DHS CANDOR Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9206 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9206

 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require a Department of
Homeland Security-wide policy for public communications, and for other
                               purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 8, 2026

 Mr. Thanedar (for himself and Mr. Thompson of Mississippi) introduced
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland
                                Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require a Department of
Homeland Security-wide policy for public communications, 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 ``Department of Homeland Security
Communications, Accuracy, Neutrality, Disclosure, Oversight, and Review
Act'' or the ``DHS CANDOR Act''.

SEC. 2. DHS PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS POLICY.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle H of title VIII of the Homeland Security
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following new section:

``SEC. 890E. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS POLICY.

    ``(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall issue a Department-wide
policy for the purpose of ensuring Department personnel engaged in
public-facing communication improve information quality by maximizing
accuracy, utility, objectivity, and integrity. Such policy shall
establish standards for all public-facing materials to--
            ``(1) be accurate, objective, and reliable;
            ``(2) avoid misleading, partisan, unauthorized,
        speculative, or unsupported statements;
            ``(3) support rapid correction or clarification if the
        Department disseminates inaccurate or incomplete information;
        and
            ``(4) undergo review procedures for the legal compliance
        with the requirements specified in subsection (b).
    ``(b) Legal Requirements Specified.--The legal requirements
specified in this subsection are the following:
            ``(1) Section 515 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
        2001 (Public Law 106-554) (commonly referred to as the `Data
        Quality Act' or the `Information Quality Act') and any other
        relevant Federal data integrity requirement.
            ``(2) Sections 7321 through 7326 of title 5, United States
        Code (commonly referred to as the `Hatch Act'), and part 734 of
        title 5, Code of Federal Regulations.
            ``(3) Sections 552 and 552a of title 5, United States Code.
            ``(4) Civil rights and civil liberties protections.
            ``(5) Applicable ethics rules.
    ``(c) Component Public Communications Policies.--Not earlier than
30 days after the Secretary issues the Department-wide policy pursuant
to subsection (a), the heads of Department components may develop
component specific policies that align with such Department-wide
policy. Such heads shall submit to the Office of Public Affairs and the
Office of the General Counsel such component policies for review and
certification of such alignment. Such heads may issue such component
specific policies after receiving from each of such Offices
confirmation of such alignment.
    ``(d) Use of Personal Social Media Accounts.--When referencing
Department activities on personal accounts, Department personnel--
            ``(1) may not--
                    ``(A) represent personal views as Department
                positions;
                    ``(B) disclose non-public information; or
                    ``(C) misuse official titles, insignia, or internal
                information; and
            ``(2) shall avoid presenting personal social media posts as
        official communications from the Department.
    ``(e) Authorization and Oversight.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Assistant Secretary for the Office
        of Public Affairs of the Department shall serve as the
        oversight authority for all Department use of social media for
        public communication, including Department component accounts.
        All such accounts shall satisfy the following criteria:
                    ``(A) Be established only on platforms approved by
                the Department.
                    ``(B) Be established for official, mission related
                purposes.
                    ``(C) Be operated by a designated account manager
                responsible for the account's security and activity.
                    ``(D) Be--
                            ``(i) approved for use by the Assistant
                        Secretary for the Office of Public Affairs, the
                        Chief Information Officer, and the General
                        Counsel before launch; and
                            ``(ii) archived upon closure.
            ``(2) Content workflow and publication process.--The Office
        of Public Affairs, in conjunction with the Office of the
        General Counsel, shall establish procedures to ensure that,
        before publication, social media posts satisfy the requirements
        of this section.
    ``(f) Publication.--The Assistant Secretary for the Office of
Public Affairs shall maintain a list of all current Department social
media accounts, including office and Department component social media
accounts, on a public-facing website of the Department.
    ``(g) Records Management.--Records retention and disposition
schedules for official social media accounts shall adhere to all
Department and National Archives and Records Administration
requirements.
    ``(h) Training.--
            ``(1) Annual training.--All Department personnel shall
        receive annual training, as well as a post-training assessment,
        to verify understanding of key concepts on the acceptable uses
        of personal and official social media accounts, including
        relating to the following:
                    ``(A) Mass communication principles.
                    ``(B) Applicable ethics rules.
                    ``(C) Applicable laws and regulations, including
                the legal requirements specified in subsection (b).
                    ``(D) Department-wide policy.
                    ``(E) Department component-specific policies, if
                applicable.
            ``(2) New employee training.--All Department personnel
        engaged in public-facing communications or responsible for
        managing official social media accounts shall complete social
        media and public communications training within 30 days of
        onboarding and before engaging in any such communications.
            ``(3) Component training requirements.--The head of each
        Department component shall track and monitor the completion of
        required Department and any component social media training by
        all employees of such component, and report to the Assistant
        Secretary for the Office of Public Affairs completion rates of
        such training. The head of any component with a component
        specific training shall submit to the Assistant Secretary up-
        to-date copies of such component's social media training
        curriculum.
    ``(i) Incident Reporting and Enforcement.--The head of each
Department component shall establish a process for timely reporting,
review, and remediation of suspected misuse of official or personal
social media accounts. Failure to comply with the requirements of this
section shall constitute a violation of Department policy for purposes
of personnel accountability, including disciplinary action.
    ``(j) Inspector General Review.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date
        of the enactment of this section, the Inspector General of the
        Department shall--
                    ``(A) submit to the Committee on Homeland Security
                of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
                Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the
                Senate an audit of the Department's compliance with the
                requirements specified in this section; and
                    ``(B) issue, as appropriate, recommendations to the
                Secretary to improve the quality, utility, objectivity,
                and integrity of public-facing materials disseminated
                by the public affairs offices of the Department.
            ``(2) Periodic monitoring.--The Office of the Inspector
        General shall conduct periodic audits of official social media
        accounts and submit to Congress an annual report summarizing
        compliance, misuse incidents, corrective actions, and trends
        under this section.
    ``(k) Definitions.--
            ``(1) Public facing material.--The term `public-facing
        material'--
                    ``(A) includes any--
                            ``(i) written, audio, or video products,
                        including a press release, a speech, talking
                        points, a fact sheet, testimony, a letter, a
                        report, a billboard, and a broadcast, that is
                        posted on social media or otherwise distributed
                        to the press for the purposes of informing the
                        general public; and
                            ``(ii) content authored, shared, or
                        otherwise disseminated by Department personnel
                        in a manner reasonably perceived as
                        representing the Department, including posts,
                        comments, likes, shares, and other forms of
                        digital engagement undertaken through official
                        social media accounts; and
                    ``(B) does not include--
                            ``(i) any regulatory publication;
                            ``(ii) any agency guidance document; or
                            ``(iii) any product that satisfies the
                        definition of `agency action' (as such term is
                        defined in section 551(13) of title 5, United
                        States Code).
            ``(2) Social media.--The term `social media'--
                    ``(A) means the sphere of websites, applications,
                and web-based tools that connect users to engage in
                dialogue, share information and media, collaborate, and
                interact; and
                    ``(B) includes many different forms, including web-
                based communities and hosted services, social
                networking sites, video and photo sharing sites, blogs,
                virtual worlds, social bookmarking, broadcast or
                pushtext messaging services, and other emerging
                technologies.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by inserting after the
item relating to section 890D the following new item:

``Sec. 890E. Public communications policy.''.
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