Title 21Food and DrugsRelease 119-73

§1908 Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control

Title 21 › Chapter CHAPTER 24— - INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS TRAFFICKING › § 1908

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates a five-member group called the Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control to review how the U.S. blocks the assets of foreign people and to study what fixes are available for U.S. persons harmed by those blockings. Four members are chosen by leaders of the congressional intelligence committees (the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chair and Vice Chair, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair and Ranking Minority Member). The fifth member is picked jointly by those four. Members and all staff must have the proper security clearances. The members pick one of their own to be chair, write their own rules, hold hearings, and gather testimony and documents. Any executive branch office must help the Commission and cannot refuse to share information by saying it concerns classified material or intelligence methods. The Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury must give the Commission needed support and services without charging it. The chair hires a staff director and other staff and may set pay up to the level V rate of the Executive Schedule. Employees from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, and the CIA may be detailed to the Commission without reimbursement and keep their jobs. Members may be paid up to the daily equivalent of Level IV of the Executive Schedule for days they work, but federal officers get no extra pay. The Commission must send a report to specified congressional committees within 1 year after December 3, 1999; the report is unclassified but may include a classified annex and must allow members’ dissenting views. The Commission ends 60 days after that report is sent. Certain federal personnel rules and the Freedom of Information Act do not apply to the Commission. The Attorney General must make $1,000,000 available to the Commission from amounts appropriated to the Attorney General by the Act; the money stays available until spent.

Full Legal Text

Title 21, §1908

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(a)There is established a commission to be known as the “Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control” (in this section referred to as the “Commission”).
(b)(1)The Commission shall be composed of five members, as follows:
(A)One member shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.
(B)One member shall be appointed by the Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.
(C)One member shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.
(D)One member shall be appointed by the Ranking Minority Member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.
(E)One member shall be appointed jointly by the members appointed under subparagraphs (A) through (D).
(2)Each member of the Commission shall, for purposes of the activities of the Commission under this section, possess or obtain an appropriate security clearance in accordance with applicable laws and regulations regarding the handling of classified information.
(3)The members of the Commission shall choose the chairman of the Commission from among the members of the Commission.
(4)The members of the Commission shall establish rules governing the procedures and proceedings of the Commission.
(c)The Commission shall have as its duties the following:
(1)To conduct a review of the current judicial, regulatory, and administrative authorities relating to the blocking of assets of foreign persons by the United States Government.
(2)To conduct a detailed examination and evaluation of the remedies available to United States persons affected by the blocking of assets of foreign persons by the United States Government.
(d)(1)The Commission may hold such hearings, sit and act at such times and places, take such testimony, and receive such evidence as the Commission considers advisable to carry out the purposes of this section.
(2)The Commission may secure directly from any executive department, agency, bureau, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality of the Government information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics for the purposes of this section. Each such department, agency, bureau, board, commission, office, establishment, or instrumentality shall, to the extent authorized by law, furnish such information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics directly to the Commission, upon request of the chairman of the Commission. The Commission shall handle and protect all classified information provided to it under this section in accordance with applicable statutes and regulations.
(3)The Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury shall provide to the Commission, on a nonreimbursable basis, such administrative services, funds, facilities, and other support services as are necessary for the performance of the Commission’s duties under this section.
(4)The Commission shall receive the full and timely cooperation of any official, department, or agency of the United States Government whose assistance is necessary for the fulfillment of the duties of the Commission under this section, including the provision of full and current briefings and analyses.
(5)No department or agency of the Government may withhold information from the Commission on the grounds that providing the information to the Commission would constitute the unauthorized disclosure of classified information or information relating to intelligence sources or methods.
(6)The Commission may use the United States mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as the departments and agencies of the United States.
(e)(1)Subject to paragraph (2), the chairman of the Commission, in accordance with rules agreed upon by the Commission, shall appoint and fix the compensation of a staff director and such other personnel as may be necessary to enable the Commission to carry out its duties, without regard to the provisions of title 5 governing appointments in the competitive service, and without regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III or 11 So in original. Probably should be “of”. chapter 53 of such title relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates, except that no rate of pay fixed under this subsection may exceed the equivalent of that payable to a person occupying a position at level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title.
(2)(A)Any employee of a department or agency referred to in subparagraph (B) may be detailed to the Commission without reimbursement from the Commission, and such detailee shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of his or her regular employment without interruption.
(B)The departments and agencies referred to in this subparagraph are as follows:
(i)The Department of Justice.
(ii)The Department of the Treasury.
(iii)The Central Intelligence Agency.
(3)All staff of the Commission shall possess a security clearance in accordance with applicable laws and regulations concerning the handling of classified information.
(f)(1)(A)Except as provided in subparagraph (B), each member of the Commission may be compensated at not to exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay in effect for a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5 for each day during which that member is engaged in the actual performance of the duties of the Commission under this section.
(B)Members of the Commission who are officers or employees of the United States shall receive no additional pay by reason of their service on the Commission.
(2)While away from their homes or regular places of business in the performance of services for the Commission, members of the Commission may be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in the same manner as persons employed intermittently in the Government service are allowed expenses under section 5703(b) 22 So in original. Section 5703 of title 5 does not contain a subsec. (b). of title 5.
(g)(1)Not later than 1 year after December 3, 1999, the Commissions 33 So in original. Probably should be “Commission”. shall submit to the committees of Congress referred to in paragraph (4) a report on the activities of the Commission under this section, including the findings, conclusions, and recommendations, if any, of the Commission as a result of the review under subsection (c)(1) and the examination and evaluation under subsection (c)(2).
(2)The report under paragraph (1) shall include any additional or dissenting views of a member of the Commission upon the request of the member.
(3)The report under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(4)The committees of Congress referred to in this paragraph are the following:
(A)The Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committees on Foreign Relations and the Judiciary of the Senate.
(B)The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committees on International Relations and the Judiciary of the House of Representatives.
(h)The Commission shall terminate at the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date on which the report required by subsection (g) is submitted to the committees of Congress referred to in that subsection.
(i)(1)The provisions of chapter 10 of title 5 shall not apply to the activities of the Commission under this section.
(2)The provisions of section 552 of title 5 (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act) shall not apply to the activities, records, and proceedings of the Commission under this chapter.
(j)The Attorney General shall, from amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General by this Act, make available to the Commission $1,000,000 for purposes of the activities of the Commission under this section. Amounts made available to the Commission under the preceding sentence shall remain available until expended.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (j), is Pub. L. 106–120, Dec. 3, 1999, 113 Stat. 1606, known as the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables.

Amendments

2022—Subsec. (i)(1). Pub. L. 117–286 substituted “chapter 10 of title 5” for “the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.)”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on International Relations of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Foreign Affairs of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 6, One Hundred Tenth Congress, Jan. 5, 2007.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

21 U.S.C. § 1908

Title 21Food and Drugs

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73