Expanded investigative authority of the Department of Agriculture Inspector General

Section 16 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025) is amended by adding at the end the following: (i) Office of Inspector General coordination authority (1) The Inspector General of the Department of Agriculture shall have full authority to investigate and coordinate multi-jurisdictional efforts to prevent, detect, and prosecute theft, misuse, or fraudulent accessing of supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits, including authority— (A) to investigate cyber-enabled benefit theft, including skimming, cloning, phishing, spoofing, and unauthorized access to EBT systems; (B) to issue subpoenas, executing warrants, and initiating civil or criminal referrals; (C) to coordinate with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service, State and local law enforcement, and financial institutions; (D) to request and receive data from State EBT processors and contracted vendors for investigative purposes; and (E) to participate in interagency cyber task forces or fraud detection initiatives. (2) The Secretary of Agriculture may issue rules, and allocate funds, necessary to support the activities of the Inspector General under this subsection..