DEFENSE APPROPRIATION ACT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP72-00337R000100030004-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 23, 2006
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 7, 1970
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 2007/03/06 : CIA-RDP72-00337R000100030004-1
OGC 70-2041
7 December 1970
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT: Defense Appropriation Act
. 1. This memorandum is in response to your request for
a report on the status of certain amendments to the Defense Appro-
priation Act.
2. This Act as reported out by the Senate Appropriations
Committee contains two new amendments which were not in the
House version:
a. The first is the so-called Cooper-Church
Amendment, which restricts expenditures for use
of U. S. armed forces outside of South Vietnam.
This may not survive conference, but even it if does,
it has no impact on the Agency's activities.
b. The other is the so-called Fulbright Amend-
ment, which originally appeared in the Military
Procurement Authorization Bill.
3. While the Fulbright Amendment was not opposed by the
Administration or either house when it appeared in the Military
Procurement Authorization Bill, Ralph Preston tells us that Chair-
man Mahon is seriously concerned about the restrictive effects on
Presidential authority of both the Cooper-Church and the Fulbright
Amendments, and Mahon is quoted in the press to this effect on
5 December.
4. We do not know what effect Mahon's reservations will
have on the ultimate fate of the Fulbright Amendment. Even if it
is dropped from the Appropriation Bill, it remains in the Authori-
,zation Act, and most of the experts argue that it would therefore
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be binding. In any event, it represents a clear statement of
congressional intent which we think the Agency can. ill afford
to ignore.
5. In view of your conversations with Senators Russell,
Stennis, and Fulbright on the Fulbright Amendment, it appears
that there is no great problem with Agency-controlled operations
involving the SGUs and other elements in the panhandle of Laos
and the sanctuaries of eastern Cambodia, all of which can be
justified as directly supporting U. S. forces in South Vietnam
and facilitating the process of Vietnamization. Neither do we see
major problems in the Agency's operations involving the guerrillas
in the Plaine des Jarres area, _ particularly in the light of Senator
Fulbright's statements on the floor that he did not intend his Amend-
ment to interfere with current operations there. I
understanding that the Department of Defense agrees with this but
is hopeful that funds can be provided from the Military Aid Program
It would appear, therefore, to be inappropriate for the Agency to
to support the Cambodian government,
LAWRENCE R. HOUSTON
General Counsel
Approved For Release 2007/03/0 GIAr5DP72-00337RO00100030004-1