[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3135 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3135

 To prohibit any officer or employee of the Federal Government who has 
     exercised extreme carelessness in the handling of classified 
   information from being granted or retaining a security clearance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 6, 2016

   Mr. Gardner (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Scott, Mr. 
 Risch, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Heller, Ms. Ayotte, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Perdue, 
 and Mr. Isakson) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
  and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit any officer or employee of the Federal Government who has 
     exercised extreme carelessness in the handling of classified 
   information from being granted or retaining a security clearance.

    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 ``Taking Responsibility Using Secured 
Technologies Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) On July 5, 2016, the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation (in this section referred to as the ``FBI''), 
        James B. Comey, made a statement relating to the investigation 
        into the use of a personal e-mail system by Hillary Clinton 
        during the period that she was Secretary of State.
            (2) The FBI found evidence that Secretary Clinton and her 
        colleagues were extremely careless in handling very sensitive, 
        highly classified information.
            (3) The FBI also found that any reasonable individual in 
        the position of Secretary Clinton, or in the position of the 
        Federal employees with whom Secretary Clinton was corresponding 
        about these matters, should have known that using an 
        unclassified system was inappropriate when conducting 
        classified conversations.
            (4) Because of the conduct of Secretary Clinton and her 
        colleagues, the FBI concluded that it is possible that hostile 
        actors gained access to the e-mail account of Secretary 
        Clinton.
            (5) In similar circumstances, other individuals who engaged 
        in this kind of activity would often face adverse consequences, 
        including security or administrative sanctions.
            (6) Presidential candidates typically receive classified 
        briefings even if the candidates lack the requisite security 
        clearance.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) Secretary Clinton should--
                    (A) have any security clearance that she holds 
                revoked; and
                    (B) be denied access to classified information 
                unless and until she earns the legal right to such 
                access; and
            (2) colleagues of Secretary Clinton who demonstrated 
        extreme carelessness in their handling of classified 
        information should no longer have access to that information.

SEC. 3. SECURITY CLEARANCES WITH RESPECT TO INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE 
              MISHANDLED CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.

    (a) Granting of Clearances.--No officer or employee of the Federal 
Government who has exercised extreme carelessness in the handling of 
classified information may be granted a security clearance.
    (b) Revocation of Clearances.--The security clearance of any 
officer or employee of the Federal Government who has exercised extreme 
carelessness in the handling of classified information shall be 
revoked.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF GROSS NEGLIGENCE.

    Section 793(f) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(f)'';
            (2) by striking ``(1) through'' and inserting ``(A) 
        through'';
            (3) by striking ``(2) having'' and inserting ``(B) 
        having''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) In this subsection, the term `gross negligence' includes 
extreme or reckless carelessness.''.
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