Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Transparency Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3846 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance transparency regarding reports conducted by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 6, 2023 Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi (for himself and Mr. IVEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance transparency regarding reports conducted by the Inspec- tor General of the Department of Homeland Security, 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 ‘‘Department of Home- 4 land Security Inspector General Transparency Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3846 IH SEC. 2. OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DEPART- 1 MENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title VIII of the 3 Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by inserting 4 before section 812 the following new section: 5 ‘‘SEC. 811. OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL. 6 ‘‘(a) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 8 30 days after the date of the enactment of this sec- 9 tion, the Inspector General of the Department shall 10 submit to the appropriate congressional committees 11 any report finalized on and after such date that sub- 12 stantiates— 13 ‘‘(A) a violation of paragraph (8) or (9) of 14 section 2302(b) of title 5, United States Code, 15 section 1034 of title 10, United States Code, or 16 Presidential Personnel Directive-19; or 17 ‘‘(B) an allegation of misconduct, waste, 18 fraud, abuse, or violation of policy within the 19 Department involving a member of the Senior 20 Executive Service or politically appointed offi- 21 cial of the Department. 22 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Concurrent with the 24 submission to the appropriate congressional 25 committees of reports pursuant to paragraph 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3846 IH (1), the Inspector General shall, consistent with 1 privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties protec- 2 tions, publish on a publicly available website of 3 the Inspector General each such report. 4 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The requirement pur- 5 suant to subparagraph (A) to publish reports 6 does not apply if the conditions specified in sec- 7 tion 405(f)(1) of title 5, United States Code, 8 applies to any such report. 9 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENT.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General 11 of the Department may not redact any portion 12 of a report submitted pursuant to paragraph 13 (1). 14 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The requirement under 15 subparagraph (A) shall not apply with respect 16 to the name or any other identifying informa- 17 tion, including any contextual details not rel- 18 evant to the audit, inspection, or evaluation at 19 issue that may be used by other employees or 20 officers of the Department to determine the 21 identity of a whistleblower complainant, of a 22 whistleblower complainant who does not consent 23 to the inclusion of such in a report of the In- 24 spector General. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3846 IH ‘‘(b) SEMIANNUAL REPORTING.—Beginning with the 1 first semiannual report transmitted to the appropriate 2 committees or subcommittees of the Congress pursuant to 3 section 405(b) of title 5, United States Code, that is trans- 4 mitted after the date of the enactment of this section, each 5 such report shall be accompanied by a list of ongoing au- 6 dits, inspections, and evaluations of the Department, to- 7 gether with a narrative description relating to each such 8 audit, inspection, or evaluation that identifies the scope 9 of such audit, inspection, or evaluation, as the case may 10 be, as well as the subject office, component, or directorate 11 of the Department. For each such ongoing audit, inspec- 12 tion, or evaluation such narrative description shall include 13 the following: 14 ‘‘(1) Information relating to the source of each 15 such audit, inspection, or evaluation. 16 ‘‘(2) Information regarding whether each such 17 audit, inspection, or evaluation is being conducted 18 independently, jointly, concurrently, or in some other 19 manner. 20 ‘‘(3) In the event each such audit, inspection, or 21 evaluation was initiated due to a referral, the date 22 on which the Inspector General notified the origi- 23 nator of a referral of the Inspector General’s inten- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3846 IH tion to carry out such audit, inspection, or evalua- 1 tion. 2 ‘‘(4) Information relating to the dates on 3 which— 4 ‘‘(A) each such audit, inspection, or eval- 5 uation was initiated; 6 ‘‘(B) a draft report relating to each such 7 audit, inspection, or evaluation is scheduled to 8 be submitted to the Secretary for review; and 9 ‘‘(C) a final report relating to each such 10 audit, inspection, or evaluation is scheduled to 11 be submitted to the appropriate congressional 12 committees and published on the website of the 13 Inspector General in accordance with para- 14 graphs (1) and (2), respectively, of subsection 15 (a). 16 ‘‘(5) An explanation for— 17 ‘‘(A) any significant changes since the pre- 18 vious semiannual report regarding the narrative 19 description of each such audit, inspection, or 20 evaluation, including the identification of the 21 subject office, component, or directorate of the 22 Department; 23 ‘‘(B) a delay of more than 30 days in the 24 scheduled date for submitting to the Secretary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3846 IH a draft report for review or publishing on the 1 website of the Inspector General of the Depart- 2 ment the final report relating to each such 3 audit, inspection, or evaluation; or 4 ‘‘(C) any such audit, inspection, or evalua- 5 tion terminated. 6 ‘‘(6) Data regarding tips and complaints made 7 to the Inspector General Hotline of the Department 8 or otherwise referred to the Department, including 9 the following: 10 ‘‘(A) The number and type of tips and 11 complaints regarding fraud, waste, abuse, cor- 12 ruption, financial crimes, or civil rights and 13 civil liberty abuse, or other complaints regard- 14 ing criminal or non-criminal activity associated 15 with fraud, waste, or abuse. 16 ‘‘(B) Actions taken by the Department to 17 address or resolve each substantiated tip or 18 complaint. 19 ‘‘(C) The total amount of time it took the 20 Department to so address or resolve each such 21 substantiated tip or complaint. 22 ‘‘(D) The total number of tips and com- 23 plaints that are substantiated, compared with 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3846 IH the number of tips and complaints that are un- 1 substantiated. 2 ‘‘(E) The percentage of audits, inspections, 3 and evaluations that are initiated as a result of 4 tips and complaints made to the Inspector Gen- 5 eral Hotline. 6 ‘‘(c) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—The Inspector 7 General of the Department shall notify the Committee on 8 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and 9 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 10 Affairs of the Senate if the head of an office, component, 11 or directorate of the Department does not provide in a 12 timely manner to the Inspector General information or as- 13 sistance that is requested by the Inspector General to con- 14 duct an audit, inspection, or evaluation. 15 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘appro- 16 priate congressional committees’ means the Committee on 17 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, the 18 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af- 19 fairs of the Senate, and any committee of the House of 20 Representatives or the Senate, respectively, having legisla- 21 tive or oversight jurisdiction under the Rules of the House 22 of Representatives or the Senate, respectively, over the 23 matter concerned.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3846 IH (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 1 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 2 amended by amending the item relating to section 811 to 3 read as follows: 4 ‘‘Sec. 811. Office of Inspector General.’’. (c) REPORTS.— 5 (1) INSPECTOR GENERAL OF DHS.—Not later 6 than one year after the date of the enactment of this 7 Act, the Inspector General of the Department of 8 Homeland Security shall submit to the Committee 9 on Homeland Security of the House of Representa- 10 tives, the Committee on Homeland Security and 11 Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Comp- 12 troller General of the United States a report on the 13 policies, procedures, and internal controls established 14 that ensure compliance with the Quality Standards 15 for Federal Offices of Inspector General from the 16 Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Effi- 17 ciency. 18 (2) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Not later than 19 one year after receipt of the report required under 20 paragraph (1), the Comptroller General of the 21 United States shall submit to the Committee on 22 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 23 and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3846 IH ernmental Affairs of the Senate an evaluation of 1 such report. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:40 Jul 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3846.IH H3846 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS