[Senate Report 114-365]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 655
114th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 114-365
_______________________________________________________________________
COUNTERING ONLINE RECRUITMENT OF VIOLENT EXTREMISTS ACT OF 2015
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 2418
TO AUTHORIZE THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY TO
ESTABLISH UNIVERSITY LABS FOR STUDENT-DEVELOPED
TECHNOLOGY-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR COUNTERING ONLINE RECRUITMENT OF VIOLENT
EXTREMISTS
October 27, 2016.--Ordered to be printed
Filed, under authority of the order of the Senate of September 29, 2016
_________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
69-010 WASHINGTON : 2016
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
JONI ERNST, Iowa GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
BEN SASSE, Nebraska
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Elizabeth E. McWhorter, Professional Staff Member
Gabrielle A. Batkin, Minority Staff Director
John P. Kilvington, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Mary Beth Schultz, Minority Chief Counsel
Harlan C. Geer, Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
Eric Hanson, Minority U.S. Army Congressional Fellow
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 655
114th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 114-365
======================================================================
COUNTERING ONLINE RECRUITMENT OF VIOLENT EXTREMISTS ACT OF 2015
_______
October 27, 2016.--Ordered to be printed
Filed, under authority of the order of the Senate of September 29, 2016
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 2418]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2418) to authorize
the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish university labs
for student-developed technology-based solutions for countering
online recruitment of violent extremists, having considered the
same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment (in the
nature of a substitute) and recommends that the bill, as
amended, do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary.............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................5
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................5
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................6
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................7
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............7
I. Purpose and Summary
The purpose of S. 2418, the Countering Online Recruitment
of Violent Extremists Act of 2016, is to authorize the
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or ``the
Department'') to establish one or more Countering Violent
Extremism (CVE) Labs at existing DHS university-based centers
of excellence. The CVE Labs will allow students to leverage new
technologies to create peer-to-peer solutions that counter the
online recruitment methods of violent extremist organizations.
The Secretary may reprioritize existing grants to such
universities to fund each CVE Lab and is required to report to
Congress on an independently-commissioned assessment of the
impact of each CVE Lab that the Secretary opts to establish.
II. Background and the Need for Legislation
In 2015, President Obama identified al-Qaeda, the Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and their affiliates, as the
preeminent security threat to the United States.\1\ In August
2011, the Administration released a CVE strategy entitled,
``Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the
United States.''\2\ This strategy represents a shift in how the
counterterrorism community understands prevention and a
willingness to consider new and innovative tools that can
address the evolving nature of terrorism better than
traditional Federal counterterrorism functions.\3\ Yet,
according to the Congressional Research Service, the 2011 CVE
strategy and accompanying implementation plan lack ``specific
initiatives to combat radicalization at the grass-roots
level.''\4\
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\1\See generally, The White House, National Security Strategy 20
(2015), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/
docs/2015_national_security_strategy.pdf.
\2\Press Release, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary,
Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United
States (Aug. 3, 2011), https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/
2011/08/03/empowering-local-partners-prevent-violent-extremism-united-
states.
\3\Naureen Chowdhury Fink & Jack Barclay, Mastering the Narrative:
Counterterrorism Strategic Communication and the United Nations, Center
on Global Counterterrorism 6 (Feb. 2013), http://globalcenter.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/03/Feb2013_CT_StratComm.pdf.
\4\Jerome Bjelopera, Cong. Research Serv., R42553, Countering
Violent Extremism in the United States 9-13, 15, 17 (2014), http://
www.crs.gov/reports/pdf/R42553.
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During a Committee hearing in October 2015, DHS Secretary
Jeh Johnson testified that terrorist groups use the internet to
``inspire individuals to conduct attacks within their own
homelands.''\5\ During another Committee hearing in May of the
same year, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a Senior Fellow at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies, testified that ``the
interconnectivity of the Internet . . . suddenly makes someone
who is alone a part of a group.''\6\ At the same hearing, Peter
Bergen, the Director of New America Foundation's National
Security Studies Program, testified about the importance of
amplifying a positive message rather than trying to attack or
eliminate ISIS's negative message.\7\ Brian Michael Jenkins,
Senior Adviser to the President of the RAND Corporation, later
told the Committee, during a January 2016 hearing, that
marginalization and alienation are significant motivations for
radicalization.\8\
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\5\Threats to the Homeland: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland
Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. (2015) (statement of Jeh
Johnson, Sec'y, Dep't of Homeland Sec.).
