FY2023 Intelligence Authorization Act:
Whistleblower Provisions
October 7, 2022
Several provisions in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence-reported Intelligence Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2023 (S. 4503) would make changes to laws governing whistleblower protections and
procedures in the 18 federal agencies and organizations authorized to conduct intelligence and
intelligence-related activities, generally referred to as the intelligence community. The House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI)- ordered reported the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2023 (H.R. 8367), which would not make such changes. The provisions of S. 4503 are consistent
with previous intelligence community whistleblowing legislation, which has evolved to add both greater
protections for federal employees and contractors, and clarity on the process for making a complaint.
Background
Many experts see laws governing whistleblower protections and procedures in the intelligence community
as attempts to strike a balance between encouraging individuals to come forward to report alleged
wrongdoing and the need to protect classified information. Intelligence community whistleblower laws
are codified in the following statutes: the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.
§8H), which applies to the inspectors general of all intelligence community elements; the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) Act of 1949, as amended (50 U.S.C. §3517); the National Security Act of
1947, as amended (50 U.S.C. §3033), which applies to the Inspector General of the Intelligence
Community (ICIG); Title VI of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, as amended (50
U.S.C. §3234), which provides protections for whistleblowers making a lawful disclosure; and Title III of
the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, as amended (50 U.S.C. §3341), governing
security clearances.
Legislative Provisions
S. 4503 includes provisions that would amend these statutes by: (1) expanding a whistleblower’s access
to Congress; (2) strengthening measures to protect classified information; (3) adding protections against
disclosure of a whistleblower’s identity as a reprisal for making a disclosure; (4) adding protections
against revoking a whistleblower’s security clearance in retaliation for making a disclosure; (5) expanding
