This article will demonstrate how, with a simple revision to an existing section of the US criminal code, the United States government could address the problem of domestic terrorism in the United States. The text below represents a proposed revision for 18 U.S. Code § 2332b – Acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. In this proposed revision, text that is struck-through represents existing language that would be removed from the law, and text that is underlined represents language that would be added to the law.

18 U.S. Code § 2332b – Acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries

a)Prohibited Acts.—
(1)Offenses.—Whoever, involving conduct transcending national boundaries and in a circumstance described in subsection (b)—

(A) kills, kidnaps, maims, commits an assault resulting in serious bodily injury, or assaults with a dangerous weapon any person within the United States; or

(B) creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to any other person by destroying or damaging any structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property within the United States or by attempting or conspiring to destroy or damage any structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property within the United States;

in violation of the laws of any State, or the United States, shall be punished as prescribed in subsection (c).

(2) Treatment of threats, attempts and conspiracies.—

Whoever threatens to commit an offense under paragraph (1), or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished under subsection (c).

(b)Jurisdictional Bases.—

(1)Circumstances.—The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are—

(A) the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce is used in furtherance of the offense. For purposes of this section, social media accounts, online message boards and text messaging applications are all deemed facilities of interstate or foreign commerce;

(B) the offense obstructs, delays, or affects interstate or foreign commerce, or would have so obstructed, delayed, or affected interstate or foreign commerce if the offense had been consummated;

(C) the victim, or intended victim, is the United States Government, a member of the uniformed services, or any official, officer, employee, or agent of the legislative, executive, or judicial branches, or of any department or agency, of the United States;

(D) the structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property is, in whole or in part, owned, possessed, or leased to the United States, or any department or agency of the United States;

(E) the offense is committed in the territorial sea (including the airspace above and the seabed and subsoil below, and artificial islands and fixed structures erected thereon) of the United States; or

(F) the offense is committed within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

(G) targets citizens of the United States because of their race or ethnicity, religious affiliation, political opinions, gender identity or sexual preference.

(2) Co-conspirators and accessories after the fact.—
Jurisdiction shall exist over all principals and co-conspirators of an offense under this section, and accessories after the fact to any offense under this section, if at least one of the circumstances described in subparagraphs (A) through (F) (G) of paragraph (1) is applicable to at least one offender.

There would be an additional change under sub-section (d)(1) of the law, that revision would read as:

(d)(1) KNOWLEDGE-
For suspects who are not US Citizens, [t]he prosecution is not required to prove knowledge by any defendant of a jurisdictional base alleged in the indictment. For prosecutions involving US Citizens, the prosecution is required to prove that defendants had a prior association with the individuals or groups who engaged in an offense as described in section (1), that they were aware of that individual or group’s intention to engage in illegal acts, and that they intended to aid and abet those illegal acts for the purpose of promoting a Federal crime of terrorism as described in sub-section (g)(5)(A) of this section.

The remainder of the language in the bill would remain the same.  The full text of this section of the US Title Code is available here. The revisions proposed above would allow the United States to address the growing problem of domestic terrorism, while respecting the Fifth Amendment Rights of US Citizens in accordance with rulings in Scales v. United States, 367 US 203 (1960) and NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware, 458 US 886, 932 (1982).  In addition, it’s far easier for a legislator to find support for small revisions to an existing section of the US Title Code than it is to find support for adding a whole new section to the US Code.  I urge all readers who are interested in this matter to consider contacting their elected officials to urge them to pursue the legislative changes described above.