A MEASURE OF PRIVACY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200590014-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 1, 1999
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: September 21, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

ST. LOUIS DISPATCH
September 21 1967
Approved For Release 2000/05/05: CIA-IDP75-001498000200590014-4
CPYRGHT
A Measure' of. Privacy
Though the President and Supreme Court
have often spoken out against invasions of
personal privacy, the leading invader of pri.
' vacy.for some years has been the Federal
Government itself. To make the Government
set a better example, the Senate has now
passed by 79 to 4 a measure meant to uphold
constitutional rights of federal employes.
If the overwhelming Senate vote. is not
enough to suggest the need for such a bill, re-
suits of a long investigation by a Senate sub-
committee should prove it. For example, the
Senators 'found that one woman applying for
a Foreign, Service job was asked to "answer:
quickly and without any'thinking or delibera-
tion" whetier these statements are true or`
false: I believe in a life hereafter. I read the
Bible several times a week. My sex life is sat-
isfactory. Evil spirits possess me at times.
An 18year-old'college girl told the Senators
she had thought working for the State De-'
partment one summer might be fun, until a
departmental interrogator began asking her
personal questions about her relations with
a boy friend. She lost interest in a federal job.
Such intimate questions about family rela-
tionships, sex,: religion and personal habits
(even dreams) were a familiar part of what
officials termed "psychological testing," in-
volving both questionnaires and use of .poly-
graphs, the so-called lie detectors. The -sub-'
committee found that 16 federal agencies had
hired 633 polygraph examiners, though it also
heard expert testimony that polygraph results
were not reliable. The FBI does not. use them.
Of course, federal officials defended psycho-
logical testing on various grounds: national
security, determination of fitness of employes,
even the need to provide medical or other aid
for employes. The diverse defenses did not
make much s e u s e. Senator Sam Ervin of
North Carolina, subcommittee chairman, said
the tests were both "useless and offensive."
"If the security of the United States rests on
these devices," he added, "we are indeed
pitifully insecure."
But the invasion of privacy of government
employes does not stop there. The subcommit-
tee also heard of coercion against them to
:'buy bonds, to take part in some outside ac-
tivities and to avoid others, and to conduct
any public' writing or speaking according to
some official's preconceived rules.
To make matters worse, this infernal med-
dling in' private lives'was not restricted to so-
called 'security agencies, but was s p r e a d
throughout the bureaucracy. Nor was there
any relation between security and the grant-
ing of such elementary protection as a right
to counsel in hearings; the Defense Depart-
ment-allowed counsel but, until recently, the
Civil. Service Commission. did..pAt:?~.
As passed by the Senate, Senator Ervin 's'.
bill is aimed specifically at all these mal-
practices, exempting only the three major in-
' telligence agencies: the CIA, NSA and FBI.,.,.
The military is covered by its own rules.
r r i
For other federal departments, the bill pro
' hibits bureaucratic demands that employes
disclose their race, religion or national origin
or take psychological or polygraph tests in-.
volving family, sex and religion. The measure
bars demands that employes engage in out-
side activities or report those of a voluntary
n?ture. It prohibits coercion as to charitable
gifts and bonds and in political matters. It
also requires the right to. counsel in disci-
plinary hearings.
Senator Ervin deserves a great deal of
credit for disclosing the Big Brotherly opera-
tions of government and proposing to put an
end to them. As a practical matter,. such in
vasions of a citizen's rights, innermost {
thoup,hts and beliefs can only discouraee .!
sound federal emvl.ovment practices. But- the.,
principle involved is far more imnortant.
The nrincinle is the Constitutional one of.--
rrntecting private thoughts from intrusion..::
When the Government itself ass>mes the -J
privileaoc of kevhnle-aristcrcracy it should, as
Senator Ervin sari. "disturb every American',]
who takes Dri i in-his government." We hone
the H,,,uce will be as disturbed, as the Senate
proved to be.
Approved For Release 2000/05/05: CIA-RDP75-00149R000200590014-4