Procedures

provide that, except as may be permitted by the President, no employee in the executive branch of Government may be given access to classified information by any department, agency, or office of the executive branch of Government unless, based upon an appropriate background investigation, such access is determined to be clearly consistent with the national security interests of the United States; establish uniform minimum requirements governing the scope and frequency of background investigations and reinvestigations for all employees in the executive branch of Government who require access to classified information as part of their official responsibilities; provide that all employees in the executive branch of Government who require access to classified information shall be required as a condition of such access to provide to the employing department or agency written consent which permits access by an authorized investigative agency to relevant financial records, other financial information, consumer reports, travel records, and computers used in the performance of Government duties, as determined by the President, in accordance with section 3162 of this title, during the period of access to classified information and for a period of three years thereafter; provide that all employees in the executive branch of Government who require access to particularly sensitive classified information, as determined by the President, shall be required, as a condition of maintaining access to such information, to submit to the employing department or agency, during the period of such access, relevant information concerning their financial condition and foreign travel, as determined by the President, as may be necessary to ensure appropriate security; and establish uniform minimum standards to ensure that employees in the executive branch of Government whose access to classified information is being denied or terminated under this subchapter are appropriately advised of the reasons for such denial or termination and are provided an adequate opportunity to respond to all adverse information which forms the basis for such denial or termination before final action by the department or agency concerned. Subsection (a) shall not be deemed to limit or affect the responsibility and power of an agency head pursuant to other law or Executive order to deny or terminate access to classified information if the national security so requires. Such responsibility and power may be exercised only when the agency head determines that the procedures prescribed by subsection (a) cannot be invoked in a manner that is consistent with the national security. Upon the exercise of such responsibility, the agency head shall submit a report to the congressional intelligence committees. develop and commence carrying out a plan, consistent with Executive Order 13526 [set out below] and with adequate protections for sources and methods, for streamlining the declassification or downgrading and sharing of intelligence information relating to biotechnological developments and threats in order to counter efforts by foreign adversaries to weaponize biotechnologies and biological weapons, including threats relating to military, industrial, agricultural, and health applications of biotechnology; and submit to the appropriate congressional committees such plan. with allies and partners of the United States; with private sector partners of the United States; and across the Federal Government. Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 2 years, the Director shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the progress made by the intelligence community with respect to sharing intelligence information relating to biotechnological developments and threats with recipients specified in subsection (b). The congressional intelligence committees. The Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives.” research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology or any other medical or scientific research center within the People’s Republic of China; information relating to Gain of Function research and the intention of this research; information relating to sources of funding or direction for research on coronaviruses, including both sources within the People’s Republic of China and foreign sources; and the possibility of zoonotic origins of COVID–19; to disrupt or obstruct information sharing or investigations into the origins of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic; efforts to limit the sharing of information with the United States Government; efforts to limit the sharing of information with the governments of allies and partners of the United States; and efforts to limit the sharing of information with the United Nations and World Health Organization; to obstruct or otherwise limit the sharing of information between national, provincial, and city governments within the People’s Republic of China and between subnational entities within the People’s Republic of China and external researchers; to deny the sharing of information with the United States, allies and partners of the United States, or multilateral organizations, including the United Nations and the World Health Organization; to pressure or lobby foreign governments, journalists, medical researchers, officials of the United States Government, or officials of multilateral organizations (including the United Nations and the World Health Organization) with respect to the source, scientific origins, transmissibility, or other attributes of the SARS–CoV–2 virus or the COVID–19 pandemic; to disrupt government or private-sector efforts to conduct research and development of medical interventions or countermeasures for the COVID–19 pandemic, including vaccines; and to promote alternative narratives regarding the origins of COVID–19 as well as the domestic Chinese and international response to the COVID–19 pandemic; release publicly the intelligence products described in paragraphs (1) and (2) including such redactions as the Director, with the concurrence of the head of the originating intelligence community element, determines necessary to protect sources