U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 2656. Notice to congressional committees of certain security and counterintelligence failures within nuclear energy defense programs

(a) Required notification

The Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a notification of each significant nuclear defense intelligence loss. Any such notification shall be provided only after consultation with the Director of Central Intelligence and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as appropriate.

(b) Significant nuclear defense intelligence losses

In this section, the term “significant nuclear defense intelligence loss” means any national security or counterintelligence failure or compromise of classified information at a facility of the Department of Energy or operated by a contractor of the Department that the Secretary considers likely to cause significant harm or damage to the national security interests of the United States.

Notification of a significant nuclear defense intelligence loss under subsection (a) shall be provided, in accordance with the procedures established pursuant to subsection (d), not later than 30 days after the date on which the Department of Energy determines that the loss has taken place.

(d) Procedures

The Secretary of Energy and the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives shall each establish such procedures as may be necessary to protect from unauthorized disclosure classified information, information relating to intelligence sources and methods, and sensitive law enforcement information that is submitted to those committees pursuant to this section and that are otherwise necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.

(e) Statutory construction

(1) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authority to withhold any information from the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives on the grounds that providing the information to those committees would constitute the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, information relating to intelligence sources and methods, or sensitive law enforcement information.

(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to modify or supersede any other requirement to report information on intelligence activities to the Congress, including the requirement under section 413 of this title for the President to ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully informed of the intelligence activities of the United States and for those committees to notify promptly other congressional committees of any matter relating to intelligence activities requiring the attention of those committees.

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