§3236 Inspector General External Review Panel

Summary

People who say they were illegally fired, punished, or otherwise mistreated at work in the intelligence community, or who say they faced forbidden retaliation, can ask the Intelligence Community Inspector General for an outside review after they finish the agency’s appeal steps. The Inspector General can decide to set up a three-person outside panel to look at the claim. The panel includes the Intelligence Community Inspector General and two other inspectors general chosen case-by-case from a group that includes Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State, Treasury, CIA, DIA, NGA, NRO, and NSA. An inspector general cannot sit on a panel about a decision made by their own agency. The Inspector General usually chairs the panel but can pick another chair and tell the congressional intelligence committees if they must step aside. The panel must finish its review within 270 days of being formed. If the panel finds the person was subject to a prohibited action or reprisal, it can recommend fixes, like returning an employee to the job they would have had or rechecking their access to classified information. The agency head must consider the recommendation and tell the panel and the Director of National Intelligence what action was taken within 90 days. The Intelligence Community Inspector General must send an annual report to the congressional intelligence committees and the Director of National Intelligence listing the panels’ findings and the agencies’ responses, while protecting claimants’ privacy.