63M 4 CIA up FilerEb f4 La ROBERT N M110 CALIF F ILL J's-Ir $51 89 ban rem-so G PIKE N PHILIP H HAYES INS LEHM AN Fun A S-ZAPLE FEELS an-an a hernia CBUHSEL M GLORY ILL Dunn c LA JAMES P COLO- osan'r w Kasrzh 13 wss Summittze an EntzIIigeme 30152 of Bapra antatz ms washingm 20515 YER A 19'December 1975' From _ Otis Pike To Members of the Committee Re Possible recommendations develOped by Committee staff Attached is a brief presentation of various proposals developed by our staff which we may wish to endorse as recommendations in our final re- port Please give these proposals your careful consideration and advise the staff as soon as possible if you approve of each of them Your comments and your suggestions for additional or alternative recome mendations will assist us in preparing a report which will accurately reflect the concerns of the Committee The attached presentation does not include proposals on all the issues which the Committee has been considering You will receive supplemene tal materials as soon as they can be prepared Fiscal Procedures The following proposals are submitted for the Committee s consideration 1 Total figures for intelligence spending should be made public The format of the President's annual budget should include single totals for each intelligence agency and for the intelligence acti vities of intelligence units in other departments and agencies Consequently the Congress would vote annually on single line item appropriations for CIA NSA BIA and others and for the intelliw gence activities of FBI and IRS 2 A consolidated intelligence budget should be prepared The Director of Central Intelligence should be required to prepare an independent and consolidated intelligence community budget with a view toward eliminating unnecessary duplication and suggesting budgetary priorities for intelligence spendinO - The DCl's preposed budget would provide the President with an as sessment of intelligence Spending proposals which would be inde pendent of the individual intelligence agencies The DCI's proposed budget should also be made available to the Con gress to assist it in its authorization and appropriations processFunds for intelligence should be specifically authorized by Congress All funds for intelligence purposes shOuld first be specifically authorized annually or periodically for such use The current authority of the CIA to receive all its funds as trans fers from the accounts of other agencies should be rescinded In- stead the-amount that the CIA coold receive by transfer should be _strictly limited unless a larger transfer is specifically approved by both the President and the Appropriations Committees 4 The GAO should be authorized to review and audit intelligence spending At the direction of an appropriate Congressional committee the GAO should be empowered to examine all records of intelligence Spending whether vouchered or unvouchered The intelligence agencies may retain physical custody of their re cords without infringing on authority to examine them When an agency head believes that some of its expenditure records should be kept from the GAO the decision shall be left to the Congressional committee at whose request the CAD is acting Comment Collectively these prOposels would have the effect of bringing the intelligence agencies and especially the C1A under much the same kind of fiscal controls which apply to all other departments and agencies of the governments Members of the Congress would learnt is gross terms my mPthunw hnn hn d 3 how much money they are appropriating each year for each intelligence agency The public would learn how intelligence spending fits into the President's budget and his priorities The CIA would be compelled to justify its programs and its budget before authorizations and appropria ' tions committees in the same manner as other agencies CIA and other intelligence spending would also be subject to review by the GAO at Cone gressional direction and under apprOpriate security safeguards The ability of the Congress to exercise effective oversight would be signi ficantly enhanced r Congressional Oversight The proposals concerning fiscal procedures would increase the information available to Congress and consequently its ability to exercise effec tive oversight In addition the following two proposals are submitted for the Committee's consideration 1 A standing House Committee on Foreign Intelligence should be created The House should create a permanent standing Committee on_Foreign Intelligence The committee should have exclusive legislative jurisdiction and shared oversight jurisdiction over CIA NSA DIA USIB PFIAB military intelligence and the foreign intelligence activities of all other agencies and departments including but not limited to the NSC the Department of State the Department of Defense FBI and ERDA The head of each such department or agency should be obligated to keep the committee fully and currently informed about is programs and activities relating to foreign intelligence and covert foreign Operations and to provide the committee with whatever specific information and records it requires All proposed legislation including legislation authorizing approp riationsm-concerning foreign intelligence activities should be with in the jurisdiction of the committee All proposed legislation affecting but not directed solely to foreign intelligence activities should be referred to this commit tee for appropriate consideration and action after having been considered by any other House committee with appropriate jurisdic tion The committee should include some members with prior or current service on other related standing committees but this should be the primary committee assignment for most of its members member should be allowed to serve on the committee for more than three consecutive terms The question of giving the committee jurisdiction over domestic intelligence programs and agencies should be deferred until the 95th Congress convenes If and when