[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 149 (Tuesday, December 9, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6464-S6465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




JOINT EXPLANATORY STATEMENT TO ACCOMPANY THE INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION 
                        ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015

       The following consists of the explanatory material to 
     accompany the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
     2015.
       This joint explanatory statement shall have the same effect 
     with respect to the implementation of this Act as if it were 
     a joint explanatory statement of a committee of conference.
       This explanatory statement is accompanied by a classified 
     annex that contains a classified Schedule of Authorizations. 
     The classified Schedule of Authorizations is incorporated by 
     reference in the Act and has the legal status of public law.
       The classified annex and classified Schedule of 
     Authorizations are the result of negotiations between the 
     Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House 
     Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to reconcile 
     differences in their respective versions of the Intelligence 
     Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. The congressionally 
     directed actions described in Senate Report No. 113-233, the 
     classified annex that accompanied Senate Report No. 113-233, 
     and the classified annex that accompanied House Report No. 
     113-463 should be carried out to the extent they are not 
     amended, altered, substituted, or otherwise specifically 
     addressed in either this Joint Explanatory Statement or in 
     the classified annex to this Statement.

              Section-by-Section Analysis and Explanation

       The following is a section-by-section analysis and 
     explanation of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal 
     Year 2015.

                    Title I--Intelligence Activities

     Section 101. Authorization of appropriations
       Section 101 lists the United States Government departments, 
     agencies, and other elements for which the Act authorizes 
     appropriations for intelligence and intelligence-related 
     activities for Fiscal Year 2015.
     Section 102. Classified Schedule of Authorizations
       Section 102 provides that the details of the amounts 
     authorized to be appropriated for intelligence and 
     intelligence-related activities and the applicable personnel 
     levels by program for Fiscal Year 2015 are contained in the 
     classified Schedule of Authorizations and that the classified 
     Schedule of Authorizations shall be made available to the 
     Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and House of 
     Representatives and to the President.
     Section 103. Personnel ceiling adjustments
       Section 103 is intended to provide additional flexibility 
     to the DNI in managing the civilian personnel of the 
     Intelligence Community (IC). Section 103 provides that the 
     DNI may authorize employment of civilian personnel in Fiscal 
     Year 2015 in excess of the number of authorized positions by 
     an amount not exceeding three percent of the total limit 
     applicable to each IC element under Section 102. The DNI may 
     do so only if necessary to the performance of important 
     intelligence functions.
     Section 104. Intelligence Community Management Account
       Section 104 authorizes appropriations for the Intelligence 
     Community Management Account (ICMA) of the DNI and sets the 
     authorized personnel levels for the elements within the ICMA 
     for Fiscal Year 2015.

 Title II--Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System

     Section 201. Authorization of appropriations
       Section 201 authorizes appropriations in the amount of 
     $514,000,000 for Fiscal Year 2015 for the Central 
     Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability Fund.

