U.S. Code > Title 50 War and National Defense > CHAPTER 15—NATIONAL SECURITY (§§ 401—442a) > SUBCHAPTER III—ACCOUNTABILITY FOR INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES (§§ 413—415c) > § 414. Funding of intelligence activities

§ 414. Funding of intelligence activities

(a) Obligations and expenditures for intelligence or intelligence-related activity; prerequisites
Appropriated funds available to an intelligence agency may be obligated or expended for an intelligence or intelligence-related activity only if—
(1) those funds were specifically authorized by the Congress for use for such activities; or
(2) in the case of funds from the Reserve for Contingencies of the Central Intelligence Agency and consistent with the provisions of section 413b of this title concerning any significant anticipated intelligence activity, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency has notified the appropriate congressional committees of the intent to make such funds available for such activity; or
(3) in the case of funds specifically authorized by the Congress for a different activity—
(A) the activity to be funded is a higher priority intelligence or intelligence-related activity;
(B) the need for funds for such activity is based on unforseen [1] requirements; and
(C) the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Defense, or the Attorney General, as appropriate, has notified the appropriate congressional committees of the intent to make such funds available for such activity;
(4) nothing in this subsection prohibits obligation or expenditure of funds available to an intelligence agency in accordance with sections 1535 and 1536 of title 31.
(b) Activities denied funding by Congress
Funds available to an intelligence agency may not be made available for any intelligence or intelligence-related activity for which funds were denied by the Congress.
(c) Presidential finding required for expenditure of funds on covert action
No funds appropriated for, or otherwise available to, any department, agency, or entity of the United States Government may be expended, or may be directed to be expended, for any covert action, as defined in section 413b (e) of this title, unless and until a Presidential finding required by subsection (a) of section 413b of this title has been signed or otherwise issued in accordance with that subsection.
(d) Report to Congressional committees required for expenditure of nonappropriated funds for intelligence activity
(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, funds available to an intelligence agency that are not appropriated funds may be obligated or expended for an intelligence or intelligence-related activity only if those funds are used for activities reported to the appropriate congressional committees pursuant to procedures which identify—
(A) the types of activities for which nonappropriated funds may be expended; and
(B) the circumstances under which an activity must be reported as a significant anticipated intelligence activity before such funds can be expended.
(2) Procedures for purposes of paragraph (1) shall be jointly agreed upon by the congressional intelligence committees and, as appropriate, the Director of National Intelligence or the Secretary of Defense.
(e) Definitions
As used in this section—
(1) the term “intelligence agency” means any department, agency, or other entity of the United States involved in intelligence or intelligence-related activities;
(2) the term “appropriate congressional committees” means the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
(3) the term “specifically authorized by the Congress” means that—
(A) the activity and the amount of funds proposed to be used for that activity were identified in a formal budget request to the Congress, but funds shall be deemed to be specifically authorized for that activity only to the extent that the Congress both authorized the funds to be appropriated for that activity and appropriated the funds for that activity; or
(B) although the funds were not formally requested, the Congress both specifically authorized the appropriation of the funds for the activity and appropriated the funds for the activity.

[1] So in original. Probably should be “unforeseen”.