days 22
117117 prior to making a designation of a foreign coun-23
118118 try as a State Sponsor of Unlawful or Wrongful 24
119119 Detention under subsection (a), the Secretary 25
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123123 of State shall submit to the appropriate com-1
124124 mittees of Congress a report that notifies the 2
125125 committees of the proposed designation. 3
126126 ‘‘(B) E
127127 LEMENTS.—In each report sub-4
128128 mitted under subparagraph (A) with respect to 5
129129 the designation of a foreign country as a State 6
130130 Sponsor of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention, 7
131131 the Secretary shall include— 8
132132 ‘‘(i) the justification for the designa-9
133133 tion; and 10
134134 ‘‘(ii) a description of any action taken 11
135135 by the United States Government, includ-12
136136 ing the Secretary of State or the head of 13
137137 any other relevant Federal agency, in re-14
138138 sponse to the designation to deter the un-15
139139 lawful or wrongful detention or hostage- 16
140140 taking of foreign nationals in the country. 17
141141 ‘‘(2) I
142142 NITIAL BRIEFING REQUIRED .—Not later 18
143143 than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this 19
144144 section, the Secretary shall brief Congress on the fol-20
145145 lowing: 21
146146 ‘‘(A) Whether any of the following coun-22
147147 tries should be designated as a State Sponsor 23
148148 of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention under sub-24
149149 section (a): 25
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153153 ‘‘(i) Afghanistan. 1
154154 ‘‘(ii) Eritrea. 2
155155 ‘‘(iii) The Islamic Republic of Iran. 3
156156 ‘‘(iv) The People’s Republic of China. 4
157157 ‘‘(v) The Russian Federation. 5
158158 ‘‘(vi) The Syrian Arab Republic or 6
159159 any transitional government therein. 7
160160 ‘‘(vii) Venezuela under the regime of 8
161161 Nicola´s Maduro. 9
162162 ‘‘(viii) The Republic of Belarus. 10
163163 ‘‘(B) The steps taken by the Secretary and 11
164164 the heads of other relevant Federal agencies to 12
165165 deter the unlawful and wrongful detention of 13
166166 United States nationals and to respond to such 14
167167 detentions, including— 15
168168 ‘‘(i) any engagement with private sec-16
169169 tor companies to optimize the distribution 17
170170 of travel advisories; and 18
171171 ‘‘(ii) any engagement with private 19
172172 companies responsible for promoting travel 20
173173 to foreign countries engaged in the unlaw-21
174174 ful or wrongful detention of United States 22
175175 nationals. 23
176176 ‘‘(C) An assessment of a possible expan-24
177177 sion of chapter 97 of title 28, United States 25
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181181 Code (commonly known as the ‘Foreign Sov-1
182182 ereign Immunities Act of 1976’) to include an 2
183183 exception from asset seizure immunity for State 3
184184 Sponsors of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention. 4
185185 ‘‘(D) A detailed plan on the manner by 5
186186 which a geographic travel restriction could be 6
187187 instituted against State Sponsors of Unlawful 7
188188 or Wrongful Detention. 8
189189 ‘‘(E) The progress made in multilateral 9
190190 fora, including the United Nations and other 10
191191 international organizations, to address the un-11
192192 lawful and wrongful detention of United States 12
193193 nationals, in addition to nationals of partners 13
194194 and allies of the United States in foreign coun-14
195195 tries. 15
196196 ‘‘(3) A
197197 NNUAL BRIEFING.—Not later than one 16
198198 year after the date of the enactment of this section, 17
199199 and annually thereafter for 5 years, the Assistant 18
200200 Secretary of State for Consular Affairs and the Spe-19
201201 cial Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs shall 20
202202 brief the appropriate committees of Congress with 21
203203 respect to unlawful or wrongful detentions taking 22
204204 place in the countries listed under paragraph (2)(A) 23
205205 and actions taken by the Secretary of State and the 24
206206 heads of other relevant Federal agencies to deter the 25
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210210 wrongful detention of United States nationals, in-1
211211 cluding any steps taken in accordance with para-2
212212 graph (2)(B). 3
213213 ‘‘(4) P
214214 UBLICATION.—The Secretary shall make 4
215215 available on a publicly accessible website of the De-5
216216 partment of State, and regularly update, a list of 6
217217 foreign countries designated as State Sponsors of 7
218218 Unlawful or Wrongful Detention under subsection 8
219219 (a). 9
220220 ‘‘(d) R
221221 EVIEW OFAVAILABLERESPONSES TOSTATE 10
222222 S
223223 PONSORS OFUNLAWFUL ORWRONGFULDETENTION.— 11
224224 Upon designation of a foreign country as a State Sponsor 12
225225 of Unlawful or Wrongful Detention under subsection (a), 13
226226 the Secretary of State, in consultation with the heads of 14
227227 other relevant Federal agencies, shall conduct a com-15
228228 prehensive review of the use of existing authorities to re-16
