Sponsors (2)
The bill improves transparency and produces disaggregated data to detect bias and strengthen oversight of security-clearance adjudications, but it increases administrative costs and creates privacy and national-security risks unless safeguards and redactions are carefully implemented.
Federal employees will get clearer information about adverse security-adjudication outcomes and appeals, helping individuals understand decisions and spot inconsistent treatment.
Congressional oversight committees will receive detailed data to evaluate whether clearance processes are fair and effective, enabling policy changes and accountability.
Disaggregated data by position, race/national origin/ethnicity, and gender can reveal demographic disparities and support corrective actions to reduce bias in adjudications.
Detailed disclosure of adjudicative criteria and outcomes could expose sensitive procedural information that adversaries might exploit if not properly redacted, risking national security.
Publishing demographic breakdowns of adverse adjudications could risk privacy or stigmatization of individuals if protections and de‑identification are inadequate.
Compiling and reporting detailed, disaggregated clearance data will increase administrative burden and costs for the State Department, potentially raising workload and taxpayer expense.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires annual reports to congressional foreign relations committees on adverse Diplomatic Security clearance outcomes, appeals, criteria, and demographic/position breakdowns.
Introduced June 25, 2025 by Ted Lieu · Last progress June 25, 2025
Requires the State Department to send Congress an annual report on adverse security-clearance decisions made by the Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security. The first report must be submitted within 90 days of enactment (covering Jan 1, 2024 through submission) and subsequent reports must be submitted yearly, with counts of outcomes, appeals and appeal success rates, descriptions of criteria used, and demographic and position-level breakdowns where available.