WASHINGTON – A
bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress today reintroduced
the EAGLES Act, legislation named for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
Eagles, which would expand the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment
Center (NTAC) with a greater focus on school violence prevention.
The
NTAC provides research and training for threat assessment and targeted
violence, including school shootings and other school threats. This legislation
creates a national program on targeted school violence prevention, and expands
the NTAC's research and training on school violence and its dissemination of
information on school violence prevention initiatives.
The
Senate legislation is sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) along with Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Marco
Rubio (R-Fla.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Maggie Hassan
(D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine.). The identical bill in the House of
Representatives is led by U.S. Representatives Ted
Deutch (D-Fla.) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).
“The
U.S. Secret Service has unique and unparalleled experience in identifying
threats to safety and preventing tragedies. This bill builds on the Secret
Service’s case study research on targeted school violence and enables the
National Threat Assessment Center to train more of our nation’s schools in how
to conduct threat assessments and early interventions. Equipping our
communities and schools with training and best practices to recognize and prevent
school violence is a vital step toward preventing future tragedies, and an
important way to honor victims of school violence,” Grassley said.
"The
federal government has a role to play in school safety, and we should be
leveraging our best resources to keeping our kids safe," said Deutch. "By building
on the Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center model, schools and
community leaders can receive trainings on how to prevent and respond to school
violence. This plan is called the Eagles Act so that we are always reminded of
the 17 lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and of the importance
of preventing any more tragedies like it in the future."
“As I
have continuously stated, school safety is a top priority of mine, and I will
not cease in my efforts to make our schools a safer place,” said Diaz-Balart.
“The EAGLES Act is an essential step toward better protecting our communities,
our schools, and our children from potential acts of targeted violence. By
expanding the National Threat Assessment Center and creating a program on
targeted school violence prevention, we can provide critical information to our
communities on how to identify and respond to individuals who may pose a threat
to our safety. I am honored to join my good friend and colleague, Rep. Ted
Deutch, to reintroduce this critical piece of legislation."
“Over
the last two decades,” said Cortez Masto, “the Secret Service has led
the way in preventing targeted violence, as well as in offering training to law
enforcement, school systems, and other organizations to prevent school
shootings and other targeted attacks. I’m glad to cosponsor this bill to expand
those efforts and protect Nevadans at school and in their communities.”
“I’m
pleased to again join my colleagues in reintroducing the EAGLES Act,” Rubio said. “The EAGLES Act leverages
the National Threat Assessment Center to provide a proactive and multi-pronged
approach to identify and stop threats of school violence. I thank Senator
Grassley for his continued leadership on this legislation, and the Senate
should quickly pass this bill.”
“School
gun violence is a heartbreaking and devastating issue that many American
families have faced. We must take commonsense steps to ensure our law
enforcement community understands and mitigates threats at every school as we
continue to see increasing threats of violence directed at our students. Our
bipartisan legislation introduced today is a step towards protecting our
children and preventing violent actions at schools across the nation,” Manchin
said.
“This
month, we marked the three-year anniversary of the tragic shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School and honored the 17 innocent lives lost that day.
We will never forget them and I am committed to working every day to make our
schools and communities safer so this never happens again. The EAGLES Act
will help improve safety on school campuses, and I am proud to join my colleagues
in this important work,” Scott said.
"The
Secret Service is already using its expertise to help schools
assess violent threats and keep students safe," Hassan said. "This bipartisan bill
will strengthen their work and help schools better
recognize and stop preventable acts of violence. As Chair of the
Emerging Threats Subcommittee, I will continue working across the aisle to
protect our students and support public safety efforts in New Hampshire
and across the country.”
“No
child should feel unsafe in the classroom, and it is imperative that we take
action to ensure that schools are a safe learning environment for students,
teachers, and staff” said Senator Collins. “This legislation would
improve research and training to prevent targeted violence, including threats
to schools. This is one of many commonsense steps we can take to protect school
communities so that students can focus on their studies.”
“We
are grateful to Congressmen Ted Deutch and Mario Diaz-Balart for working
together to introduce the Eagles Act with bipartisan support. The National
Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) has been essential to thwarting mass shooters
and targeted violence since it was created in the year 2000. The EAGLES Act is
a critical expansion of the program that prioritizes school safety and directs
key funding to prevent the next mass school shooting,” said
Tony
Montalto, President of Stand with Parkland and father of Gina Montalto one of
the 17 people murdered at school in the 2018 Parkland shooting. “We
need to be more proactive and less reactive — our children’s lives
are at stake. In the 2019 and 2020 several Stand with Parkland members,
including myself, teamed up with the NTAC chief and her staff to travel around
the nation as they introduced their report on
Protecting America’s Schools. Over four thousand lawmakers,
law enforcement, school, and mental health professionals were trained on the
findings of that report and the basics of threat assessments, a powerful,
proactive tool to help keep all America’s children safe at school.”
Background
The
U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) was created in
1998 to develop evidence-based indicators for various types of targeted
violence, including school violence. NTAC’s findings can then be used to
develop best practices and training to prevent future acts of violence. Since
2002, Secret Service has conducted hundreds of training operations to more than
198,000 school administrators, teachers, counselors, mental health
professionals, school resource officers and other public safety partners. The EAGLES
Act reauthorizes and expands NTAC, allowing it to scale its threat
assessment operations, with a particular focus on school safety.
The
bill establishes a national program on targeted school violence prevention and
provides additional resources to expand research and training on a national
scale. Through the bill’s school safety initiative, the NTAC will coordinate
trainings and plans with the Department of Justice and Department of Education.
The bill also requires Secret Service to provide periodic progress reports to
Congress.