(Reuters) – The U.S. intelligence community’s budget bill could place new controls and reporting requirements on former U.S. spies, according to the author of the legislation, making it harder for them to work as contractors for foreign governments following a 2019 Reuters investigation into American mercenary hackers.
“People in the intelligence community develop skills necessary to protect our country against foreign bad actors, and that intellectual property really belongs to the United States,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.
“It is not to be used by foreign governments to spy on Americans or to violate the human rights of dissidents,” he said. “We are going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
The bill passed through the House Intelligence Committee with bipartisan support on Thursday. It now goes to the full chamber for consideration, before moving onto the Senate, and then potentially the Presidents’ desk for signature.
Though it is not yet close to becoming law, the amendment is noteworthy because it is the first of its kind, experts say.
“This bill singles out the intelligence agencies for some of the most sweeping and punitive post-employment restrictions Congress has ever adopted,” said former U.S. National Security Agency General Counsel Stewart Baker.