\6\Jihad 2.0: Social Media in the Next Evolution of Terrorist
Recruitment: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. &
Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. 31 (2015).
\7\Id. at 63.
\8\Inside the Mind of ISIS: Understanding Its Goals and Ideology to
Better Protect the Homeland: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland
Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. 77-79 (2016) (statement of
Hedieh Mirahmadi, President, World Org. for Res. Dev. & Educ.);
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to
Terrorism, Community-Level Indicator of Radicalization: A Data &
Methods Task Force, University of Maryland 7 (Feb. 16, 2010), https://
www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_HFD_CommRadReport.pdf.
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In spite of several challenges, governments must somehow
effectively counter terrorist ideologies and narratives to
diminish their recruiting and operating capacities.\9\ The
United States is balancing this national security imperative
with protections for freedom of speech and expression.\10\ In
addition, any government counter-narrative campaign must
consider that their target audience will be skeptical of
government credibility.\11\ As Hedieh Mirahmadi, President of
the World Organization for Resource Development and Education
(WORDE), and Dr. Bernard Haykel, Princeton University Professor
of Near Eastern Studies, both testified before the Committee,
any government narrative describing ISIS's atrocities is
dismissed by the group's followers as an inauthentic
misrepresentation of the so-called Caliphate.\12\
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\9\Inside the Mind of ISIS: Understanding Its Goals and Ideology to
Better Protect the Homeland: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland
Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. 35, 36, 55-57, 64, 65, 69-72
(2016) (statements of Hedieh Mirahmadi, President, World Org. for Res.
Dev. & Educ., and Dr. Lorenzo Vidino, Director, Program on Extremism,
The George Washington Univ., and Dr. Jessica Stern, Research Professor,
Pardee School for Global Studies, Boston Uni.); ISIS Online: Countering
Terrorist Radicalization & Recruitment on the Internet & Social Media:
Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, 114th Cong. (2016) (statement
of Alberto Fernandez, Vice President, The Middle East Media Research
Institute); Jihad 2.0: Social Media in the Next Evolution of Terrorist
Recruitment: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. &
Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. 63-64 (2015) (statement of Peter
Bergen, Director, National Security Studies Program, New America
Foundation).
\10\Jihad 2.0: Social Media in the Next Evolution of Terrorist
Recruitment: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. &
Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. 61-62 (2015) (statement of Mubin
Shaikh, Author, Undercover Jihadi).
\11\Inside the Mind of ISIS: Understanding Its Goals and Ideology
to Better Protect the Homeland: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland
Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. 77-80 (2016) (statements of
Hedieh Mirahmadi, President, World Org. for Res. Dev. & Educ., and Dr.
Bernard Haykel's testimony).
\12\Id.
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According to a National Institute of Justice funded
evaluation of an existing domestic CVE program, as well as a
separate study by the same researchers, ``those best positioned
to notice early signs of individuals considering acts of
violent extremism likely would be those individuals' friends:
perhaps more so than school counselors, clergy, or family
members.''\13\ During a Committee hearing in November 2015, Mr.
Bergen testified that 24 years is the average age of Westerners
drawn into the Syrian conflict by the Salafi-jihadist
ideology.\14\ Mr. Bergen went on to explain that American
recruits are particularly active in online jihadist
circles.\15\ It logically follows that peers best positioned to
counter ISIS's ideology are millennials that are active online.
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\13\Michael J. Williams, Ph.D., John G. Horgan, Ph.D., & Williams
P. Evans, Ph.D., Evaluation of a Multi-Faceted, U.S. Community-Based,
Muslim-Led CVE Program, National Criminal Justice Reference Service 4,
37, 50, 54, 87, 103 (June 2016), https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/
grants/249936.pdf; Williams et al, The Critical Role of Friends in
Networks For Countering Violent Extremism: Toward a Theory of Vicarious
Help-Seeking, 8 Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political
Aggression 45, 47, 50, 62 (2016), available at http://
www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/19434472.2015.1101147.
\14\The Impact of ISIS on the Homeland and Refugee Resettlement:
Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs,
114th Cong. 73 (2015) (statement of Peter Bergen).
\15\Id.
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Finally, in an April 2016 hearing focused on United States
drug demand, the Committee received testimony from Cheryl
Healton, Dean of the College of Global Public Health at New
York University, and Tony Sgro, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
of EdVenture Partners, regarding their specific initiatives to
empower youth-driven messaging to counter-narratives of drug
demand and violent extremism.
