119-s2527

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2527 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2527

 To amend title 5, United States Code, and the Intelligence Reform and 
 Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to enhance protections for 
 whistleblowers in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 July 29, 2025

 Mr. Grassley (for himself and Mr. Peters) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 
 Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend title 5, United States Code, and the Intelligence Reform and 
 Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to enhance protections for 
 whistleblowers in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other 
 purposes.

 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 ``FBI Whistleblower Protection 
Enhancement Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. ENHANCED PROTECTIONS FOR FBI WHISTLEBLOWERS.

    (a) Prohibited Personnel Actions.--

Section 2303 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended--

    (1) in subsection

    (a) , by striking the flush text following 
 paragraph

    (2)
        (B) ;

    (2) by redesignating subsections

    (b) ,
            (c) , and
            (d) as 
 subsections
            (c) ,
            (d) , and

    (e) , respectively;

    (3) by inserting after subsection

    (a)

    (2)
        (B) the following:
 ``

    (b) Any employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who has 
authority to take, direct others to take, recommend, or approve any 
personnel action, shall not, with respect to such authority--
 ``

    (1) take or fail to take a personnel action with respect 
 to an employee in, or applicant for, a position in the Bureau 
 because of--
 ``
        (A) the exercise of any appeal, complaint, or 
 grievance right granted by any law, rule, or 
 regulation--
 ``
            (i) with regard to remedying a violation 
 of subsection

    (a) ; or
 ``
            (ii) other than with regard to remedying 
 a violation of subsection

    (a) ;
 ``
        (B) testifying for or otherwise lawfully 
 assisting any individual in the exercise of any right 
 referred to in clause
            (i) or
            (ii) of subparagraph
        (A) ; 
 or
 ``
            (C) cooperating with or disclosing information to 
 the Inspector General (or any other component 
 responsible for internal investigation or review) of an 
 agency, or the Special Counsel, in accordance with 
 applicable provisions of law;
 ``

    (2) implement or enforce any nondisclosure policy, form, 
 or agreement that is described in subparagraph
        (A) or
        (B) of 
 

section 2302

    (b)

    (13) ; or
 ``

    (3) coerce the political activity of any person 
 (including the providing of any political contribution or 
 service), or take any action against any employee or applicant 
 for employment as a reprisal for the refusal of any person to 
 engage in such political activity.'';

    (4) in subsection
            (c) , as so redesignated--
        (A) by inserting ``

    (1) '' after ``
            (c) ''; and
        (B) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (2) With respect to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the 
Attorney General shall be responsible for--
 ``
        (A) preventing prohibited personnel practices;
 ``
        (B) complying with and enforcing applicable civil service 
 laws, rules, and regulations and other aspects of personnel 
 management;
 ``
            (C) ensuring, in consultation with the Special Counsel 
 and the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, that 
 employees of the Bureau are informed of the rights and remedies 
 available to the employees under this chapter, chapter 12 of 
 this title, and 

section 3001 of the Intelligence Reform and 
 Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (50 U.S.C. 3341), including--
 ``
            (i) information with respect to whistleblower 
 protections available to new employees during a 
 probationary period;
 ``
            (ii) the role of the Office of Special Counsel 
 and the Merit Systems Protection Board with respect to 
 whistleblower protections; and
 ``
            (iii) the means by which, with respect to 
 information that is otherwise required by law or 
 Executive order to be kept classified in the interest 
 of national defense or the conduct of foreign affairs, 
 an employee may make a lawful disclosure of the 
 information to--
 ``
            (I) the Special Counsel;
 ``
            (II) the Inspector General of the 
 Department of Justice;
 ``
            (III) Congress (including any committee 
 of Congress with respect to information that is 
 not classified or, if classified, has been 
 classified by the head of an agency that is not 
 an element of the intelligence community and 
 does not reveal intelligence sources and 
 methods); or
 ``
            (IV) another employee of the Bureau who 
 is designated to receive such a disclosure; and
 ``
            (D) ensuring that the information described in this 
 paragraph is provided to each new employee of the Bureau not 
 later than 180 days after the date on which the new employee is 
 appointed; and
 ``
        (E) making available information regarding whistleblower 
 protections applicable to employees of the Bureau on the public 
 website of the Bureau and on any online portal that is made 
 available only to employees of the Bureau, if such portal 
 exits.
 ``

