7. Intelligence Community · Notable · Needs Congress
Keep cleared former intelligence officials subject to the Hatch Act
Printed page 216 7. Intelligence Community
“To keep intelligence credentials from being used for partisan purposes, former high-ranking intelligence officials who retain a clearance should remain subject to the Hatch Act after they leave government to deter them from tying their political stands or activism to their continuing privilege of access to classified government information.”
What has happened
- Not started
No bill extending the Hatch Act to former high-ranking intelligence officials who retain a clearance was found in the 119th Congress. "Hatch Act" appears in three bills, all referred and none enacted: H.R. 1688 and S. 806 (Hatch Act Enforcement Transparency and Accountability Act, both 2025-02-27) and H.R. 5998 (continued operation of the Office of Special Counsel's Hatch Act Unit during a lapse in appropriations, 2025-11-10). The phrase appears nowhere in P.L. 119-60 or in any enacted public law of the 119th Congress.
No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.
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 referred does not count as progress, and none of the three bills addresses coverage of former officials in any event, so the “progress is measured on this ask” rule applies as well.
- Executive action ran on the adjacent ground of clearances rather than of political activity: Executive Order 14152 (2025-01-20) and the presidential memorandum of 2025-03-22 revoke named former officials’ clearances, which #561 records. Revoking a clearance is the opposite lever from keeping a clearance holder subject to the Hatch Act, so it is not counted here.
- This ask is also covered by a single negative search of the asks on pp. 215-217 that need an act of Congress.
- Action
- expand
- Object
- Hatch Act coverage of former cleared intelligence officials
- ID
- 574