Classified Information Criminal Trial Procedures Act

Summary

Classified Information Criminal Trial Procedures Act - Title I: Procedures For Disclosure of Classified Information in Criminal Cases - Sets forth pretrial, trial, and appellate procedures for criminal cases involving classified information. Requires a court, on its own motion or on the motion of any party, to hold a pretrial conference to consider matters relating to classified information or which may promote a fair and expeditious trial. Requires a defendant who reasonably expects to disclose classified material during the trial or any pretrial hearing to notify the Government attorney and the court. Allows the Government to move for an in camera proceeding after certifying that such classified information might be compromised in a public proceeding. Permits the Government to take an appeal from a decision favorable to the defendant regarding the use, relevance or admissibility of such classified information before such information is disclosed. Authorizes the Attorney General to request an in camera proceeding whenever the Government learns, other than through such notification, that an action of the defendant will or is likely to result in the disclosure of classified information. Directs the court, upon the request of the Government, to issue an order prohibiting the defendant from disclosing or causing the classified information at issue to be disclosed pending the conclusion of such proceeding. Requires the Government to provide the defendant with notice of the classified information at issue before such proceeding is conducted. Allows the Government to object to any line of inquiry used by a defendant while examining a witness which may require such witness to disclose classified information not previously found admissible under the specified procedures. Directs the court to take any action necessary to determine whether the response is admissible as will safeguard against the disclosure of any classified information, including proffers from the Government and the defendant. Allows the Government to move for a court order to substitute for classified information whose disclosure has been authorized by the court pursuant to the above procedure: (1) a statement admitting the relevant facts such information would prove; or (2) a summary of the specified classified information. Directs the court to grant such a motion if the right of the defendant to a fair trial will not be impaired. Requires the sealing and preservation for appeal of any record of an in camera proceeding when the court determines that the classified information at issue may not be disclosed or elicited at the trial or any pretrial hearing. Directs the Court to order the defendant not to disclose or cause the disclosure of such classified information whenever such motion is denied and the Government files an objection to such disclosure. Directs the court to then: (1) dismiss the indictment or information; (2) dismiss specified counts of the indictment or information; (3) find against the Government on any issue to which the excluded classified information relates; (4) strike or preclude all or any part of the testimony of a witness; or (5) take any other action which the court determines is appropriate in the interests of justice. Allows the court to prohibit certain defendants who fail to comply with the notice requirements from: (1) disclosing or causing the disclosure of such classified information during trial; and (2) examining any witnesses with respect to such information. Directs the court after determining that classified information may be disclosed, to order the Government to provide the defendant with the information or the identity of any witness it expects to use to rebut the particular classified information. Authorizes the court to: (1) exclude any evidence not made the subject of a required disclosure; and (2) prohibit the examination by the Government of any witness with respect to such information. Directs the Government to provide the defendant, at his request, with a bill of particulars as to the portions of the indictment or information which the defendant identified as related to the classified information at issue in the pretrial proceeding. Stipulates that such bill of particulars be provided before such proceeding. Allows the Government to make an interlocutory appeal to a court of appeals from a decision of the district court: (1) requiring disclosure; (2) imposing sanctions for nondisclosure; or (3) refusing a protective order by the United States to prevent disclosure. Directs the court, upon motion of the Government, to issue a protective order against the disclosure of any classified information disclosed by the Government to any defendant in a criminal case in district court. Allows the court to authorize the Government: (1) to delete specified items of classified information from documents to be made available to the defendant; (2) to substitute a summary of the information for such documents; or (3) to substitute a statement admitting relevant facts the information would tend to prove. Directs the Supreme Court, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Director of Central Intelligence, to prescribe rules establishing procedures for the protection against unauthorized disclosure of any classified information in the custody of the Federal courts. Requires the submission of such rules to the appropriate congressional committees. Requires the Government, in any prosecution in which it must establish that material relates to the national defense or constitutes classified information, to notify the defendant of the material upon which it reasonably expects to rely. Title II: Department of Justice Decisions Not to Prosecute Because of Possible Disclosure of Classified Information - Directs the Attorney General to: (1) issue guidelines specifying the factors to be used by the Department of Justice in deciding whether to prosecute a violation of Federal law in which there is a possibility that classified information will be disclosed; and (2) transmit such guidelines to the appropriate congressional committees. Requires the Department to prepare written findings of the reasons for deciding not to prosecute any such decision, including specified information. Directs the Attorney General to make available all such findings to the congressional intelligence committees.

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4 official files

• Passed House amended

  summary · EN · 22 September 1980

  Open at official source

• Reported to House amended, Part II

  summary · EN · 17 September 1980

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• Reported to House amended, Part I

  summary · EN · 18 March 1980

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• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 11 July 1979

  Open at official source

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