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To revoke security clearances for former personnel of the Department of Defense who engage in lobbying activities on behalf of China, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would require the Secretary of Defense to suspend or revoke security clearances for former military service members and Defense Department civilian employees who engage in lobbying activities on behalf of designated Chinese military companies. The Chinese military companies subject to the provision are those identified by the Secretary of Defense in periodic reports and included on the Treasury Department's Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List. The Secretary may waive the prohibition for up to 180 days if certified as being in the national security interest. Lobbying activities are defined using the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 definitions.
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)
- Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] (R-TX)
2 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to John Cornyn’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- CAPITAL GROUP $22,500
- ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ $16,500
- PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES $13,686
- WINKLEVOSS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT $13,200
- BLACKSTONE $12,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for John Cornyn → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Nov 18, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services. · senate
- Nov 18, 2025 Introduced in Senate
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.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 18, 2025
Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Mr. Whitehouse) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To revoke security clearances for former personnel of the Department of Defense who engage in lobbying activities on behalf of China, 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 “Restricting Ex-Vetted Officials from Knowledge Exploitation Act” or the “REVOKE Act”.
SEC. 2. REVOCATION OF SECURITY CLEARANCES FOR CERTAIN PERSONS.
(a) Prohibition.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Defense shall suspend or revoke a security clearance or eligibility for access to classified information for any retired or separated member of the Armed Forces or civilian employee of the Department of Defense who engages in an activity described in subsection (b).
(b) Activities Described.—The activities described in this subsection are lobbying activities or lobbying contacts for or on behalf of any entity that is—
(1) identified by the Secretary of Defense in the most recent report submitted under section 1260H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (10 U.S.C. 113 note) as a Chinese military company; and
(2) included in the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List published by the Department of the Treasury.
(c) Waiver.—The Secretary of Defense may, for periods not to exceed 180 days, waive the application of the prohibition in subsection
(a) for an individual if the Secretary certifies to the congressional defense committees that doing so is in the national security interest of the United States.
(d) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) The term “congressional defense committees” has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code.
(2) The term “lobbying activities” has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602).
(3) The term “lobbying contact” has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602), except that clause (iv) of paragraph
(8)(B)(iv) of such section shall not apply. <all>
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