119-hr4808

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4808 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4808

To provide that the Secretary of State should delegate to the Assistant 
 Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security or the Principal Deputy 
 Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security the pre-approval 
authority for Diplomatic Security special agents seeking authorization 
 under 

section 2516 of title 18, United States Code, to carry out the 
 interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 29, 2025

 Mr. Lawler introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To provide that the Secretary of State should delegate to the Assistant 
 Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security or the Principal Deputy 
 Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security the pre-approval 
authority for Diplomatic Security special agents seeking authorization 
 under 

section 2516 of title 18, United States Code, to carry out the 
 interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Parity in Diplomatic Security 
Investigations Act''.

SEC. 2. DELEGATION.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--

    (1) Diplomatic Security special agents should be able to 
 conduct recordings, like those of other United States Federal 
 law enforcement agencies, during the course of their official 
 activities to ensure accountability and promote public 
 confidence in law enforcement efforts; and

    (2) the Department of State's current process of obtaining 
 the Secretary of State's pre-approval for creating each 
 instance of these objective accounts of key investigations and 
 interactions significantly restricts Diplomatic Security 
 special agents from obtaining timely approval from an 
 appropriate law enforcement entity for critical information.

    (b) In General.--The Secretary of State should delegate to the 
Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security or the Principal 
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security the pre-
approval authority for Diplomatic Security special agents seeking 
authorization under 

section 2516 of title 18, United States Code, to 
carry out the interception of wire, oral, or electronic 
communications--

    (1) in furtherance of carrying out the duties described in 
 

section 37

    (a) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 
 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2709

    (a) ); and

    (2) in accordance with the requirements under chapter 119 
 of title 18, United States Code.
            (c) Update to the Foreign Affairs Manual.--Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 
should revise 

section 221.5 of volume 12 of the Foreign Affairs Manual 
to reflect the delegation to the Assistant Secretary of State for 
Diplomatic Security or the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of 
State for Diplomatic Security under subsection

    (b) .
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