
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC5197a]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                       CHAPTER 68--DISASTER RELIEF
 
                 SUBCHAPTER IV-B--EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
 
                       Part B--General Provisions
 
Sec. 5197a. Security regulations


(a) Establishment

    The Director shall establish such security requirements and 
safeguards, including restrictions with respect to access to information 
and property as the Director considers necessary.

(b) Limitations on employee access to information

    No employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall be 
permitted to have access to information or property with respect to 
which access restrictions have been established under this section, 
until it shall have been determined that no information is contained in 
the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or any other 
investigative agency of the Government indicating that such employee is 
of questionable loyalty or reliability for security purposes, or if any 
such information is so disclosed, until the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation shall have conducted a full field investigation concerning 
such person and a report thereon shall have been evaluated in writing by 
the Director.

(c) National security positions

    No employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall occupy 
any position determined by the Director to be of critical importance 
from the standpoint of national security until a full field 
investigation concerning such employee shall have been conducted by the 
Director of the Office of Personnel Management and a report thereon 
shall have been evaluated in writing by the Director of the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency. In the event such full field investigation 
by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management develops any data 
reflecting that such applicant for a position of critical importance is 
of questionable loyalty or reliability for security purposes, or if the 
Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for any other reason 
considers it to be advisable, such investigation shall be discontinued 
and a report thereon shall be referred to the Director of the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency for evaluation in writing. Thereafter, the 
Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency may refer the matter 
to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the conduct of a full field 
investigation by such Bureau. The result of such latter investigation by 
such Bureau shall be furnished to the Director of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency for action.

(d) Employee oaths

    Each Federal employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
acting under the authority of this subchapter, except the subjects of 
the United Kingdom and citizens of Canada specified in section 5197(b) 
of this title, shall execute the loyalty oath or appointment affidavits 
prescribed by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. Each 
person other than a Federal employee who is appointed to serve in a 
State or local organization for emergency preparedness shall before 
entering upon duties, take an oath in writing before a person authorized 
to administer oaths, which oath shall be substantially as follows:
        ``I, ____________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will 
    support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all 
    enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and 
    allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without 
    any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well 
    and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.
        ``And I do further swear (or affirm) that I do not advocate, nor 
    am I a member or an affiliate of any organization, group, or 
    combination of persons that advocates the overthrow of the 
    Government of the United States by force or violence; and that 
    during such time as I am a member of ____________ (name of emergency 
    preparedness organization), I will not advocate nor become a member 
    or an affiliate of any organization, group, or combination of 
    persons that advocates the overthrow of the Government of the United 
    States by force or violence.''

After appointment and qualification for office, the director of 
emergency preparedness of any State, and any subordinate emergency 
preparedness officer within such State designated by the director in 
writing, shall be qualified to administer any such oath within such 
State under such regulations as the director shall prescribe. Any person 
who shall be found guilty of having falsely taken such oath shall be 
punished as provided in section 1621 of title 18.

(Pub. L. 93-288, title VI, Sec. 622, as added Pub. L. 103-337, div. C, 
title XXXIV, Sec. 3411(a)(3), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 3108.)


                            Prior Provisions

    Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in 
section 2255 of Title 50, Appendix, War and National Defense, prior to 
repeal by Pub. L. 103-337, Sec. 3412(a).
