CONVERSATION WITH (Sanitized) SENATE AERONAUTICAL AND SPACE SCIENCES COMMITTEE, CONCERNING THE SENATE SELECT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77M00144R000500110091-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 4, 2004
• Sequence Number: 91
• Publication Date: February 5, 1975
• Content Type: MFR

5 February 1975
Approved For Release 20041 p j R(PPE7Jc,jfI4R0005001
(PLC 75-0286
SUBJECT: Conversation with)
Senate Aeronautical and 'pace Sciences Committee,
Concerning the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Activities
this afternoon for the purpose of
STATINTL
STATINTL
getting his views re ardin the Senate Select Committee.
has worked for the past few years on the
Minority s a of the Sena e Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee,
responsible principally to Senator Barry Goldwater. Senator Goldwater
has named him his staff assistant on the Select Committee on Intelligence
Activities.
2. said that the Republican members of the Select
Committee have met and Senator Tower has met at least once with
Chairman Church. At the Church/Tower meeting, Senator Tower was
informed by Senator Church that he would receive one-third of the Select
Committee staff. explained that under the current ratio of
Democrats to Republicans, Minority staff on committees are limited to
one-third to one-fourth of the total staff. I said this seemed a little unfair
in the Select Committee context since this group is made up of six
Democrats and five Republicans. It would seem that the Republicans
would be entitled to a larger split. I agreed but said it STATINTL
appears that Senator Tower has accepted the one-third figure.
3, I Isaid at the meeting of Republican members the
subject of security clearance received considerable attention. During the
floor debate on the resolution, (S. Res. 21) which established the Select
Committee, members indicated that "Q" clearance would be required of
1' - ~`U USE O LY
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all staff having access to classified material. At the Republican meeting
there was considerable discussion about the distinction between "QF" and
"QC" clearances, that is, whether the "Q" clearance would be based on an
FBI or a Civil Service investigation. It was agreed, at least by the
Republicans, that it would be the former.
4. I talked at some length about the problem of personal staff
pointing out that if the members of senator's personal staffs were STATINTL
permitted. access to classified Committee material, it would be difficult
if not impossible to maintain any security control. acknowledged
that this was a problem but said under the one-third rule, he thought the
Minority members would press to have an arrangement whereby members
of their personal staffs could work for them on Committee business, even
though they were not on the :.,Committee payroll. I suggested that if this
should happen (and I still thought it was a bad idea) it would appear all the
more important that the Committee require all staff members to sign a STATINTL
secrecy agreement. seemed only lukewarm to this idea but
did not rule it out as-,a possibility. I told that the Director's
principal concern in the whole area of Committee and Commission investigations
centered around the protection of the names of individuals in sensitive
positions and confidential sources and contacts of the Agency.
would make would be the enactment of something comparable to the British
they should not refer to the Official Secrets Act as a comparison since this
brings a very negative reaction from the American press and others. In this
connection, I reviewed withi the work we have done in the
preparation of proposed legislation to further protect intelligence sources
and methods from unauthorized disclosure. He will be interested in getting
into this further as time passes. He said he also feels, however, that the
liberal members of the Committee will have to come out of this exercise
with something and he feels that perhaps a proposal along the lines of a U. S.
intelligence commission might be the result. He has in mind a three-man
commission with the commissioners appointed by the President, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate. As described it, the STATINTL
function to be exercised by this commission would be something along the lines
of that carried out presently by the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory
Board, but would also have more of an "ombudsman" function. This would
be a group to which any employee of the intelligence community could go if
2
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he felt that something was happening which was either contrary to law or
"wrong. " The members of the commission could then look into these
allegations to assure themselves, on a continuing basis, that the basic
charters of the various intelligence agencies were not being violated and
that the basic guarantees of the Constitution were still being adhered to.
STATINTL 6. had very little comment regarding the members of
the Committee or other staffers at this point. He did say he thought Senator
Tower would be a good Vice Chairman but he added that the knowledge of the
intelligence function on the part of the members of the Committee ranged
from slight to zero. He said a number of staffers were present with their
senators at the meeting of the Minority members but most of them were
unknown to him and he did not make a point of getting all of their names.
STATINTL STATINTL
7. In summary, is concerned about many of the things
STATINTL that we in the Agency are worried about and I think he will be a good point of
informal contact. I did make it clear to him, however, that
has been designated by the Director as his personal representative
and point of contact with the Committee.
GEORGE L. CARY
Legislative Counsel
STATINTL
Distribution:
Original - Subject file
1-
I :A
1 - DCI
1 - DDCI
1- IG
1 - OGC
1 - Mr. Knoche
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