50 U.S.C. § 852: Exemption from registration

Summary

You do not have to register if you fall into certain groups. People who learned about espionage, counter-espionage, or sabotage because of civilian, military, or police work for the U.S. government, any state or local government, the District of Columbia, U.S. Territories, or the Canal Zone are exempt. People who learned those things only from school, research, or personal interest and not to work for a foreign government or party are also exempt. People who fully told a U.S. intelligence agency about such knowledge and whose disclosure is in that agency’s files, and people whose agency files already show the knowledge, are exempt if the Attorney General or the Director of Central Intelligence makes a written decision that registering would not be in the interest of national security. Accredited foreign diplomats, consular officers, certain foreign officials and their immediate family or staff when their status and duties are on State Department records and they are doing only recognized official duties are exempt. Also exempt are foreign representatives on official missions to work with U.S. intelligence or security, foreign military or civilians coming under mutual defense arrangements or invited by a U.S. agency, and foreign representatives or employees serving in international organizations the U.S. joins, plus their immediate family living with them.

Title 50, §852

War and National Defense, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The registration requirements of section 851 of this title do not apply to any person—

(a)who has obtained knowledge of or received instruction or assignment in the espionage, counter-espionage, or sabotage service or tactics of a foreign government or foreign political party by reason of civilian, military, or police service or employment with the United States Government, the governments of the several States, their political subdivisions, the District of Columbia, the Territories, or the Canal Zone;

(b)who has obtained such knowledge solely by reason of academic or personal interest not under the supervision of or in preparation for service with the government of a foreign country or a foreign political party;

(c)who has made full disclosure of such knowledge, instruction, or assignment to officials within an agency of the United States Government having responsibilities in the field of intelligence, which disclosure has been made a matter of record in the files of such agency, and concerning whom a written determination has been made by the Attorney General or the Director of Central Intelligence that registration would not be in the interest of national security;

(d)whose knowledge of, or receipt of instruction or assignment in, the espionage, counterespionage, or sabotage service or tactics of a government of a foreign country or of a foreign political party, is a matter of record in the files of an agency of the United States Government having responsibilities in the field of intelligence and concerning whom a written determination is made by the Attorney General or the Director of Central Intelligence, based on all information available, that registration would not be in the interest of national security;

(e)who is a duly accredited diplomatic or consular officer of a foreign government, who is so recognized by the Department of State, while he is engaged exclusively in activities which are recognized by the Department of State as being within the scope of the functions of such officer, and any member of his immediate family who resides with him;

(f)who is an official of a foreign government recognized by the United States, whose name and status and the character of whose duties as such official are of record in the Department of State, and while he is engaged exclusively in activities which are recognized by the Department of State as being within the scope of the functions of such official, and any member of his immediate family who resides with him;

(g)who is a member of the staff of or employed by a duly accredited diplomatic or consular officer of a foreign government who is so recognized by the Department of State, and whose name and status and the character of whose duties as such member or employee are a matter of record in the Department of State, while he is engaged exclusively in the performance of activities recognized by the Department of State as being within the scope of the functions of such member or employee;

(h)Who is an officially acknowledged and sponsored representative of a foreign government and is in the United States on an official mission for the purpose of conferring or otherwise cooperating with United States intelligence or security personnel;

(i)who is a civilian or one of the military personnel of a foreign armed service coming to the United States pursuant to arrangements made under a mutual defense treaty or agreement, or who has been invited to the United States at the request of an agency of the United States Government; or

(j)who is a person designated by a foreign government to serve as its representative in or to an international organization in which the United States participates or is an officer or employee of such an organization or who is a member of the immediate family of, and resides with, such a representative, officer, or employee.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was not enacted as part of the Internal Security Act of 1950 which comprises subchapters I to III of this chapter.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Reference to the Director of Central Intelligence or the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Director’s capacity as the head of the intelligence community deemed to be a reference to the Director of National Intelligence. Reference to the Director of Central Intelligence or the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Director’s capacity as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency deemed to be a reference to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. See section 1081(a), (b) of Pub. L. 108–458, set out as a note under section 3001 of this title.

§852 Exemption From Registration