Reporting on People Traveling to Iraq or Syria to Join Terror Groups (H.R. 4402)

What is H.R. 4402?

(Updated July 20, 2017)

This bill would direct the President, through the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) to review known instances (since 2011) where a person has traveled or attempted to travel from the U.S. to a conflict zone in Iraq or Syria to join or provide support to terrorists.

The report would be required to include the following:

• Include relevant unclassified and classified information held by the U.S. government related to each instance;

• Ascertain which factors — including operational issues, security vulnerabilities, systemic challenges, or other issues — have undermined efforts to prevent travel to those conflict zones, including the identification and interdiction of suspects and information sharing;

• Identify lessons learned and areas for improvement to prevent additional travel by such persons to a conflict zone in Iraq or Syria, or other terrorist safe havens abroad.

DHS would be required to begin this report within 30 days of this bill’s enactment, and it would have to provide this report to Congress within an additional 90 days.

Argument in favor

DHS needs to provide Congress with a full accounting of successful or attempted travel by foreign fighters from the U.S. to conflict zones in Iraq or Syria. Doing so improves the ability of both lawmakers and DHS to monitor and prevent future travel.

Argument opposed

Compiling a report with every instance of a foreign fighter attempting to travel from the U.S. to Iraq or Syria (successfully or not) won’t help to prevent or deter future attempts. Congress should be bringing forward tangible policy changes instead.

Impact

DHS, Congress, and the President.

Cost of H.R. 4402

The CBO estimates that this bill would cost less than $500,000 in 2016.

Additional Info