II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1890

To require certain disclosures of financial information to expose espionage

activities by foreign agents in the United States.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 7 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 22), 1994

Mr. HEFLIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Select Committee on Intelligence

A BILL

To require certain disclosures of financial information to

expose espionage activities by foreign agents in the

United States.

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

3 SECTION 1. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS RE4 QUIRED BY CERTAIN INTELLIGENCE COMMU5 NITY EMPLOYEES.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—(1) The head of each component

7 of the intelligence community of the United States shall

8 submit to the President and the intelligence committees

9 of Congress a report containing a list of all positions under

10 the component that are classified at or below a position
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1 of GS–15 of the General Schedule and that require the

2 individuals occupying the positions to have access to infor3 mation critical to the national security interests of the

4 United States.

5 (2) The reports required by paragraph (1) shall be

6 submitted not later than 90 days after the date of enact7 ment of this Act.

8 (3) The President shall submit a report described in

9 paragraph (1) to the intelligence committees of Congress

10 with respect to staff positions on the National Security

11 Council.

12 (b) DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS.—Any individual oc13 cupying a position described in subsection (a) during any

14 calendar year who performs the duties of his position or

15 office for a period in excess of 60 days in that calendar

16 year shall file with the head of the appropriate agency or

17 component on or before May 15 of the succeeding year

18 a report containing the information described in section

19 102(a) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.

20 (c) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—The President shall

21 prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry

22 out this section.

23 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

24 (1) the term ‘‘intelligence committees of Con25 gress’’ means the Permanent Select Committee on
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1 Intelligence of the House of Representatives and the

2 Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and

3 (2) the term ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the

4 meaning given to that term by section 3(4) of the

5 National Security Act of 1947.

6 SEC. 2. FBI COUNTERINTELLIGENCE ACCESS TO

7 CONSUMER CREDIT RECORDS.

8 Section 608 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15

9 U.S.C. 1681f) is amended—

10 (1) by striking ‘‘Notwithstanding’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘(a) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN IDENTIFYING IN12 FORMATION.—Notwithstanding’’; and

13 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub14 section:

15 ‘‘(b) DISCLOSURES TO THE FBI FOR COUNTER16 INTELLIGENCE PURPOSES.—

17 ‘‘(1) CONSUMER REPORTS.—Notwithstanding

18 section 604, a consumer reporting agency shall fur19 nish a consumer report to the Federal Bureau of In20 vestigation when presented with a written request

21 for a consumer report, signed by the Director of the

22 Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Director’s

23 designee (hereafter in this section referred to as the

24 ‘Director’), which certifies compliance with this sub25 section. The Director’s designee may make such a
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1 certification only if the Director has determined in

2 writing that—

3 ‘‘(A) such records are necessary for the

4 conduct of an authorized foreign counterintel5 ligence investigation; and

6 ‘‘(B) there are specific and articulable

7 facts giving reason to believe that the consumer

8 whose consumer report is sought is a foreign

9 power or an agent of a foreign power, as de10 fined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence

11 Surveillance Act of 1978.

12 ‘‘(2) IDENTIFYING INFORMATION.—Notwith13 standing section 604, a consumer reporting agency

14 shall furnish information respecting a consumer

15 which shall include, but shall not be limited to,

16 name, address, former addresses, places of employ17 ment, or former places of employment, to the Fed18 eral Bureau of Investigation when presented with a

19 written request, signed by the Director, which cer20 tifies compliance with this subsection. The Director

21 may make such a certification only if the Director

22 has determined in writing that—

23 ‘‘(A) such information is necessary to the

24 conduct of an authorized foreign counterintel25 ligence investigation; and
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1 ‘‘(B) there is information giving reason to

2 believe that the consumer has been, or is about

3 to be, in contact with a foreign power or an

4 agent of a foreign power, as defined in section

5 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

6 of 1978.

