119th CONGRESS 1st Session |
To require notifications of changes to policies and procedures governing terrorist watchlist and transnational organized crime watchlist, and for other purposes.
December 10, 2025
Mr. Castro of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To require notifications of changes to policies and procedures governing terrorist watchlist and transnational organized crime watchlist, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Terrorist Watchlist Modification Review Act”.
SEC. 2. Notification of material changes to policies or procedures governing terrorist watchlist and transnational organized crime watchlist.
(a) Notification of material changes.—
(1) NOTIFICATION REQUIRED.—The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees notice of any material change to a policy or procedure relating to the terrorist watchlist or the transnational organized crime watchlist, including any change to the policy or procedure for adding or removing a person from either watchlist. Each notification under this subsection shall include a summary of the material changes to such policy or procedure.
(2) TIMING OF NOTIFICATION.—Each notification required under paragraph (1) shall be submitted not later than 30 days after the date on which a material change described in paragraph (1) takes effect.
(b) Requests by appropriate committees.—Not later than 30 days after receiving a request from an appropriate congressional committee, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall submit to such committee all guidance in effect as of the date of the request that applies to or governs the use of the terrorist watchlist or the transnational organized crime watchlist.
(c) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—The term “appropriate congressional committees” means—
(A) the congressional intelligence committees;
(B) the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives;
(C) the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives; and
(D) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives.
(2) TERRORIST WATCHLIST.—The term “terrorist watchlist” means the Terrorist Screening Dataset or any successor or similar watchlist.
(3) TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME WATCHLIST.—The term “transnational organized crime watchlist” means the watchlist maintained under the Transnational Organized Crime Actor Detection Program or any successor or similar watchlist.
SEC. 3. Annual report on united states persons on the terrorist watch list.
(a) Report.—Not later than January 31, 2026, and annually thereafter for two years, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on known or presumed United States persons who are included on the terrorist watchlist.
(b) Contents.—Each report required under subsection (a) shall include, with respect to the preceding calendar year, the following information:
(1) The total number of persons who were included on the terrorist watchlist as of January 1 and the total number of such persons included as of December 31.
(2) The total number of known or presumed United States persons who were included on the terrorist watchlist as of January 1 and the total number of such persons included as of December 31, including with respect to each of those dates—
(A) the number of known or presumed United States persons who were included on a no fly list;
(B) the number of known or presumed United States persons who were included on a selectee list for additional screening;
(C) the number of known or presumed United States persons who were included on the terrorist watchlist as an exception to a reasonable suspicion standard and who are not subject to additional screening, but who are included on the list to support specific screening functions of the Federal Government;
(D) the name of each terrorist organization with which the known or presumed United States persons are suspected of being affiliated and the number of such persons who are suspected of affiliating with each such terrorist organization; and
(E) an identification of each Federal agency that nominated the United States persons to the terrorist watchlist and the number of such persons nominated by each Federal agency.
(c) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—The term “appropriate congressional committees” means—
(A) the congressional intelligence committees;
(B) the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives;
(C) the Committees on the Judiciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives; and
(D) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives.
(2) TERRORIST WATCHLIST.—The term “terrorist watchlist” means the Terrorist Screening Dataset or any successor or similar watchlist.
(3) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term “United States person” has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801).