7. Intelligence Community · Notable · Needs Congress
Impose stiffer penalties and mandatory investigations for political leaks
Printed page 216 7. Intelligence Community
“Stiffer penalties and mandatory investigations when intelligence leaks are aimed at domestic political targets,”
What has happened
- Not started
Congress legislated on intelligence leaks in the window but enacted neither stiffer penalties nor mandatory investigations. Section 6524 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY2026 requires the FBI to report annually the number of active, unique and newly opened "espionage or leak cases" alongside its Russia, China, cartel and cyber caseloads. That is a counting duty. No bill imposing penalties for leaks aimed at domestic political targets, or requiring an investigation of them, was found in the 119th Congress; the nearest classified-information bill, S. 1959 (referred 2025-06-05), protects "integrity, fairness, and objectivity in decisions regarding access to classified information", which runs the other way.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- This ask needs an act of Congress. A bill that has only been introduced and referred does not count as progress, so it is not started; the Act’s reporting provision is a different kind of measure from penalties and mandatory investigations, so the “progress is measured on this ask” rule keeps the Status where it is. This is the same boundary drawn for #572 on the same statute.
- On the executive side, the Justice Department’s rescission of the news-media regulation (2025-05-02) and the leak prosecutions that followed are recorded on #562, #563 and #564. They are executive action on adjacent ground, not the statutory penalties this Quote asks Congress for.
- This ask is also covered by a single negative search of the asks on pp. 215-217 that need an act of Congress.
- Action
- create
- Object
- Penalties and mandatory investigations for politically targeted intelligence leaks
- ID
- 570