    (3) Any employee of the Department of Justice to whom the 
Attorney General delegates authority for any aspect of personnel 
management shall, within the limits of the scope of the delegation, be 
responsible for the activities described in paragraph

    (2) .''; and

    (5) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (f) A disclosure shall not be excluded from this section 
because--
 ``

    (1) the disclosure was made to a person, including a 
 supervisor, who participated in an activity that the employee 
 or applicant reasonably believed to be covered by this section;
 ``

    (2) the disclosure revealed information that had been 
 previously disclosed;
 ``

    (3) the disclosure was not made in writing;
 ``

    (4) the disclosure was made while the employee was off 
 duty;
 ``

    (5) of the amount of time which has passed since the 
 occurrence of the events described in the disclosure; or
 ``

    (6) the disclosure was made during the normal course of 
 duties of an employee.
 ``

    (g) In this section, the term `personnel action' means any action 
described in clauses
            (i) through
            (xi) of 

section 2302

    (a)

    (2)
        (A) of this 
title with respect to an employee in, or applicant for, a position in 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (other than a position of a 
confidential, 

=== policy ===
determining, policymaking, or 

=== policy ===
advocating 
character).''.

    (b) Clarification of FBI Whistleblower Retaliation Appeals 
Process.--

Section 2303 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by 
subsection

    (a) of this section, is amended--

    (1) in subsection
            (d) , as so redesignated, by inserting 
 ``the requirements under subsection

    (e) of this section and'' 
 before ``applicable''; and

    (2) in subsection

    (e) , as so redesignated--
        (A) in paragraph

    (1) , by striking ``a final 
 determination or corrective action order by the 
 Bureau'' and inserting ``any adjudicative dismissal, 
 determination, or associated corrective action order 
 made'';
        (B) in paragraph

    (2) --
            (i) by striking ``If no final determination 
 or corrective action order has been made or 
 issued for an allegation described in'' and 
 inserting ``If no appealable decision has been 
 made under''; and
            (ii) by striking ``Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation'' and inserting ``investigating 
 office''; and
            (C) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (3) An appeal brought under paragraph

    (1) , or corrective action 
sought under paragraph

    (2) , shall be governed by the applicable legal 
burdens of proof described in 

section 1221

    (e) .''.

SEC. 3. PREVENTING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN INVESTIGATIVE OR 
 ADJUDICATIVE PROCESSES.

 

Section 3001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention 
Act of 2004 (50 U.S.C. 3341) is amended--

    (1) in subsection

    (b) --
        (A) in paragraph 6, by striking ``; and'' and 
 inserting a semicolon;
        (B) in paragraph

    (7)
        (B) , by striking ``, except 
 that'' and all that follows through the period and 
 inserting ``; and''; and
            (C) by inserting after paragraph

    (7) the following:
 ``

    (8) not later than 180 days after the date of the 
 enactment of the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act 
 of 2025, and consistent with subsection

    (j) , developing and 
 implementing uniform and consistent policies and procedures 
 that ensure, to the extent practicable, that the investigative 
 or adjudicative process of an authorized investigative agency 
 or authorized adjudicative agency of an employee that believes 
 he or she has been subjected to reprisal under subsection

    (j) is free from conflict of interest.''; and

    (2) in subsection

    (j)

    (4)
        (A) , by striking ``subsection

    (b)

    (7) , except that'' and all that follows through the period 
 at the end and inserting ``paragraphs

    (7) and

    (8) of subsection

    (b) .''.
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