LETTER TO THE HONORABLE JOHN L. MCCLELLAN FROM RICHARD HELMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000400150013-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 17, 2004
• Sequence Number: 13
• Content Type: LETTER

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The Honorable John L. McClellan, Chairman
Committee on Government Operations
United States Senate
Washington, D. C. 20510
My dear Mr. Chairman:
We wish to submit the views of this Agency on S. 3529, 92nd
Congress, a bill "To prescribe certain standards and procedures governing
the establishment and operation of advisory committee in the Federal
Government, and for other purposes. "
In its present form S. 3529 raises several problems for the Agency.
The provisions of most concern are the requirements:
a. To publicize the existence of an advisory committee,
b. To file with the Library of Congress a committee
charter involving information on the committee's objectives
and scope of activity and a description of its duties,
c. To file committee reports with the Library of Congress,
d. To provide to the Librarian of Congress committee records,
transcripts, working papers, drafts, studies and other documents
upon a committee's termination,
e. To audit the nature and extent of the committee's activities
by the Comptroller General, and
f. To make a determination in writing and publish it in the
Federal Register prior to each meeting which is to be closed to
the public and for which the minutes of the meeting are not to be
available upon the request of any person because of security
considerations.
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The National Security Act of 1947 requires this Agency:
"... to correlate and evaluate intelligence relating
to the national security, and provide for the appropriate
dissemination of such intelligence within the Government
using where appropriate existing agencies and facilities...
(50 U. S. C. 403).
In order to correlate and evaluate foreign intelligence information it is
necessary to obtain advice and recommendations from diverse sources,
frequently using the committee system for this purpose. These committees
are usually composed solely of Federal employees and officers but a
number have representatives from the private sector as well. In both
cases, however, their work involves sensitive matters directly bearing
upon a statutory proscription:
11... That the Director of Central Intelligence shall be
responsible for protecting intelligence sources and methods
from unauthorized disclosure;...' (50 U. S. C. 403).
It is believed that the requirements of S. 3529 previously noted
could conflict both with the statutory responsibility to protect intelligence
sources and methods and with the provisions of the Central Intelligence
Agency Act of 1949 which exempt this Agency from:
". . . the provisions of any other law which require the
publication or disclosure of the organization, functions, names,
official titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed by
the Agency... " (50 U. S. C. 403 (g)).
It is clear from the hearings before your Committee on legislation
similar to S. 3529 that the principal objective of the legislation is to assure
that advisory committees operate in the public interest. In the case of
committees dealing exclusively with sensitive national security and foreign
intelligence matters, it appears that the public interest is best served by
protecting their endeavors in line with the provisions of law noted above.
In view of the foregoing, it is recommended that S. 3529, or any
similar legislation reported out by your Committee, contain a provision
similar to that which appears in S. 1637, which was introduced by Senator
Metcalf on 22 April 1971, as follows:
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"Applicability
Sec. 4. This Act shall not apply to an advisory committee--
(1) which furnishes advice or recommendations only with
respect to national security or intelligence matters;... "
We will be happy to provide any additional information that your
Committee may request.
The Office of Management and Budget has advised, that from the
standpoint of the Administration's program, there is no objection to the
submission of this report.
Since rely,
Richard Helms
Director
3
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