LETTER TO HONORABLE BIRCH BAYH FROM STANSFIELD TURNER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R001900060024-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 23, 2009
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: November 22, 1978
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2009/09/23: CIA-RDP81 M00980R001900060024-0
Honorable Birch Bayh, Chairman
Select Committee on Intelligence
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman:
OLC X78-~
Executive'Eegieixy
3 A-
I have been as1?ced by the Counsel to the President to
transmit to you the enclosed copy of the President's letter
to me of 19 September 1978. That letter implements Section
3-403 of Executive Order 12036 by establishing a standard
to be followed in reporting to your Committee "information
relating to intelligence activities that are illegal or
improper and corrective actions that are taken or planned."
I of course will assume responsibility for reporting
to your Committee under the President's standard so far as
concerns activities of CIA. So far as concerns activities
of other intelligence agencies, I am informed that the
President has sent letters similar to the enclosure to
the Attorney General, relative to the FBI, and -Co the
Secretary of Defense.
Yours sincerely,
/8/ Stansfield Turnez
STANSFIELD TURNER
cc: Honorable Robert J. Lipshutz
Counsel to the President
NSC review completed.
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THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
September 19, 1978
To Admiral Turner
As I stated in my July 27, 1977, letter to
Senator Inouye, I consider intelligence abuses to
be of such import that I intend to deal personally
with such matters, including the obligation of the
Executive Branch to inform the appropriate congres-
sional committees. Therefore, I am writing, pursuant
to Section 3-4 of Executive Order 12036, to indicate
the appropriate procedures for reporting to congres-
sional committees ". . . information relating to
intelligence activities that are illegal or improper
and corrective actions that are taken or planned."
f
The CIA should continue to report to the Intelligence
Oversight Board activities which raise questions of
legality or propriety. The IOB will review the matter
and, if it raises a serious question, report it to me
with its recommendations. If you feel that the gravity
of a matter is such that it should be reported directly
to me, the information also should be provided at the
same time to the IOB so that it can begin its review
promptly.
After considering the reports of the CIA and the IOB
and, on questions of legality, the judgment of the
Attorney General, I will review any determinations
that an activity is illegal or improper, the proposed
corrective action, and the manner and timing of report-
ing to the Congress. You will then make the appropriate
report on the matter to the congressional committees,
except when I communicate the matter to them directly.
In the case of questions of legality or propriety which
you believe are so minor that they clearly do not need
to be brought to my attention, you should continue to
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inform congressional committees, as well as the
IOB, in a timely manner. You may, of course, at
any time suspend an activity which raises a serious
question of legality or impropriety, until a final
determination is made whether the activity should
be modified or discontinued and what other corrective
action is required.
If in your judgment special circumstances require
reporting an illegal or improper activity to Congress
within a time period shorter than those outlined here,
you should so indicate at the time the matter is re-
ported to the IOB or to me:
In any event, you should discuss this concern either
with myself or the IO3 before undertaking to report
the matter to Congress ahead of this timetable.
Sincerely,
Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN
Director of Central Intelligence
Washington, D.C. 20505
Approved For Release 2009/09/23: CIA-RDP81 M00980R001900060024-0