Senate Intelligence Committee Passes the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence passed the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 (IAA) today on a bipartisan 14-3 vote. The bill authorizes funding, provides legal authorities, and enhances congressional oversight for the United States Intelligence Community (IC). “I am proud of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan legislation to conduct meaningful oversight of the nation’s intelligence agencies, as well as provide them with the tools and authorities they need to do their job to keep America safe. This year’s IAA enhances support to and oversight of the Intelligence Community’s use of artificial intelligence to ensure that this powerful technology keeps America safe without creating unexpected vulnerabilities. The bill also ensures continued support to America’s allies and partners, including Ukraine. At the same time, the bill combats corruption by ensuring that clearance holders cannot personally profit by using insider information on prediction markets and by banning ‘pay-to-play’ national security transactions,” said Vice Chairman Warner . “I’d like to thank my colleagues for their work on this bill, which will keep America safe and make our intelligence agencies more transparent and efficient. Our bipartisan legislation introduces several key changes, including barring purchases from adversaries like China and a review of real-estate transactions near IC facilities. Most importantly, the bill will continue to return our intelligence agencies back to their core mission: the collection of clandestine foreign intelligence to protect our homeland,” said Chairman Cotton. Background: The IAA for Fiscal Year 2027 authorizes funding and ensures that the IC has the resources, personnel, and authorities it needs to protect our country and inform decision-makers, while under robust Congressional oversight. The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 will: Significantly reform the IC’s authorities to focus on foreign intelligence, international terrorism, and foreign threats to the homeland; Provide for additional resources to recruit intelligence officers and expand foreign intelligence collection against U.S. adversaries; Prohibit the IC from using or procuring products and services made in Communist China; Establish a task force to identify indications and warning of Chinese military aggression regarding Taiwan; Enhance oversight and governance of use of artificial intelligence by the IC, including in adoption of advanced AI capabilities and use of AI in lethal targeting; Establish opportunities for pre-deployment testing of AI models, helping U.S. firms protect against potential misuse of their models for foreign hacking or weapons proliferation activity; Amend the Spectrum Relocation Fund authorization to clarify eligibility for Title 50 agencies that utilize spectrum and whose usage could be impacted by future reallocation decisions; Prohibit the IC from acquiring or operating autonomous ground systems from China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea; Ensure intelligence support to U.S. allies, including Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan; Protect whistleblowers’ right to bring their complaints to Congress in a timely fashion; Improve anonymized biological data and intelligence within the IC; Establish a Counterintelligence Office at the Department of Commerce; Enhance U.S. person privacy by codifying IC policy guidance requiring IC elements to develop procedures for unmasking requests of U.S. person identities; Prohibit IC employees and contractors with security clearances from using nonpublic information to place bets on prediction markets; Require the IC to report on hostile foreign cyber actors, including foreign scam centers; Establish an Office of Counterintelligence within the Department of Treasury’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis; Create a fellowship named after Senator Ben Sasse for IC employees to gain experience at technology companies and bring this expertise back to their home agencies; Mandate security procedures for Federal Reserve data and information; Require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review real estate transactions with foreign persons near IC facilities; and Extend authorities for protecting Central Intelligence Agency facilities from unmanned aircraft systems. ###