DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP64B00346R000100250011-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 2, 2004
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: February 15, 1962
• Content Type: LETTER

4OHNE. MOSS, CALIF., CHAIRMAN
DANE B. FASCELL, FLA.
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EIGHTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS
Congree;.5 of the 1rniteb'tate
'kou9e of 3t.epre9entatibe..
SPECIAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SUBCOMMITTEE
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
ROOM 218, GEORGE WASHINGTON INN
WASHINGTON. D.C.
CAPITOL 4-3121
EXTENSION 3741
February 15, 1962
The Honorable
John F. Kennedy
The President of the United States
The White House
Washington, D. C.
In your letter of February 8, 1962 to Secretary McNamara you
directed him to refuse certain information to a Senate Subcommittee. The
concluding paragraph of your letter stated:
The principle which is at stake here cannot be
automatically applied to every request for informa-
tion. Each case must be judged on its merits."
A similar letter from President Eisenhower on May 17, 1951+ also
refused information to a Senate Subcommittee, setting forth the same argu-
ments covered in your letter. President Eisenhower did not, however, state
that future questions of availability of information to the Congress would
have to be answered as they came up.
I know you are aware of the result of President Eisenhower's
letter. Time after time Executive Branch employees far down the adminis-
trative line from the President fell back on his letter of May 17, 1954 as
authority to withhold information from the Congress and the public.
Some of the cases are well known -- the Dixon-Yates matter and
the investigation of East-West trade controls, for instance -- but many of
the refusals based on President Eisenhower's letter of May 17, 1951+ received
no public notice. A report of the House Committee on Government Operations'
covering the five years from June, 1955 through June, 1960 lists 1.1+ cases
of Executive Branch officials refusing information on the basis of the
principles set forth in the May 17, 1954 letter.
I am confident that you share my belief that your letter of
February 8, 1962 to Secretary McNamara should not be seized upon by
Executive Branch employees -- many of them holding the same policy-making
positions of responsibility they did under the Eisenhower Administration --
as a new claim of authority to withhold information from the Congress and
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 Approved For Release 2004/03/18 : CIA-RDP64B00346R000100250011-6
The Honorable John F. Kennedy -2-
February 15, 1962
the public. A Subcommittee staff study indicates that during the year be-
tween the time you took office and February 8, 1962, the claim of an
"executive privilege" to withhold government information was not used
successfully once, compared to the dozens of times in previous years admin-
istrative employees held up "executive privilege" as a shield against public
and Congressional access to information.
Although your letter of February 8, 1962 stated clearly that the
principle involved could not be applied automatically to restrict informa-
tion, this warning received little public notice. Clarification of this
point would, I believe, serve to prevent the rash of restrictions on govern-
ment information which followed the May 17, 1954 letter from President
Eisenhower.
Sincerely,
/s/ John E. Moss
Chairman
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