WASHINGTON -- A House bill to authorize spending on intelligence contains a provision designed to help stem further leaks of classified information by Americans with security clearances.
The provision, by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), would require the director of national intelligence to undertake, “on an urgent basis, a study to determine whether our insider threat and security clearance processes are sufficient to detect both those looking to engage in traditional espionage and those seeking to make sensitive information public,” said Meg Fraser, his spokeswoman.
The study also would seek to determine if "any legal barriers exist to detecting such threats in advance and what, if any, legislative remedies may be available.”
The language and other provisions in the bill, including a $75-million increase for “insider threat detection," are in response to the flood of disclosures by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has given reporters thousands of digital documents describing once-secret surveillance programs.
