Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Terrorism Act of 2013 (DHS Counterterrorism Training Civil Rights Review)

Current understanding

Introduced legislation that would direct DHS to develop standardized counterterrorism training materials for state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners, and would require advance civil-rights and civil-liberties review of any externally sourced counterterrorism training funded through homeland security grants. The bill layers oversight onto existing DHS grant-funded training pipelines rather than creating a new program, and its practical effect for affected communities would depend on the scope and rigor of the pre-approval review process. Status: introduced; no evidence of enactment.

Evidence log

• 2026-07-07 — United States Commission on an Open Society with Security Act of 2026: cross-connection with federal-buildings-open-access-civil-liberties: Both sit at the intersection of counterterrorism policy and civil liberties review, with the proposed commission explicitly weighing counterterrorism goals against open-society values. (novelty: 2)
• 2016-08-02 — Naming the Enemy Within Homeland Security Act: cross-connection with dhs-muslim-brotherhood-engagement-prohibition: Both concern how DHS structures its engagement with community and religious organizations for counterterrorism purposes — one imposing a categorical prohibition on engagement with designated groups, the other mandating civil-rights review of DHS counterterrorism training. (novelty: 2)
• 2013-04-29 — Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Terrorism Act of 2013: cross-connection with dhs-civil-rights-civil-liberties-protection-act-2004: Both proposals build DHS civil rights/civil liberties oversight into counterterrorism operations — the 2004 Act institutionalizes a CRCL officer, while the 2013 bill extends that review function to pre-approval of grant-funded counterterrorism training materials. (novelty: 2)

Open questions

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