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WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) to introduce the Stop Terrorist and Military Hoaxes Act of 2004 on Thursday. The bipartisan bill seeks to ban cruel hoaxes against the families of military personnel by expanding the current false impersonation statute to include anyone posing as a military employee, and tighten laws against false terrorist threats.“It is wrong to carry out malicious hoaxes on the families of those who defend our security and our freedom, and these crimes should be punished. This bill will close a current loophole in the law to ensure that justice will be done and that malicious impersonators will be prosecuted,” Sen. Cornyn said. “And in a time when threats such as Anthrax and Ricin are very real, law enforcement officials cannot afford time wasted on false threats.”The bipartisan legislation seeks to prevent malicious imposters from making telephone calls, posing as military officers, to tell families that their military relatives had been killed or captured. These hoaxes cause needless anxiety for families then forced to seek the truth about their loved ones. Such terrible acts also require the military to use unnecessary resources to provide accurate information to the victimized family. Under current law, any false statement that, if true, would support a federal terrorism charge, is itself a federal offense, but only under certain limited conditions. Under current law, gaps exist that would be closed under the legislation introduced Thursday.“Military families are a critical component of our national security. As the brave men and women in our armed services continue their important mission of rebuilding Iraq and restoring that nation’s stability and rule of law, it’s critical that we protect their families back here in the United States. No family should be subject to this cruelty,” Cornyn said.Cornyn joined eight Senate colleagues in early July for an Armed Services Committee trip to Iraq and the surrounding region. The delegation met with U.S. and Iraqi officials involved in the reconstruction effort. While there, Cornyn visited with Texas troops and received briefings from coalition forces and humanitarian organizations.