Prosecuting Overseas Crimes Committed by U.S. Contractors (S. 1377)

What is S. 1377?

(Updated March 15, 2018)

This bill aims to ensure that American contractors and employees working outside of the country are held accountable to U.S. laws.

The Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (CEJA) would change the federal criminal code to allow U.S. authorities to penalize federal contractors and their employees for committing certain crimes while working outside of the U.S.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) would be directed to create new investigative task forces to investigate, arrest, and prosecute contractors and employees who commit serious crimes overseas. The Attorney General would also be allowed to send federal agents to arrest alleged offenders outside of the U.S., as long as there is probable cause. This bill would apply to contractors working in the service of any agency other than the Department of Defense (DOD).

Argument in favor

There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding how U.S. laws apply to overseas contractors. This bill would eliminate the confusion, protect people overseas, and hold criminals accountable.

Argument opposed

This bill needs to address whether some personnel, like intelligence employees, should be shielded from prosecution as their jobs may require them to break the law.

Impact

Overseas federal contractors and employees; people in other nations; the Department of Justice; the Attorney General; Congress.

Cost of S. 1377

A CBO estimate of a previous version of this bill found that it would have no significant impact on the federal budget. Costs would be incurred due to investigations and prosecutions, and revenues would be collected from fines, but the overall number of cases would be small.

Additional Info

In Depth: Rep. David Price (D-NC), the sponsor of this bill's companion in the House, argued in a press release that the bill would improve the U.S.'s international relations by holding contractors accountable:

"Although the number of American military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan has been reduced in recent years, our commitment to the rule of law has not, and closing the accountability gap for U.S. contractors operating overseas is more urgent than ever. We have seen the peril of allowing firms such as Blackwater to operate in a legal no-man’s land—a few bad actors can put our international relationships at risk and undermine the missions we ask our military and diplomatic personnel to complete. The bottom line is: if contractors working on behalf of the United States commit crimes abroad, DOJ should be able to prosecute them."

"We should not require agents to pay for defense attorneys and risk jail time at the political whim of the Justice Department."

Of Note: The Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (CEJA) has been introduced several times by Senator Leahy (D-VT) over the years, after the passage of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) in 2000. Previous attempts to pass the CEJA have been stymied by debate over whether intelligence personnel should be shielded, as they may be forced to break the law while performing their job.

There has been a jurisdiction gap covering contractors employed by agencies other than the DOD. Contractors performing a military service are covered by the MEJA — but security contractors working for other agencies are not.

This created problems in handling the case of Blackwater contractors who killed 17 unarmed Iraqis in 2007, when the Justice Department attempted to try them under MEJA. A judge dismissed the case as the contractors were providing diplomatic security, which led to the accused not being considered military contractors. The case was revived with a new prosecution team, and all four Blackwater contractors were convicted, although the case is expected to continue through appellate courts.

Media:

• Rep. David Price (D-NC) Press Release
• CATO Institute
• CBS
• New York Times
• Department of Justice

(Photo Credit: news.genius.com)