BEACON Act

Key Points

• This bill creates a brand-new Inspector General office to oversee the Executive Office of the President, adding it to the list of agencies that already have their own watchdogs. This would be the first time the White House itself has a dedicated, independent oversight office looking for waste, fraud, and abuse.
• The President must appoint the new Inspector General within 120 days of the bill becoming law. The appointment must follow existing rules for how inspectors general are chosen, which typically require Senate confirmation.
• The President can block specific audits or investigations if they would reveal classified intelligence sources, counterintelligence matters, or undercover operations. But if the President uses this power, they must explain in writing within 30 days, and that explanation gets forwarded to Congress.
• The new watchdog must submit semiannual reports to both the President and Congress. These reports must describe corrective actions taken, certify whether the Inspector General had full access to relevant information, and flag any investigations the President blocked.
• The bill also requires two evaluations of whether the White House is over-classifying documents, checking if classification policies are being followed and identifying practices that contribute to persistent misclassification.
• To keep the new watchdog itself accountable, the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency must audit the new office within 120 days of its creation and then every year after that, reporting its findings to Congress.