§3512 — Title 50 War and National Defense | U.S. Code

Summary

The Director may take and use gifts of money, stocks, or other property when the Director decides it helps the United States. Gifts can be used only for displays of art, or for the general welfare, education, or recreation of Agency employees, their dependents, or certain affected individuals and their families. Those affected individuals are employees or former employees who were injured or fell ill because of hostile or terrorist acts, because they took part in dangerous intelligence work, or under similar risky circumstances the Director finds, plus their family members and surviving families of employees who died in those kinds of situations. Gifts and any income from them cannot be used for the Agency’s regular operations. The Director cannot accept gifts that force spending beyond the gift unless a law allows it. The Director may sell or invest gift property, but only in U.S. interest-bearing or fully guaranteed U.S. obligations. Gifts go into a Treasury fund and are spent only for the allowed purposes. For tax purposes, the gifts count as given to the United States. The Director may help raise money through events for nonprofits that aid surviving families or support employee welfare, but must tell the Senate and House intelligence committees within 7 days of deciding to do so. The Director must write rules with the Government Ethics office to prevent conflicts of interest and must not accept gifts from foreign governments or their agents.

Title 50, §3512

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, the Director may accept, hold, administer, and use gifts of money, securities, or other property whenever the Director determines it would be in the interest of the United States to do so.

(2)Any gift accepted by the Director as a gift to the Agency under this subsection (and any income produced by any such gift)—

(A)may be used only for—

(i)artistic display;

(ii)purposes relating to the general welfare, education, or recreation of employees or dependents of employees of the Agency or for similar purposes; or

(iii)purposes relating to the welfare, education, or recreation of an individual described in paragraph (3); and

(B)under no circumstances may such a gift (or any income produced by any such gift) be used for operational purposes.

(3)An individual described in this paragraph is an individual who—

(A)is an employee or a former employee of the Agency who suffered injury or illness while employed by the Agency that—

(i)resulted from hostile or terrorist activities;

(ii)occurred in connection with an intelligence activity having a significant element of risk; or

(iii)occurred under other circumstances determined by the Director to be analogous to the circumstances described in clause (i) or (ii);

(B)is a family member of such an employee or former employee; or

(C)is a surviving family member of an employee of the Agency who died in circumstances described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of subparagraph (A).

(4)The Director may not accept any gift under this section that is expressly conditioned upon any expenditure not to be met from the gift itself or from income produced by the gift unless such expenditure has been authorized by law.

(5)The Director may, in the Director’s discretion, determine that an individual described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (3) may accept a gift for the purposes described in paragraph (2)(A)(iii).

(b)Unless otherwise restricted by the terms of the gift, the Director may sell or exchange, or invest or reinvest, any property which is accepted under subsection (a), but any such investment may only be in interest-bearing obligations of the United States or in obligations guaranteed as to both principal and interest by the United States.

(c)There is hereby created on the books of the Treasury of the United States a fund into which gifts of money, securities, and other intangible property accepted under the authority of subsection (a), and the earnings and proceeds thereof, shall be deposited. The assets of such fund shall be disbursed upon the order of the Director for the purposes specified in subsection (a) or (b).

(d)For purposes of Federal income, estate, and gift taxes, gifts accepted by the Director under subsection (a) shall be considered to be to or for the use of the United States.

(e)For the purposes of this section, the term “gift” includes a bequest or devise.

(f)(1)The Director may engage in fundraising in an official capacity for the benefit of nonprofit organizations that provide support to surviving family members of deceased Agency employees or that otherwise provide support for the welfare, education, or recreation of Agency employees, former Agency employees, or their family members.

(2)In this subsection, the term “fundraising” means the raising of funds through the active participation in the promotion, production, or presentation of an event designed to raise funds and does not include the direct solicitation of money by any other means.

(3)Not later than the date that is 7 days after the date the Director engages in fundraising authorized by this subsection or at the time the decision is made to participate in such fundraising, the Director shall notify the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives of the fundraising.

(g)The Director, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, shall issue regulations to carry out the authority provided in this section. Such regulations shall ensure that such authority is exercised consistent with all relevant ethical constraints and principles, including—

(1)the avoidance of any prohibited conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety; and

(2)a prohibition against the acceptance of a gift from a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was formerly classified to section 403l of this title prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Amendments

2023—Subsec. (a)(2)(A). Pub. L. 118–31 struck out closing quotation marks after “used only for—” in introductory provisions. 2017—Subsec. (f)(3). Pub. L. 115–31 added par. (3). 2014—Pub. L. 113–126, § 421(1), substituted “Gifts, devises, and bequests” for “Authority to accept gifts, devises, and bequests” in section catchline. Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 113–126, § 421(2), in introductory provisions, inserted “by the Director as a gift to the Agency” after “accepted” and substituted “this subsection” for “this section”. Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 113–126, § 421(3), (4), substituted “subsection (a),” for “this section,”. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 113–126, § 421(5), substituted “subsection (a)” for “this section”. Subsecs. (f), (g). Pub. L. 113–126, § 421(6), (7), added subsec. (f) and redesignated former subsec. (f) as (g). 2012—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 112–87, § 411(1), designated existing provisions as par. (1), struck out “Any gift accepted under this section (and any income produced by any such gift) may be used only for artistic display or for purposes relating to the general welfare, education, or recreation of employees or dependents of employees of the Agency or for similar purposes, and under no circumstances may such a gift (or any income produced by any such gift) be used for operational purposes. The Director may not accept any gift under this section which is expressly conditioned upon any expenditure not to be met from the gift itself or from income produced by the gift unless such expenditure has been authorized by law.” at end, and added pars. (2) to (5). Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 112–87, § 411(2), added subsec. (f).

§3512 Gifts, devises, and bequests

Summary

Title 50, §3512

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Citations & Metadata