I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2028 To amend the National Security Act of 1947 to prohibit individuals who threaten to destroy the Government from participating in or attending meetings of the National Security Council, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 2, 2019 Mr. ESPAILLAT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Intelligence (Permanent Select), and Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To amend the National Security Act of 1947 to prohibit individuals who threaten to destroy the Government from participating in or attending meetings of the National Security Council, 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 ‘‘Make Our Government 4 Safe Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2028.IH H2028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2028 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress makes the following findings: 2 (1) Steve Bannon was appointed to serve as 3 chief strategist and senior counselor to the President 4 in January 2017 and was appointed, via executive 5 order, to the National Security Council on January 6 28, 2017. 7 (2) Under section 101 of the National Security 8 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021), the National Security 9 Council is responsible for the integration of domes- 10 tic, foreign, and military policies relating to the na- 11 tional security so as to enable the military services 12 and the other departments and agencies of the Gov- 13 ernment to cooperate more effectively in matters in- 14 volving the national security. 15 (3) To participate in highly sensitive meetings 16 of the National Security Council, it is a prerequisite 17 to have the highest available security clearances, in- 18 cluding access to compartmented information. 19 (4) Question 23.9 on United States Government 20 Standard Form 86, which all applicants seeking a 21 security clearance must submit, asks: ‘‘have you ever 22 advocated any acts of terrorism or activities de- 23 signed to overthrow the U.S. Government by force?’’ 24 (5) Question 29.4 asks: ‘‘have you ever been a 25 member of an organization dedicated to the use of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2028.IH H2028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2028 IH violence or force to overthrow the United States 1 Government . . .’’ 2 (6) Question 29.6 asks: ‘‘have you ever know- 3 ingly engaged in activities designed to overthrow the 4 United States Government by force?’’ 5 (7) Steve Bannon has made numerous inflam- 6 matory statements in support of overthrowing the 7 United States Government. 8 (8) In an interview dated August 22, 2016, 9 Bannon referred to himself as a ‘‘Leninist’’, saying 10 ‘‘Lenin . . . wanted to destroy the state, and that’s 11 my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing 12 down, and destroy all of today’s establishment’’. 13 (9) The Director of the National Background 14 Investigations Bureau, Charles Phalen, Jr., testified 15 before the Committee on Oversight and Government 16 Reform of the House of Representatives on Feb- 17 ruary 2, 2017, about the process to investigate ap- 18 plicants for security clearances. 19 (10) In response to questions from Ranking 20 Member Elijah E. Cummings, Director Phalen 21 agreed that calling oneself a Leninist would cause 22 concerns during the background check process for a 23 security clearance, saying ‘‘It would, and the investi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2028.IH H2028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2028 IH gator should pursue that avenue of discussion with 1 the subject as to what that means.’’. 2 (11) In response to a specific question about 3 someone whose goal was to ‘‘destroy the state,’’ Di- 4 rector Phalen responded ‘‘That would elicit a very 5 strong line of questioning with that individual and 6 with others to determine what he means by that so 7 that we can give a full picture to the adjudicator.’’. 8 (12) When asked what would happen if Bannon 9 denied making these statements, Director Phalen re- 10 sponded that background check investigators would 11 ‘‘determine what the truth is’’. 12 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF INDIVIDUALS WHO THREATEN TO 13 DESTROY THE GOVERNMENT FROM PARTICI- 14 PATING IN OR ATTENDING NATIONAL SECU- 15 RITY COUNCIL MEETINGS. 16 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 101(c) of the National 17 Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021(c)) is amended— 18 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘The Presi- 19 dent’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in para- 20 graph (3), the President’’; and 21 (2) by adding at the end the following new 22 paragraph: 23 ‘‘(3) INDIVIDUALS WHO THREATEN TO DE- 24 STROY THE GOVERNMENT.—Any individual who 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2028.IH H2028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2028 IH threatens to destroy the Government, including in 1 speech, written form, or through action, may not 2 participate in or attend any meeting of the Council 3 or any meeting of the Principal’s Committee.’’. 4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (3) of subsection 5 (c) of section 101 of the National Security Act of 1947 6 (50 U.S.C. 3021) shall take effect on the date that is 30 7 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 8 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE SUSPEN- 9 SION OF SECURITY CLEARANCES FOR FED- 10 ERAL EMPLOYEES WHO THREATEN TO DE- 11 STROY THE STATE. 12 It is the sense of Congress that the head of a depart- 13 ment or agency of the Federal Government that issues a 14 security clearance for an employee, including for an em- 15 ployee of the Executive Office of the President, should 16 consider suspending the security clearance of the em- 17 ployee, if the employee threatens or has threatened to de- 18 stroy the State or to take hostile actions against the 19 United States, to ensure such employee does not pose a 20 threat to the United States. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2028.IH H2028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS