§3373b — Title 50 War and National Defense | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must create a secure way for authorized people to report any events about unidentified anomalous phenomena and any government or contractor work tied to them (like finding, testing, analyzing, or protecting materials and systems). The system must stop public leaks of classified military or intelligence programs. It must be run by cleared DoD or intelligence community staff or their contractors. Reports should be shared with Office analysts and scientists unless the report likely concerns a highly restricted program that has already been clearly reported to the congressional defense or intelligence committees. If a report involves a restricted program that has NOT been clearly reported, the Secretary must tell those committees and congressional leadership within 72 hours. No later than 180 days after December 23, 2022, the Secretary must send Congress a description of the reporting system and publish clear public instructions on how to use it safely. An “authorized disclosure” is a report made through that secure system. Such a report is not blocked by any nondisclosure agreement, is treated as allowed under classification rules (including Executive Order 13526 and parts of the Atomic Energy Act), and is not a crime under 18 U.S.C. 798. Officials may not punish someone for making an authorized disclosure. The law also requires searches for past nondisclosure orders about these events, gives the Office copies of them, and requires the Office to share those records and give briefings and reports to Congress by September 30, 2023 and at least once each fiscal year through fiscal year 2026. Definitions: authorized disclosure (report through the system); congressional intelligence committees (as defined in law); congressional leadership (Senate majority and minority leaders, House Speaker and minority leader); intelligence community (as defined in law); nondisclosure agreement (any promise that could block reporting); Office (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office); personnel action (actions like firing or cutting pay); unidentified anomalous phenomena (as defined in law).

Title 50, §3373b

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)The Secretary of Defense, acting through the head of the Office and in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall establish a secure mechanism for authorized reporting of—

(A)any event relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena; and

(B)any activity or program by a department or agency of the Federal Government or a contractor of such a department or agency relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, including with respect to material retrieval, material analysis, reverse engineering, research and development, detection and tracking, developmental or operational testing, and security protections and enforcement.

(2)The Secretary shall ensure that the mechanism for authorized reporting established under paragraph (1) prevents the unauthorized public reporting or compromise of classified military and intelligence systems, programs, and related activity, including all categories and levels of special access and compartmented access programs.

(3)The Secretary shall ensure that the mechanism for authorized reporting established under paragraph (1) is administered by designated and appropriately cleared employees of the Department of Defense or elements of the intelligence community or contractors of the Department or such elements assigned to the Office.

(4)(A)The Secretary shall ensure that the mechanism for authorized reporting established under paragraph (1) provides for the sharing of an authorized disclosure to personnel and supporting analysts and scientists of the Office (regardless of the classification of information contained in the disclosure or any nondisclosure agreements), unless the employees or contractors administering the mechanism under paragraph (3) conclude that the preponderance of information available regarding the disclosure indicates that the observed object and associated events and activities likely relate to a special access program or compartmented access program that, as of the date of the disclosure, has been explicitly and clearly reported to the congressional defense committees or the congressional intelligence committees, and is documented as meeting those criteria.

(B)Not later than 72 hours after determining that an authorized disclosure relates to a restricted access activity, a special access program, or a compartmented access program that has not been explicitly and clearly reported to the congressional defense committees or the congressional intelligence committees, the Secretary shall report such disclosure to such committees and the congressional leadership.

(5)Not later than 180 days after December 23, 2022, the Secretary, acting through the head of the Office and in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall—

(A)submit to the congressional defense committees, the congressional intelligence committees, and the congressional leadership a report detailing the mechanism for authorized reporting established under paragraph (1); and

(B)issue clear public guidance for how to securely access the mechanism for authorized reporting.

(b)(1)An authorized disclosure—

(A)shall not be subject to a nondisclosure agreement entered into by the individual who makes the disclosure;

(B)shall be deemed to comply with any regulation or order issued under the authority of Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified national security information) or chapter 18 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2271 et seq.); and

(C)is not a violation of section 798 of title 18 or other provision of law relating to the disclosure of information.

(2)(A)An employee of a department or agency of the Federal Government, or of a contractor, subcontractor, grantee, subgrantee, or personal services contractor of such a department or agency, who has authority to take, direct others to take, recommend, or approve any personnel action, shall not, with respect to such authority, take or fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to take, a personnel action, including the revocation or suspension of security clearances, or termination of employment, with respect to any individual as a reprisal for any authorized disclosure.

(B)The Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence shall establish procedures for the enforcement of subparagraph (A) consistent with, as appropriate, section 1034 of title 10, section 3234 of title 50, or other similar provisions of law regarding prohibited personnel actions.

(3)(A)The Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the heads of such other departments and agencies of the Federal Government that have supported investigations of the types of events covered by subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1) and activities and programs described in subparagraph (B) of such subsection, and contractors of the Federal Government that have supported or are supporting such activities and programs, shall conduct comprehensive searches of all records relating to nondisclosure orders relating to the types of events described in subsection (a) and provide copies of such orders, agreements, or obligations to the Office.

(B)The head of the Office shall—

(i)make the records compiled under subparagraph (A) accessible to the congressional defense committees, the congressional intelligence committees, and the congressional leadership; and

(ii)not later than September 30, 2023, and at least once each fiscal year thereafter through fiscal year 2026, provide to such committees and congressional leadership briefings and reports on such records.

(c)

(d)In this section:

(1)The term “authorized disclosure” means a report of any information through, and in compliance with, the mechanism for authorized reporting established pursuant to subsection (a)(1).

(2)The term “congressional intelligence committees” has the meaning given such term in section 3003 of this title.

(3)The term “congressional leadership” means—

(A)the majority leader of the Senate;

(B)the minority leader of the Senate;

(C)the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and

(D)the minority leader of the House of Representatives.

(4)The term “intelligence community” has the meaning given such term in section 3003 of this title.

(5)The term “nondisclosure agreement” means any written or oral nondisclosure agreement, order, or other instrumentality or means entered into by an individual that could be interpreted as a legal constraint on the individual making an authorized disclosure.

(6)The term “Office” means the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office established pursuant to section 3373(a) of this title.

(7)The term “personnel action” has the meaning given such term in section 3234(a) of this title.

(8)The term “unidentified anomalous phenomena” has the meaning given such term in section 3373(n) of this title.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Executive Order 13526, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(B), is Ex. Ord. No. 13526, Dec. 29, 2009, 75 F.R. 707, 1013, which is set out as a note under section 3161 of this title. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(B), is act Aug. 1, 1946, ch. 724, as added by act Aug. 30, 1954, ch. 1073, § 1, 68 Stat. 919. Chapter 18 of the Act is classified generally to subchapter XVII (§ 2271 et seq.) of chapter 23 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2011 of Title 42 and Tables. Codification Section is comprised of section 1673 of Pub. L. 117–263. Subsec. (c) of section 1673 of Pub. L. 117–263 amended section 3373 of this title.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Definitions For definition of “congressional defense committees” as the Committees on Armed Services and Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives, see section 101 of Title 10, Armed Forces, as made applicable by section 3 of of Pub. L. 117–263, which is listed in a table under section 101 of Title 10.

§3373b Unidentified anomalous phenomena reporting procedures