Washington, DC — Today, Congressman Jim Himes (CT-04), along with Congressmen Mike Turner (OH-10), Chris Stewart (UT-02), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), and Rick Crawford (AR-01), introduced the Protecting Americans from Foreign Commercial Spyware Act. This bipartisan legislation would amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to restrict assistance to central governments credibly believed to have used foreign commercial spyware to target U.S. persons.
“The United States must take a firm stand against the targeting of our citizens by spyware,” said Congressman Jim Himes. “This legislation sends a clear signal to our foreign governments that this type of invasive behavior will not be tolerated and will come at the cost of our economic support. I have long advocated for broader international guardrails around commercial spyware and am glad to bring this bill to the Floor with strong bipartisan support.”
“Now more than ever, the American people need to be shielded from bad actors seeking to access their personal information. Our bipartisan legislation will safeguard U.S. national security and protect individuals’ data from foreign and commercial spyware,” said Congressman Mike Turner.
Congressman Himes is Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He previously led a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo urging them to take critical steps to address the growing national security threat to U.S. citizens and residents posed by foreign commercial spyware.
You can read the full text here.
For further information contact Nora Kohli at Nora.kohli@mail.house.gov.