Securing Inspector General Independence Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 587 To amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 to provide that the President or certain agency heads may remove an Inspector General, or place an Inspector General on non-duty status, only if certain conditions are satisfied, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 4, 2021 Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. CARPER, Mr. LANKFORD, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. ROMNEY, Mr. TESTER, Ms. COLLINS, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. WICKER, and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu- rity and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 to provide that the President or certain agency heads may remove an Inspector General, or place an Inspector General on non-duty status, only if certain conditions are satisfied, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Inspector 4 General Independence Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 587 IS SEC. 2. REMOVAL OR TRANSFER OF INSPECTORS GENERAL; 1 PLACEMENT ON NON-DUTY STATUS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General Act of 3 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended— 4 (1) in section 3(b)— 5 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)(A)’’ after ‘‘(b)’’; 6 (B) in paragraph (1), as so designated— 7 (i) in subparagraph (A), as so des- 8 ignated, in the second sentence— 9 (I) by striking ‘‘reasons’’ and in- 10 serting the following: ‘‘substantive ra- 11 tionale, including detailed and case- 12 specific reasons,’’; and 13 (II) by inserting ‘‘(including to 14 the Committee on Homeland Security 15 and Governmental Affairs of the Sen- 16 ate, the Committee on Oversight and 17 Reform of the House of Representa- 18 tives, and any other congressional 19 committee that has jurisdiction with 20 respect to that Inspector General)’’ 21 after ‘‘Houses of Congress’’; and 22 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing: 24 ‘‘(B) If there is an open or completed inquiry into 25 an Inspector General that relates to the removal or trans- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 587 IS fer of the Inspector General under subparagraph (A), the 1 written communication required under that subparagraph 2 shall— 3 ‘‘(i) identify each entity that is conducting, or 4 that conducted, the inquiry; and 5 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a completed inquiry, contain 6 the findings made during the inquiry.’’; and 7 (C) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(2)(A) Subject to the other provisions of this para- 9 graph, only the President may place an Inspector General 10 on non-duty status. 11 ‘‘(B) If the President places an Inspector General on 12 non-duty status, the President shall communicate in writ- 13 ing the substantive rationale, including detailed and case- 14 specific reasons, for the change in status to both Houses 15 of Congress (including to the Committee on Homeland Se- 16 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Com- 17 mittee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Rep- 18 resentatives, and any other congressional committee that 19 has jurisdiction with respect to that Inspector General) 20 not later than 15 days before the date on which the change 21 in status takes effect, except that the President may sub- 22 mit that communication on the date on which the change 23 in status takes effect if— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 587 IS ‘‘(i) the President has made a determination 1 that the continued presence of the Inspector General 2 in the workplace poses a threat described in any of 3 clauses (i) through (iv) of section 6329b(b)(2)(A) of 4 title 5, United States Code; and 5 ‘‘(ii) in the communication, the President in- 6 cludes a report on the determination described in 7 clause (i), which shall include— 8 ‘‘(I) a specification of which clause of sec- 9 tion 6329b(b)(2)(A) of title 5, United States 10 Code, the President has determined applies 11 under clause (i) of this subparagraph; 12 ‘‘(II) the substantive rationale, including 13 detailed and case-specific reasons, for the deter- 14 mination made under clause (i); 15 ‘‘(III) an identification of each entity that 16 is conducting, or that conducted, any inquiry 17 upon which the determination under clause (i) 18 was made; and 19 ‘‘(IV) in the case of an inquiry described 20 in subclause (III) that is completed, the find- 21 ings made during that inquiry. 