PRIA Logo™
Title 22 — Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73not60

§4004 Records

Title 22 › Chapter 52— FOREIGN SERVICE › Subchapter VI— PROMOTION AND RETENTION › § 4004

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Keep records under rules the Secretary sets. Except for records about public money, they are confidential. Only the President, Secretary, authorized staff, and congressional legislative and appropriations committees and their reps may inspect them. A member may request their record in writing. A disciplinary record showing a suspension of more than five days (including corrections under section 4137(b)(1)) must stay in the file until tenured as a career member or next promoted.

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

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60