Florida SB 1712: Statewide Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Unit

Bill Text

1712 
Statewide Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Unit 
2026-01-09T11:02:58Z 
Requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to establish and administer a Statewide Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Unit at a specified location; requiring that a team from the unit be assigned to and aligned with each regional domestic security task force; specifying unit duties; requiring the department to create a team by a specified date to serve as the initial leadership and organizational core of the full unit, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 1712 

 By Senator Martin 

 33-00715-26 20261712__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to the Statewide Counterintelligence 
 3 and Counterterrorism Unit; creating s. 943.0316, F.S.; 
 4 providing legislative intent; defining the term 
 5 “adversary intelligence entity”; requiring the 
 6 Department of Law Enforcement to establish and 
 7 administer a Statewide Counterintelligence and 
 8 Counterterrorism Unit at a specified location; 
 9 requiring that a team from the unit be assigned to and 
 10 aligned with each regional domestic security task 
 11 force; specifying unit duties; requiring the 
 12 department to create a team by a specified date to 
 13 serve as the initial leadership and organizational 
 14 core of the full unit; requiring the department to 
 15 establish a statewide unit housed in a specified 
 16 location; requiring that the unit be composed of a 
 17 specified number of teams; requiring the department to 
 18 annually request a certain number of positions and 
 19 amount of funding for each position in order to 
 20 achieve full staffing by a specified date; specifying 
 21 team tasks, composition, and experience requirements; 
 22 providing an effective date. 
 23 
 24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 25 
 26 Section 1. Section 943.0316, Florida Statutes, is created 
 27 to read: 
 28 943.0316 Statewide Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism 
 29 Unit.— 
 30 (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a 
 31 dedicated counterintelligence and counterterrorism unit whose 
 32 primary goal is to conduct statewide counterintelligence and 
 33 counterterrorism activities to detect, identify, neutralize, and 
 34 exploit adversary intelligence entities, international and 
 35 domestic terrorists, insider threats, corporate threats, and 
 36 other foreign adversaries to protect this state and the United 
 37 States of America. 
 38 (2) As used in this section, the term “adversary 
 39 intelligence entity” includes, but is not limited to, any 
 40 national, foreign, multinational, friendly, competitor, 
 41 opponent, adversary, or recognized enemy government or 
 42 nongovernmental organization, company, business, corporation, 
 43 consortium, group, agency, cell, terrorist, insurgent, guerrilla 
 44 entity, or person whose demonstrated actions, views, or opinions 
 45 are a threat or are inimical to the interests of this state and 
 46 the United States of America. 
 47 (3) The Department of Law Enforcement shall establish and 
 48 administer a Statewide Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism 
 49 Unit housed at the department’s regional operational center, 
 50 with a team from the unit assigned to and aligned with each 
 51 regional domestic security task force established under s. 
 52 943.0312. The unit shall identify threats by analyzing patterns 
 53 of life, gathering actionable intelligence, and formulating 
 54 effective plans of action, and by executing arrests or by 
 55 revealing its intent to compel a response using all 
 56 counterintelligence and counterterrorism tradecraft necessary to 
 57 protect the state from adversary intelligence entities. The unit 
 58 may conduct direct action missions on its own against a threat 
 59 or may incorporate with or into other units to counteract and 
 60 stop identifiable threats. 
 61 (4) The department shall: 
 62 (a) Create a 10-person team by July 1, 2027, whose main 
 63 purpose is to serve as the initial leadership and organizational 
 64 core of the full unit; 
 65 (b) Establish a statewide unit, housed at the department’s 
 66 regional operational center which must be composed of at least 
 67 seven teams, with a team being assigned to each regional 
 68 domestic security task force; and 
 69 (c) Each fiscal year, request the appropriate number of 
 70 positions and funding required for each position in order to be 
 71 fully staffed no later than December 30, 2033. 
 72 (5)(a) Each team shall perform tasks in support of the 
 73 state’s domestic security mission, including, but not limited 
 74 to, providing technical operations to insider threat 
 75 investigations and assigning team officers to safeguard the 
 76 state from adversary intelligence entities by using 
 77 counterintelligence to detect, identify, assess, and counteract 
 78 threats posed by such entit