22 ‘‘(C) The President may not place an Inspector Gen- 23 eral on non-duty status during the 30-day period pre- 24 ceding the date on which the Inspector General is removed 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 587 IS or transferred under paragraph (1)(A) unless the Presi- 1 dent— 2 ‘‘(i) has made a determination that the contin- 3 ued presence of the Inspector General in the work- 4 place poses a threat described in any of clauses (i) 5 through (iv) of section 6329b(b)(2)(A) of title 5, 6 United States Code; and 7 ‘‘(ii) not later than the date on which the 8 change in status takes effect, submits to both 9 Houses of Congress (including to the Committee on 10 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 11 Senate, the Committee on Oversight and Reform of 12 the House of Representatives, and any other con- 13 gressional committee that has jurisdiction with re- 14 spect to that Inspector General) a written commu- 15 nication that contains the information required 16 under subparagraph (B), including the report re- 17 quired under clause (ii) of that subparagraph. 18 ‘‘(D) For the purposes of this paragraph— 19 ‘‘(i) the term ‘Inspector General’— 20 ‘‘(I) means an Inspector General who was 21 appointed by the President, without regard to 22 whether the Senate provided advice and consent 23 with respect to that appointment; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 587 IS ‘‘(II) includes the Inspector General of an 1 establishment, the Inspector General of the In- 2 telligence Community, the Inspector General of 3 the Central Intelligence Agency, the Special In- 4 spector General for Afghanistan Reconstruc- 5 tion, the Special Inspector General for the 6 Troubled Asset Relief Program, and the Special 7 Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery; and 8 ‘‘(ii) a reference to the removal or transfer of 9 an Inspector General under paragraph (1), or to the 10 written communication described in that paragraph, 11 shall be considered to be— 12 ‘‘(I) in the case of the Inspector General of 13 the Intelligence Community, a reference to sec- 14 tion 103H(c)(4) of the National Security Act of 15 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3033(c)(4)); 16 ‘‘(II) in the case of the Inspector General 17 of the Central Intelligence Agency, a reference 18 to section 17(b)(6) of the Central Intelligence 19 Agency Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 3517(b)(6)); 20 ‘‘(III) in the case of the Special Inspector 21 General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a ref- 22 erence to section 1229(c)(6) of the National 23 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 24 (Public Law 110–181; 122 Stat. 379); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 587 IS ‘‘(IV) in the case of the Special Inspector 1 General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, 2 a reference to section 121(b)(4) of the Emer- 3 gency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 4 U.S.C. 5231(b)(4)); and 5 ‘‘(V) in the case of the Special Inspector 6 General for Pandemic Recovery, a reference to 7 section 4018(b)(3) of the CARES Act (15 8 U.S.C. 9053(b)(3)).’’; and 9 (2) in section 8G(e)— 10 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or 11 placement on non-duty status’’ after ‘‘a re- 12 moval’’; 13 (B) in paragraph (2)— 14 (i) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(2)’’; 15 (ii) in subparagraph (A), as so des- 16 ignated, in the first sentence— 17 (I) by striking ‘‘reasons’’ and in- 18 serting the following: ‘‘substantive ra- 19 tionale, including detailed and case- 20 specific reasons,’’; and 21 (II) by inserting ‘‘(including to 22 the Committee on Homeland Security 23 and Governmental Affairs of the Sen- 24 ate, the Committee on Oversight and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 587 IS Reform of the House of Representa- 1 tives, and any other congressional 2 committee that has jurisdiction with 3 respect to that Inspector General)’’ 4 after ‘‘Houses of Congress’’; and 5 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(B) If there is an open or completed inquiry into 8 an Inspector General that relates to the removal or trans- 9 fer of the Inspector General under subparagraph (A), the 10 written communication required under that subparagraph 11 shall— 12 ‘‘(i) identify each entity that is conducting, or 13 that conducted, the inquiry; and 14 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a completed inquiry, contain 15 the findings made during the inquiry.’’; and 16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(3)(A) Subject to the other provisions of this para- 18 graph, only the head of the applicable designated Federal 19 entity (referred to in this paragraph as the ‘covered offi- 20 cial’) may place an Inspector General on non-duty status. 