Dr. Healton, who previously served as President and CEO of
Legacy, the leading Foundation dedicated to tobacco control,
focused her testimony on a ``bold counter-marketing campaign
foryouth, truth--now in its 16th year.''\16\ That campaign
learned from the same research that drove the strategy of the 1950s
British-American Tobacco Company advertisements: meet the psychological
needs of adolescents to take risks, rebel, fit in, remain independent,
self-express, and be respected.\17\ Through guerilla-marketing stunts,
youth participated in a grassroots campaign in the days before social
media to expose how the tobacco industry lied to its customers.\18\ In
2002, this initiative resulted in 300,000 fewer youth smokers than
predicted.\19\
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\16\America's Insatiable Demand for Drugs: Hearing Before the S.
Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. (2016)
(statement by Cheryl Healton, Dean, College of Global Public Health,
New York University).
\17\Pete Favat & Bryan C. Price, The Truth Campaign and the War of
Ideas, Combating Terrorism Center 10 (July 28, 2015), https://
www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-truth-campaign-and-the-war-of-ideas.
\18\Id.
\19\Dr. Matthew C. Farrelly et al., Evidence of a Dose--Response
Relationship Between ``Truth'' Antismoking Ads and Youth Smoking
Prevalence, 95 American Journal of Public Health 429 (Mar. 2005),
available at http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/
AJPH.2004.049692.
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According to Dr. Healton, a critical component to the
success of a national campaign to ``un-market'' and prevent
illicit drug use is its ability to produce youth-driven,
``unpalatable'' ads.\20\ Dr. Healton testified that certain
oversight and ``approval'' processes ``can undermine a public
education campaign's ability to succeed.''\21\
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\20\America's Insatiable Demand for Drugs: Hearing Before the S.
Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. 7 (2016)
(statement by Cheryl Healton, Dean, College of Global Public Health,
New York University).
\21\Id.
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Mr. Sgro's organization administers an education program to
university students. The Peer-To-Peer (P2P): Challenging
Extremism program is a grassroots youth-driven contest to
empower credible, youthful voices to create countervailing
narratives that appeal to and mobilize their peers to
proactively undermine violent extremism.\22\ In the words of
Mr. Sgro:
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\22\America's Insatiable Demand for Drugs: Hearing Before the S.
Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. 29-33 (2016)
(statement by Tony Sgro, Chief Executive Officer, EdVenture Partners).
Who better to develop alternative counter narratives to
extremist messaging than the very same audience
extremists want to recruit. Government has recognized
it can't do it, so it makes perfect sense to enlist
tech-savvy youth to be part of the solution to push
back on hate, terror, and extremism.\23\
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\23\Id. at 29.
The P2P: Challenging Extremism program inspired the
language of S. 2418 to codify an educational curriculum and
structure based on the P2P model. The Committee believes that
DHS university-based centers of excellence could be a driver of
CVE innovation, especially if CVE Labs incorporate disciplines
not traditionally associated with counterterrorism. For this
reason, S. 2418 also modifies current law to include
universities that can demonstrate expertise in CVE as
designated university-based centers for homeland security.
Under this bill, the Secretary may reprioritize existing
grants to such universities to fund CVE Labs. One year after
establishing a CVE Lab, the Comptroller General is required to
report to the Secretary and appropriate Congressional
committees regarding that Lab's impact on CVE. This bill also
requires the Secretary to commission an independent assessment
of each CVE Lab's impact, and provide that assessment to
Congress.
By defining CVE as ``providing positive countervailing
alternatives,'' this bill emphasizes the difference between the
intent of new CVE functions and traditional punitive Federal
counterterrorism functions. Finally, S. 2418 states
congressional findings that campaigns to undermine terrorist
recruitment of youth ``are credible, authentic, believable,
[when] they are created by youth for youth.''\24\
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\24\Id. at 30.
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III. Legislative History
Senator Cory Booker and Chairman Ron Johnson introduced S.
2418 on December 17, 2015, which was referred to the Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Senators Gary
Peters and Tom Udall joined as cosponsors on January 21 and
January 27, 2016, respectively. The Committee considered S.
2418 at a business meeting on February 10, 2016.
