18 U.S.C. § 878 — Threats and extortion against foreign officials, official guests, or internationally protected persons

(a) It is a crime to knowingly and willfully threaten violence covered by sections 112, 1116, or 1201 of this title. Those sections cover killing, kidnapping, and assaulting protected people. The penalty is a fine or up to five years in prison. If the threat was only of an assault, the maximum term is three years. (b) A person who makes an extortionate demand connected to a threat under subsection (a) faces harsher punishment. The same is true for an extortionate demand tied to an actual violation of sections 112, 1116, or 1201. The penalty is a fine or up to twenty years in prison. (c) This section borrows its definitions of "foreign official," "internationally protected person," "national of the United States," and "official guest" from section 1116(a). (d) If the victim of a threat is an internationally protected person located outside the United States, the United States can still prosecute the case. That is true if the victim works for or represents the United States. It is also true if the offender is a U.S. national, or is later found inside the United States. For this purpose, "the United States" also includes certain other areas under U.S. jurisdiction. Those areas are listed in sections 5 and 7 of this title and in section 46501(2) of title 49.

The record. According to the source credit, this section was added by Public Law 94–467, § 8, enacted October 8, 1976 (90 Stat. 2000). The credit shows the section has since been amended six times: by Public Law 95–163 (1977), Public Law 95–504 (1978), Public Law 103–272 (1994), Public Law 103–322 (1994), and twice within Public Law 104–132 (1996). The source credit does not itself explain the substance or purpose of these amendments beyond identifying their dates and statutory locations. Historical context. Public Law 94–467, enacted in October 1976, is generally understood to be part of a mid-1970s legislative effort by Congress to strengthen federal protections for foreign officials, diplomats, and other internationally protected persons present in or connected to the United States. This period saw heightened international concern about terrorism, kidnapping, and attacks on diplomatic personnel, and the enactment is commonly cited as responding to obligations and concerns arising from international agreements addressing crimes against internationally protected persons. Beyond this general understanding of the era and the act's broad purpose, the record does not establish the specific legislative intent behind this particular section's threat-and-extortion provisions, nor does it document the precise reasons for each of the later amendments listed in the source credit. Readers seeking the specific rationale for individual amendments—such as the 1994 or 1996 changes—should consult the legislative history of those particular public laws, as the source credit here provides only citations, not explanatory text.