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Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-102

§4004 Records

Title 22 › CHAPTER 52 — FOREIGN SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER VI — PROMOTION AND RETENTION › § 4004

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Keep the records named in section 4003(a) according to rules the Secretary creates. Most of these records are confidential unless they deal with public money. Only the President, the Secretary, staff who are allowed or assigned to work on them, the congressional committees that handle the Service’s laws and budget, and those committees’ authorized representatives may inspect them. A Service member can get their own records if they ask in writing. If a member was suspended for more than five days, that disciplinary record (including any correction under section 4137(b)(1)) stays in their personnel file until they earn career tenure or until their next promotion.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §4004

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The records described in section 4003(a) of this title shall be maintained in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary. Except to the extent that they pertain to the receipt, disbursement, and accounting for public funds, such records shall be confidential and subject to inspection only by the President, the Secretary, such employees of the Government as may be authorized by law or assigned by the Secretary to work on such records, the legislative and appropriations committees of the Congress charged with considering legislation and appropriations for the Service, and representatives duly authorized by such committees. Access to such records relating to a member of the Service shall be granted to such member, upon written request.
(b)Notwithstanding subsection (a), any record of disciplinary action that includes a suspension of more than five days taken against a member of the Service, including any correction of that record under section 4137(b)(1) of this title, shall remain a part of the personnel records until the member is tenured as a career member of the Service or next promoted.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1999—Pub. L. 106–113, in section catchline, substituted “Records” for “Confidentiality of records”, designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), and added subsec. (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1999 Amendment Pub. L. 106–113, div. B, § 1000(a)(7) [div. A, title III, § 327(b)], Nov. 29, 1999, 113 Stat. 1536, 1501A–438, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by this section [amending this section] apply to all disciplinary actions initiated on or after the date of enactment of this Act [Nov. 29, 1999].”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 4004

Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102