Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Terrorism Act of 2013
Key claim: The bill would require DHS to develop standardized counterterrorism training materials for state, local, and tribal law enforcement and mandate advance civil-rights review of any externally sourced counterterrorism training funded by homeland security grants.
Abstract
(HR1584 · 113th Congress) Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Terrorism Act of 2013 - Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials responsible for counterterrorism and addressing the threat of violent extremism, to: (1) develop guidance, outreach, training, and programs in furtherance of national counterterrorism policy; and (2) develop and distribute to state, local, and tribal authorities courses and materials that comply with the Grant Programs Directorate Information Bulletin No. 373 or successor bulletin for integration into the curricula for recruits and recurrent training for experienced law enforcement officers. Requires guidance for homeland security grant programs to inform recipients that expenditures on any training, programs, presentations, and speakers regarding counterterrorism that includes information about violent extremism, homegrown violent extremism, or domestic violent extremism that is acquired from an entity other than DHS must be approved in advance by DHS’s Chief Privacy Officer and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Directs DHS’s Inspector General to: (1) regularly review expenditures of homeland security grant programs by state, local, and tribal authorities on training, programs, presentations, and speakers that are not acquired through the Secretary regarding counterterrorism, violent extremism, homegrown violent extremism, and domestic violent extremism; and (2) evaluate whether each expenditure is consistent with national counterterrorism priorities and constitutional civil rights and civil liberties, including prohibiting racial, ethnic, and religious profiling. Latest action (2013-04-29): Referred to the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
Why this matters
State, local, and tribal counterterrorism training has been a recurring source of civil-liberties concerns, particularly around materials that stereotype religious or ethnic communities. Requiring standardized DHS-developed curricula and advance civil-rights vetting of third-party training would give affected communities a formal review checkpoint before federally funded training reaches frontline officers. The bill remains at the introduction stage, so its real-world effect depends on whether it advances and how rigorously the review is implemented.