                     Title III--General Provisions


                      subtitle a--general matters

     Section 301. Increase in employee compensation and benefits 
         authorized by law
       Section 301 provides that funds authorized to be 
     appropriated by the Act for salary, pay, retirement, and 
     other benefits for federal employees may be increased by such 
     additional or supplemental amounts as may be necessary for 
     increases in compensation or benefits authorized by law.
     Section 302. Restriction on conduct of intelligence 
         activities
       Section 302 provides that the authorization of 
     appropriations by the Act shall not be deemed to constitute 
     authority for the conduct of any intelligence activity that 
     is not otherwise authorized by the Constitution or laws of 
     the United States.
     Section 303. National intelligence strategy
       Section 303 amends the National Security Act of 1947 to 
     require the DNI to develop a comprehensive national 
     intelligence strategy every four years beginning in 2017.
     Section 304. Software licensing
       Section 304 amends Section 109 of the National Security Act 
     of 1947, which requires chief information officers within the 
     IC to prepare biennial inventories and assessments concerning 
     the use and procurement of software licenses, to make certain 
     enhancements to the biennial assessments required under 
     Section 109.
     Section 305. Reporting of certain employment activities by 
         former intelligence officers and employees
       Section 305 requires the head of each element of the IC to 
     issue regulations that require an employee occupying 
     positions with access to particularly sensitive information 
     within such element to sign a written agreement that requires 
     the regular reporting of any employment by, representation 
     of, or the provision of advice relating to national security 
     to the government of a foreign country, or any person whose 
     activities are supervised, directed, controlled, financed, or 
     subsidized by any government of a foreign country, for a two-
     year period after the employee ceases employment with the IC 
     element.
     Section 306. Inclusion of Predominantly Black Institutions in 
         intelligence officer training program
       Section 306 amends the National Security Act of 1947 to 
     include predominantly black institutions in the intelligence 
     officer training programs established under Section 1024 of 
     the Act.
     Section 307. Management and oversight of financial 
         intelligence
       Section 307 requires the DNI to prepare a plan for 
     management of the elements of the IC that carry out financial 
     intelligence activities.
     Section 308. Analysis of private sector policies and 
         procedures for countering insider threats
       Section 308 directs the DNI to submit to the congressional 
     intelligence committees an analysis of private sector 
     policies and procedures for countering insider threats.
     Section 309. Procedures for the retention of incidentally 
         acquired communications
       Section 309 requires the head of each element of the IC to 
     adopt Attorney General-approved procedures that govern the 
     retention of nonpublic telephone or electronic communications 
     acquired without consent of a person who is a party to the 
     communications, including communications in electronic 
     storage.
       The procedures required under this section shall apply to 
     any intelligence activity that is reasonably anticipated to 
     result in the acquisition of such telephone or electronic 
     communications to or from a United States person not 
     otherwise authorized by court order, subpoena, or similar 
     legal process, regardless of the location where the 
     collection occurs. The procedures shall prohibit the 
     retention of such telephone or electronic communications for 
     a period in excess of five years, unless the communications 
     are determined to fall within one of several categories, 
     enumerated in subsection (b)(3)(B), for which retention in 
     excess of five years is authorized, to include communications 
     that have been affirmatively determined to constitute foreign 
     intelligence or counterintelligence, communications that are 
     reasonably believed to constitute evidence of a crime and are 
     retained by a law enforcement agency, and communications that 
     are enciphered or reasonably believed to have a secret 
     meaning.
       Because it may be necessary in certain instances for IC 
     elements to retain communications covered by this section for 
     a period in excess of five years that do not fall into the 
     categories specifically enumerated in subsection (b)(3)(B), 
     subsection (b)(3)(B)(vii) provides flexibility for the head 
     of each element of the intelligence community to authorize 
     such extended retention where the head of the element 
     determines that it is necessary to protect the national 
     security of the United States. In the absence of such a 
     determination, Section 309 is intended to establish a default 
     rule for intelligence collection activities, not otherwise 
     authorized by legal process, that requires agencies to delete 
     communications covered by this section after five years, 
     unless a determination is made that the communications 
     constitute foreign intelligence or counterintelligence or 
     otherwise meet the retention requirements set forth in this 
     section.
     Section 310. Clarification of limitation of review to 
         retaliatory security clearance or access determinations
       Section 310 makes a technical amendment to Section 
     3001(b)(7) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism 
     Prevention Act of 2004 to clarify that the policies and 
     procedures prescribed by that section (to permit individuals 
     to appeal adverse security clearance or access 
     determinations) are only required to apply to adverse 
     security clearance or access determinations alleged to be in 
     reprisal for having made a protected whistleblower 
     disclosure.
     Section 311. Feasibility study on consolidating classified 
         databases of cyber threat indicators and malware samples
       Section 307 requires the DNI to conduct a feasibility study 
     on consolidating classified databases of cyber threat 
     indicators and malware samples in the IC and to provide a 
     report to the congressional intelligence committees 
     summarizing the feasibility study.
     Section 312. Sense of Congress on cybersecurity threat and 
         cybercrime cooperation with Ukraine
       Section 312 expresses the sense of Congress concerning 
     cybersecurity threat and

[[Page S6465]]

     cybercrime cooperation between the United States and Ukraine.
     Section 313. Replacement of locally employed staff serving at 
         United States diplomatic faculties in the Russian 
         Federation
       Section 313 requires the Secretary of State to ensure that 
     every supervisory position at a U.S. diplomatic facility in 
     the Russian Federation is occupied by a citizen of the United 
     States who has passed a background check and to provide 
     Congress with a plan to further reduce reliance on locally 
     employed staff.
     Section 314. Inclusion of Sensitive Compartmented Information 
         Facilities in United States diplomatic facilities in the 
         Russian Federation and adjacent countries
       Section 314 requires that each U.S. diplomatic facility 
     that is constructed in, or undergoes a construction upgrade 
     in, the Russian Federation, any country that shares a land 
     border with the Russian Federation, or any country that is a 
     former member of the Soviet Union, shall be constructed to 
     include a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. The 
     Secretary of State may waive the requirements of this section 
     upon a determination that it is in the national security 
     interest of the United States.


