DEFENSE APPROPRIATION ACT
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100016-1
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
S
Document Page Count:
4
Document Creation Date:
December 15, 2016
Document Release Date:
February 24, 2004
Sequence Number:
16
Case Number:
Publication Date:
December 7, 1970
Content Type:
MF
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Attachment | Size |
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Body:
i
CENDE
RDP3B002
CIA- SECRET
UNCLASSIFIED CONFIDENTIAL
OFFICIAL ROUTING SLIP
TO
NAME AND ADDRESS
DATE
INITIALS
1
Legislative Counsel
2
3
4
5
6
ACTION
DIRECT REPLY
PREPARE REPLY
APPROVAL
DISPATCH
RECOMMENDATION
COMMENT
FILE
RETURN
CONCURRENCE
INFORMATION
SIGNATURE
Remarks:
FOLD HERE TO RETURN TO SENDER
FROM: NAME, ADDRESS AND PHONE NO.
DATE
UNCLASSIFIED CONFIDENTIAL
SECRET
V'OiRM T0.
237
1-47
96R000300100016-1
OGC Has Reviewed
OSD review(s) completed.
Approved For Release 2004/03/30 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100016-6RC, 5/20/2003
Approved For Release 2004/03/30 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100016-1
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
Approved For Release 2004/03/30 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100016-1
Approved For Release 2004/03/30 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100016-1
25X6
be binding. In any event, it represents a clear statement o
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 SE'nator
Fulbright's statements on the floor that he did not intend his Amend-
ment to interfere with current operations there. However, Senator
Fulbright might claim at some future date that he was not awa,-P
25X1
LAWRENCE R. HOUSTON
General Counsel
Approved For Release 2004/03/30 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100016-1
Approved For Release 2004/03/30 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100016-1
Concurrence and Distribution Sheet for Memorandum from t1-.e
General Counsel for the Director of Central Intelligence,
subject: Defense Appropriation Act, dated 7 December 1970
. CONCURRENCE
25X1A
7 DEC E97fa
Legislative Counsel Date
OGC:LRH/OLC:JMM:jeb
Distribution:
O-DCI
1-DDCI
1-ExDir-Comet
1-DDP
1-D/PPB
1-C/FE
1-Legislative Counsel
1-General Counsel
Approved For Release 2004/03/30 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100016-1