Espionage Act Reform Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6114 To amend chapter 37 of title 18, United States Code, to authorize appropriate disclosure of classified information, to appropriately limit the scope of the offense of disclosing classified information, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 5, 2020 Mr. KHANNA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend chapter 37 of title 18, United States Code, to authorize appropriate disclosure of classified information, to appropriately limit the scope of the offense of dis- closing classified information, 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 ‘‘Espionage Act Reform 4 Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6114 IH SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION RE- 1 LATED TO SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE. 2 (a) AUTHORITY TO DISCLOSE INFORMATION.—Sec- 3 tion 798(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 4 by striking ‘‘furnishing,’’ and all that follows and inserting 5 the following: ‘‘furnishing of information to— 6 ‘‘(1) any Member of the Senate or the House 7 of Representatives; 8 ‘‘(2) a Federal court, in accordance with such 9 procedures as the court may establish; 10 ‘‘(3) the inspector general of an element of the 11 intelligence community (as defined in section 3 of 12 the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 13 3003)), including the Inspector General of the Intel- 14 ligence Community; 15 ‘‘(4) the Chairman or a member of the Privacy 16 and Civil Liberties Oversight Board or any employee 17 of the Board designated by the Board, in accordance 18 with such procedures as the Board may establish; 19 ‘‘(5) the Chairman or a commissioner of the 20 Federal Trade Commission or any employee of the 21 Commission designated by the Commission, in ac- 22 cordance with such procedures as the Commission 23 may establish; 24 ‘‘(6) the Chairman or a commissioner of the 25 Federal Communications Commission or any em- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6114 IH ployee of the Commission designated by the Com- 1 mission, in accordance with such procedures as the 2 Commission may establish; or 3 ‘‘(7) any other person or entity authorized to 4 receive disclosures containing classified information 5 pursuant to any applicable law, regulation, or execu- 6 tive order regarding the protection of whistle- 7 blowers.’’. 8 (b) AUTHORIZED PERSONS.—Section 798(b) of title 9 18, United States Code, is amended— 10 (1) in the matter preceding the first undesig- 11 nated paragraph, by striking ‘‘this section—’’ and 12 inserting ‘‘this section:’’; 13 (2) by striking ‘‘The term ‘classified informa- 14 tion’ means information which, at the time of a vio- 15 lation of this section, is,’’ and inserting the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(1) The term ‘classified information’— 18 ‘‘(A) means information which, at the time 19 of a violation of this section, is known to the 20 person violating this section to be,’’; 21 (3) in paragraph (1), as so designated— 22 (A) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘distribu- 23 tion;’’; and 24 (B) by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6114 IH ‘‘(B) does not include any information that 1 is specifically designated as ‘Unclassified’ under 2 any Executive Order, Act of Congress, or action 3 by a committee of Congress in accordance with 4 the rules of its House of Congress.’’; 5 (4) by striking ‘‘The terms ‘code,’ ‘cipher,’ and 6 ‘cryptographic system’ include’’ and inserting the 7 following: 8 ‘‘(2) The terms ‘code’, ‘cipher’, and ‘cryp- 9 tographic system’ include’’; 10 (5) in paragraph (2), as so designated, by strik- 11 ing ‘‘communications;’’ and inserting ‘‘communica- 12 tions.’’; 13 (6) by striking ‘‘The term ‘foreign’’ and insert- 14 ing the following: 15 ‘‘(5) The term ‘foreign’’; 16 (7) in paragraph (5), as so designated, by strik- 17 ing ‘‘United States;’’ and inserting ‘‘United States.’’; 18 (8) by striking ‘‘The term ‘communication’’ and 19 inserting the following: 20 ‘‘(3) The term ‘communication’’; 21 (9) in paragraph (3), as so designated, by strik- 22 ing ‘‘recipients;’’ and inserting ‘‘recipients.’’; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6114 IH (10) by transferring paragraph (3), as so des- 1 ignated, to appear after paragraph (2), as so des- 2 ignated; and 3 (11) by striking ‘‘The term ‘unauthorized’’ and 4 all that follows through ‘‘for the United States.’’ and 5 inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(6) The term ‘unauthorized person’ means any 7 person who, or agency which, is not authorized to re- 8 ceive information of the categories set forth in sub- 9 section (a) of this section by— 10 ‘‘(A) the President; 11 ‘‘(B) the head of a department or agency 12 of the United States Government which is ex- 13 pressly designated by the President to engage 14 in communication intelligence activities for the 15 United States; or 16 ‘‘(C) an Act of Congress.’’. 17 (c) SCOPE OF PROHIBITION.—Section 798 of title 18, 18 United States Code, is amended— 19 (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 20 paragraph (1)— 21 (A) by striking ‘‘Whoever’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘Any individual who’’; and 23 (B) by inserting ‘‘obtained by the indi- 24 vidual while the individual was a covered person 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6114 IH and acting within the scope of his or her activi- 1 ties as a covered person’’ after ‘‘any classified 2 information’’; and 3 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting after para- 4 graph (3), as so designated and transferred by sub- 5 section (b) of this section, the following: 6 ‘‘(4) The term ‘covered person’ means an indi- 7 vidual who— 8 ‘‘(A) receives official access to classified in- 9 formation granted by the United States Govern- 10 ment; 11 ‘‘(B) signs a nondisclosure agreement with 12 regard to such classified information; and 13 ‘‘(C) is authorized to receive information of 14 the categories set forth in subsection (a) of this 15 section— 16 ‘‘(i) by the President; or 17 ‘‘(ii) the head of a department or 18 agency of the United States Government 19 which is expressly designated by the Presi- 20 dent to engage in communication intel- 21 ligence activities for the United States.’’. 22 (d) LIMITATION ON SCOPE.—Section 798 of title 18, 23 United States Code, is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6114 IH (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub- 1 section (e); and 2 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘(d)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘foreign agent’— 5 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term ‘agent of 6 a foreign power’ under section 101 of the Foreign 7 Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 8 1801); and 9 ‘‘(B) does not include a person who is an agent 10 of a foreign power (as so defined) with respect to a 11 foreign power described in section 101(a)(5) of the 12 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 13 U.S.C. 1801(a)(5)). 14 ‘‘(2) A foreign agent who— 15 ‘‘(A) aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces, 16 or procures the commission of an offense under this 17 section shall be subject to prosecution under this 18 section by virtue of section 2 of this title; 19 ‘‘(B) knowing that an offense under this section 20 has been committed by another person, receives, re- 21 lieves, comforts, or assists such other person in 22 order to hinder or prevent the apprehension, trial, or 23 punishment of such other person shall be subject to 24 prosecution under section 3 of this title; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6114 IH ‘‘(C) having knowledge of the actual commis- 1 sion of an offense under this section, conceals and 2 does not as soon as possible make known the same 3 to some judge or other person in civil or military au- 4 thority under the United States shall be subject to 5 prosecution under section 4 of this title; or 6 ‘‘(D) conspires to commit an offense under this 7 section shall be subject to prosecution under section 8 371 of this title. 9 ‘‘(3) Any person who is not a foreign agent shall not 10 be subject to prosecution under this section by virtue of 11 section 2 of this title or under section 3, 4, or 371 of this 12 title, unless the person— 13 ‘‘(A) commits a felony under Federal law in the 14 course of committing an offense under this section 15 (by virtue of section 2 of this title) or under section 16 3, 4, or 371 of this title; 17 ‘‘(B) was a covered person at the time of the 18 offense; or 19 ‘‘(C) subject to paragraph (4), directly and ma- 20 terially aids, or procures in exchange for anything of 21 monetary value, the commission of an offense under 22 this section with the specific intent to— 23 ‘‘(i) harm the national security of the 24 United States; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6114 IH ‘‘(ii) benefit any foreign government to the 1 detriment of the United States. 2 ‘‘(4) Paragraph (3)(C) shall not apply to direct and 3 material aid that consists of— 4 ‘‘(A) counseling, education, or other speech ac- 5 tivity; or 6 ‘‘(B) providing an electronic communication 7 service to the public or a remote computing service 8 (as such terms are defined in section 2510 and 9 2711, respectively).’’