50 U.S.C. § 3122 — Defenses and exceptions

(a) Disclosure by United States of identity of covert agent^*. A defendant has a defense if, before the charged offense, the United States publicly acknowledged or revealed the individual’s intelligence^* relationship with the United States.nn(b) Conspiracy, misprision of felony, aiding and abetting, and similar theories. (1) Subject to (2), a person who did not commit the section 3121 offense cannot be prosecuted under that section because of section 2 or 4 of title 18 and cannot be prosecuted for conspiracy to commit it. (2) This protection does not apply to a person who acted in a pattern intended to identify and expose covert agents while having reason to believe the activity would impair or impede United States foreign-intelligence activities, or to a person with authorized access to classified information^*.nn(c) Disclosure to select congressional committees on intelligence. Directly sending information described in section 3121 to either congressional intelligence committee is not an offense under section 3121.nn(d) Disclosure by agent of own identity. An individual does not commit an offense under section 3121 by disclosing information that identifies only that individual as a covert agent.