HR-6480 : Still Just a Bill

Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

This bill authorizes FY2017 appropriations for the conduct of intelligence and intelligence-related activities of:

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

The bill authorizes FY2017 appropriations for: (1) the Intelligence Community Management Account, and (2) the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability Fund.

The ODNI must: (1) submit a five-year investment strategy for outreach and recruiting efforts in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that includes cybersecurity and computer literacy; (2) implement a multisector workforce initiative to enable the intelligence community to build and maintain an appropriate ratio of employees and core contractors; (3) issue guidance regarding the intelligence community's engagements with the entertainment industry; and (4) implement a uniform policy to ensure the independence of inspectors general of the intelligence community, the ODNI, the CIA, the NSA, the DIA, the NGA, and the NRO.

For FY2017 and FY2018, personnel of the intelligence community must be managed solely on the basis of: (1) the workload required to carry out intelligence community functions, and (2) the funds made available for each such fiscal year. Management of intelligence personnel during this period shall not be subject to any constraint or limitation in terms of man years, end strength, positions, or maximum number of employees.

DHS's national cybersecurity and communications integration center must carry out a program to provide assistance to certain critical infrastructure entities to reduce the risk of regional or national catastrophic harm caused by a cyber attack.

The Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive is redesignated as the National Counterintelligence and Security Center with a director to be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

The bill revises or sets forth requirements for:

• the ODNI to participate in fund-raising events for nonprofit organizations that support intelligence community employees and their families,
• CIA employee death and retirement benefits,
• publication of the logos of terrorist organizations,
• space-based environmental monitoring missions and acquisition programs to meet national security requirements for cloud characterization and theater weather imagery,
• an evaluation of aerial imagery technologies that can be used to share intelligence with other countries as a replacement for the current regime of observation flights,
• a declassification review of intelligence reports regarding past terrorist activities of detainees transferred or released from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and
• a concept for a combined interagency space operations center and an updated strategy for national security satellite systems.

The bill establishes an executive branch interagency committee to counter active measures by the Russian Federation to exert covert influence over peoples and governments. The State Department must coordinate with the FBI and the ODNI to establish a mandatory advance notification regime governing all travel by accredited diplomatic and consular personnel of the Russian Federation in the United States.