functions of the Office of Inspector General and would, if so transferred, further the purposes of this section. There shall not be transferred to such office any program operating responsibilities.

(c) Except as provided under subsection (f) of this section, the Inspector General shall be appointed by the head of the designated Federal entity in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations governing appointments within the designated Federal entity. (d) Each Inspector General shall report to and be under the general supervision of the head of the designated Federal entity, but shall not report to, or be subject to supervision by, any other officer or employee of such designated Federal entity. The head of the designated Federal entity shall not prevent or prohibit the Inspector General from initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit or investigation, or from issuing any subpena during the course of any audit or investigation.

(e) If an Inspector General is removed from office or is transferred to another position or location within a designated Federal entity, the head of the designated Federal entity shall promptly communicate in writing the reasons for any such removal or transfer to both Houses of the Congress.

(f)(1) For purposes of carrying out subsection (c) with respect to the United States Postal Service, the appointment provisions of section 202(e) of title 39, United States Code, shall be applied.

(2) In carrying out the duties and responsibilities specified in this Act, the Inspector General of the United States Postal Service (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the "Inspector General") shall have oversight responsibility for all activities of the Postal Inspection Service, including any internal investigation performed by the Postal Inspection Service. The Chief Postal Inspector shall promptly report the significant activities being carried out by the Postal Inspection Service to such Inspector General.

(3)(A)(i) Notwithstanding subsection (d), the Inspector General shall be under the authority, direction, and control of the Governors with respect to audits or investigations, or the issuance of subpoenas, which require access to sensitive information concerning

(I) ongoing civil or criminal investigations or proceedings; (II) undercover operations;

(III) the identity of confidential sources, including protected witnesses;

(IV) intelligence or counterintelligence matters; or

(V) other matters the disclosure of which would constitute

a serious threat to national security.

(ii) With respect to the information described under clause (i), the Governors may prohibit the Inspector General from carrying out or completing any audit or investigation, or from issuing any subpoena, after such Inspector General has decided to initiate, carry out, or complete such audit or investigation or to issue such subpoena, if the Governors determine that such prohibition is necessary to prevent the disclosure of any information described under clause (i) or to prevent the significant impairment to the national interests of the United States.

(iii) If the Governors exercise any power under clause (i) or (ii), the Governors shall notify the Inspector General in writing stating the reasons for such exercise. Within 30 days after receipt

of any such notice, the Inspector General shall transmit a copy of such notice to the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the House of Representatives, and to other appropriate committees or subcommittees of the Congress.

(B) In carrying out the duties and responsibilities specified in this Act, the Inspector General

(i) may initiate, conduct and supervise such audits and investigations in the United States Postal Service as the Inspector General considers appropriate; and

(ii) shall give particular regard to the activities of the Postal Inspection Service with a view toward avoiding duplication and insuring effective coordination and cooperation.

(C) Any report required to be transmitted by the Governors to the appropriate committees or subcommittees of the Congress under section 5(d) shall also be transmitted, within the seven-day period specified under such section, to the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the House of Representatives.

(3) Nothing in this Act shall restrict, eliminate, or otherwise adversely affect any of the rights, privileges, or benefits of either employees of the United States Postal Service, or labor organizations representing employees of the United States Postal Service, under chapter 12 of title 39, United States Code, the National Labor Relations Act, any handbook or manual affecting employee labor relations with the United States Postal Service, or any collective bargaining agreement.

(4) As used in this subsection, the term "Governors" has the meaning given such term by section 102(3) of title 39, United States Code.

(g)(1) Sections 4, 5, 6 (other than subsections (a)(7) and (a)(8) thereof), and 7 of this Act shall apply to each Inspector General and Office of Inspector General of a designated Federal entity and such sections shall be applied to each designated Federal entity and head of the designated Federal entity (as defined under subsection (a)) by substituting—

(A) "designated Federal entity" for "establishment”; and

(B) "head of the designated Federal entity" for "head of the establishment".

(2) In addition to the other authorities specified in this Act, an Inspector General is authorized to select, appoint, and employ such officers and employees as may be necessary for carrying out the functions, powers, and duties of the Office of Inspector General and to obtain the temporary or intermittent services of experts or consultants or an organization thereof, subject to the applicable laws and regulations that govern such selections, appointments, and employment, and the obtaining of such services, within the designated Federal entity.

(3) Notwithstanding the last sentence of subsection (d) of this section, the provisions of subsection (a) of section 8C (other than the provisions of subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (E) of subsection (a)(1)) shall apply to the Inspector General of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the same manner as such provisions apply to the Inspector General of the

Department of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Treasury, respectively.

(h)(1) No later than April 30, 1989, and annually thereafter, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, after consultation with the Comptroller General of the United States, shall publish in the Federal Register a list of the Federal entities and designated Federal entities and the head of each such entity (as defined under subsection (a) of this section).

