Intelligence Directors Lobbying Prevention Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 867 To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to prohibit any individual who served as the head of any element of the intelligence community from acting as the agent of a foreign principal, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 30, 2019 Mr. CASTRO of Texas (for himself, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Perma- nent Select Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 to prohibit any individual who served as the head of any element of the intelligence community from acting as the agent of a foreign principal, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Intelligence Directors 4 Lobbying Prevention Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H867.IH H867 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 867 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 2 (1) President Donald J. Trump issued an Exec- 3 utive Order on January 28, 2017, entitled ‘‘Ethics 4 Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees’’, 5 paragraph (4) of which requires Executive Branch 6 appointees to contractually commit to the following: 7 ‘‘I will not, at any time after the termination of my 8 employment in the United States Government, en- 9 gage in any activity on behalf of any foreign govern- 10 ment or foreign political party which, were it under- 11 taken on January 20, 2017, would require me to 12 register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act 13 of 1938, as amended.’’. 14 (2) To the extent that paragraph (4) of this 15 Executive Order has no time restriction, the Execu- 16 tive Order amounts to a lifetime ban on lobbying on 17 behalf of a foreign principal by employees of the ex- 18 ecutive branch. 19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 20 gress that— 21 (1) the United States intelligence community 22 provides the backbone of security for the United 23 States, and its members contribute daily to the safe- 24 ty, security, and well-being of Americans worldwide; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H867.IH H867 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 867 IH (2) leaders of the intelligence community, 1 whether political or civilian appointees, should be 2 held to the highest of ethical standards; and 3 (3) given recent revelations regarding previous 4 heads of elements of the intelligence community lob- 5 bying on behalf of foreign principals, Congress 6 should codify and expand the Executive Order 7 signed by President Trump on January 28, 2017, so 8 that it applies to the heads of elements of the intel- 9 ligence community. 10 SEC. 3. PROHIBITING HEADS OF ELEMENTS OF INTEL- 11 LIGENCE COMMUNITY FROM ACTING AS 12 AGENTS OF FOREIGN PRINCIPALS. 13 (a) PROHIBITION.—The Foreign Agents Registration 14 Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) is 15 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 16 ‘‘SEC. 12. PROHIBITING REGISTRATION BY FORMER HEADS 17 OF ELEMENTS OF INTELLIGENCE COMMU- 18 NITY. 19 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—No individual may register 20 under this Act or otherwise serve as the agent of a foreign 21 principal, including by engaging in lobbying activity on be- 22 half of a foreign entity under the Lobbying Disclosure Act 23 of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), if the individual at any 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H867.IH H867 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 867 IH time served as the head of an element of the intelligence 1 community. 2 ‘‘(b) ANNUAL REPORT.—On an annual basis, the Di- 3 rector of National Intelligence, in coordination with the 4 head of each element of the intelligence community, shall 5 submit to Congress a report on the compliance of former 6 heads of such elements with respect to the prohibition 7 under subsection (a). 8 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘element 9 of the intelligence community’ means each agency included 10 in paragraph (4) of section 3 of the National Security Act 11 of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)), and includes the National 12 Counterterrorism Center and the National Counterpro- 13 liferation Center.’’. 14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 15 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any individual 16 who, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, 17 serves as the head of an element of the intelligence com- 18 munity as described in section 12 of the Foreign Agents 19 Registration Act of 1938, as amended, as added by sub- 20 section (a). 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Feb 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H867.IH H867 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS