S.Amdt. 4252

SA 4252. Mr. TESTER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2017 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 end of subtitle I of title X, add the following:

SEC. 1097. REVIEW AND UPDATE OF GUIDANCE REGARDING SECURITY
CLEARANCES FOR CERTAIN SENATE EMPLOYEES.

(a) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``covered committee of the Senate'' means--
(A) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
(C) the Subcommittee on Defense of the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate;
(D) the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and
Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate;
(E) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate; and
(F) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
(2) the term ``covered Member of the Senate'' means a
Member of the Senate who serves on a covered committee of the
Senate; and
(3) the term ``Senate employee'' means an employee whose
pay is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate.
(b) Review of Procedures.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director of Senate Security, in
coordination with the Director of National Intelligence and
the Chairperson of the Suitability and Security Clearance
Performance Accountability Council established under
Executive Order 13467 (73 Fed. Reg. 38103), shall--
(A) conduct a review of whether procedures in effect enable
1 Senate employee designated by each covered Member of the
Senate to obtain security clearances necessary for access to
classified national security information, including top
secret and sensitive

[[Page S3305]]

compartmentalized information, if the Senate employee meets
the criteria for such clearances; and
(B) if the Director of Senate Security, in coordination
with the Director of National Intelligence and the
Chairperson of the Suitability and Security Clearance
Performance Accountability Council established under
Executive Order 13467 (73 Fed. Reg. 38103), determines the
procedures described in subparagraph (A) are inadequate,
issue guidelines on the establishment and implementation of
such procedures.
(2) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director of Senate Security shall
submit to each covered committee of the Senate a report
regarding the review conducted under paragraph (1)(A) and
guidance, if any, issued under paragraph (1)(B).
(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to alter--
(1) the rule of the Information Security Oversight Office
implementing Standard Form 312, which Members of Congress
sign in order to be permitted to access classified
information;
(2) the requirement that Members of the Senate satisfy the
``need-to-know'' requirement to access classified
information;
(3) the scope of the jurisdiction of any committee or
subcommittee of the Senate; or
(4) the inherent authority of the executive branch of the
Government, the Office of Senate Security, any Committee of
the Senate, or the Department of Defense to determine
recipients of all classified information.
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