H.R. 6563 — Terrorist Watchlist Modification Review Act

This section requires the FBI Director to notify the appropriate congressional committees (i.e., congressional intelligence committees; Senate and House Appropriations, Judiciary, and Homeland Security committees) within 30 days after any material change takes effect to a policy or procedure governing the terrorist watchlist (i.e., Terrorist Screening Dataset or successor) or transnational organized crime watchlist (i.e., under the Transnational Organized Crime Actor Detection Program or successor), including changes for adding or removing individuals from either watchlist, with each notification including a summary of the changes. The section further requires the Director to submit, within 30 days of a request, all guidance in effect that applies to or governs use of either watchlist.

This section requires the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to submit reports to specified congressional committees (i.e., congressional intelligence, appropriations, judiciary, and homeland security committees) on known or presumed United States persons on the terrorist watchlist (i.e., Terrorist Screening Dataset or successor), with the first report due by January 31, 2026, and annually thereafter for two years. Each report, covering the preceding calendar year, must include (1) the total number of persons on the watchlist as of January 1 and December 31; and (2) for known or presumed United States persons (as defined in 50 U.S.C. 1801) on the watchlist as of those dates, (A) numbers on the no-fly list, (B) numbers on the selectee list for additional screening, (C) numbers included as an exception to the reasonable suspicion standard for specific federal screening functions without additional screening, (D) each terrorist organization with which such persons are suspected of affiliating and the number of persons per organization, and (E) each federal agency that nominated such persons and the number nominated by each agency.