HR-4127 : Still Just a Bill

Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

TITLE I--INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES

This bill authorizes FY2016 appropriations for the conduct of intelligence and intelligence-related activities of:

• the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI);
• the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA);
• the Department of Defense (DOD);
• the Defense Intelligence Agency;
• the National Security Agency;
• the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force;
• the Coast Guard;
• the Departments of State, the Treasury, Energy (DOE), and Justice;
• the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
• the Drug Enforcement Administration;
• the National Reconnaissance Office;
• the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and
• the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The DNI, if it provides prior notification to Congress, may authorize employment of civilian personnel in excess of the number authorized for FY2016 when necessary for the performance of important intelligence functions.

The bill authorizes FY2016 appropriations for the Intelligence Community Management Account. It provides for funds identified in the classified schedule for advanced research and development to remain available until September 30, 2017.

The National Security Act of 1947 is amended to allow DOE, DHS, the State Department, or Treasury to appoint individuals to certain excepted service positions that the DNI determines are necessary to carry out intelligence functions.

TITLE II--CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM

The bill authorizes FY2016 appropriations for the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability Fund.

TITLE III--GENERAL PROVISIONS

The bill authorizes inspectors general of the CIA and the intelligence community, subject to the concurrence of the DNI, to request information or assistance from state or local governmental agencies .

The Inspector General of the Intelligence Community is included within the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.

The bill prohibits the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 from being construed to authorize the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to gain access to information regarding activities that the President determines may be authorized as covert actions to support identifiable U.S. foreign policy objectives that are important to national security.

The DNI must direct specified executive agencies, military departments, and elements of the intelligence community to implement a program to provide enhanced security review of agency employees or contractors who have been determined eligible to access classified information or hold a sensitive position.

Automated record checks under the enhanced program must be conducted at least twice every five years to ensure continued eligibility of agency employees and contractors. The DNI must implement a plan to eliminate the backlog of overdue periodic reinvestigations of such individuals under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.

The DNI must: (1) notify Congress within 15 days after learning that an electronic communication service provider that generates call detail records in the ordinary course of business has changed its retention policy to a period of less than 18 months, and (2) identify each electronic communication service provider that has a policy to retain such records for 18 months or less.

The DNI must:

• issue a directive containing a written policy for the timely notification to Congress of the identities of individuals occupying senior level positions within the intelligence community,
• designate an official to manage intelligence regarding the tactical use of tunnels by state and nonstate actors,
• establish a formal internal reporting process for tracking requests for country clearance submitted to overseas DNI representatives by U.S. agencies,
• evaluate duplication in finished intelligence analysis products and submit a plan for revising standards to ensure customers are able to identify differences among intelligence products on similar topics that are produced contemporaneously, and
• carry out a study and report findings regarding appropriate standards to measure the damage of cyber incidents.

The DNI must collaborate with DOD and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop and report on a strategy for a comprehensive interagency review of policies for planning and acquiring national security satellite systems and architectures, consistent with the National Space Policy issued on June 28, 2010.

TITLE IV--MATTERS RELATING TO ELEMENTS OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

The bill requires the National Counterintelligence Executive to be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. (Currently, the DNI appoints such executive.)

The DNI must: (1) assign the Chief of the Analytic Integrity and Standards Group to review finished CIA-produced intelligence products to assess whether the CIA's reorganization has resulted in any loss of analytic objectivity, and (2) submit review results to Congress.

The bill prohibits funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or made available for the intelligence community for FY2016 from being used to initiate a transfer of funds from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund or the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund for intelligence activities unless the DNI or DOD: (1) notifies Congress at least 30 days in advance, or (2) waives such prohibition in an emergency situation and notifies Congress.

TITLE V--MATTERS RELATING TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES

The DNI must: (1) notify Congress if the intelligence community receives intelligence that the Russian Federation has deployed, or is about to deploy, the Club-K container missile system through the Russian military or has transferred or sold, or intends to transfer or sell, such system to another state or nonstate actor.; and (2) update Congress regarding any intelligence community engagement with a foreign partner on such a deployment and the impacts of a deployment to any potentially impacted nation.

The DNI must submit to Congress assessments of:

• the funding of political parties and nongovernmental organizations in former Soviet states and countries in Europe by the Russian Security Services since January 1, 2006;
• the use of political assassinations as a form of statecraft by the Russian Federation since January 1, 2000; and
• the resources used for intelligence collection efforts with regard to the South and East China Seas.

The State Department must ensure that: (1) key supervisory positions at U.S. diplomatic facilities in Cuba are occupied by U.S. citizens, and (2) U.S. diplomatic facilities in Cuba that are constructed or upgraded after the enactment of this Act include a sensitive compartmented information facility.

The DNI must report regarding: (1) the monetary value of any sanctions relief that Iran has received since the Joint Plan of Action first entered into effect; (2) Iran's use of such funds, including to support international terrorism or the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, to advance nuclear weapons or ballistic missile efforts, or to commit any violation of the human rights of the people of Iran; and (3) the extent to which senior Iranian officials have diverted sanctions relief funds for their personal use.

TITLE VI--MATTERS RELATING TO UNITED STATES NAVAL STATION, GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

The bill prohibits funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available to an element of the intelligence community from being used through December 31, 2016, to:

• transfer or release to or within the United States, its territories, or possessions Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other detainee who is not a U.S. citizen or a member of the U.S. Armed Forces and is or was held on or after January 20, 2009, at the U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by DOD;
• construct or modify any facility in the United States, its territories, or possessions (except at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo) to house an individual located at Guantanamo, as of October 1, 2009, who is not a U.S. citizen or member of the U.S. Armed Forces and is in DOD custody or control or is otherwise detained at Guantanamo, unless authorized by Congress; or
• transfer or release a Guantanamo detainee in DOD custody or control to the custody or control of Libya, Somalia, Syria, or Yemen.

TITLE VII--REPORTS AND OTHER MATTERS

The DNI must report: (1) in coordination with the National Science Foundation, regarding the employment by the intelligence community of graduates of the Cyber Corps Scholarship Program; and (2) regarding the representation of certain minority-owned, women-owned, small disadvantaged, service-disabled veteran-owned, or veteran-owned businesses among the contractors awarded contracts by elements of the intelligence community.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must permit grant recipients under the Urban Area Security Initiative or the State Homeland Security Grant Program to work in conjunction with DOE's national laboratories when grant funds are used to achieve target preparedness capabilities for federal, state, local, and tribal governments to respond to acts of terrorism under guidelines required by the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006.

The bill also includes certain Hispanic-serving and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions of higher education among the minority-serving institutions eligible for DNI grants to provide programs of study for individuals to learn advanced foreign languages, to study abroad, or to develop other skills that meet the needs of the intelligence community.