HARM Act 2.0
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill declares a U.S. policy of designating Wagner Group successor and associated entities as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorists where the criteria are met. It requires the Secretary of State to identify successor and affiliated entities, controlling individuals, and Russian Ministry of Defense-linked formations that inherited Wagner personnel, operations, or assets; requires GAO to evaluate the report within 60 days; and requires a designation determination within 30 days after the GAO report. It also requires annual State Department reports for five years on Wagner successor operations, command structures, financing, abuses, sanctions effectiveness, partner cooperation, and Russian paramilitary activity in Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere.
Who Benefits and How
Congressional foreign affairs, banking, financial services, and judiciary committees benefit from repeated, unclassified reporting with possible classified annexes on Wagner successor networks. State, Treasury, Justice, and intelligence officials receive a statutory process for identifying sanctionable or terrorist-linked persons. Victims and threatened communities in regions where Wagner successors operate may benefit indirectly from stronger sanctions and designation pressure.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Wagner successor entities, affiliated paramilitary formations, and individuals directing them face possible Foreign Terrorist Organization, Executive Order 13224, immigration-terrorism, and sanctions consequences. The State Department, GAO, Treasury, Justice Department, ODNI, and Defense Department must collect intelligence, evaluate methodologies, coordinate designation decisions, and submit annual reports for five years.
Key Provisions
- Directs the Secretary of State to report successor and affiliated Wagner entities, including Africa Corps, Redut PMC, Patriot PMC, and Ministry of Defense-linked paramilitary formations.
- Requires GAO to evaluate the State Department report within 60 days and requires designation determinations within 30 days after the GAO review.
- Applies Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist policy to entities or persons meeting terrorism or Executive Order 13224 criteria.
- Requires annual five-year reports on Wagner successor operations, command structures, financing, human-rights abuses, sanctions effectiveness, partner cooperation, and Russian paramilitary activity in Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires State Department, GAO, Treasury, Justice, intelligence, and defense reporting and designation decisions on Wagner Group successor entities such as Africa Corps, Redut PMC, and Patriot PMC.
Key Policy Areas
Foreign Policy, Sanctions, National Security
Primary Purpose
Requires State Department, GAO, Treasury, Justice, intelligence, and defense reporting and designation decisions on Wagner Group successor entities such as Africa Corps, Redut PMC, and Patriot PMC.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Congressional foreign affairs committees
- State Department
- Treasury Department
- Justice Department
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Identified Costs
- Wagner Group successor entities
- Africa Corps
- Redut PMC
- Patriot PMC
- Russian Ministry of Defense paramilitary formations
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition …
Introduced in House
Mr. Wilson of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. Cohen, Mr. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congressional banking committees, Congressional foreign affairs committees, GAO
Positive-direction: Congressional banking committees, Congressional foreign affairs committees
Negative-direction: GAO, State Department, Treasury Department
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of State
- "comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Paramilitary organizations that inherit Wagner personnel, assets, operations, or Ministry of Defense-linked activities, including Africa Corps, Redut PMC, and Patriot PMC.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology