GENERAL COUNSEL'S OPINION NUMBER 51-1, DATED 27 AUGUST 1951

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-05844A000100070088-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2005
• Sequence Number: 88
• Publication Date: August 27, 1951
• Content Type: MISC

Approved For Release 2005/OQ/2 DP78-05844A000Q Tb LREVIEWED.
GENERAL COUNSEL' S MINION NUMBER 51-1, DATED 27 AT: UST 1951
(a) Transportation of a private automobile between two U.S.
stations is not authorized by law.
(b) Per diem is not payable for dependents' travel in U.S.
or at permanent duty station for employee.
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TO THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR (ADMINISTRATION)
1. Referenc s nade to the at ched memorandum from the Chief,
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EE OPC concerningf-I who recently was transferred to
from Washington, D. C. You have requested our comments
concerning the proposed payment of $526.80 to Mr. B.
2. The first proposal is that Mr. B. be paid $1+0.80 for shipment
of his privately-owned automobile from Washington to The 25X1
following statute was enacted by Congress to govern such a problem:
"Hereafter, no law or regulation authorizing or permit-
ting the transportation at Government expense of the effects
of officers, employees, or other persons, shall be construed
or applied as including or authorizing the transportation of 25X1
an automobile..." (5 USDA 73c).
3. The second proposal is that per diem be paid to Mr. B. and his
two dependents. As Colonel S. has indicated, it is well established that
per diem cannot be authorized for dependents in such a situation, and that
per diem is not payable to an employee at his permanent duty station.
Paragraph 146 of the Standardized Government Travel Regulations provides
that "under no circumstances will per diem in lieu of subsistence be
allowed an employee at his permanent duty station." While it would have
been possible to assign Mr. B. to temporary duty in and
thereby to authorize payment offer diem, this would have een an obvious
.....25X1 subterfuge because was in fact his permanent duty station.
The Comptroller General has phrased his objection to such action in this
manner
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An administrative office may not by a designation contrary
to the actual facts fix the permanent duty station of an employee
at one place for the purpose of paying him a per diem in lieu of
subsistence as on temporary duty in a travel status at another
place." (Syllabus, 19 Comp. Gen. 347)-
4. The possibility of amending the travel order to authorize per
diem in also has been considered. The Comptroller General
has permitted the correction of clerical error in a travel order, but he
does not favor the amendment of a travel order simply to prescribe per
diem. For example, the United States Tariff Commission in a similar
case issued an order authorizing per diem retroactively. The Comptroller
General, however, held that this order was not effective, and the employee
received no per diem (7-COMP- Gen. 277)-
5. We have also considered Colonel S.?s statement that is
an overseas operation which requires domestic support. While s s
correct, it does not alter congressional prohibitions against shipment
of privately-owned automobiles within the continental limits of the United
States, nor does it change the application of rules and regulations for
the payment of,per diem.
7. While it is tree that a degree of hardship is involved in this
case, it is the same hardship that faces other government employees, in-
cluding t,a . the fellow d A employees 0 whenever they perform similar Statess
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LAW c l R . h OUS ON
General 0ounsel
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