LETTER TO JAMES C. MURR FROM E. NORBERT GARRETT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92M00732R001000080054-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 28, 2014
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: July 28, 1989
• Content Type: LETTER

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/04/28: CIA-RDP92M00732R001000080054-0
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D. C. 20505
Mr. James C. Murr
Assistant Director for
Legislative Reference
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear. Mr. Murr:
41111. ig8r
OCA 2219-89
Enclosed is a draft letter to Majority Leader Mitchell
providing the views of the Central Intelligence Agency on
legislative proposals to establish a commission to
investigate aviation security and the bombing of
Pan Am 103. The draft letter has been approved by the
Director of Central Intelligence. We request that you
review the report to determine whether it is consistent
with the Administration's program.
Because action on legislative proposals establishing a
commission may occur in the very near future, I would
appreciate our request being handled by 21 July 1989.
Sincerely,
STAT
E. Norbert/Garrett
Director of Congressional Affairs
Enclosure
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umtkr
Central Intdligence Agency
Wash ington. D. C. 20505
The Honorable George J. Mitchell
Majority Leader of the Senate
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Mitchell:
-I write to supplement the June'21, 1989 letter submitted to
-you-by Secretary Baker, Attorney-General Thornburgh, and -
Secretary Skinner on the legislative proposals to investigate
aviation security and the bombing of Pan Am 103.
For the reasons set forth below, the Central Intelligence
Agency cannot support enactment of �these legislative
initiatives.
The various proposals would establish a commission,
composed of representatives from the legislative and executive
branches (to include a representative from the Intelligence
Community) and the private sector, to investigate the crash of
Pan Am Flight #103 (21 December 1988). One proposal also
extends this investigation to the destruction of Korean
Airlines Flight #007 (31 August 1983). Depending upon the
legislative proposal, the commission would have from six to
nine months in order to complete its investigation and issue a
final report. During its investigation, the commission could
request from Federal agencies any relevant information,
including classified information, subject to certain
conditions. Among other subjects, ,the commission would be
required to assess "the coordination among Federal agencies of
aviation security and related counterterrorism procedures and
practices, including procedures and practices involving the
gathering, assessment, and distribution of intelligence."
The Agency is concerned about the commission being given,
in effect, a mandate to judge the sufficiency of
counterterrorism intelligence collection, assessment, and
distribution efforts. As the head of the Intelligence
Community, the Director of Central Intelligence is continually
evaluating the sufficiency of all United States Government
intelligence efforts. These judgments obviously require
intelligence expertise as well as knowledge of both the scope
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Ut-Okt- I
The Honorable George J. Mitchell
and priorities of the entire national intelligence mission and
the resources available to support that mission. We question
whether the commission would be equipped, given its short time
frame and otherwise broad responsibilities, to make a truly
meaningful assessment and whether, in any event, the sensitive
intelligence information necessary to make such an assessment
should be disseminated outside the Intelligence Community.
Expansion of the commission's mandate to include the
destruction of Korean Airlines Flight #007 is also of concern.
There appears to be no good reason to reopen the KAL 007
incident or to link these two disparate incidents. To do so at
this time could raise significant foreign policy concerns,
although we defer to the Department of State in this regard.
-Despite the information protection-provisions contained in
the legislation, there remains the risk that sensitive
counterterrorism intelligence sources and methods could be
inadvertently disclosed in the course of the commission's
investigation. Moreover, any interaction with the commission
on demands for sensitive intelligence source and method
information would likely require the involvement of those
personnel who directly support the counterterrorism effort,
thereby detracting from their ability to support that effort.
We also note that the commission's mandate appears to
duplicate the oversight functions of the President's Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board as well as the intelligence
oversight committees of the Congress.
For these reasons, we cannot support enactment of this
legislation.
The Office of Management and Budget advises that the
submission of this report is in accord with the program of the
President.
This letter has also been sent to Senator Dole.
Sincerely,
William H. Webster
Director of Central Intelligence
re.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/04/28: CIA-RDP92M00732R001000080054-0
Mr. James C. Murr
OCA/LEG)
17 July 89)
OCA 2219-89
Distribution:
Original - Addressee (w/encl)
OCA Records_ (w/encl)'
1 - D/OCA (w/encl)
1 - OCA/LEG/Subject File: Terrorism (w/o end)
1 - Signer (w/o end)
1 - OCARead Library
STAT
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/04/28: CIA-RDP92M00732R001000080054-0