Foreign Agents Registration Act

Foreign Agents Registration Act

Other short titles	Foreign Principal Registration Act of 1938
Long title	An Act to require the registration of certain persons employed by agencies to disseminate propaganda in the United States and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	FARA
Nicknames	Foreign Propagandists Registration Act of 1938
Enacted by	the 75th United States Congress
Effective	September 6, 1938
Citations
Public law	75-583
Statutes at Large	52 Stat. 631
Codification
Titles amended	22 U.S.C.: Foreign Relations and Intercourse
U.S.C. sections created	22 U.S.C. ch. 11, subch. II § 611 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 1591 by John William McCormack (D-MA) on July 28, 1937 Committee consideration by House Judiciary, Senate Foreign Relations Passed the House on August 2, 1937 (Passed) Passed the Senate on May 18, 1938 (Passed) Reported by the joint conference committee on May 23, 1938; agreed to by the Senate on May 27, 1938 (Agreed) and by the House on June 2, 1938 (Agreed) Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 8, 1938

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a United States law passed in 1938 requiring that agents representing the interests of foreign powers in a "political or quasi-political capacity" disclose their relationship with the foreign government and information about related activities and finances. The purpose is to facilitate "evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons." The law is administered by the FARA Registration Unit of the Counterespionage Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) of the United States Department of Justice. As of 2007^[update] the Justice Department reported there were approximately 1,700 lobbyists representing more than 100 countries before Congress, the White House and the federal government.

The Act originally was administered by the Department of State until transferred to the Department of Justice in 1942. From passage in 1938 until 1966 when the Act was amended, enforcement focused on propagandists for foreign powers, even if it was not "for or on behalf of" those powers. It was used in 23 criminal cases during World War II. For cases not warranting prosecution, the Department of Justice sent letters advising prospective agents of the law.

In 1966 the Act was amended and narrowed to emphasize agents actually working with foreign powers who sought economic or political advantage by influencing governmental decision-making. The amendments shifted the focus of the law from propaganda to political lobbying and narrowed the meaning of "foreign agent". From that moment on, an organization (or person) could only be placed in the FARA database if the government proved that it (or he or she) was acting "at the order, request, or under the direction or control, of a foreign principal" and proved that it (or he or she) was engaged "in political activities for or in the interests of such foreign principal," including by "represent[ing] the interests of such foreign principal before any agency or official of the Government of the United States."

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