21 ‘‘(B) If a covered official places an Inspector General 22 on non-duty status, the covered official shall communicate 23 in writing the substantive rationale, including detailed and 24 case-specific reasons, for the change in status to both 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 587 IS Houses of Congress (including to the Committee on 1 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen- 2 ate, the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House 3 of Representatives, and any other congressional committee 4 that has jurisdiction with respect to that Inspector Gen- 5 eral) not later than 15 days before the date on which the 6 change in status takes effect, except that the covered offi- 7 cial may submit that communication on the date on which 8 the change in status takes effect if— 9 ‘‘(i) the covered official has made a determina- 10 tion that the continued presence of the Inspector 11 General in the workplace poses a threat described in 12 any of clauses (i) through (iv) of section 13 6329b(b)(2)(A) of title 5, United States Code; and 14 ‘‘(ii) in the communication, the covered official 15 includes a report on the determination described in 16 clause (i), which shall include— 17 ‘‘(I) a specification of which clause of sec- 18 tion 6329b(b)(2)(A) of title 5, United States 19 Code, the covered official has determined ap- 20 plies under clause (i) of this subparagraph; 21 ‘‘(II) the substantive rationale, including 22 detailed and case-specific reasons, for the deter- 23 mination made under clause (i); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 587 IS ‘‘(III) an identification of each entity that 1 is conducting, or that conducted, any inquiry 2 upon which the determination under clause (i) 3 was made; and 4 ‘‘(IV) in the case of an inquiry described 5 in subclause (III) that is completed, the find- 6 ings made during that inquiry. 7 ‘‘(C) A covered official may not place an Inspector 8 General on non-duty status during the 30-day period pre- 9 ceding the date on which the Inspector General is removed 10 or transferred under paragraph (2)(A) unless the covered 11 official— 12 ‘‘(i) has made a determination that the contin- 13 ued presence of the Inspector General in the work- 14 place poses a threat described in any of clauses (i) 15 through (iv) of section 6329b(b)(2)(A) of title 5, 16 United States Code; and 17 ‘‘(ii) not later than the date on which the 18 change in status takes effect, submits to both 19 Houses of Congress (including to the Committee on 20 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 21 Senate, the Committee on Oversight and Reform of 22 the House of Representatives, and any other con- 23 gressional committee that has jurisdiction with re- 24 spect to that Inspector General) a written commu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 587 IS nication that contains the information required 1 under subparagraph (B), including the report re- 2 quired under clause (ii) of that subparagraph. 3 ‘‘(D) Nothing in this paragraph may be construed to 4 limit or otherwise modify— 5 ‘‘(i) any statutory protection that is afforded to 6 an Inspector General; or 7 ‘‘(ii) any other action that a covered official 8 may take under law with respect to an Inspector 9 General.’’. 10 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 11 Section 12(3) of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 12 U.S.C. App.) is amended by inserting ‘‘except as otherwise 13 expressly provided,’’ before ‘‘the term’’. 14 SEC. 3. VACANCY IN POSITION OF INSPECTOR GENERAL. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Inspector General 16 Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the 17 end the following: 18 ‘‘(h)(1) In this subsection— 19 ‘‘(A) the term ‘first assistant to the position of 20 Inspector General’ means, with respect to an Office 21 of Inspector General— 22 ‘‘(i) an individual who, as of the day before 23 the date on which the Inspector General dies, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S587.IS S587 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 587 IS resigns, or otherwise becomes unable to perform 1 the functions and duties of that position— 2 ‘‘(I) is serving in a position in that 3 Office; and 4 ‘‘(II) has been designated in writing 5 by the Inspector General, through an order 6 of succession or otherwise, as the first as- 7 sistant to the position of Inspector Gen- 8 eral; or 9 ‘‘(ii) if the Inspector General has not made 10 a designation described in clause (i)(II)— 11 ‘‘(I) the Principal D [Text truncated for display. 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