. 10 SEC. 3. GATHERING, TRANSMITTING, OR LOSING DEFENSE 11 INFORMATION. 12 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 793 of title 18, United 13 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(i) In this section— 16 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered person’ means an indi- 17 vidual who— 18 ‘‘(A) receives official access to classified in- 19 formation granted by the United States Govern- 20 ment; 21 ‘‘(B) signs a nondisclosure agreement with 22 regard to such classified information; and 23 ‘‘(C) is authorized to receive documents, 24 writings, code books, signal books, sketches, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6114 IH photographs, photographic negatives, blue- 1 prints, plans, maps, models, instruments, appli- 2 ances, or notes of anything connected with the 3 national defense by— 4 ‘‘(i) the President; or 5 ‘‘(ii) the head of a department or 6 agency of the United States Government 7 which is expressly designated by the Presi- 8 dent to engage in activities relating to the 9 national defense; and 10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘foreign agent’— 11 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term 12 ‘agent of a foreign power’ under section 101 of 13 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 14 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801); and 15 ‘‘(B) does not include a person who is an 16 agent of a foreign power (as so defined) with 17 respect to a foreign power described in section 18 101(a)(5) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveil- 19 lance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801(a)(5)).’’. 20 (b) OBTAINING OR RECEIVING DEFENSE INFORMA- 21 TION.—Section 793(c) of title 18, United States Code, is 22 amended— 23 (1) by striking ‘‘Whoever’’ and inserting ‘‘A 24 foreign agent who’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6114 IH (2) by inserting ‘‘and with like intent or reason 1 to believe,’’ after ‘‘aforesaid,’’; and 2 (3) by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the foreign 3 agent’’. 4 (c) TRANSMISSION OF LAWFULLY POSSESSED DE- 5 FENSE INFORMATION TO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS.— 6 Section 793(d) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 7 by striking ‘‘or note relating to the national defense, or 8 information relating to the national defense which infor- 9 mation’’ and inserting ‘‘note, or information relating to 10 the national defense, which document, writing, code book, 11 signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, 12 blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, 13 or information’’. 14 (d) TRANSMISSION OF UNLAWFULLY POSSESSED 15 DEFENSE INFORMATION TO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS.— 16 Section 793(e) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 17 to read as follows: 18 ‘‘(e) An individual who— 19 ‘‘(1) while a covered person, gains unauthorized 20 possession of, access to, or control over any non- 21 public document, writing, code book, signal book, 22 sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blue- 23 print, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 6114 IH note of anything connected with the national de- 1 fense; and 2 ‘‘(2)(A) with reason to believe such information 3 could be used to the injury of the United States or 4 to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully com- 5 municates, delivers, transmits, or causes to be com- 6 municated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to 7 communicate, deliver, transmit, or cause to be com- 8 municated, delivered, or transmitted, the same to 9 any person not entitled to receive it; or 10 ‘‘(B) willfully— 11 ‘‘(i) retains the same at an unauthorized 12 location; and 13 ‘‘(ii) fails to deliver the same to the officer 14 or employee of the United States entitled to re- 15 ceive it; or’’. 16 (e) OBTAINING INFORMATION FROM PLACES CON- 17 NECTED WITH THE NATIONAL DEFENSE.—Section 18 793(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 19 striking ‘‘otherwise obtains information concerning’’ and 20 inserting ‘‘otherwise unlawfully obtains nonpublic infor- 21 mation concerning’’. 22 (f) COPYING AND TAKING DEFENSE INFORMA- 23 TION.—Section 793(b) of title 18, United States Code, is 24 amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:11 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6114.IH H6114 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PR [Text truncated for display. 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