DHS CANDOR Act
Sponsored By: Representative Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13]
In Committee
Summary
A single DHS-wide public communications policy would set strict standards for accuracy, neutrality, and account management across the Department. It emphasizes correcting errors quickly, limits how staff use personal social media, requires pre-publication review, regular training, and Office of Public Affairs oversight.
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- DHS employees: New hires must finish social media and public communications training within 30 days and all staff must complete annual training. Personal accounts may not present personal views as Department positions or disclose non-public information and misuse can lead to discipline.
- Component leaders and communicators: Component-specific policies must align with the Department policy and be certified by the Office of Public Affairs and the General Counsel before issuance. The Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public Affairs would oversee social media and require pre-launch approval by them, the Chief Information Officer, and the General Counsel.
- Transparency and oversight: DHS must publish a public list of official social media accounts and follow archival rules set by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Inspector General must audit compliance within one year and provide annual reports to Congress on misuse, corrective actions, and trends.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Annual DHS communications training
This bill would require annual social media and public communications training for all DHS personnel, plus a post-training assessment. New employees who handle public-facing communications or manage official social accounts would have to finish training within 30 days of onboarding and before posting. Component heads would track completion, report completion rates to the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public Affairs, and submit any component-specific curricula.
DHS public communications policy
This bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to issue a Department-wide public communications policy within 90 days of enactment. The policy would require public materials to be accurate, objective, and reliable, avoid misleading or partisan statements, and support rapid corrections when information is wrong or incomplete. It would require legal-compliance review with laws like the Data Quality Act, the Hatch Act, FOIA and the Privacy Act, civil rights protections, and applicable ethics rules. The bill would define key terms such as "public-facing material" and "social media" for these rules.
Inspector General audits and reports
This bill would require the DHS Office of Inspector General to audit DHS compliance with the public communications rules and submit an initial audit to the House and Senate homeland security committees not later than one year after enactment. The OIG would conduct periodic audits of official social media accounts and send Congress an annual report summarizing compliance, misuse incidents, corrective actions, and trends.
Limits and penalties for DHS posts
This bill would require each DHS component head to set up a process to report, review, and remediate suspected misuse of official or personal social media accounts. Department personnel would be barred from presenting personal views as Department positions, disclosing non-public information, or misusing official titles, insignia, or internal information. Failure to follow these rules would be a Department policy violation and could lead to disciplinary action.
Oversight of DHS social media
This bill would make the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public Affairs the approval authority for all DHS social media used for public communication. Official accounts would be allowed only on Department-approved platforms, need a designated account manager, and must be approved by the Assistant Secretary, the Chief Information Officer, and the General Counsel before launch. Accounts would be archived when closed and listed on a public DHS website. The Office of Public Affairs, with the Office of the General Counsel, would also set up pre-publication review steps to ensure posts meet the Department policy and legal rules before they go live. Records retention must follow Department and National Archives requirements.
Review of DHS component communications policies
Not earlier than 30 days after the Department-wide policy is issued, DHS component heads could develop component-specific public communications policies. Each proposed component policy would have to be submitted to the Office of Public Affairs and the Office of the General Counsel for review and certification of alignment before it could be issued.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13]
MI • D
Cosponsors
Rep. Thompson, Bennie G. [D-MS-2]
MS • D
Sponsored 6/8/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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