the Senate acts to establish its own committee with comparable authority and jurisdiction the House should then con sider whether its committee should become the House delegation to a joint committee on foreign intelligence Photocopy from Gerald R Ford Library Comment Congress should be fully informed before-covert actions begin The Hughesw yan amendmen to the 1974 Foreign Assistance Act should be amended in three respects - First the phrase in a timely fashion should be eliminated there- by making clear that the appropriate committees of Congress are to receive prior notification of all CIA covert operations which the President has approved Second the DCI should be required to report to the appropriate Congressional committees at their request the full range and scope of the intelligence community's clandestine activities to gather_intelligence or influence events in specific countries Third the President should be required to keep these committees fully and informed of all decisions to begin new programs of intelligence activities which could reasonably be expected to influence the conduct of foreign officials and governments These proposals would encourage the House to continue this Coma mittee's work A permanent standing committee of the House would be established to concentrate solely on intelligence matters It would have legislative authority and therefore clout Requiring rotation of its members would ensure that the committee's approach remains fresh Re quirements would be imposed on the DCI and the President to make sure that the committee learns everything that it needs to know The possi bility of creating a joint committee would be left open depending on whatever action the Senate takes Photocopy n om Gerald R Ford Library Previous proposals would increase the Congress role in intelligence nat ters The following preposals concerning management of sensitive infor mation are submitted for the Committee's consideration 1 Procedures should be established for the Congress to release classi fied information Each committee with national security jurisdiction should estab lish procedures and criteria incorporated into its published rules by which it identifies material in its possession which it deter mines must be kept secret Other members of the House may have access to such information only upon majority vote of the committee except that if access is de nied a member may appeal the committee s decision to the House as a matter of personal privilege Each such committee should be authorized to recommend that specific classified facts and documents be made public but only after soli citing and giving careful consideration to the judgment of the execu tive branch including the President If an individual member of the House obtains sensitive information from a committee's files which he believes should be made public he should first seek the consent of the committee If a member obtains classified or other sensitive information from a source outside of the Congress which he believes should be made public he should first seek the advice of the committee with ap propriate Iggislative jurisdiction In all cases before acting the committee should solicit and give careful consideration to the judgment of the executive branch After the committee acts the matter should then be submitted to- gether with the committee's decision or recommendation to the Speaker the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader If two of the three elected leaders of the House-conclude that pub lic disclosure of the information would jeopardize the nation's security the informationshouldnot be released The rules of the House should be amended to provide that a member who releases sensitive information in a manner which violates or ignores these procedures shall be subject to censure expulsion or whatever other disciplinary action the House deems appropriate 2 An independent body should be established to de-classify information A Seourity Information Review Commission should-be established by law - Photocopy from Gerald R Ford Library It should be composed of eleven private citizecs fewer than half of whom may have been'employed previously by agencies and departments of the government should be nominated by the President and confi ted by the Senate Any document now classifiedshouldbe reviewable by the Commission upon request by any individual or group The document may be declassified by majority vote of the Commission except that the President may reverse a Commission decision only if he certifies in writing that disclosure of a particular document would do grave and immediate danger to the defense of the United States Documents classified in the future should become declassified auto matically after a period of five years unless the Commission by majority vote determines that they should remain classified for an additional five year period Comment These proposals would provide a procedure by which the Congress cOuld release information on the basis of its own judgment whether the comes from a committee's files or elsewhere and whether the initiative comes from a committee or from an individual member They would leave the final decision to the three elected leaders of the House acting as a Surrogate for all the members Members would be warned of the responsibility they assume when they obtain sensitive information from a committee and of the fact that they would be subject to discipu linary action if they violate or ignore the proposed procedures A body would be established independent of the agencies which classify documents to decide if documents can be declassified The presumption would be firmly established that all documents would be made public after five years unless the Commission could be convinced otherwiSe US Congress House Select Committee on Intel Memo by Otis Pike Chairman HSC to Members Draft Recommendations Pike Committee 1975 12 19 Source front                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu