Foreign Agents Registration Act

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The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a law of the United States passed in 1938 . It stipulates that persons who work politically or semi-politically (economically) for foreign legal entities in the USA must register, document and have this activity approved.

The law was originally directed against propagandists of the Third Reich in the USA . It goes back to the "McCormack- Dickstein Committee", the first committee for un-American activities . After its chairman, John W. McCormack , it was initially called the McCormack Act .

In 1966 the law was revised to include representatives who actually worked for the economic or political advantage of a foreign power and wanted to influence government decisions. The focus shifted from propaganda to political lobbying and restricted the term "foreign agent". Since then, an organization or person can only be recorded by FARA if the government can prove that the actor was actually on the orders or orders or under the leadership or direction of a foreign client ("at the order, request, or under the direction or control, of a foreign principal ") and proves that he is engaged in political activities for or in the interests of such a foreign principal, including the representation of such interests of such a foreign principal Principal before an agency or official of the United States ("represent [ing] the interests of such foreign principal before any agency or official of the Government of the United States.")

This increased the burden of proof on the government; since 1966 there have been no legal measures on the part of FARA. A civil law "injunctive remedy" a was added to allow the Justice Department to warn individuals and institutions of possible legal violations in order to encourage voluntary application, but it was clarified when a legal violation had occurred. This resulted in a number of successful civil lawsuits and administrative decisions.

In 1995 the term "political propaganda" was removed from Subsection 611 as a result of the Supreme Court decision in 1987, in the case of Meese v. Keene, when the California State Senator tried to distribute three Canadian films about acid rain and nuclear war, but felt that his reputation would be damaged if he distributed films that were officially classified as political propaganda. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA), 2 USC Section 1601, removed agents from lobbying under the law enforced by Congress.

An online search of FARA registrants has been added by the United States Department of Justice (FARA Quick Search). In 2007 an online database was made available which can be viewed publicly in order to research reports and files.

The FARA Registration Unit in the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) of the United States Department of Justice is responsible for the implementation.

The FARA is still in force (2013). Violations of the law are punishable by a maximum of 5 years imprisonment and / or a maximum fine of $ 10,000.

The Justice Department reported in 2007 that there were around 1,700 lobbyists representing more than 100 countries before Congress, the White House and the federal government.

In early November 2017, the Russian television broadcaster Russia Today was forced to register as a foreign agent on the basis of this law .

Target persons and provisions

The law affects persons (technically: agents, representatives, agents, authorized representatives ) who are politically involved on behalf of foreign governments or, more generally, foreign principals (foreign clients, including foreign political parties and organizations or foreign persons who are not US citizens) operate in the United States (except for diplomatic missions or other foreign agencies recognized by the US State Department).

  • You are required to register with the Ministry of Justice before starting work (and within ten days of becoming a recognized representative). Your arrangements with the foreign legal entity, payments and expenses on your behalf must be specified, and this information is publicly available. Your approval must be updated every 6 months.
  • The information material distributed by them must be provided with a notice that they are being carried out on behalf of the foreign legal entity. Copies must be given to the Attorney General .
  • If the representative testifies before a congressional committee, he must present the most recent copy of his FARA report to it.
  • The representative must keep records of his activities and make them available to the Ministry of Justice upon request.

Activities that exclusively serve scientific, religious, artistic or purely commercial interests as well as humanitarian aid organizations are excluded. Also excluded are lawyers who act on behalf of foreign principals , as long as they do not exert political influence.

FARA is not the only law in the United States that requires the registration of representatives of foreign interests. For lobbyists with commercial interests there is generally the LDA (Lobbying Disclosure Act) and for representatives who work on behalf of foreign governments, i.e. also for commercial interests, as long as it is not legal representation, there is an additional registration obligation, the violation of which is punishable under the US Criminal Code (Title 18 United States Code, Section 951).

Problems

The Foreign Agent Registration Unit is considered extremely underfunded in view of the growing number of foreign lobbyists in Washington and their financial resources. At the same time, he has the help of the US government's secret service apparatus. In June 2004, the Ministry of Justice announced that the department's lobbyist database was in a desolate state and that even a data backup could lead to massive losses.

Historical

Because of violations of the law, a large number of people who were connected to the Amerikadeutschen Bund or the America First Committee , among others , were imprisoned during the Second World War , including Laura Ingalls (four months), George Sylvester Viereck (four and a half years) and Friedrich Auhagen (two years, imprisoned six years).

The law was amended several times, including in 1966, when the lobbying activity of foreign governments was at the center of interest in taking over the successor to the sugar imports of the embargoed Cuba.

Development in the 2010s and a model for Russian law

At the end of 2017, the US administration requested the registration of the US subsidiary of the Russian television broadcaster RT , " RT America ", as a foreign agent of the Russian government. In response to these developments (and the existence of the American FARA law), the Russian parliament passed an amendment to an existing law in November 2017 that made it possible to prosecute American media as foreign representatives / agents . The law of 2013, which was expanded with it, previously affected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive funding from abroad and have to register in Russia according to the law, have to mark their website with a foreign agent / agent , submit documents and disclose the funding.

As part of the special investigation into Russian influence on the US election campaign , special investigator Robert Mueller also used FARA at the end of 2017 to indict Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort . The law had rarely been used on charges since 1966 (fewer than ten cases and one conviction). According to observers, that could change in the context of Trump's Russia affair. Both Mike Flynn of the Republicans (who worked for Turkey) and Tony Podesta of the Democrats (lobbying for Ukraine) had belatedly registered as lobbyists for the purposes of FARA and were targeted by Mueller, who was a special investigator has far-reaching powers. Before these developments in 2017, there was only one conviction since 1966: In 2010 the Republican Mike Siljander was convicted (he pleaded guilty). He did not state, according to FARA, that an Islamic charity paid him to get the Senate Finance Committee to remove them from a list of organizations suspected of supporting terrorism.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ McCormack-Dickstein-Committee at Wikisource (English); Coat.ncf.approx .
  2. ↑ Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cleanupwashington.org
  3. ^ Department of Justice Manual . Kluwer Law International, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4548-2445-9 , p. 2062.
  4. ↑ 22 USC § 611 - Definitions , Cornell University Law School website.
  5. ↑ Julie Hilden, The Documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" Raises an Interesting Question About the MPAA Film Ratings System , FindLaw website, February 5, 2007.
  6. ↑ block v. Meese, 793 F.2d 1303 (DC Cir.) At OpenJurist.org.
  7. ↑ Foreign Agent Registration Act website FAQ /
  8. ↑ Kevin Bogardus, Foreign Lobbyist Database Could Vanish; Justice Department merely claims copying its foreign agents database could destroy it ( Memento of the original dated November 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , at PublicIntegrity.org, July 28, 2004. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.publicintegrity.org
  9. ↑ Alex Knott, Foreign Lobbying Database Up and Running , Congressional Quarterly, May 30, 2007.
  10. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH: New law: Russia declares nine American media outlets to be "foreign agents". December 5, 2017. Retrieved December 5, 2017 .
  11. ^ General FARA Frequently Asked Questions. August 21, 2017, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  12. ^ General FARA Frequently Asked Questions. August 21, 2017, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Foreign lobbyist database Could vanish. Retrieved April 25, 2019 (American English).
  14. ↑ http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm02062.htm
  15. ^ List of FARA procedures 1939-1992
  16. ^ RT, Russia's English-language propaganda outlet, will register as a “foreign agent” - Vox. In: vox.com. Retrieved November 11, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Russian network RT must register as foreign agent in US. In: thehill.com. Retrieved November 11, 2017 .
  18. ↑ Russian parliament votes for law that could list CNN as 'foreign agent' , The Guardian, November 15, 2017
  19. ↑ Steven Nelson Experts say Manafort charges under foreign-agents law could spell trouble for Mike Flynn, Tony Podesta, Washington Examiner , October 30, 2017