EMPLOYEE BULLETIN HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00357R000200110021-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 9, 2001
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: September 3, 1975
• Content Type: BULL

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EMPL 0 YEE
BULLETIN
No. 462
3 September 1975
House Select Committee on Intelligence
House Resolution 591 established a House Select
Committee to review U.S. intelligence activities. The
Resolution calls for a comprehensive review of the
organization, operations, and oversight of the U.S.
intelligence community.
It is in the interests of-all of us to see that the
Select Committee gains a full understanding of our activities
aid the importance of their contribution to the country as
*xpeditiously as possible. I have every confidence that
the inquiry will produce new understanding of and improvements
in the American intelligence system.
It is with this conviction that I have pledged my
personal cooperation, and that of the CIA. I have advised
Chairman Pike and Vice-Chairman McClory that employees of
the CIA will be available to the Select Committee for
interviews and for testimony. Most of these interviews
and testimony will be designed merely to obtain factual
or background information. The Committee may also delve
into activities it feels are not clearly spelled out in
our charter. Employees called for interview or testimony
who feel concern about their personal responsibility
should not hesitate to consult with our General Counsel.
They furthermore may be assured that the Agency will give
every proper assistance to employees in placing in context
the responsibilities and authority that were laid upon
them with respect to any areas under inquiry.
We are working out procedures with the Committee
Staff to facilitate their work. Attached to this bulletin
is a letter which I have sent to Chairman Pike. To
facilitate the necessary work of the Committee and in recog-
nition of the security protection contemplated by the
Committee, I have determined that disclosure of otherwise
protected information to the Select Committee or its
designated Staff members will constitute authorized pro-
vision of information within the meaning of the Secrecy
Agreements signed by each CIA employee, subject to the
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special procedures and limitations set forth in the letter
regarding particularly sensitive matters. Of course,
employees must bear in mind that this limited release
allowing them to disclose classified information to the
Committee does not constitute a general release. It is
one limited to the Committee only.
The cooperative spirit of our relationship with the
Committee and its Staff must at the same time take into
account the rights of Agency employees. The Committee
Staff has agreed to advise employees of their Constitutional
rights at the beginning of any interview or other appearance.
When a current Agency employee is selected to be
interviewed, the Staff Director or Chief Counsel will
nox:nally notify the Review Staff (351-4086) who will then
contact the employee through the appropriate Directorate.
This procedure is intended to allow time for the employee
to gain general legal advice if he or she wants it, on
which he may consult our General Counsel, and to obtain
security guidance from an appropriate senior officer.
As in the case of the Senate Select Committee, my
own belief is that after a careful review of all U.S.
intelligence activities, the House Committee will address
needed legislative changes and will reaffirm its confidence
in the importance and contribution of U. S. intelligence.
Attachment: a/s
DISTRIBUTION: ALL EMPLOYEES
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASH 1 NGTON, D.C. 20505
September 3, 197S
The Honorable Otis G. Pike, Chairman
Select Committee on Intelligence
House of Representatives
Washington, D. C. 20515
Dear Chairman Pike:
On July 25th I left with you a packet of materials
concerning approaches that might be appropriate in
handling the variety of demands your Committee will
be making upon the Agency in the months to come. Since
then we have had discussions regarding security and other
agpects of your Committee's investigation. In addition, the
C mmittee's Staff Director and Counsel have held a series of
discussions with our Special Counsel and members of my
staff. With this then as background, let me suggest certain
approaches that I believe will insure our ability to respond
promptly and fully to the needs of the Committee.
I. Documents:
Upon receipt of a written request from the
Chairman, Staff Director or Committee Counsel for
documents dealing with a particular area of inquiry, the
Agency will promptly respond with an answer, a partial
response or at least a statement as to when the materials
will be available. To insure that there are no misunder-
standings as to the materials requested, it maybe helpful
for your staff to initially discuss the scope of a proposed
request with our staff before it is reduced to writing.
In addition, I have encouraged our staff to contact your
staff members and discuss the precise nature of any request
not clear on its face. Further, our staff has been instructed
to make materials available as soon as they are ready and.
not to hold up a response until all of the materials
requested have been compiled. When documents are withheld
because clearance is being sought from another Agency,
your Committee will be notified.
z
d tia
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To assist us in servicing your requests we have also
asked that the various requests for documents be coordinated
in order that we might be advised as to the House Select
Committee's priorities among the various demands. We
have set up a reading room at the Agency where documents
will be made available for examination.
With respect to the documents to be made available
to the Committee, there are certain sensitive materials
that must be protected not only from exposure but even
the risk of exposure. Included in this sensitive category
are:
--identities of agents and sources;
--identities of persons involved in Agency
operations who would be subject to personal,
physical danger, to extreme harassment or
to economic or other reprisals if their names
were to be publicly identified;
--material provided confidentially by cooperating
foreign intelligence services;
--details that would reveal the nature of
sensitive intelligence methods and techniques
of collection, by technical and human means;
--identities of cooperating Americans and
American organizations and contacts to whom
we have a confidential relationship.
In making such deletions, our staff has been instructed
to describe the deletion, e.g., as a CIA officer or a source,
in order to place the material in context. Where your
staff believes that a particular name or detail is critical
to their inquiry, this then should be brought to the
attention of our staff and the matter can be negotiated.
I believe this procedure is consistent with your statement
to me that the Committee is not interested in our sources
and methods, or in the names of agents as such.
Finally, some proposed testimony and requests for
documents may enter the area of the executive decision-
making process in which the need to protect the confidentiality
of advice or recommendations to policy-making bodies has long
been recognized. This would. apply, for example, to Presidential
or 40 Committee deliberations relating to approval of CIA
actions. Where such a circumstance exists, the Committee
will be advised.
