Senators Hassan, Lee Introduce Bipartisan Counterterrorism Bill

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Chair of the Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and Mike Lee (R-UT) today introduced the bipartisan Reporting Efficiently to Proper Officials in Response to Terrorism (REPORT) Act, which requires federal agencies to report to Congress after a terrorist attack with information about exactly what happened and recommendations to prevent future attacks.

“This bipartisan bill is a commonsense way to help live up to the first responsibility of government: making sure that Americans are safe, secure, and free,” said Senator Hassan. “As Chair of the Emerging Threats Subcommittee, I am working across the aisle to help prevent terrorist attacks and to ensure that if one occurs, agencies coordinate with each other to determine what went wrong so that we can strengthen our counterterrorism efforts moving forward.”

“Congress must have all available information to make the most informed policy decisions following terrorist attacks. The REPORT Act ensures members of Congress are able to receive and review the full accounting of the facts in order to inform votes, as well as hold federal agencies accountable in information sharing with both Congress and the American people,” said Senator Lee.

The bipartisan bill requires the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, the FBI, and/or the National Counterterrorism Center to work together to submit a report to Congress after a foreign or domestic terrorist attack, which must include an explanation of what happened, any gaps in national security, and recommendations for additional measures to improve homeland security and prevent future terrorist attacks.

Senator Hassan is focused on strengthening the country’s national security, and successfully worked to pass the bipartisan DHS Data Framework Act – which is now law – to help ensure that analysts at the Department of Homeland Security can more efficiently identify terrorist threats. In addition, bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Senator Hassan is now law to ensure that personnel at the Department of Homeland Security have the tools that they need to more easily detect synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Former President Trump also signed into law bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Senator Hassan to codify in law that grant funding for houses of worship and nonprofit organizations must be available for small states like New Hampshire, not just major metropolitan areas, and Senator Hassan successfully worked to quadruple funding for the program.

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