Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1980

(Reported to Senate from the Committee on the Judiciary with amendment, S. Rept. 96-990) Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1980 - Amends the National Security Act of 1947 by adding a new title V: Protection of Certain National Security Information. Establishes a maximum criminal penalty of ten years' imprisonment and/or a $50,000 fine for anyone who, having had authorized access to classified information, intentionally discloses to any individual not authorized to receive classified information any information that identifies a covert agent, knowing that the information so identifies such individual and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such individual's intelligence relationship to the United States. Establishes a maximum criminal penalty of five years' imprisonment and/or a $25,000 fine for anyone who, having had authorized access to classified information, learns the identity of a covert agent and intentionally discloses any information identifying such agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information so identifies such agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such agent's relationship to the United States. Establishes a maximum criminal penalty of three year's imprisonment and/or a $15,000 fine for anyone who, in the course of a pattern of activities undertaken for the purpose of uncovering and exposing the identities of covert agents and with reason to believe that such activities would impair or impede the foreign intelligence activities of the United States, discloses such information knowing that the information so identifies such agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such agent's relationship to the United States. Makes it a defense to such crimes that before the commission of the offense the United States had publicly acknowledged or revealed the intelligence relationship of the individual to the United States. Provides that no person other than the person committing such offense shall be subject to prosecution, except with respect to those acting in the course of an effort to identify and expose covert agents with intent to impair U.S. intelligence activities. Stipulates that it shall not be an offense: (1) to transmit such information directly to the congressional intelligence committees; and (2) for an individual to disclose information that solely identifies himself or herself as a covert agent; or (3) if the disclosure is an integral part of another activity protected by the First Amendment, such as news reporting of intelligence failures or abuses or academic study of government policies. Directs the President to establish procedures to ensure that any employee of an intelligence agency or any member of the Armed Forces assigned to intelligence agency duties whose identity is classified information is afforded all appropriate assistance to conceal his or her identity. Requires that such procedures provide that any agency, except the Peace Corps or the Agency for International Development, shall provide such assistance as necessary to maintain the secrecy of the individual's identity. Authorizes any interested party, including any news organization intending to identify a covert agent, to institute an appropriate action in Federal court to construe the constitutionality of any provision of this title. Provides for the certification of such issues to the Court of Appeals for an en banc hearing and expedited Supreme Court review.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to Senate amended, 2nd committee reporting" stage on September 24, 1980. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

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