LETTER TO WILLIAM E. COLBY FROM FRANK CHURCH RE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF THE AGENCY WOULD SUBMIT A STATEMENT OF THE LEGAL AUTHORITY FOR FOREIGN COVERT ACTIONS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 01482468
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2017
• Case Number: F-2007-00094
• Publication Date: October 10, 1975

Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01482468
FRANK CHURCH, IDAHO, CHAIRMAN
JOHN GI. TOWER, TEXAS, VICE CHAIRMAN
PHILIP A. HART, MICH. HOWARD H. BAKER, JR., TENN.
WALTER F. MONDALE, MINN. BARRY GOLDWATER, ARIZ.
WALTER D. HUDDLESTON, KY. CHARLES MCC, MATHIAS, JR., MD.
ROBERT MORGAN, N.C. RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, PA.
GARY HART, COLO.
WILLIAM 13. MILLER, STAFF DIRECTOR
Mr. William E. Colby
Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Colby:
2Cniteb Zialez "Senate
SELECTCOMMIT1METO
STUDYGOVERNMENTALOPERATIONSWITH
RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES
(PURSUANT TO S. RES. 21, 14TH CONGRESS)
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510
October 10, 1975
Executive ReqitEy
The Select Committee on Intelligence Activities would appreciate
it if the Agency would submit a statement on the legal authority for
foreign covert actions.
The Agency has already given the Committee memoranda and documents
related to the legal authority question. For convenience, the principal
memoranda given the Committee are enclosed. These memoranda rely
primarily on the President's constitutional powers in the foreign affairs
field, as Commander-in-Chief, and as holder of the executive power, rather
than the National Security Act, as the legal basis for foreign covert
actions.
Recently, the President's Commission on CIA Activities Within the
United States (Rockefeller Commission) stated:
"The CIA may from time to time be delegated some of the
President's inherent authority under the Constitution
in matters affecting foreign relations. The scope of
the President's inherent authority and the power of the
Congress to control the manner of its exercise are
difficult constitutional issues..."
(Report to the President, June 1975, p. 61.)
The Committee has obtained the opinions of a number of constitutional
law experts on the question of whether the President's constitutional
powers permit the conduct of foreign covert actions in the absence of
statutory authorization and whether or to what extent, Congress may by
statute limit or prohibit the conduct of foreign covert actions. The
Committee has also obtained the opinions of several international law experts
on the issues raised by foreign aovert actions under international law.
To assist the Agency in addressing the same questions the Committee posed
to these experts, a copy of the letter inviting their opinions is enclosed.
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Mr. William E. Colby
Page Two
October 10, 1975
Although the enclosed memoranda and documents address these issues,
the Committee wishes to offer the Agency and the Executive branch the
opportunity to give the Committee a statement of its current position.
If the Agency and the Executive branch wish to respond to this invitation,
it would be most useful if the statement be given the Committee before
October 23, the date our hearings on CIA covert action are scheduled to
begin.
With kind regards,
/14404(
Frank Church
Chairman
Enclosures:
1. Memorandum, 15 January 1962, L. Houston to DCI; Subject: Legal Basis
for Cold-War Activities.
2. Memorandum, 6 February 1974, S. Bale to CIA General Counsel; Subject:
Legal Basis for Covert Action, with attached memorandum, 17 January
1962, by Office of Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice; Subject:
Constitutional and Legal Basis for So-Called Covert Activities of the
CIA.
3. Memorandum, Subject: Classical Espionage/Electronic Surveillance and
Covert Action under International Law.
4. Select Committee letter to panel of constitutional law experts.
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