Title 50War and National DefenseRelease 119-73

§3052 Limitation on establishment or operation of diplomatic intelligence support centers

Title 50 › Chapter CHAPTER 44— - NATIONAL SECURITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - COORDINATION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY › § 3052

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

No diplomatic intelligence support center may be created, run, or kept open without the prior approval of the Director of National Intelligence. The Director can only approve one if they decide it is needed to provide essential intelligence help for U.S. national security. Money appropriated by law for intelligence activities cannot be spent on any such center unless the Director has approved it. A diplomatic intelligence support center is a place where intelligence community staff are assigned to provide analytical help, like military or political analysis and limited assessments or taskings for a chief of mission, and that is not the usual support the Director provides. A chief of mission means the person who leads a U.S. diplomatic post abroad, including ambassadors at large, ministers, or others the Secretary of State calls diplomatic leaders. This rule ceased to be effective on October 1, 2000.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §3052

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)A diplomatic intelligence support center may not be established, operated, or maintained without the prior approval of the Director of National Intelligence.
(2)The Director may only approve the establishment, operation, or maintenance of a diplomatic intelligence support center if the Director determines that the establishment, operation, or maintenance of such center is required to provide necessary intelligence support in furtherance of the national security interests of the United States.
(b)Amounts appropriated pursuant to authorizations by law for intelligence and intelligence-related activities may not be obligated or expended for the establishment, operation, or maintenance of a diplomatic intelligence support center that is not approved by the Director of National Intelligence.
(c)In this section:
(1)The term “diplomatic intelligence support center” means an entity to which employees of the various elements of the intelligence community (as defined in section 3003(4) of this title) are detailed for the purpose of providing analytical intelligence support that—
(A)consists of intelligence analyses on military or political matters and expertise to conduct limited assessments and dynamic taskings for a chief of mission; and
(B)is not intelligence support traditionally provided to a chief of mission by the Director of National Intelligence.
(2)The term “chief of mission” has the meaning given that term by section 3902(3) of title 22, and includes ambassadors at large and ministers of diplomatic missions of the United States, or persons appointed to lead United States offices abroad designated by the Secretary of State as diplomatic in nature.
(d)This section shall cease to be effective on October 1, 2000.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was formerly classified to section 404j of this title prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Amendments

2004—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 108–458, § 1071(a)(1)(P), substituted “Director of National Intelligence” for “Director of Central Intelligence”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 108–458, § 1071(a)(1)(Q), substituted “Director of National Intelligence” for “Director of Central Intelligence”. Subsec. (c)(1)(B). Pub. L. 108–458, § 1071(a)(1)(R), substituted “Director of National Intelligence” for “Director of Central Intelligence”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2004 AmendmentFor Determination by President that amendment by Pub. L. 108–458 take effect on Apr. 21, 2005, see Memorandum of President of the United States, Apr. 21, 2005, 70 F.R. 23925, set out as a note under section 3001 of this title. Amendment by Pub. L. 108–458 effective not later than six months after Dec. 17, 2004, except as otherwise expressly provided, see section 1097(a) of Pub. L. 108–458, set out in an

Effective Date

of 2004 Amendment; Transition Provisions note under section 3001 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 3052

Title 50War and National Defense

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73