(2) Beginning on October 31, 1989, and on October 31 of each succeeding calendar year, the head of each Federal entity (as defined under subsection (a) of this section) shall prepare and transmit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and to each House of the Congress a report which—

(A) states whether there has been established in the Federal entity an office that meets the requirements of this section;

(B) specifies the actions taken by the Federal entity otherwise to ensure that audits are conducted of its programs and operations in accordance with the standards for audit of governmental organizations, programs, activities, and functions issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, and includes a list of each audit report completed by a Federal or non-Federal auditor during the reporting period and a summary of any particularly significant findings; and

(C) summarizes any matters relating to the personnel, programs, and operations of the Federal entity referred to prosecutive authorities, including a summary description of any preliminary investigation conducted by or at the request of the Federal entity concerning these matters, and the prosecutions and convictions which have resulted.

SEC. 8H. (a)(1)(A) An employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, or the National Security Agency, or of a contractor of any of those Agencies, who intends to report to Congress a complaint or information with respect to an urgent concern may report the complaint or information to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (or designee).

(B) An employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or of a contractor of the Bureau, who intends to report to Congress a complaint or information with respect to an urgent concern may report the complaint or information to the Inspector General of the Department of Justice (or designee).

(C) Any other employee of, or contractor to, an executive agency, or element or unit thereof, determined by the President under section 2302(a)(2)(C)(ii) of title 5, United States Code, to have as its principal function the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence activities, who intends to report to Congress a complaint or information with respect to an urgent concern may report the complaint or information to the appropriate Inspector General (or designee) under this Act or section 17 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949.

(2) If a designee of an Inspector General under this section receives a complaint or information of an employee with respect to an urgent concern, that designee shall report the complaint or in

formation to the Inspector General within 7 calendar days of receipt.

(b) Not later than the end of the 14-calendar day period beginning on the date of receipt of an employee complaint or information under subsection (a), the Inspector General shall determine whether the complaint or information appears credible. Upon making such a determination, the Inspector General shall transmit to the head of the establishment notice of that determination, together with the complaint or information.

(c) Upon receipt of a transmittal from the Inspector General under subsection (b), the head of the establishment shall, within 7 calendar days of such receipt, forward such transmittal to the intelligence committees, together with any comments the head of the establishment considers appropriate.

(d)(1) If the Inspector General does not find credible under subsection (b) a complaint or information submitted to the Inspector General under subsection (a), or does not transmit the complaint or information to the head of the establishment in accurate form under subsection (b), the employee (subject to paragraph (2)) may submit the complaint or information to Congress by contacting either or both of the intelligence committees directly.

(2) The employee may contact the intelligence committees directly as described in paragraph (1) only if the employee

(A) before making such a contact, furnishes to the head of the establishment, through the Inspector General, a statement of the employee's complaint or information and notice of the employee's intent to contact the intelligence committees directly; and

(B) obtains and follows from the head of the establishment, through the Inspector General, direction on how to contact the intelligence committees in accordance with appropriate security practices.

(3) A member or employee of one of the intelligence committees who receives a complaint or information under paragraph (1) does so in that member or employee's official capacity as a member or employee of that committee.

(e) The Inspector General shall notify an employee who reports a complaint or information under this section of each action taken under this section with respect to the complaint or information. Such notice shall be provided not later than 3 days after any such action is taken.

(f) An action taken by the head of an establishment or an Inspector General under subsections (a) through (e) shall not be subject to judicial review.

(g)(1) The Inspector General of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Security Agency shall each submit to the congressional intelligence committees each year a report that sets forth the following:

(A) The personnel and funds requested by such Inspector General for the fiscal year beginning in such year for the activities of the office of such Inspector General in such fiscal year.

(B) The plan of such Inspector General for such activities, including the programs and activities scheduled for review by the office of such Inspector General during such fiscal year.

(C) An assessment of the current ability of such Inspector General to hire and retain qualified personnel for the office of such Inspector General.

(D) Any matters that such Inspector General considers appropriate regarding the independence and effectiveness of the office of such Inspector General.

(2) The submittal date for a report under paragraph (1) each year shall be the date provided in section 507 of the National Security Act of 1947.

(3) In this subsection, the term "congressional intelligence committees" shall have the meaning given that term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a).

(h) In this section:

(1) The term "urgent concern" means any of the following:

(A) A serious or flagrant problem, abuse, violation of law or Executive order, or deficiency relating to the funding, administration, or operations of an intelligence activity involving classified information, but does not include differences of opinions concerning public policy matters.

(B) A false statement to Congress, or a willful withholding from Congress, on an issue of material fact relating to the funding, administration, or operation of an intelligence activity.

(C) An action, including a personnel action described in section 2302(a)(2)(A) of title 5, United States Code, constituting reprisal or threat of reprisal prohibited under section 7(c) in response to an employee's reporting an urgent concern in accordance with this section.

(2) The term "intelligence committees" means the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.

RULE OF CONSTRUCTION OF SPECIAL PROVISIONS

SEC. 81. The special provisions under section 8, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E or 8F9 of this Act relate only to the establishment named in such section and no inference shall be drawn from the presence or absence of a provision in any such section with respect to an establishment not named in such section or with respect to a designated Federal entity as defined under section 8G(a).

SPECIAL PROVISIONS CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

SEC. 8J. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in carrying out the duties and responsibilities specified in this Act, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security shall have oversight responsibility for the internal investigations performed by the Office of Internal Affairs of the United States Customs Service and the Office of Inspections of the United States Se

9 So in law. The probable intent of Congress in the amendment made by section 702(b×2) of Public Law 105-272 was to add "8H” to the list of special provisions in section 81.