I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5057 

To amend the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 

to limit access to classified information, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2018 

Mrs. MURPHY of Florida (for herself, Mr. MOULTON, and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To amend the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention 

Act of 2004 to limit access to classified information, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect America’s Se5 crets Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Pursuant to Executive Order 12968 of 

9 1995, ‘‘[t]he national interest requires that certain 


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1 information be maintained in confidence through a 

2 system of classification in order to protect our citi3 zens, our democratic institutions, and our participa4 tion within the community of nations.’’. 

5 (2) Executive Order 12968 states that ‘‘no em6 ployee shall be granted access to classified informa7 tion unless that employee has been determined to be 

8 eligible in accordance with this order and to possess 

9 a need-to-know.’’. 

10 (3) Executive Order 12968 further provides 

11 that employees shall not be granted access to classi12 fied information unless they— 

13 (A) have been determined to be eligible for 

14 access by agency heads or designated officials 

15 based upon a favorable adjudication of an ap16 propriate investigation of the employee’s back17 ground; 

18 (B) have a demonstrated need-to-know; 

19 and 

20 (C) have signed an approved nondisclosure 

21 agreement. 

22 (4) Intelligence Community Directive 704 of 

23 2008 states that ‘‘Heads of IC Elements or des24 ignees may determine that it is in the national inter25 est to authorize temporary access to SCI [Sensitive 


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1 Compartmented Information] and other controlled 

2 access program information, subject to the following 

3 requirements—temporary access approvals shall be 

4 granted only during national emergencies, hostilities 

5 involving United States personnel, or in exceptional 

6 circumstances when official functions must be per7 formed . . . . In any case, temporary access shall 

8 not exceed one year.’’. 

9 (5) Public reports indicate that members of the 

10 President’s staff have been granted access to highly 

11 sensitive information without favorably adjudicated 

12 security clearances, and that interim access has been 

13 granted such clearances have been extended for 

14 more than a year while the investigations continue. 

15 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

16 It is the sense of Congress that— 

17 (1) no employee of the Federal Government, in18 cluding those in the Executive Office of the Presi19 dent, should be granted access to highly sensitive in20 formation without a favorably adjudicated clearance; 

21 and 

22 (2) the fact that members of the President’s 

23 staff had access to the President’s Daily Brief and 

24 the most highly sensitive information in the United 

25 States Government, without a fully adjudicated 


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1 clearance, creates a double standard in the Federal 

2 branch; undermines the integrity of the clearance 

3 system; and potentially threatens United States na4 tional security. 

5 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT. 

6 Section 3001 of the Intelligence Reform and Ter7 rorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–458) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by inserting before 

10 the semi-colon at the end the following: ‘‘, including 

11 the Executive Office of the President’’; and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(k) RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS TO HIGHLY SEN14 SITIVE PROGRAMS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—No employee shall be 

16 granted access to information on any highly sensitive 

17 program, including information contained in any 

18 briefing (including the President’s Daily Brief) pro19 vided by any element of the intelligence community 

20 to the President, unless the employee has— 

21 ‘‘(A) been determined to be eligible for ac22 cess by the head of an agency or designated of23 ficial based upon a full personnel security inves24 tigation and a favorable adjudication; 

25 ‘‘(B) a demonstrated need-to-know; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) signed an approved nondisclosure 

2 agreement. 

3 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—Paragraph (1) shall be ap4 plied so as to prohibit any employee with an interim 

5 security clearance and for whom the applicable adju6 dicating agency has not made a final determination 

7 from gaining access to information on any highly 

8 sensitive program. 

9 ‘‘(3) TEMPORARY ACCESS NOT EFFECTED.— 

10 Notwithstanding the requirements of this subsection, 

11 temporary access to higher classification levels may 

12 be granted as outlined in section 2.3 of Executive 

13 Order 12986 (or any successor Executive order). 

14 ‘‘(4) DEFINITION OF EMPLOYEE.—For pur15 poses of this subsection, the term ‘employee’ means 

16 an individual, other than the President and Vice 

17 President— 

18 ‘‘(A) employed by, detailed or assigned to, 

19 an agency, including members of the Armed 

20 Forces; 

21 ‘‘(B) an expert or consultant to an agency; 

22 ‘‘(C) an industrial or commercial con23 tractor, licensee, certificate holder, or grantee of 

24 an agency, including all subcontractors; 

25 ‘‘(D) a personal services contractor; or 


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1 ‘‘(E) any other category of person who acts 

2 for or on behalf of an agency as determined by 

3 the appropriate agency head.’’. 

Æ 


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