Sens. Hassan, Lee introduce bipartisan counterterrorism bill

U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation Monday aimed at examining terrorist attacks to prevent future ones.

The Reporting Efficiently to Proper Officials in Response to Terrorism (REPORT) Act would require federal agencies to report to Congress after a terrorist attack with information on what happened and how to prevent a similar attack in the future.

“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,” Hassan said. “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.”

The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and/or the National Counterterrorism Center to author a report together that would be submitted to Congress following any terrorist attack – foreign or domestic. The report would include information on what happened, whether or not there were any gaps in national security, and what recommendations the departments and agencies had to improve homeland security and prevent future attacks.

“Congress must have all available information to make the most informed policy decisions following terrorist attacks,” Lee said. “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.”