S.Amdt. 2169

SA 2169. Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Feingold, and Mrs. Feinstein) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 1585, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. NOTIFICATION OF CONGRESS OF DENIAL OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION BY AN INSPECTOR GENERAL.

(a) Requirement for Congressional Notification.--If an individual working for, or on behalf of, an inspector general of an agency, department, or instrumentality of the United States or working for, or on behalf of, the Counsel for Professional Responsibility of the Department of Justice, in fulfillment of the mandate of such inspector general or Counsel is denied access to a specific classified compartment or denied access to a special access program, the head of such agency, department, or instrumentality shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a notification of the denial not later than 15 days after the date of the denial.

(b) Content of Notification.--A notification required by subsection (a) shall include--

(1) the nature of the review, inquiry, or investigation in which the individual was engaged;

(2) the title or position of the individual involved;

(3) the name of the compartment or program involved; and

(4) the official who made the decision to deny the access.

(c) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this section, the term “appropriate committees of Congress” means the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives, and any committee of the Senate or the House of Representatives that has oversight responsibility for the appropriate agency, department, or instrumentality of the United States.

(d) Requests Pending After 60 Days.--If a request for access to a specific classified compartment or to a special access program is not granted or denied within 60 days of the date of the original request for such access, a notification under subsection (a) shall be required.