II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 315 

To amend section 798 of title 18, United States Code, to provide penalties 

for disclosure of classified information related to certain intelligence 

activities of the United States and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2011 

Mr. ENSIGN (for himself, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend section 798 of title 18, United States Code, to 

provide penalties for disclosure of classified information 

related to certain intelligence activities of the United 

States 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 TITLES. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Human Intel5 ligence and Enforcing Lawful Dissemination Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘SHIELD Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PENALTIES FOR DISCLOSURE OF CLASSIFIED IN2 FORMATION RELATED TO INTELLIGENCE AC3 TIVITIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) section 798 of title 

5 18, United States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

7 inserting ‘‘or transnational threat’’ after ‘‘foreign 

8 government’’; 

9 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

10 end; 

11 (3) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para12 graph (6); and 

13 (4) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(4) concerning the human intelligence activi16 ties of the United States or any foreign government; 

17 ‘‘(5) concerning the identity of a classified 

18 source or informant of an element of the intelligence 

19 community of the United States; or’’. 

20 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Subsection (b) section 798 of 

21 title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as fol22 lows: 

23 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In subsection (a): 

24 ‘‘(1) CIPHER, CODE, CRYPTOGRAPHIC SYS25 TEM.—The terms ‘cipher’, ‘code’, and ‘cryptographic 

26 system’ include in their meanings, in addition to 


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1 their usual meanings, any method of secret writing 

2 and any mechanical or electrical device or method 

3 used for the purpose of disguising or concealing the 

4 contents, significance, or meanings of communica5 tions. 

6 ‘‘(2) CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.—The term 

7 ‘classified information’ means information which, at 

8 the time of a violation of this section, is, for reasons 

9 of national security, specifically designated by a 

10 United States Government Agency for limited or re11 stricted dissemination or distribution. 

12 ‘‘(3) COMMUNICATION INTELLIGENCE.—The 

13 term ‘communication intelligence’ means all proce14 dures and methods used in the interception of com15 munications and the obtaining of information from 

16 such communications by other than the intended re17 cipients. 

18 ‘‘(4) FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘for19 eign government’ includes in its meaning any person 

20 or persons acting or purporting to act for or on be21 half of any faction, party, department, agency, bu22 reau, or military force of or within a foreign coun23 try, or for or on behalf of any government or any 

24 person or persons purporting to act as a government 


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1 within a foreign country, whether or not such gov2 ernment is recognized by the United States. 

3 ‘‘(5) HUMAN INTELLIGENCE.—The term 

4 ‘human intelligence’ means all procedures and meth5 ods employed in the collection of intelligence through 

6 human sources. 

7 ‘‘(6) INFORMANT.—The term ‘informant’ has 

8 the meaning given that term in section 606 of the 

9 National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 426). 

10 ‘‘(7) TRANSNATIONAL THREAT.—The term 

11 ‘transnational threat’ means— 

12 ‘‘(A) any transnational activity (including 

13 international terrorism, narcotics trafficking, 

14 the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction 

15 and the delivery systems for such weapons, and 

16 organized crime) that threatens the national se17 curity of the United States; or 

18 ‘‘(B) any individual or group that engages 

19 in an activity referred to in subparagraph (A). 

20 ‘‘(8) UNAUTHORIZED PERSON.—The term ‘un21 authorized person’ means any person who, or agency 

22 which, is not authorized to receive information of the 

23 categories set forth in subsection (a), by the Presi24 dent, or by the head of a department or agency of 

25 the United States Government which is expressly 


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1 designated by the President to engage in commu2 nication intelligence or human intelligence activities 

3 for the United States.’’. 

Æ 


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