CONVERSATION WITH SENATOR JOHN STENNIS (D., MISS.)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00957A000100100086-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2005
• Sequence Number: 86
• Publication Date: April 5, 1976
• Content Type: MFR

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5 April 1976
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Conversation with Senator John Stennis (D., Miss.)
This afternoon I met with Senator John Stennis (D., Miss.)
in the Reception Room off the Senate floor and covered the following
subjects:
The Second Deputy Position:
I told the Senator that the Director had been trying to
place the "second deputy," that is, the Deputy to the Director for
the Intelligence Community, at the same level with the statutory
Deputy Director for Central Intelligence, and that we were considering
various alternative amendments to the National Security Act to
accomplish this purpose. I discussed these alternatives with
Senator Stennis, using the draft material prepared jointly by OGC
and OLC. It became clear very early in, the conversation that
Senator Stennis would be very much opposed to attempting to get
any legislation for a second deputy requiring amendment to the
National Security Act on the floor of the Senate this year. He said
he felt that there was just too much to be concerned about with
the proposals for oversight committees, the Senate Select Committee
report coming up, etc. , to run the risk of opening the National
Security Act to amendments on the floor of the Senate with such
legislation. We discussed various alternative actions which the
Administration might take in the interim with respect to these two
positions, including appointing the present Deputy to the Director
for the Intelligence Community to the statutory position of DDCI,.
or of appointing someone else to this position with the understanding
that he would be carrying out the Deputy's duties with responsibility
to the Agency only, but we reached no conclusions on these possibilities.
I indicated to Chairman Stennis that General Walters .clans to retire
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effective 30 June and this will mean that the President will be sending
a nomination to the Hill for that position. The Senator seemed to have
no difficulty with facing that situation and taking such a nomination
to the floor, but was quite emphatic in his desire not to have any
new legislation on this subject this year. While I believe the Chairman
would support any reasonable appointment or arrangement of the deputy
situation, I think it would be wise for the Director or the Administration
to consult with the Chairman on the specifics when a proposal is in the
offing.
Budget Committee:
I briefly elaborated on the Director's conversations by
telephone with Senator Stennis on the situation with respect to the Budget
Committee and the request which Senator Alan Cranston (D., Calif.)
had made for access to certain budgetary data for the intelligence
community. I told the Senator that following the Director's conversation
with him and with Senator Strom Thurmond (R. , S. C. ), he had written
a letter to Senator Edmund Muskie (D., Maine), Chairman of the Senate
Budget Committee, indicating that he was opposed to any further
proliferation of this information until the Senate resolves the present
oversight issue. Senator Stennis indicated that the Budget Committees
STAT
Oversight Legislation:
Senator Stennis and I discussed the situation facing us with
respect to S. Res. 400 and the possibility that the Rules Committee
may wind-up with a recommendation which would result in split
jurisdiction of the intelligence agencies between the new oversight
committee and the present Armed Services Committee, placing
investigative power in the oversight committee and budgetary author-
ization responsibility in the Armed Services Committee. We both felt
that this was an undesirable arrangement because, among other things,
it merely adds an additional committee to the number of committees
currently receiving sensitive Agency information. Se.zator Stennis has
proposed some sort of an arrangement by which he would retain jurisdiction.
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I told him perhaps there could be some amendment to the Senate
Rules establishing a permanent Subcommittee of Armed Services on
intelligence with "reserve seats" for appointees of Appropriations,
Foreign Relations and Government Operations Committees, and other
at-large seats to be filled by the leadership. Senator Stennis would
like to see the establishment of such an arrangement, recalling that
Senator Russell had invited the Ranking members of the Foreign
Relations Committee and the leadership to sit in on intelligence
briefing sessions during the time of his Chairmanship following the
defeat of the McCarthy resolution. Senator Stennis expressed
reservations, however, about having the Government Operations
Committee included as one of those having "reserved seats." We
agreed that we would continue to press in this direction and see what
we could accomplish.
J E GE L. CARP
egislative Counsel
Distribution:
Orig - OLC/Subj
1 - OLC/Chrono
OLC/GLC/ksn
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 30 March 1976
SUBJECT . Statutory Second Deputy V n
the Community to be your principal Deputy, and to act for you
in your absence. In routine matters, of course, he Would act
for you in your role as the President's senior intelligence
advisor; the Deputy for the Agency would act for you as head
of the Agency.
1. It is my understanding that you want the Deputy for-
you wane to do. There is a serious problem, however.
3. The Act of 1947 places the responsibilities to advise
the NSC on intelligence activities, to make recommenclations to
the NSC for coordination of intelligence activities, and to
correlate and evaluate intelligence, on the CIA, tinder "a Di-
rector of Central Intelligence who shallbeethe head thereof,"
and not directly on the DCI. (Congress did not address the exis-
tence of a Community to be coordinated.) To transfer any of these
responsibilities out of the Agency and vest them in a new Deputy
would require major revision of the Act. Unless that is clone,
there is no way that the Agency Deputy can be kept from acting
for you in your absence, but there is considerable doubt that
Congress would be willing to accept such a change of even to
address it this year.
STAT
2. I have cC_H i this with and with STAT
]Cary and Everyone understands what it is
4. Obelieves the bill should simply create a
second Deputy and remain silent on which does what and which is
the senior. This may be an out. If it could be done, you could,
with the powers you now have, simply designate which will be
senior. This would enable you to do what you want now and pre-
serve for yourself or a successor maximum flexibility for the
future, should circumstances change.
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5. I have asked the troops to work up some options and
analyze difficulties inherent in each, for a discussion with
you later in the week. These will include suggestion.
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