[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1276 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1276

To increase oversight of the Revolving Fund of the Office of Personnel 
 Management, strengthen the authority to terminate or debar employees 
   and contractors involved in misconduct affecting the integrity of 
  security clearance background investigations, enhance transparency 
regarding the criteria utilized by Federal departments and agencies to 
    determine when a security clearance is required, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 10, 2013

 Mr. Tester (for himself, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Portman, Mr. Johnson of 
  Wisconsin, and Mr. Coburn) introduced the following bill; which was 
   read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                          Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To increase oversight of the Revolving Fund of the Office of Personnel 
 Management, strengthen the authority to terminate or debar employees 
   and contractors involved in misconduct affecting the integrity of 
  security clearance background investigations, enhance transparency 
regarding the criteria utilized by Federal departments and agencies to 
    determine when a security clearance is required, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Security Clearance Oversight and 
Reform Enhancement Act''.

SEC. 2. OVERSIGHT OF THE REVOLVING FUND OF THE OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 
              MANAGEMENT.

    Section 1304(e) of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
     (a) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, by inserting before 
the period the following: ``, and for the cost of audits, 
investigations, and oversight activities relating to the fund and the 
functions financed by the fund, conducted by the Inspector General of 
the Office''; and
    (b) in paragraph (5), by adding at the end the following: ``Each 
budget submitted under this paragraph shall include an estimate from 
the Inspector General of the Office of the amount required to pay the 
reasonable expenses to adequately audit, investigate, and perform other 
oversight activities relating to the fund and the functions financed by 
the fund for the applicable fiscal year, which shall not exceed 0.33 
percent of the total budgetary authority requested in the budget 
estimates submitted to Congress by the Office for that fiscal year.''.

SEC. 3. TERMINATION AND DEBARMENT OF INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN MISCONDUCT 
              AFFECTING THE INTEGRITY OF THE BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS 
              PROGRAM OF THE OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.

    (a) Termination and Debarment.--The Office of Personnel Management 
shall terminate or debar an individual employed or contracted by the 
Office of Personnel Management if the Office of Personnel Management 
determines, based upon a preponderance of the evidence, that the 
individual was involved in misconduct affecting the integrity of the 
background investigations program of the Office of Personnel 
Management, including, but not limited to--
            (1) falsification of a background investigation report;
            (2) fraud relating to a background investigation report;
            (3) failure to review a background investigation report;
            (4) impersonation of a Federal law enforcement officer; or
            (5) abuse of authority relating to the employment or 
        contract by the Office of Personnel Management.
    (b) Procedures for Determination of Termination and Debarment.--
            (1) Establishment of procedures.--The Office of Personnel 
        Management shall establish procedures under which the Office of 
        Personnel Management shall determine whether an employee or 
        contractor should be terminated or debarred under subsection 
        (a).
            (2) Due process.--Notwithstanding chapters 5 and 75 of 
        title 5, United States Code, the procedures established under 
        paragraph (1) shall ensure that--
                    (A) the employee or contractor is provided with 
                notice and opportunity to be heard; and
                    (B) the determination whether to terminate, debar, 
                or reinstate the employee or contractor is made 
                expeditiously.

SEC. 4. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE GUIDANCE ON DETERMINATIONS OF 
              POSITIONS REQUIRING A SECURITY CLEARANCE.

    (a) Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence shall 
issue guidance for the departments and agencies of the Federal 
Government to be used by such departments and agencies to--
            (1) determine whether the occupant of a position requires a 
        security clearance for the performance of the duties of such 
        position; and
            (2) periodically review and, if necessary, revise the 
        designation of a position as requiring a security clearance for 
        the performance of the duties of such position.
    (b) Procedures.--The guidance described under subsection (a) shall 
include such procedures for the discharge of the guidance as the 
Director of National Intelligence considers appropriate.
                                 <all>