[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1248 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1248

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

                           February 28, 2017

  Mr. Espaillat (for himself, Ms. Lee, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, and Mr. 
   Raskin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on 
  Foreign Affairs, Intelligence (Permanent Select), and Oversight and 
 Government 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 committee 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Make Our Government Safe Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Steve Bannon was appointed to serve as chief strategist 
        and senior counselor to the President in January 2017 and was 
        appointed, via executive order, to the National Security 
        Council on January 28, 2017.
            (2) Under section 101 of the National Security Act of 1947 
        (50 U.S.C. 3021), the National Security Council is responsible 
        for the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies 
        relating to the national security so as to enable the military 
        services and the other departments and agencies of the 
        Government to cooperate more effectively in matters involving 
        the national security.
            (3) To participate in highly sensitive meetings of the 
        National Security Council, it is a prerequisite to have the 
        highest available security clearances, including access to 
        compartmented information.
            (4) Question 23.9 on United States Government Standard Form 
        86, which all applicants seeking a security clearance must 
        submit, asks: ``have you ever advocated any acts of terrorism 
        or activities designed to overthrow the U.S. Government by 
        force?''
            (5) Question 29.4 asks: ``have you ever been a member of an 
        organization dedicated to the use of violence or force to 
        overthrow the United States Government . . .''
            (6) Question 29.6 asks: ``have you ever knowingly engaged 
        in activities designed to overthrow the United States 
        Government by force?''
            (7) Steve Bannon has made numerous inflammatory statements 
        in support of overthrowing the United States Government.
            (8) In an interview dated August 22, 2016, Bannon referred 
        to himself as a ``Leninist'', saying ``Lenin . . . wanted to 
        destroy the state, and that's my goal too. I want to bring 
        everything crashing down, and destroy all of today's 
        establishment''.
            (9) The Director of the National Background Investigations 
        Bureau, Charles Phalen, Jr., testified before the Committee on 
        Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives 
        on February 2, 2017, about the process to investigate 
        applicants for security clearances.
            (10) In response to questions from Ranking Member Elijah E. 
        Cummings, Director Phalen agreed that calling oneself a 
        Leninist would cause concerns during the background check 
        process for a security clearance, saying ``It would, and the 
        investigator should pursue that avenue of discussion with the 
        subject as to what that means.''.
            (11) In response to a specific question about someone whose 
        goal was to ``destroy the state,'' Director Phalen responded 
        ``That would elicit a very strong line of questioning with that 
        individual and with others to determine what he means by that 
        so that we can give a full picture to the adjudicator.''.
            (12) When asked what would happen if Bannon denied making 
        these statements, Director Phalen responded that background 
        check investigators would ``determine what the truth is''.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF INDIVIDUALS WHO THREATEN TO DESTROY THE 
              GOVERNMENT FROM PARTICIPATING IN OR ATTENDING NATIONAL 
              SECURITY COUNCIL MEETINGS.

    (a) Prohibition.--Section 101(c) of the National Security Act of 
1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``The President'' and 
        inserting ``Except as provided in paragraph (3), the 
        President''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Individuals who threaten to destroy the government.--
        Any individual who threatens to destroy the Government, 
        including in speech, written form, or through action, may not 
        participate in or attend any meeting of the Council or any 
        meeting of the Principal's Committee.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of section 101 
of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3021) shall take effect 
on the date that is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE SUSPENSION OF SECURITY 
              CLEARANCES FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES WHO THREATEN TO DESTROY 
              THE STATE.

    It is the sense of Congress that the head of a department or agency 
of the Federal Government that issues a security clearance for an 
employee, including for an employee of the Executive Office of the 
President, should consider suspending the security clearance of the 
employee, if the employee threatens or has threatened to destroy the 
State or to take hostile actions against the United States, to ensure 
such employee does not pose a threat to the United States.
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