STATEMENT OF MAJOR GENERAL RICHARD X. LARKIN USA RET. PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS REGARDING S. 1324 INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION ACT OF 1983 BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNITED STATES S

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00135R000701310008-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: June 28, 1983
• Content Type: REPORT

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PiAJOR GENERAL RICIiARD X. LARKIN, USA RET., PRESIDENT
THE ASSOCIATION OF F'ORi~EP. IPdTELLIGENCJ; OFF:ICERS
REGARDING 5,1324
?'INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION ACT OF 1983"
THE SELECT' CON;MITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE
OF THE
UPIITED STATES SENATE
JUNE 28, 1983
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F1ro Chairrc,an and P?Iembea.s of the Comrnittce: I
appreciate the privilege of testifying before you today on
S>132!~ ~~~h~ch amends the National Security Act of 197, by
adding a nec?~ Titls ~~II which would afford thE~ Cen'cr~.l.
Intelligence P.gericy 'a measure of relieL frarn certain
provisions of the Freedom ai Information Acto I am here as
President of the Association of Former Ir,telligznce Offi.~ers
(AFIU) - some 3500 veterans of the military intelligence
services, the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the DIA, the State
Department, and other intelligence entitieso With me today
is AFIO? s Legal Advisor and forrner General Couns^1 of C:C[~,
John S, ~7arner, and 6~'alter Jo Pforzheimer, CIA's first
legislative couns~>le
Since. ray predecessor as President of AFIO, ,"Iohn ;RIo
Maury, testified before the Committee in July 1981 on this
matter the tasks of our intelligence agencies have continued
grow in importance and corr~plexitye The substantial.
damage ~~1rEady inflicted on our intelligence efforts by FOIA
must be repaired and correctedo You have had ample
testimony by CIA, NSA, FBI and other intelligence entities
that sources of information, agents and .foreign ini~ellic~ence
services have refused to cooperate because of their fears
and lack of confidence that our intelligence agencies can
keep such relationships truly ~,onfidentidl because of the
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Fr~rclom o~: Iniobmati.on E.cta
It seems unnecessary for. us to detail the effects and
bt?rdcns placed on our intelligence agencies by FUi.Ao It
s;:emC appropriate to quote from Judge GerhaLd A. Gescll's
c:pi;ii.on in granting CIA?s motion for summary judgn~en~ of
dir.~~iisse~.l of the FOIA case brought by Philip Ageeo (Agee v
CIA, 523 F. Supp. 1290, 17 July 19II1)a After the Judge
conducted a random in camera review of II,699 CIA documents,
he saidm
pAs far as can b2 determined thi:~ i,s the first FOIA
case E~here an individual under well-founded suspicion of
conduct detrimental to the security of the United States
has invoked FOIA to ascertain the direction and
effectiveness of his Government?s legitimate efforts to
ascer'cair. and counteract his effort to subvert the
country's foreign intelligence program. It is amazing
that a rational security tolerates the expense, the
waste of resou;~ces, the potential injury to i'cs oc~n
security ~~hich this process necessarily entails,"
The partial re'_ief for CIA from FOIA provisions afforded
by 5.131~f leaves f:p1ree specific problems which we believe
warrant consideration by this Committee.
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1. The ~ii~ie limits for. in~clliga;,cc agencies tc~
respond to request which, wrien not raet, convey th~~
authority to file suit, have been d~:rnoristrated to be
unrealistic and should riot be in the la~,~:,
2. Any person or group, including convicted
felons and repres~antat~.ves of hostile intelligence
services can make an FOTA request and thsn file suit in
UoSa Courts. It seems to us the ultimate absurdity ~o
acco:^d t}ze head oi: the KGB, or other foreign agents, the
legal authority to request docurnents from the CIA and
then to file suit in UoS. Courts to enforce such a
request.,
3. The provision for d;: novo review by the
judiciary, added in the 1974 Am2ndrnents to FOIA, was
vetoed by President Ford as being unconstitutional. A
judge who simply disagrees with the experience and
expertise of the Executive Branch as to what is
classified is authorized to release such in:`orm:7tion.
This provision is in our view a usurpation of the
intelligence responsibility constitutionally vested in
the President.
Fcr all the above reasons, AFIO recommends, as it did
two years ago before this Committee, that CIA, NSA and the
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~'ItI be e;:em1~t2d ~ rom all o{ thr--. provisions of the F'.reedam of
'i.~~iori:~atian Act and that the President be auth~3rized to
des:igi~ate other intelli.gcr,ce cornponents as similarly
exc~np.. Such a total exelnpti.on leaves available to
Arne?-icans their righ~:s under the Privacy Act to ingllirr-::
about files maintained concerning theTao Also, historians
and schola7?s (citizens and permanent resident aliens) may
request manila?:ory review for declassificatan of docum::n~.s
under the provisions of the Executive Order 12356.
In view of our understanding of Adrninistratian and GrEl
support of 5.1324 ~~~e do not oppose its approval, but v~
strarigiy urge that ti:e other entities of the intelligence
CIA.
community be accorded siiniiar treatment as xs
It vrould appear appropriate for th~~ Committee. to hear
testimony from, other parts of the intelligence community to
make a judgment an their possible coverage under S.1324.
I would like to acid Yrere that three other organizations
have authori?r_ed me to state that they are in full agreement
~~;ith t~'~e viers of the AFIO as just expressed. These
organizations areo
1. Society of Former Special Agents
of the FBI, Inc.
24-16 queens P1az~,,South
Long Island City, i~ew York 11101
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20 Aine~ ican S~1e~is-ity Council
499 South Capitol Street
Wa ~r;ington, D,Ca ?_0003
30 l~at:ional Intelligence Study Center.
1015 Figh~%eenth Street, ~10~7,
6?~7ashing~an, DoCo 20036
.[ E~oulci like to thank you for this opportunity to
present the vie~cas of the AFIO on this most import~~nt
r~at:tero ray colleagues and z ~~ill be glad to attempt ~to
a ns~.~+~ar ry quest ions o
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