7 ‘‘(3) CONFIDENTIALITY.—A consumer reporting

8 agency, or officer, employee, or agent of such

9 consumer reporting agency shall not—

10 ‘‘(A) disclose to any person, other than

11 those officers, employees, or agents of such

12 agency necessary to fulfill the requirement to

13 disclose information to the Federal Bureau of

14 Investigation under this subsection, that the

15 Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or

16 obtained a consumer report or identifying infor17 mation respecting any consumer under para18 graph (1) or (2), or

19 ‘‘(B) include in any consumer report any

20 information that would indicate that the Fed21 eral Bureau of Investigation has sought or ob22 tained such a consumer report or identifying in23 formation.

24 ‘‘(4) PAYMENT OF FEES.—The Federal Bureau

25 of Investigation shall, subject to the availability of
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1 appropriations, pay to the consumer reporting agen2 cy assembling or providing credit reports or identify3 ing information in accordance with procedures estab4 lished under this title, a fee for reimbursement for

5 such costs as are reasonably necessary and which

6 have been directly incurred in searching, reproduc7 ing, or transporting books, papers, records, or other

8 data required or requested to be produced under this

9 subsection.

10 ‘‘(5) LIMIT ON DISSEMINATION.—The Federal

11 Bureau of Investigation may not disseminate infor12 mation obtained pursuant to this subsection outside

13 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, except to the

14 Department of Justice as may be necessary for the

15 approval or conduct of a foreign counterintelligence

16 investigation.

17 ‘‘(6) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in

18 this subsection shall be construed to prohibit infor19 mation from being furnished by the Federal Bureau

20 of Investigation pursuant to a subpoena or court

21 order, or in connection with a judicial or administra22 tive proceeding to enforce the provisions of this title.

23 Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to au24 thorize or permit the withholding of information

25 from the Congress.
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1 ‘‘(7) REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS.—On a semi2 annual basis, the Attorney General of the United

3 States shall fully inform the Permanent Select Com4 mittee on Intelligence and the Committee on Bank5 ing, Finance and Urban Affairs of the House of

6 Representatives, and the Select Committee on Intel7 ligence and the Committee on Banking, Housing,

8 and Urban Affairs of the Senate concerning all re9 quests made pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2).

10 ‘‘(8) DAMAGES.—Any agency or department of

11 the United States obtaining or disclosing credit re12 ports, records, or information contained therein in

13 violation of this subsection is liable to the consumer

14 to whom such records relate in an amount equal to

15 this sum of—

16 ‘‘(A) $100, without regard to the volume

17 of records involved;

18 ‘‘(B) any actual damages sustained by the

19 consumer as a result of the disclosure;

20 ‘‘(C) such punitive damages as a court

21 may allow, where the violation is found to have

22 been willful or intentional; and

23 ‘‘(D) in the case of any successful action to

24 enforce liability under this subsection, the costs
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1 of the action, together with reasonable attor2 ney’s fees, as determined by the court.

3 ‘‘(9) DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS FOR VIOLA4 TIONS.—If a court determines that any agency or

5 department of the United States has violated any

6 provision of this subsection and the court finds that

7 the circumstances surrounding the violation raise

8 questions of whether or not an officer or employee

9 of the agency or department acted willfully or inten10 tionally with respect to the violation, the agency or

11 department shall promptly initiate a proceeding to

12 determine whether or not disciplinary action is war13 ranted against the officer or employee who was re14 sponsible for the violation.

15 ‘‘(10) GOOD-FAITH EXCEPTION.—Any credit re16 porting agency, or agent or employee thereof, mak17 ing a disclosure of credit reports or identifying infor18 mation pursuant to this subsection in good-faith reli19 ance upon a certification by the Federal Bureau of

20 Investigation pursuant to this subsection shall not

21 be liable to any person for such disclosure under this

22 title, the constitution of any State, or any law or

23 regulation of any State or any political subdivision

24 of any State.
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1 ‘‘(11) LIMITATION OF REMEDIES.—The rem2 edies and sanctions set forth in this subsection shall

3 be the only judicial remedies and sanctions for viola4 tions of this subsection.

5 ‘‘(12) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—In addition to any

6 other remedy contained in this subsection, injunctive

7 relief shall be available to require compliance with

8 this subsection. In the event of any successful action

9 under this subsection, costs, together with reason10 able attorney’s fees, as determined by the court, may

11 be recovered.’’.

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