TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A proposed bill in the Florida Legislature would create a new statewide Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Unit within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, giving the agency expanded authority to identify and respond to perceived threats across the state.
House Bill 945 would require FDLE to establish the CIA-style unit at one of its regional operational centers and assign a team to each of the state’s seven regional domestic security task forces. The bill says the unit’s mission would be to “detect, identify, neutralize, and exploit” what it defines as adversary intelligence entities — a category that includes foreign governments, corporations, nongovernmental organizations, insurgent groups and “any…person whose demonstrated actions, views, or opinions are a threat or are inimical to the interests of this state and the United States.”
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Under the proposal, the unit would gather intelligence, analyze “patterns of life,” conduct arrests, and carry out “direct action missions” either independently or alongside other law‑enforcement teams. FDLE would be required to create an initial 10‑person leadership team by July 1, 2027, and expand the unit to at least seven teams statewide, with full staffing required by Dec. 30, 2033.
Each team would include a leader, a facility security officer, intelligence analysts and counterintelligence agents, including designated federal, state and local liaisons. Team members must have military, federal, or law‑enforcement intelligence experience, or at least three years working in intelligence or counterterrorism.
HB 945 was introduced by Republican representative Danny Alvarez from Riverview.
The bill would take effect July 1, 2026, if approved.