Foreign Agents Registration Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Foreign Agents Registration Act is a United States law passed in 1938 requiring information from foreign sources to be properly identified to the American public. The act was passed in response to German propaganda in the lead-up to World War II. The Foreign Agent Registration Unit within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice is charged with handling the execution of the law.
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[edit] People Targeted
The act requires people who are under foreign control to register with the Department of Justice before swaying public opinion. There are four ways a person can be placed under this law:
- Engages in political activities
- Acts in a public relations capacity for a foreign principal
- Solicits or dispenses any thing of value within the United States for a foreign principal
- Represents the interests of a foreign principal before any agency or official of the U.S. government.
The Department of Justice has found that most violations of this law are unintentional and is attempting to work out problems without legal action.
[edit] Complaints
The Foreign Agent Registration Unit is heavily underfunded despite an increase in the number of foreign lobbyists in Washington, as well as higher spending. In June 2004, the Justice Department claimed that the Unit's database for tracking foreign lobbyists was in disrepair and claimed that much of its data could be lost unless the database were backed up. [1]
