Sec. 9008. Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Review Board personnel
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Not later than 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall appoint 1 citizen of the United States, without regard to political affiliation, to the position of Executive Director of the Review Board. This position counts as 1 of the 9 Review Board members under section 9007(b)(1). The person appointed as Executive Director shall be a private citizen of integrity and impartiality who— is a distinguished professional; and is not a present employee of the Federal Government; and has had no previous or current involvement with any legacy program or controlling authority relating to the collection, exploitation, or reverse engineering of technologies of unknown origin or the examination of biological evidence of living or deceased non-human intelligence.
The Director shall conduct a review of each individual appointed to the position of Executive Director to ensure the Executive Director does not have any conflict of interest during the term of the service of the Executive Director. During the course of the review under subparagraph (A), if the Director becomes aware that the Executive Director possesses a conflict of interest to the mission of the Review Board, the Director shall, not later than 30 days after the date on which the Director became aware of the conflict of interest, submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the House of Representatives a report on the conflict of interest.
A candidate for Executive Director shall be granted all the necessary security clearances and accesses, including to relevant Presidential and department or agency special access and compartmented access programs in an accelerated manner subject to the standard procedures for granting such clearances. A candidate shall qualify for the necessary security clearances and accesses prior to being appointed by the President. The Executive Director shall— serve as principal liaison to the Executive Office of the President and Congress; serve as Chairperson of the Review Board; be responsible for the administration and coordination of the Review Board’s review of records; be responsible for the administration of all official activities conducted by the Review Board; exercise tie-breaking Review Board authority to decide or determine whether any record should be disclosed to the public or postponed for disclosure; and retain right-of-appeal directly to the President for decisions pertaining to executive branch unidentified anomalous phenomena records for which the Executive Director and Review Board members may disagree.
The Executive Director shall not be removed for reasons other for cause on the grounds of inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, physical disability, mental incapacity, or any other condition that substantially impairs the performance of the responsibilities of the Executive Director or the staff of the Review Board. The Review Board, without regard to the civil service laws, may appoint and terminate additional personnel as are necessary to enable the Review Board and its Executive Director to perform the duties of the Review Board.
Except as provided in subparagraph (B), a person appointed to the staff of the Review Board shall be a citizen of integrity and impartiality who has had no previous or current involvement with any legacy program or controlling authority relating to the collection, exploitation, or reverse engineering of technologies of unknown origin or the examination of biological evidence of living or deceased non-human intelligence. In their consideration of persons to be appointed as staff of the Review Board under paragraph (1), the Review Board shall consult with the Director— to determine criteria for possible conflicts of interest of staff of the Review Board, consistent with ethics laws, statutes, and regulations for employees of the executive branch of the Federal Government; and ensure that no person selected for such position of staff of the Review Board possesses a conflict of interests in accordance with the criteria determined pursuant to clause (i).
A candidate for staff shall be granted the necessary security clearances (including all necessary special access program clearances) in an accelerated manner subject to the standard procedures for granting such clearances. The Review Board may offer conditional employment to a candidate for a staff position pending the completion of security clearance background investigations. During the pendency of such investigations, the Review Board shall ensure that any such employee does not have access to, or responsibility involving, classified or otherwise restricted unidentified anomalous phenomena record materials.
If a person hired on a conditional basis under clause
(i)is denied or otherwise does not qualify for all security clearances necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the position for which conditional employment has been offered, the Review Board shall immediately terminate the person’s employment. The Archivist shall assign one representative in full-time equivalent status from the National Declassification Center to advise and support the Review Board disclosure postponement review process in a non-voting staff capacity. Subject to such rules as may be adopted by the Review Board, without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive service and without regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates— the Executive Director shall be compensated at a rate not to exceed the rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Schedule and shall serve the entire tenure as one full-time equivalent; and the Executive Director shall appoint and fix compensation of such other personnel as may be necessary to carry out this division. The Review Board may create advisory committees to assist in fulfilling the responsibilities of the Review Board under this division. Any advisory committee created by the Review Board shall be subject to chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code. An individual employed in any position by the Review Board (including an individual appointed as Executive Director) shall be required to qualify for any necessary security clearance prior to taking office in that position, but may be employed conditionally in accordance with subsection (b)(3)(B) before qualifying for that clearance.