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We will want to work together, too, to protect certain
other information which, if improperly disclosed, could
impair the legitimate rights of privacy of individuals.
I am sure we can deal with these matters so as to protect
this essential privacy while satisfying the Select Committee's
need for a full understanding of intelligence activities.
II. Witnesses:
You doubtless will want to interview present and
former CIA employees. It is our understanding that
prospective witnesses will be advised of the scope of the
inquiry and may be accompanied by counsel, as provided by
the Committee rules. Current employees will,: of course, be
made available to the Select Committee for staff interviews
and for testimony. This on rare occasions may require special
arrangements, including testimony under alias, to protect
th;identity of employees whose safety or future utility might
ba'.jeopardized by exposure. With respect to the interview
of Agency employees who are currently on detail to other
agencies in.the government and whose testimony relates to CIA
matters, we will arrange with the host agency to make the
employee available upon request of the Committee. Where the
employee is sought to testify with respect to matters
concerning his detail or matters relating to the host agency,
we will bring your request to the attention of the host
agency. Thus, if your staff will advise us of whom they wish
to interview, we will make the appropriate arrangements with
our employees. While I have no authority to direct the
cooperation of ex-employees, I will be happy to assist you
in any way I can. In a very few cases, their identities
also will have to be protected.
As you know, each employee had to sign a secrecy
agreement upon entering on duty. This requires that he keep
forever secret all classified information gained during his
employment, unless he obtains prior authorization to disclose
it from the DCI. These secrecy agreements signed by our
employees and ex-employees need not impair the necessary work
of your Committee. In view of the security protection
comtemplated by your Committee, I have determined that dis-
closure of otherwise protected information to the Select
Committee or its designated staff members will, in most
instances, constitute an authorized provision of information
within the meaning of the secrecy agreements. The attached
Employee Bulletin may be used to indicate authorization for
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any Agency employee to furnish information to the Select
Committee or to appropriate staff members on matters which
otherwise would be covered by their secrecy agreement. Where,
however, the answer to the particular question covers the
highly sensitive matters mentioned above, the employee
or former employee is obligated to consult with the Agency
before responding. In this regard, the Agency would appreciate
being notified before the Committee contacts each Agency
employee or ex-employee who is to be interviewed or called to
testify. I attached a separate letter addressed to CIA ex-
employees which should be shown to them for the same purpose.
Since so many of our activities involve sensitive
areas, I propose an approach which should aid the Committee
in expediting its investigation. If the Committeewwill
notify Special Counsel to the Director,
of the areas o its inquiry at the outset, we would be
in a position to highlight particularly sensitive issues
and work out methods to insure that your Committee obtains
what it needs without unnecessary risk to the sensitive
matters. We will then be in. a position to bring to the
Committee's attention whether any particularly sensitive
issues may be involved. Such an approach will insure you
get the information you need to perform your task and at
the same time safeguard sensitive intelligence sources
and methods which I am obligated by law to protect.
In conclusion, we ask that your Committee make an
early determination as to the ultimate disposition of its
records upon completion of its tasks. I am sure you will
join rie in recognizing that permanent, safe storage and
security safeguards will be necessary to protect the
sensitivity of the Committee's records. To this end you
may wish to discuss permanent disposition with the Archivist
of the United States. This matter of ultimate disposition
of the records of your Committee continues to concern the
Intelligence Community. I hope that this important matter
can be disposed of promptly.,
It is in our mutual interests to ensure that your
review proceeds as smoothly and as expeditiously as
possibly. Toward that end, I have instructed all CIA
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personnel to respond in a spirit of cooperation. A
copy of that instruction is attached. And, I am prepared
to consult with the Committee at any time to determine
appropriate courses of action.
Sincerely,
FOIAb3b
W. E. 'Colby
Director
Attachments:
As Stated
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To Former Employees of The Central Intelligence Agency:
House Resolution 591 established a Select Committee
of the House of Representatives to review U. S.
intelligence activities. It is in the interest of the
nation to see that the Select Committee receives the
information it needs to fully understand our activities
and the importance of our contributions.to the country.
Since you have been contacted by a member of the
Select Committee's staff for interview you may have
questions of your own regarding the implications of
the secrecy agreement you signed for the testimony sought
from you. As you will recall, the agreement you signed
ap a condition of employment requires that you keep forever
secret all classified information gained by you during the
course of your employment. Further, the agreement requires
that you may not disclose classified information, either
orally or by publication, without prior authorization from
the Director of Central Intelligence even after employment
with the CIA has been terminated.
In recognition of the security protection undertaken
by the Select Committee, I have determined that the
disclosure of otherwise protected information to the
Select Committee or its designated staff members will--
with the exception of a few, specially sensitive matters--
in most instances constitute a fully authorized provision
of information within the meaning of the secrecy agreement.
Of course, employees must bear in mind that this limited
release allowing them to disclose classified information
to the Committee does not constitute a general release.
It is one limited to the Committee only.
The category of especially sensitive matters includes
the following:
1. Identities of agents and sources;
2. Names of persons involved in Agency operations
who would be subject to personal, physical
danger, to harassment or to economic or other
reprisals if publicly identified;
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3. Materihll provided confidentially by cooperating
foreign services;
4. Details that would reveal the nature of
sensitive intelligence methods and techniques
of collection, by technical and human means; or
5. Identities of cooperating American organizations
and contacts to whom we have pledged
confidentiality.
If the proposed answers to any of the questions put
to you involve especially sensitive matters, you should
advise the interviewer that you have a problem and wish
to obtain advice from the Agency. Contact the CIA Review
Staff (351-4086) for this purpose.
FOIAb3b
W. h. Colby
Director
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