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