§ 122. Access to information

817 words·~4 min read·/usc/title-6/section-122

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(a)In general

(1)Threat and vulnerability information Except as otherwise directed by the President, the Secretary shall have such access as the Secretary considers necessary to all information, including reports, assessments, analyses, and unevaluated intelligence relating to threats of terrorism against the United States and to other areas of responsibility assigned by the Secretary, and to all information concerning infrastructure or other vulnerabilities of the United States to terrorism, whether or not such information has been analyzed, that may be collected, possessed, or prepared by any agency of the Federal Government.

(2)Other information The Secretary shall also have access to other information relating to matters under the responsibility of the Secretary that may be collected, possessed, or prepared by an agency of the Federal Government as the President may further provide.

(b)Manner of access Except as otherwise directed by the President, with respect to information to which the Secretary has access pursuant to this section—

(1)the Secretary may obtain such material upon request, and may enter into cooperative arrangements with other executive agencies to provide such material or provide Department officials with access to it on a regular or routine basis, including requests or arrangements involving broad categories of material, access to electronic databases, or both; and

(2)regardless of whether the Secretary has made any request or entered into any cooperative arrangement pursuant to paragraph (1), all agencies of the Federal Government shall promptly provide to the Secretary—

(A)all reports (including information reports containing intelligence which has not been fully evaluated), assessments, and analytical information relating to threats of terrorism against the United States and to other areas of responsibility assigned by the Secretary;

(B)all information concerning the vulnerability of the infrastructure of the United States, or other vulnerabilities of the United States, to terrorism, whether or not such information has been analyzed;

(C)all other information relating to significant and credible threats of terrorism against the United States, whether or not such information has been analyzed; and

(D)such other information or material as the President may direct.

(c)Treatment under certain laws The Secretary shall be deemed to be a Federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, national defense, immigration, or national security official, and shall be provided with all information from law enforcement agencies that is required to be given to the Director of National Intelligence, under any provision of the following:

(1)The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (Public Law 107–56).

(2)Section 2517(6) of title 18.

(3)Rule 6(e)(3)(C) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

(d)Access to intelligence and other information

(1)Access by elements of Federal Government Nothing in this subchapter shall preclude any element of the intelligence community (as that term is defined in section 3003(4) of title 50,1 or any other element of the Federal Government with responsibility for analyzing terrorist threat information, from receiving any intelligence or other information relating to terrorism.

(2)Sharing of information The Secretary, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall work to ensure that intelligence or other information relating to terrorism to which the Department has access is appropriately shared with the elements of the Federal Government referred to in paragraph (1), as well as with State and local governments, as appropriate.

(Pub. L. 107–296, title II, § 202, Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2149; Pub. L. 115–278, § 2(g)(2)(D), Nov. 16, 2018, 132 Stat. 4177.)

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U.S. Code

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