§6225 — Title 10 Armed Forces | U.S. Code

§6225 Notice to Congressional Committees of Certain Security and Counterintelligence Failures Within Atomic Energy Defense Programs

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— General Military Law › Part VI— ELEMENTS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND OTHER MATTERS › Subpart B— Atomic Energy Defense › Chapter 605— SAFEGUARDS AND SECURITY MATTERS › Subchapter I— SAFEGUARDS AND SECURITY › § 6225

Last updated Apr 18, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must tell the House and Senate Armed Services Committees when there is a major intelligence or counterintelligence failure at a Department of Energy site or contractor site that could seriously harm U.S. national security. The Secretary must first consult with the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI when that is needed. That notice must be given no later than 30 days after the Department finds the loss. The Secretary and the committees must each set rules to protect classified material, intelligence sources and methods, and sensitive law enforcement information they share. The law does not let anyone refuse to give the committees information by saying it would be an unauthorized disclosure, and it does not change other rules that require reporting intelligence matters to Congress, including section 501 (50 U.S.C. 3091).

Title 10, §6225

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a notification of each significant atomic energy defense intelligence loss. Any such notification shall be provided only after consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as appropriate.

(b)In this section, the term “significant atomic energy defense intelligence loss” means any national security or counterintelligence failure or compromise of classified information at a facility of the Department of Energy or operated by a contractor of the Department that the Secretary considers likely to cause significant harm or damage to the national security interests of the United States.

(c)Notification of a significant atomic energy defense intelligence loss under subsection (a) shall be provided, in accordance with the procedures established pursuant to subsection (d), not later than 30 days after the date on which the Department of Energy determines that the loss has taken place.

(d)The Secretary of Energy and the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives shall each establish such procedures as may be necessary to protect from unauthorized disclosure classified information, information relating to intelligence sources and methods, and sensitive law enforcement information that is submitted to those committees pursuant to this section and that are otherwise necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.

(e)(1)Nothing in this section shall be construed as authority to withhold any information from the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives on the grounds that providing the information to those committees would constitute the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, information relating to intelligence sources and methods, or sensitive law enforcement information.

(2)Nothing in this section shall be construed to modify or supersede any other requirement to report information on intelligence activities to Congress, including the requirement under section 501 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091) for the President to ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully informed of the intelligence activities of the United States and for those committees to notify promptly other congressional committees of any matter relating to intelligence activities requiring the attention of those committees.

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 2656 of Title 50, War and National Defense, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 119–60, § 3111(b)(1).

Amendments

2025—Pub. L. 119–60, § 3111(d)(2)(B), realigned margins.