JOURNAL OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL TUESDAY - 17 APRIL 1956

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP60-00321R000300260093-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 22, 2014
• Sequence Number: 93
• Publication Date: April 17, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/04/24:
CIA-RDP60-00321R000300260093-9 S ERET 1111
Journal
Office of Legislative Counsel
Tuesday - 17 April 1956
1. The Director appeared at a hearing of the CIA subcommittee of the
House Appropriations Committee. He was accompanied by Gen. Cabell and
Mr. Helms, Mr. Amory, Col. White, Mr. Saunders, Mr. Mason and Mr. Paul.
All Subcommittee members were present (Chairman Cannon, Cong. Mahon,
Sheppard, Taber and Wigglesworth, and Corhal Orescan, assistant clerk and
staff member). Chairman Cannon left the hearing after one hour. The Director
went through the elements of the CIA budget for Fy/1957, and responded to a
50X1 series of specific questions
50X1
The Director also covered the personnel question,
but the Committee did not appear to be as interested in this matter as we had
been led to believe in the previous hearing. He discussed the building problem
briefly, and Mr. Mahon, who was acting Chairman at the time, indicated that
his subcommittee would be hearing certain public works items later on in the
session and would be glad to take the matter up at that time if we were ready.
There was some discussion of the problem of keeping the appropriate
Congressional committees sufficiently informed as to Agency operations and
administration. Mr. Mahon indicated that although the Mansfield Resolution
appeared dead, he felt that a means should be found whereby the subcommittees
with present jurisdiction over CIA could be in a position to honestly report to
their colleagues in the Congress that they had gone into this matter in some
detail and that they were satisfied that the Agency was satisfactorily carrking
out its responsibilities. The Director stated that if members of the Committee
were so inclined, he would be more than happy to "open the books" of the Agency
completely and- to take them through every detail of our operations and adminis-
tration. It was suggested, and the Committee agreed, that it would be a good
idea, that arrangements might be made, preferably early in the next session,
whereby selected Committee members could come down and perhaps spend
several days in the Agency for this purpose. It was also suggested, subject to
a check with the President, that after the President's Board of Consultants had
had an opportunity to make some headway with their studies of the Agency, it
might be desirable for them to meet with our Congressional subcommittees to
exchange views with them. This idea was also enthusiastically received. All
members and the Director agreed that it was impossible, in the course of one
or two brief hearings a year, to provide the subcommittees with the type and
volume of information which they should have in carrying out their responsi-
bilities to the Congress.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/04/24:
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2. Fowler Hamilton, Chief Counsel of the Symington Subcommittee, called
to confirm the arrangements for the Director's appearance in Executive Session
on April 18. He informed me that a transcript would be made of the testimony,
and that we would be expected to designate an Agency representative to handle
the problem of declassification of pertinent parts. I told him that I would pass
this along to the Director and that the Director would inform the Chairman as
to how he wished to handle this matter.
Journal - 17 April 1956
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 'd 50-Yr 2014/04/24:
CIA-RDP60-00321R000300260093-9 t�, L