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HR 4808
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Parity in Diplomatic Security Investigations Act

To provide that the Secretary of State should delegate to the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security or the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security the pre-approval authority for Diplomatic Security special agents seeking authorization under section 2516 of title 18, United States Code, to carry out the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications.

Introduced Jul 29, 2025

Latest action (Jul 29, 2025) Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Referred to
Foreign Affairs Committee
Policy area
International Affairs
Issues
Foreign Policy

Summary
  • Delegates pre-approval authority for Diplomatic Security special agents seeking wiretap authorization to the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security or Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, rather than requiring approval from the Secretary of State.
  • Applies this delegation authority to Diplomatic Security agents' activities in furtherance of their official duties and in compliance with federal wiretap laws.
  • Requires the Secretary of State to update the Foreign Affairs Manual within 90 days to reflect the delegation of this pre-approval authority.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Michael Lawler’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

  • BLACKSTONE $30,317
  • Employer not reported $21,373
  • CEO $20,320
  • APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT $16,500
  • BRODIE GENERATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNERS $16,500

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Michael Lawler → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)
  1. Jul 29, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. · house
  2. Jul 29, 2025 Introduced in House

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • HR 4196 — African Union Diplomatic Parity Act · Introduced Jun 26, 2025 · Cong. 119 71%
  • HR 4997 — Modernize Diplomatic Security Training Act · Introduced Aug 19, 2025 · Cong. 119 71%
  • HR 4891 — Secure Our Embassies Act · Introduced Aug 5, 2025 · Cong. 119 70%
  • HR 4297 — Protecting American Diplomats Act · Introduced Jul 7, 2025 · Cong. 119 70%
  • HR 5251 — To provide for the public diplomacy authorities of the Department of State, and for other purposes. · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Cong. 119 69%
  • HR 5044 — Safe Embassies Act · Introduced Aug 26, 2025 · Cong. 119 69%

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in House · Jul 29, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 29, 2025

Mr. Lawler introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To provide that the Secretary of State should delegate to the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security or the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security the pre-approval authority for Diplomatic Security special agents seeking authorization under section 2516 of title 18, United States Code, to carry out the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications.

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 “Parity in Diplomatic Security Investigations Act”.

SEC. 2. DELEGATION.

(a) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) Diplomatic Security special agents should be able to conduct recordings, like those of other United States Federal law enforcement agencies, during the course of their official activities to ensure accountability and promote public confidence in law enforcement efforts; and

(2) the Department of State’s current process of obtaining the Secretary of State’s pre-approval for creating each instance of these objective accounts of key investigations and interactions significantly restricts Diplomatic Security special agents from obtaining timely approval from an appropriate law enforcement entity for critical information.

(b) In General.—The Secretary of State should delegate to the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security or the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security the pre- approval authority for Diplomatic Security special agents seeking authorization under section 2516 of title 18, United States Code, to carry out the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications—

(1) in furtherance of carrying out the duties described in section 37(a) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2709(a)); and

(2) in accordance with the requirements under chapter 119 of title 18, United States Code.

(c) Update to the Foreign Affairs Manual.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State should revise section 221.5 of volume 12 of the Foreign Affairs Manual to reflect the delegation to the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security or the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security under subsection (b). <all>

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