Topic: Defense — Intelligence
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-06-01 00:00:00

Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

TITLE I--INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES

(Sec. 101) Authorizes FY2016 appropriations for the conduct of intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the: (1) Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI); (2) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); (3) Department of Defense (DOD); (4) Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA); (5) National Security Agency; (6) Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; (7) Coast Guard; (8) Departments of State, the Treasury, Energy (DOE), and Justice (DOJ); (9) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); (10) Drug Enforcement Administration; (11) National Reconnaissance Office; (12) National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and (13) Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

(Sec. 102) Specifies that the amounts authorized and the authorized personnel ceilings as of September 30, 2016, for such activities are those in the classified Schedule of Authorizations, which shall be made available to the congressional appropriations committees and the President.

(Sec. 103) Allows the DNI, if it provides prior notification to Congress, to authorize employment of civilian personnel in excess of the number authorized for FY2016 when necessary for the performance of important intelligence functions.

Requires the DNI to establish guidelines to govern the treatment under such authorized personnel levels of employment or assignment in: (1) a student or trainee program; (2) a reserve corps or as a reemployed annuitant; or (3) details, joint duty, or long term, full-time training.

(Sec. 104) Authorizes FY2016 appropriations for the Intelligence Community Management Account, as well as for personnel positions for elements within such Account. Provides for funds identified in the classified schedule for advanced research and development to remain available until September 30, 2017.

TITLE II--CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM

(Sec. 201) Authorizes FY2016 appropriations for the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability Fund.

TITLE III--GENERAL PROVISIONS

Subtitle A--General Matters (Sec. 301) Permits appropriations authorized by this Act for salary, pay, retirement, and other benefits for federal employees to be increased by such additional or supplemental amounts as necessary for increases in such compensation or benefits authorized by law.

(Sec. 302) Prohibits the authorization of appropriations by this Act from being deemed to constitute authority to conduct any intelligence activity not otherwise authorized by the Constitution or U.S. laws.

(Sec. 303) Prohibits initiation of a new special access program imposing access requirements for an intelligence-related activity or covert action that exceed those normally required for information at the same classification level, or of a transfer of funds from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund or the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund to be used for intelligence activities, unless the DNI or DOD: (1) notifies Congress at least 30 days before initiating the program or transfer, or (2) waives such prohibition in an emergency situation and notifies Congress within 48 hours after initiation of the program or transfer.

(Sec. 305) Requires the DNI to designate an official to manage intelligence regarding the tactical use of tunnels by state and nonstate actors. Requires the DNI, within 10 months after enactment of this Act and biennially thereafter until four years after enactment of this Act, to report to Congress regarding: (1) trends in the use of tunnels by foreign state and nonstate actors, and (2) collaboration between the United States and partner countries to address the use of tunnels by adversaries.

(Sec. 306) Prohibits the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 from being construed to authorize the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to gain access to information that an executive branch agency deems related to covert action.

(Sec. 307) Requires the DNI to establish a formal internal reporting process for tracking requests for country clearance submitted to overseas DNI representatives by U.S. agencies.

(Sec. 308) Prohibits funds from being used to respond to or share any nonpublic information related to intelligence activities carried out by the United States in response to a legislative or judicial inquiry from a foreign government into U.S. intelligence activities.

(Sec. 309) Establishes a Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) within the Office of the DNI to: (1) serve as the primary organization within the federal government for analyzing and integrating all intelligence possessed or acquired by the United States pertaining to cyber threats; (2) ensure that appropriate federal agencies have access to and receive all-source intelligence support needed to execute cyber threat intelligence activities and perform independent, alternative analyses; (3) disseminate cyber threat analysis to the President and appropriate federal agencies and congressional committees; and (4) coordinate cyber threat intelligence activities and strategic planning for the federal government.

Requires the CTIIC, within 10 months after enactment of this Act and annually thereafter for three years, to report to Congress regarding cyber threat trends and recommendations for better collaboration between federal agencies, including DOD, DOJ, and DHS.

(Sec. 310) Transfers from the DNI's Director of the Office of Business Transformation to the Chief Information Officer of the Intelligence Community the responsibility to make the certifications necessary to obligate funds for an intelligence community business system transformation that will have a total cost in excess of $3 million. Removes a requirement that the certifications for such a transformation be approved by a DNI governance board. Deems certified transformations to be in compliance with defense business system requirements.

(Sec. 311) Includes the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community within the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.

(Sec. 312) Authorizes inspectors general of the CIA and the intelligence community to request information or assistance from state or local governmental agencies. Makes the authority of the intelligence community's inspector general to request such information or assistance subject to the concurrence of the DNI.

(Sec. 314) Allows the Government Accountability Office, notwithstanding a DNI directive governing access to intelligence information, to obtain information necessary to carry out an audit or review: (1) at the request of the congressional intelligence committees or pursuant to an intelligence authorization Act or a committee report, joint explanatory statement, or classified annex accompanying such an intelligence authorization Act; or (2) pertaining to DOD intelligence activities at the request of congressional defense committees or pursuant to a national defense authorization Act.

(Sec. 315) Requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to permit grant recipients under the Urban Area Security Initiative or the State Homeland Security Grant Program to work in conjunction with DOE's national laboratories when grant funds are used to achieve target preparedness capabilities for federal, state, local, and tribal governments to respond to acts of terrorism under guidelines required by the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006.

(Sec. 316) Makes technical amendments to exclude the Office of the DNI from certain position classification, pay, and allowances provisions relating to General Schedule employees.

(Sec. 317) Includes certain Hispanic-serving institutions of higher education among the minority-serving institutions eligible for DNI grants to provide programs of study for individuals to learn advanced foreign languages, study abroad, or develop other skills that meet the needs of the intelligence community.

Subtitle B--Matters Relating to United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

(Sec. 321) Prohibits funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available to an element of the intelligence community from being used during the period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending on December 31, 2016, to: (1) transfer or release to or within the United States, its territories, or possessions, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other individual detained at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as of October 1, 2009, who is not a U.S. citizen or a member of the U.S. Armed Forces and is in DOD custody or control or otherwise under detention; (2) construct or modify any facility in the United States, its territories, or possessions (except at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo) to house a Guantanamo detainee for purposes of detention or imprisonment in DOD custody or control; or (3) transfer or release a Guantanamo detainee in DOD custody or control to a combat zone. Subtitle C--Reports (Sec. 331) Requires the President to expand a report submitted to Congress every 90 days regarding the prisoner population at the Guantanamo detention facility to include: (1) a summary of all contact and communication between any former Guantanamo detainee and any individual known or suspected to be associated with a foreign terrorist group, including a description of whether the contact included information or discussion about hostilities against the United States or its allies or partners; and (2) the time periods within which any individuals reengage in terrorist activities after being released or transferred from Guantanamo. (Sec. 332) Requires the DNI to report to Congress every 60 days for three years after enactment of this Act regarding foreign fighter flows to and from Syria and Iraq. Directs the DNI to submit a report regarding foreign fighter travel to and from Iraq and Syria that addresses the challenges impeding intelligence sharing relationships between the United States and member states of the European Union and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (Sec. 333) Directs the DIA to report to Congress every 30 days regarding the Guantanamo prisoner population. Requires the reports to include: (1) the name and country of origin of each prisoner; (2) summaries of the evidence, intelligence, and information used to justify each detention; (3) measures taken to transfer each prisoner to the individual's country of citizenship or another country; (4) the number of individuals released or transferred from detention at Guantanamo who are confirmed or suspected of returning to terrorist activities; (5) assessments of efforts by foreign terrorist organizations to recruit released individuals; (6) summaries of all contact and communication between any former Guantanamo detainee and any individual known or suspected to be associated with a foreign terrorist group, including a description of whether the contact included information or discussion about hostilities against the United States or its allies or partners; and (7) the time periods within which any individuals reengage in terrorist activities after being released or transferred from Guantanamo. (Sec. 334) Requires the DNI to report to Congress regarding the representation of certain minority-owned, women-owned, small disadvantaged, service-disabled veteran-owned, or veteran-owned businesses among the contractors awarded contracts by elements of the intelligence community. (Sec. 335) Repeals certain reporting requirements, including: the President's quadrennial audit and report on the manner in which the executive branch determines whether a security clearance is required for a particular government position, the President's annual report on espionage by China, DNI reports on outside employment by officers and employees of the intelligence community and on nuclear aspirations of nonstate entities, FBI reports on the roles of FBI analysts, and National Counterintelligence Policy Board reports on the security vulnerabilities of computers at national security laboratories. (Sec. 336) Requires the DNI, in coordination with the National Science Foundation, to report to Congress regarding the employment by the intelligence community of graduates of the Cyber Corps Scholarship Program.

(Sec. 337) Requires the President to transmit to Congress within 120 days after enactment of this Act a report regarding the data breach of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) disclosed in June 2015. Requires the report to address: (1) any effects on the operations of the intelligence community abroad and on each element of the intelligence community; (2) an assessment of how foreign persons, groups, or countries may use the collected data, particularly information included in background investigations for security clearances; and (3) an assessment of which federal agencies use the best practices to protect sensitive data, including a summary of any such best practices that were not used by the OPM.

Directs the DNI to provide Congress an interim briefing on such report, including a discussion of proposals and options for responding to cyber attacks.

(Sec. 338) Requires the DNI to submit to Congress an intelligence community assessment on the funding of political parties and nongovernmental organizations in former Soviet states and countries in Europe by the Russian Federation and the security and intelligence services of the Russian Federation since January 1, 2006.

(Sec. 339) Directs the DNI to report to Congress on the continuous evaluation of security clearances of employees, officers, and contractors of the intelligence community.

(Sec. 340) Expresses the sense of Congress that the intelligence community should dedicate necessary resources to defeating the revenue mechanisms of the Islamic State. Requires the DNI to report on the strategy, efforts, and resources necessary to detect, deter, and degrade those revenue mechanisms.

(Sec. 341) Requires the DNI to report on possibilities for growing national security cooperation between the United States, India, and Israel.

(Sec. 342) Directs the DNI to carry out a study and report findings to Congress regarding appropriate standards to measure the damage of cyber incidents for purposes of determining the response to such incidents, including a method to quantify damage to affected computers, systems, and devices.

(Sec. 343) Directs the DNI to submit a report to Congress on wildlife trafficking. Requires the report to assess: (1) major source, transit, and destination countries for wildlife trafficking products or their derivatives; (2) the adherence of such countries with international treaty obligations relating to endangered or threatened species; (3) involvement of designated foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations; (4) key actors and facilitators, including government officials, that are supporting wildlife trafficking; and (5) the impact on U.S. national security, the coordination of intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and gaps in intelligence capabilities to assess transnational wildlife trafficking networks.

(Sec. 344) Requires the DNI to submit to Congress a report that represents the coordinated assessment of the intelligence community on terrorist use of social media, including an assessment of the impact on U.S. national security of the public availability of terrorist content on social media for fundraising, radicalization, and recruitment.

(Sec. 345) Directs the DNI to submit to Congress a comprehensive report on the U.S. counterterrorism strategy to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al-Qaeda, and their affiliated groups, associated groups, and adherents. Requires the report to assess: (1) the relationships between such groups and their strengthening or weakening from January 1, 2010, to the present; (2) whether an individual who is not located in Afghanistan or Pakistan can be a member of al-Qaeda core; (3) whether an individual can be a member of al-Qaeda core as well as a member of an al-Qaeda affiliated group, associated group, or adherent; (4) coordination, command, and control between ISIL or core al-Qaeda and such groups and adherents; and (5) the effectiveness of counterterrorism operations.

Requires the DNI to define "defeat of ISIL or core al-Qaeda" in such report.