CONGRESSMAN LES ASPIN'S COMMENT IN 29 MAY 1978 ISSUE OF TIME MAGAZINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R001900070021-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 21
• Content Type: MEMORANDUM FOR

Approved For Release 2006/09/28: CIA-RDP81 M00980R00'T90
OGC 78-3788 9 June 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
FROM Anthony A. Lapham
General Counsel
SUBJECT Congressman Les Aspin's Comment in
29 May 1978 Issue of Time Magazine
1. Action Requested. Your consideratio:'i of the attached
proposed letter (TAB A) to Les Aspin.
2. Background. The 29 May 1978 issue of Time Magazine
contained the following:
Les Aspin, Congressman from Wisconsin:
'The CIA can't be the only arbiter of
what is or isn't classified. There
ought to be somebody you can appeal to--
an arbitrator set up by an act of
Congress.'
You asked that we look over your testimony to Senator Biden's
Subcommittee on Secrecy and Disclosure and prepare a polite
letter to Congressman Aspin on his statement.
3. The context in which Mr. Aspin made the statement
is unclear. The Agency, of course, is not "the only arbiter
of yihat is or isn't classified." The Interagency Classi-
fication Review Committee (ICRC) established by Executive
Order 11652 is authorized. to consider appeals of denials of
declassification requests under the Order and the NSC Direc-
tive on classification, downgrading, and declassification.
This admittedly is entirely an Executive Branch process.
Under the Freedom of Information Act Amendment of 1974,
however, federal district courts are empowered to determine
whether the Agency may withhold records from a requester, on
the basis of, for example, information "in fact properly
classified pursuant to... Executive Order." The court is
authorized to review Agency documents in camera and to
determine the matter "de novo."
4. When the 1974 amendment was passed President Ford
expressed some reservations about the constitutionality of
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