§3236 Inspector General External Review Panel

Summary

People who have certain workplace claims about forbidden personnel actions or illegal reprisals, and who have finished the usual appeal process, can ask the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (IGIC) to have their case reviewed by an outside panel. The IGIC may decide to form a three-person panel. The panel includes the IGIC and two other inspectors general chosen from listed departments and intelligence agencies (for example Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State, Treasury, CIA, DIA, NGA, NRO, or NSA). An inspector general cannot sit on a panel that reviews a decision by their own agency. The IGIC is the chair unless the IGIC recuses themself, in which case the IGIC picks another inspector general and tells the congressional intelligence committees. The panel must finish its review within 270 days after it starts. If the panel finds the person was wronged, it can recommend fixes. For employees or former employees, that can include returning them to the job they likely would have had or rethinking their access to classified information. The head of the agency must fully consider the recommendation and tell the panel and the Director of National Intelligence what they did within 90 days. If an agency head does not report back, the Director must tell the President. The IGIC must send a yearly report to the congressional intelligence committees and the Director of National Intelligence that summarizes panel findings and agency responses, while protecting claimant privacy.