and methods and information concerning United States persons; and submit to the congressional intelligence committees an unredacted version of the declassified intelligence products described in paragraph (3).” “This Act may be cited as the ‘COVID–19 Origin Act of 2023’. identifying the origin of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) is critical for preventing a similar pandemic from occurring in the future; there is reason to believe the COVID–19 pandemic may have originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and identify the origin of COVID–19 as expeditiously as possible, and use that information to take all appropriate measures to prevent a similar pandemic from occurring again. activities performed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology with or on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army; coronavirus research or other related activities performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to the outbreak of COVID–19; and the researcher’s name; the researcher’s symptoms; the date of the onset of the researcher’s symptoms; the researcher’s role at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; whether the researcher was involved with or exposed to coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; whether the researcher visited a hospital while they were ill; and a description of any other actions taken by the researcher that may suggest they were experiencing a serious illness at the time; and all of the information described under paragraph (1); and only such redactions as the Director determines necessary to protect sources and methods.” Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Mar. 15, 2022], the Director of National Intelligence shall, in coordination with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the heads of such other elements of the intelligence community as the Director of National Intelligence considers appropriate, commence a declassification review (which the Director of National Intelligence shall complete by not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act) to determine what, if any, additional information relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, can be appropriately declassified and shared with the public. Information relating to the direction, facilitation, and other support provided to the individuals who carried out the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Information from Operation Encore and the PENTTBOM investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence shall submit to the congressional intelligence committees a report on the findings of the Director with respect to the declassification review conducted under subsection (a).” the term ‘Bureau’ means the National Background Investigations Bureau of the Office; the term ‘Director’ means the Director of National Intelligence acting as the Security Executive Agent; and the term ‘Office’ means the Office of Personnel Management acting as the Suitability and Credentialing Executive Agent. the term ‘agency’ has the meaning given the term in Executive Order 13467 (73 Fed. Reg. 38103) [set out below], or any successor thereto; the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [now Committee on Oversight and Accountability] and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; eligibility of a covered individual for logical and physical access to Federally controlled facilities or information systems; suitability or fitness of a covered individual for Federal employment; eligibility of a covered individual for access to classified information or to hold a national security sensitive position; or fitness of a covered individual to perform work for or on behalf of the United States Government as a contractor employee; and means a person who performs work for or on behalf of the executive branch or seeks to perform work for or on behalf of the executive branch; is not limited to Federal employees; includes all persons, not excluded under subparagraph (D), who require eligibility for access to classified information or eligibility to hold a sensitive position, including, but not limited to, contractors, subcontractors, licensees, certificate holders, grantees, experts, consultants, and government employees; and the President; employees of the President under section 105 or 107 of title 3, United States Code (except to the extent otherwise directed by the President); the Vice President; or employees of the Vice President under section 106 of title 3, United States Code, or an annual legislative branch appropriations Act (except to the extent otherwise directed by the Vice President). position sensitivity designation; and the appropriate background investigation to initiate for each position designation. Not less frequently than every 4 years, the President, acting through relevant agencies (as determined by the President) and in accordance with the guidance described in paragraph (1), shall review and, if necessary, revise the position designation of positions within agencies. any issues identified in the review; and the number of position designations revised as a result of the review. Nothing in this section limits or expands the authority of any agency to designate a position as sensitive or as requiring its occupant to have access to classified information.” are not less than 25 years old; and were created, or provided to that committee, by an entity in the executive branch.” In making cash awards under chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, the President or the head of an Executive agency with an officer or employee who is authorized to make original classification decisions or derivative classification decisions may consider such officer’s or employee’s consistent and proper classification of information. to assess whether applicable classification policies, procedures, rules, and regulations have been adopted, followed, and effectively administered within such department, agency, or component; and to identify policies, procedures, rules, regulations, or management practices that may be contributing to persistent misclassification of material within such