                         subtitle b--reporting

     Section 321. Report on declassification process
       Section 321 requires the DNI to submit a report to Congress 
     describing proposals to improve the declassification process 
     and steps the IC could take or legislation that may be 
     necessary, to enable the National Declassification Center to 
     better accomplish the missions assigned to the Center by 
     Executive Order 13526.
     Section 322. Report on intelligence community efficient 
         spending targets
       Section 322 requires the DNI to submit a report to the 
     congressional intelligence committees on the status and 
     effectiveness of efforts to reduce administrative costs for 
     the IC during the preceding year.
     Section 323. Annual report on violations of law or executive 
         order
       Section 323 requires the DNI to report annually to the 
     congressional intelligence committees on violations of law or 
     executive order by personnel of an element of the IC that 
     were identified during the previous calendar year. Under the 
     National Security Act, the President is required to keep the 
     congressional intelligence committees fully and currently 
     informed of the intelligence activities of the United States 
     government. Nonetheless, this annual reporting requirement is 
     necessary to ensure that the intelligence oversight 
     committees of the House and Senate are made fully aware of 
     violations of law or executive order, including, in 
     particular, violations of Executive order 12333 for 
     activities not otherwise subject to the Foreign Intelligence 
     Surveillance Act.
     Section 324. Annual report on intelligence activities of the 
         Department of Homeland Security
       Section 324 requires the Under Secretary for Intelligence 
     and Analysis of the DHS to provide the congressional 
     intelligence committees with a report on each intelligence 
     activity of each intelligence component of the Department 
     that includes, among other things, the amount of funding 
     requested, the number of full-time employees, and the number 
     of full-time contractor employees. In addition, Section 324 
     requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit to the 
     congressional intelligence committees a report that examines 
     the feasibility and advisability of consolidating the 
     planning, programming, and resourcing of such activities 
     within the Homeland Security Intelligence Program (HSIP).
       The HSIP budget was established to fund those intelligence 
     activities that principally support missions of the DHS 
     separately from those of the NIP. To date, however, this 
     mechanism has only been used to supplement the budget for the 
     office of Intelligence and Analysis. It has not been used to 
     fund the activities of the non-IC components in the DHS that 
     conduct intelligence-related activities. As a result, there 
     is no comprehensive reporting to Congress regarding the 
     overall resources and personnel required in support of the 
     Department's intelligence activities.
     Section 325. Report on political prison camps in North Korea
       Section 325 requires the DNI to submit a report on 
     political prison camps in North Korea to the congressional 
     intelligence committees.
     Section 326. Assessment of security of domestic oil 
         refineries and related rail transportation infrastructure
       Section 326 requires the Under Secretary of Homeland 
     Security for Intelligence and Analysis to conduct an 
     intelligence assessment of the security of domestic oil 
     refineries and related rail transportation infrastructure.
     Section 327. Enhanced contractor level assessments for the 
         intelligence community
       Section 327 amends the National Security Act of 1947 to 
     require that the annual personnel level assessments for the 
     IC, required under Section 506B of the Act, include a 
     separate estimate of the number of intelligence collectors 
     and analysts contracted by each element of the IC and a 
     description of the functions performed by such contractors.
     Section 328. Assessment of the efficacy of memoranda of 
         understanding to facilitate intelligence-sharing
       Section 328 requires the Under Secretary of Homeland 
     Security for Intelligence and Analysis to provide appropriate 
     congressional committees with an assessment of the efficacy 
     of the memoranda of understanding signed between Federal, 
     State, local, tribal, and territorial agencies to facilitate 
     intelligence-sharing within and separate from the Joint 
     Terrorism Task Force. This study should help identify any 
     obstacles to intelligence sharing between agencies, 
     particularly any obstacles that might have impeded 
     intelligence sharing in the wake of the April 2013 bombing of 
     the Boston Marathon, and find improvements to existing 
     intelligence sharing relationships.
     Section 329. Report on foreign man-made electromagnetic pulse 
         weapons
       Section 329 requires the DNI to provide appropriate 
     congressional committees with a report on the threat posed by 
     manmade electromagnetic pulse weapons to United States 
     interests through 2025.
     Section 330. Report on United States counterterrorism 
         strategy to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda and 
         its affiliated or associated groups
       Section 330 requires the DNI to provide appropriate 
     congressional committees with a report on the United States 
     counterterrorism strategy to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat 
     al Qaeda and its affiliated or associated groups.
     Section 331. Feasibility study on retraining veterans in 
         cybersecurity
       Section 331 requires the DNI to submit to Congress a 
     feasibility study on retraining veterans and retired members 
     of elements of the IC in cybersecurity.

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