229229 spond to and deter the unlawful or wrongful detention of 17
230230 United States nationals in the foreign country, includ-18
231231 ing— 19
232232 ‘‘(1) sanctions available under the International 20
233233 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 21
234234 et seq.); 22
235235 ‘‘(2) visa restrictions available under section 23
236236 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Oper-24
237237 ations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 25
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241241 2024 (division F of Public Law 118–47; 8 U.S.C. 1
242242 1182 note) or any other provision of Federal law; 2
243243 ‘‘(3) sanctions available under the Immigration 3
244244 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.); 4
245245 ‘‘(4) imposition of a geographic travel restric-5
246246 tion on citizens of the United States; 6
247247 ‘‘(5) restrictions on assistance provided to the 7
248248 government of the country under the Foreign Assist-8
249249 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) or any 9
250250 other provision of Federal law; 10
251251 ‘‘(6) restrictions on the export of certain goods 11
252252 to the country under the Arms Export Control Act 12
253253 (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.), the Export Control Re-13
254254 form Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.), or any 14
255255 other Federal law; and 15
256256 ‘‘(7) designating the government of the country 16
257257 as a government that has repeatedly provided sup-17
258258 port for acts of international terrorism pursuant 18
259259 to— 19
260260 ‘‘(A) section 1754(c)(1)(A)(i) of the Ex-20
261261 port Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 21
262262 4813(c)(1)(A)(i)); 22
263263 ‘‘(B) section 620A of the Foreign Assist-23
264264 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 24
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268268 ‘‘(C) section 40(d) of the Arms Export 1
269269 Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780(d)); or 2
270270 ‘‘(D) any other provision of law. 3
271271 ‘‘(e) A
272272 PPROPRIATECOMMITTEES OFCONGRESSDE-4
273273 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘appropriate commit-5
274274 tees of Congress’ means— 6
275275 ‘‘(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 7
276276 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 8
277277 ‘‘(2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 9
278278 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-10
279279 resentatives. 11
280280 ‘‘(f) R
281281 ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-12
282282 tion shall be construed to imply that the United States 13
283283 Government formally recognizes any particular country or 14
284284 the government of such country as legitimate.’’. 15
285285 SEC. 102. REQUIRED CERTIFICATION REGARDING INTER-16
286286 NATIONAL TRAVEL ADVISORIES. 17
287287 (a) I
288288 NGENERAL.—Chapter 423 of title 49, United 18
289289 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-19
290290 lowing new section: 20
291291 ‘‘§ 42309. Required certification regarding inter-21
292292 national travel advisories 22
293293 ‘‘(a) I
294294 NGENERAL.—An air carrier, foreign air car-23
295295 rier, or ticket agent who sells, in the United States, a tick-24
296296 et for foreign air transportation of a passenger to a coun-25
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300300 try or other geographic area with a ‘D’ or ‘K’ indicator 1
301301 issued by the Department of State Travel Advisory Sys-2
302302 tem shall require the passenger listed on the ticket to cer-3
303303 tify that the passenger— 4
304304 ‘‘(1) has reviewed the travel advisory of the De-5
305305 partment of State applicable to such country or 6
306306 other geographic area; and 7
307307 ‘‘(2) understands the risks involved with trav-8
308308 eling to such country or other geographic area. 9
309309 ‘‘(b) D
310310 EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 10
311311 ‘‘(1) ‘D’
312312 INDICATOR.—The term ‘‘‘D’’ indi-11
313313 cator’ means a travel advisory issued by the Depart-12
314314 ment of State that indicates a risk of wrongful de-13
315315 tention of a United States national. 14
316316 ‘‘(2) ‘K’
317317 INDICATOR.—The term ‘‘‘K’’ indi-15
318318 cator’ means a travel advisory issued by the Depart-16
319319 ment of State that indicates a criminal or terrorist 17
320320 individual or group has threatened to seize, detain, 18
321321 kill, or injure individuals (or has seized, detained, 19
322322 killed, or injured individuals) to compel a third party 20
323323 (including a governmental organization) to meet cer-21
324324 tain requirements as a condition of release.’’. 22
325325 (b) C
326326 LERICALAMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap-23
327327 ter 423 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 24
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331331 inserting after the item relating to section 42308 the fol-1
332332 lowing: 2
333333 ‘‘42309. Required certification regarding international travel advisories.’’.
334334 TITLE II—STRENGTHENING 3
335335 PROCESSES AND SERVICES 4
336336 FOR HOSTAGES AND UNLAW-5
337337 FUL OR WRONGFUL DETAIN-6
338338 EES 7
339339 SEC. 201. ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HOSTAGE-TAKING AND 8
340340 UNLAWFUL OR WRONGFUL DETENTION. 9
341341 The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage- 10
342342 Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 et seq.), as 11
343343 amended by section 101, is further amended by inserting 12
344344 after section 305B the following: 13
345345 ‘‘SEC. 305C. ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HOSTAGE TAKING AND 14
346346 UNLAWFUL OR WRONGFUL DETENTION. 15
347347 ‘‘(a) E
348348 STABLISHMENT.—The President shall estab-16
349349 lish an advisory council, to be known as the ‘Advisory 17
350350 Council on Hostage Taking and Unlawful or Wrongful De-18
351351 tention’ (in this section referred to as the ‘Advisory Coun-19
352352 cil’), to advise the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage 20
353353 Affairs, the Hostage Response Group, and the Hostage 21
354354 Recovery Fusion Cell with respect to Federal policies re-22
355355 garding hostage-taking and unlawful or wrongful deten-23
356356 tion. 24
357357 ‘‘(b) M
358358 EMBERSHIP.— 25
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362362 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall invite 1
363363 individuals to the Advisory Council, which shall be 2
364364 comprised of— 3
365365 ‘‘(A) United States nationals who have 4
366366 been unlawfully or wrongfully detained or taken 5
367367 hostage abroad; 6
368368 ‘‘(B) family members of such United 7
369369 States nationals; and 8
370370 ‘‘(C) not fewer than 2 experts on areas in-9
371371 cluding hostage-taking, wrongful detention, 10
372372 international relations, rule of law, and counter-11
373373 terrorism who have been recommended by the 12
374374 Secretary of State. 13
375375 ‘‘(2) T
376376 ERMS.—The term of a member of the 14
377377 Advisory Council shall be 3 years. 15
378378 ‘‘(3) C
379379 OMPENSATION AND TRAVEL EX -16
380380 PENSES.—A member of the Advisory Council shall 17
381381 not be considered a Federal employee and shall not 18
382382 be compensated for service on the Advisory Council, 19
383383 but may be allowed travel expenses, including per 20
384384 diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with sub-21
385385 chapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States 22
386386 Code. 23
387387 ‘‘(c) A
388388 NNUALREPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after 24
389389 the date of the enactment of this section, and annually 25
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393393 thereafter, the Advisory Council shall submit to the Presi-1
394394 dent and the appropriate congressional committees a re-2
395395 port setting forth the recommendations of the Advisory 3
396396 Council. 4
397397 ‘‘(d) T
398398 ERMINATION.—The Advisory Council shall ter-5
399399 minate on the date that is 10 years after the date of the 6
400400 enactment of this section.’’. 7
401401 SEC. 202. CONGRESSIONAL REPORT ON COMPONENTS RE-8
402402 LATED TO HOSTAGE AFFAIRS AND RECOV-9
403403 ERY. 10
404404 (a) I
405405 NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 11
406406 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall sub-12
407407 mit to Congress a report on the following: 13
408408 (1) The Hostage Response Group established 14
409409 pursuant to section 305(a) of the Robert Levinson 15
410410 Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Account-16
411411 ability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741c(a)). 17
412412 (2) The Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell estab-18
413413 lished pursuant to section 304(a) of that Act (22 19
414414 U.S.C. 1741b(a)). 20
415415 (3) The Office of the Special Presidential 21
416416 Envoy for Hostage Affairs established pursuant to 22
417417 section 303(a) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 1741a(a)). 23
418418 (b) E
419419 LEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 24
420420 (a) shall include— 25
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424424 (1) a description of the existing structure of 1
425425 each component listed in subsection (a); 2
426426 (2) recommendations on how the components 3
427427 can be improved, including through reorganization 4
428428 or consolidation of the components; and 5
429429 (3) cost efficiencies on the components listed in 6
430430 subsection (a), including resources available to eligi-7
431431 ble former wrongful detainees and hostages and 8
432432 their family members. 9
433433 Æ
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