department, agency or component. Each first evaluation required by paragraph (1) shall be completed no later than September 30, 2013. Each second evaluation required by paragraph (1) shall review progress made pursuant to the results of the first evaluation and shall be completed no later than September 30, 2016. Each inspector general who is required to carry out an evaluation under paragraph (1) shall submit to the appropriate entities a report on each such evaluation. the policies, procedures, rules, regulations, or management practices, if any, identified by the inspector general under paragraph (1)(B); and the recommendations, if any, of the inspector general to address any such identified policies, procedures, rules, regulations, or management practices. The inspectors general who are required to carry out evaluations under paragraph (1) shall coordinate with each other and with the Information Security Oversight Office to ensure that evaluations follow a consistent methodology, as appropriate, that allows for cross-agency comparisons. the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; the Committee on Homeland Security, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [now Committee on Oversight and Accountability], and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; any other committee of Congress with jurisdiction over a department or agency referred to in paragraph (1); the head of a department or agency referred to in paragraph (1); and the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office.” No records of the Department of Defense that have not been reviewed for declassification shall be subject to automatic declassification unless the Secretary of Defense certifies to Congress that such declassification would not harm the national security. An assessment of whether the Department will be able to review all relevant records for declassification before any date established for automatic declassification. An estimate of the cost of reviewing records to meet any requirement to review all relevant records for declassification by a date established for automatic declassification. An estimate of the number of records, if any, that the Department will be unable to review for declassification before any such date and the affect [sic] on national security of the automatic declassification of those records. An estimate of the length of time by which any such date would need to be extended to avoid the automatic declassification of records that have not yet been reviewed as of such date.” Except as provided in subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense shall, with respect to any information referred to in paragraph (2), place the information in a suitable library-like location within a facility within the National Capital region for public review and photocopying. Paragraph (1) applies to any record, live-sighting report, or other information in the custody of the official custodian referred to in subsection (d)(3) that may pertain to the location, treatment, or condition of (A) United States personnel who remain not accounted for as a result of service in the Armed Forces or other Federal Government service during the Korean conflict, the Vietnam era, or the Cold War, or (B) their remains. the record or other information is exempt from the disclosure requirements of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, by reason of subsection (b) of that section; or the record or other information is in a system of records exempt from the requirements of subsection (d) of section 552a of such title pursuant to subsection (j) or (k) of that section. in the case of a person who is alive (and not incapacitated) and whose whereabouts are known, that person expressly consents in writing to the disclosure of the record or other information; or in the case of a person who is dead or incapacitated or whose whereabouts are unknown, a family member or family members of that person determined by the Secretary of Defense to be appropriate for such purpose expressly consent in writing to the disclosure of the record or other information. in the case of a person missing from the Vietnam era, after a reasonable effort; and in the case of a person missing from the Korean Conflict or Cold War, after a period of 90 days from the date on which any record or other information referred to in paragraph (2) is received by the Department of Defense for disclosure review from the Archivist of the United States, the Library of Congress, or the Joint United States-Russian Commission on POW/MIAs. Paragraph (2) does not apply to the access of an adult member of the family of a person to any record or information to the extent that the record or other information relates to that person. The authority of a person to consent to disclosure of a record or other information for the purposes of paragraph (2) may be delegated to another person or an organization only by means of an express legal power of attorney granted by the person authorized by that paragraph to consent to the disclosure. In the case of records or other information originated by the Department of Defense, the official custodian shall make such records and other information available to the public pursuant to this section not later than January 2, 1996. Such records or other information shall be made available as soon as a review carried out for the purposes of subsection (b) is completed. Whenever a department or agency of the Federal Government receives any record or other information referred to in subsection (a) that is required by this section to be made available to the public, the head of that department or agency shall ensure that such record or other information is provided to the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary shall make such record or other information available in accordance with subsection (a) as soon as possible and, in any event, not later than one year after the date on which the record or information is received by the department or agency of the Federal Government. If the Secretary of Defense determines that the disclosure of any record or other information referred to in subsection (a) by the