Senator Booker and Chairman Johnson offered one amendment
in the nature of a substitute, which reflected negotiated
changes to the definition of ``CVE'' and ``technology-based CVE
solutions'' and to the functions of the CVE Lab. The Committee
adopted the amendment and ordered the bill, as amended,
reported favorably, both by voice vote. Senators present for
both the vote on the amendment and the vote on the bill were:
Johnson, McCain, Portman, Paul, Lankford, Ayotte, Ernst, Sasse,
Carper, McCaskill, Tester, Baldwin, Heitkamp, Booker, and
Peters.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported
Section 1. Short title
This section provides the bill's short title, the
Countering Online Recruitment of Violent Extremists Act of
2016.''
Section 2. Definitions
This section defines the terms ``appropriate congressional
committees,'' ``center for homeland security,'' ``countering
violent extremism,'' ``CVE Lab,'' ``institution of higher
education,'' ``participating student,'' ``technology-based CVE
solution,'' and ``violent extremism.''
Section 3. Findings
Section 3 outlines five Congressional findings related to
the use of social media as a terrorist recruitment mechanism
and the potential of university-based labs to develop
technology-based solutions to effectively counter such online
recruitment.
Section 4. Establishment of CVE Labs
Section 4 authorizes the Secretary of DHS, acting through
the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, to establish
CVE Labs and reprioritize homeland security grants to provide
funding for such labs.
Section 5. Functions and requirements of CVE Labs
Section 5 requires faculty of institutions of higher
education that house a CVE Lab to establish curricula to
develop and test technology-based CVE solutions. Participating
students shall receive orientations on cross-cultural
communications issues and CVE safety issues, learn to
incorporate technology-based business development practices,
and develop a scalable business plan of their solutions for
public and private customers. The faculty shall supervise any
deployment of a technology-based CVE solution developed by a
student. Faculty shall also develop enduring research tools to
support other programs that encourage peer-to-peer CVE
solutions. It is also the role of faculty to identify experts
who can help students target their solutions to the needs of
individuals who are susceptible to recruitment of violent
extremism while protecting the civil rights and civil liberties
of individuals not engaged in terrorism.
The head of an institution of higher education that houses
a CVE Lab shall ensure that participating faculty and students
represent an interdisciplinary cross-section that includes
disciplines not traditionally associated with counterterrorism.
Section 6. Assessment and report
Section 6 requires the Comptroller General of the United
States to submit a report to the Secretary of DHS and
appropriate congressional committees on the impact of each CVE
Lab, within one year after the lab's establishment.
Section 6 also requires the Secretary of DHS, acting
through the Undersecretary for Science and Technology, to
commission an independent third-party assessment of each CVE
Lab that the Secretary elects to establish and provide such
assessment to the appropriate congressional committees within
180 days of the assessment's completion.
Section 7. Functions of centers for Homeland Security
Section 7 amends Section 308 of the Homeland Security Act
of 2002 to add ``demonstrated expertise in countering violent
extremism'' to the list of criteria used to designate a college
or university as a center for homeland security.
Section 8. Sunset
Section 8 provides a seven-year sunset date for sections 1
through 6. Section 7 is not subject to a sunset.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental orprivate-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs on state,
local, or tribal governments.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, October 12, 2016.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 2418, the Countering
Online Recruitment of Violent Extremists Act of 2016.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Mark
Grabowicz.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
S. 2418--Countering Online Recruitment of Violent Extremists Act of
2016
S. 2418 would authorize the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) to establish programs at institutions of higher education
to develop technology-based approaches to counteract the
promotion of violent extremism. Based on information from DHS
about similar activities that it currently sponsors, CBO
estimates that implementing the bill would not significantly
affect the department's spending for university programs.
Enacting the legislation would not affect direct spending
or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 2418 would not increase net
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
S. 2418 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and any
costs incurred by institutions of higher education would result
from participating in a voluntary federal program.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Mark Grabowicz.
The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002
* * * * * * *
TITLE III--SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SUPPORT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
* * * * * * *
SEC. 308. CONDUCT OF RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, DEMONSTRATION, TESTING AND
EVALUATION
(a) * * *
(b) Extramural Programs.--
(1) * * *
(2) University-based centers for homeland security.--
(A) * * *
(B) Criteria for designation.--Criteria for
the designation of colleges or universities as
a center for homeland security, shall include,
but are not limited to, demonstrated expertise
in--
* * * * * * *
(xv) Countering violent extremism.
* * * * * * *