Attorney General guidelines

U.S Code last checked for updates: Apr 19, 2024

§ 12.

(a)

Within one hundred and eighty days of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall issue guidelines specifying the factors to be used by the Department of Justice in rendering a decision whether to prosecute a violation of Federal law in which, in the judgment of the Attorney General, there is a possibility that classified information will be revealed. Such guidelines shall be transmitted to the appropriate committees of Congress.

(b)

When the Department of Justice decides not to prosecute a violation of Federal law pursuant to subsection (a), an appropriate official of the Department of Justice shall prepare written findings detailing the reasons for the decision not to prosecute. The findings shall include—

(1)

the intelligence information which the Department of Justice officials believe might be disclosed,

(2)

the purpose for which the information might be disclosed,

(3)

the probability that the information would be disclosed, and

(4)

the possible consequences such disclosure would have on the national security.

(Pub. L. 96–456, § 12, Oct. 15, 1980, 94 Stat. 2029.)