date required by paragraph (1) or (2) may compromise the safety of any United States personnel referred to in subsection (a)(2) who remain not accounted for but who may still be alive in captivity, then the Secretary may withhold that record or other information from the disclosure otherwise required by this section. Whenever the Secretary makes a determination under the preceding sentence, the Secretary shall immediately notify the President and the Congress of that determination. The terms ‘Korean conflict’ and ‘Vietnam era’ have the meanings given those terms in section 101 of title 38, United States Code. The term ‘Cold War’ means the period from the end of World War II to the beginning of the Korean conflict and the period from the end of the Korean conflict to the beginning of the Vietnam era. in the case of records, reports, and information relating to the Korean conflict or the Cold War, the Archivist of the United States; and in the case of records, reports, and information relating to the Vietnam era, the Secretary of Defense.” This section is enacted to ensure that current disclosure policy is incorporated into law. with respect to which funds are authorized under this Act [see Tables for classification], and which holds or receives live sighting reports of any United States citizen reported missing in action, prisoner of war, or unaccounted for from the Vietnam Conflict, information that would reveal or compromise sources and methods of intelligence collection; or specific information that previously has been made available to the next-of-kin. The head of each department or agency covered by subsection (a) shall make information available under this section in a timely manner.” Not later than 180 days after October 14, 1994, the President shall, by Executive order or regulation, establish procedures to govern access to classified information which shall be binding upon all departments, agencies, and offices of the executive branch of Government. Such procedures shall, at a minimum— Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 18, 2025], the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with such other heads of elements of the intelligence community as the Director considers appropriate, shall— The plan under subsection (a) shall include mechanisms for sharing the intelligence information described in such subsection— In this section, the term ‘appropriate congressional committees’ means the following: perform a declassification review of intelligence relating to the origins of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19), including— perform a declassification review of intelligence relating to efforts by government officials of entities of the People’s Republic of China— to disrupt the sharing of medically significant information relating to the transmissibility and potential harm of SARS–CoV–2 to humans, including— “It is the sense of Congress that— the Director of National Intelligence should declassify and make available to the public as much information as possible about the origin of COVID–19 so the United States and like-minded countries can— “Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Mar. 20, 2023], the Director of National Intelligence shall— declassify any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19), including— researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who fell ill in autumn 2019, including for any such researcher— submit to Congress an unclassified report that contains— The information reviewed under subsection (a) shall include the following: “In this Act [see Short Title of 2018 Amendment note set out under section 3001 of this title]— In this section— the term ‘appropriate congressional committees’ means— the term ‘background investigation’ means any investigation required for the purpose of determining the— the term ‘covered individual’— does not include— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act [May 22, 2018], the Director and the Director of the Office shall review and make recommendations to Congress and the President as appropriate to issue guidance to assist agencies in determining— Not later than 30 days after completing a review under subsection (b)(2), the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on— Not later than September 30, 2016, the inspector general of each department or agency of the United States with an officer or employee who is authorized to make original classifications, in consultation with the Information Security Oversight Office, shall carry out no less than two evaluations of that department or agency or a component of the department or agency— Each report submitted under subparagraph (A) shall include a description of— In this subsection, the term ‘appropriate entities’ means— Not later than February 1, 2001, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate a report on the efforts of the Department of Defense relating to the declassification of classified records under the control of the Department of Defense. Such report shall include the following: The Secretary of Defense may not make a record or other information available to the public pursuant to subsection (a) if— The Secretary of Defense may not make a record or other information available to the public pursuant to subsection (a) if the record or other information specifically mentions a person by name unless— The limitation on disclosure in paragraph (2) does not apply in the case of a person who is dead or incapacitated or whose whereabouts are unknown if the family member or members of that person determined pursuant to subparagraph (B) of that paragraph cannot be located by the Secretary of Defense— For purposes of this section: The term ‘official custodian’ means— Except as provided in subsection (c), the head of each department or agency— Subsection (b) does not apply with respect to— (Source: (July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title VIII, § 801, as added Pub. L. 103–359, title VIII, § 802(a), Oct. 14, 1994, 108 Stat. 3435; amended Pub. L. 106–120, title III, § 305(a), Dec. 3, 1999, 113 Stat. 1611; Pub. L. 107–306, title III, § 353(b)(2)(B), Nov. 27, 2002, 116 Stat. 2402.))