DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01240A000100140111-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 2000
• Sequence Number: 111
• Publication Date: June 21, 1962
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2001/09/041~4-
2 1 1962
Honorable Carl Vinson, Chairman
Committee on Armed Servic? t;
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Chairman:
By letter dated May 16, 1961, to Honorable Paul .3. Kildaey,
Chairman, Special Subcommittee, Central Intelligence Agency,
Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, we reported
upon our review of selected activities, of Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) for the purpose of determining whether -w scope of
the audit of the General E_ccounting Office could be acpanded
sufficiently to make reasonably comprehensive evaluations of CIA
activities. In this letter we stated that under the existing
security restrictions on our audit of CIA activities we did not
have sufficient access to sake c%prebensive reviews a continu-
ing basis that would be productive of evaluations heltrful to the
Congress and that we planned to di sscontinue the work.
Your letter to us dated May 180 1961, recC mmendet3 that the
audit not be discontinued at that tipae and accordingly we have
continued our work at CIA despite the severe lisaitatix.ms placed
upon us. Our further reviews, confi*d wbolly to certain units
in the Intelligence Component, have xot resulted in any change in
our views that under exisstisr security restrictions cm our audit
of CIA activities we do not have sufficie=nt scenes to effectively
accomplish any worthwhile "it objectives at CIA on st" continuing
basis. We are submitting this letter so that you may consider
further our views on this matter at this time.
The limitations placed upon our audit activities at CIA are
severe. Following several meetings w ;th the Director, Central
Intelligence Agency, and members of Lis staff, we exc.*anged
correspondence in October i.9559 which in essence recogtized that an
audit of CIA would have to be limited to reviews outside the areas
of sensitive security operations on:
(1) Expenditures certified by the Director under
Section 8 of Central Intelligence Act of 1949,
as amended.
(2) Certain activities in support of confidential
operations protected by the authorit o the
~Ien4 sa. ~KM-_
Director under section B.
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We agreed that to the extent expenditures were certified by the
Director as being of a confidential, extraordinary, or emergency
nature, such expenditures were not subject to examination by the
General Accounting Office without the concurrence of the Director.
The activities in support of the confidential operations embraced
practically all of the administrative operations. `tdnetheless, we
were willing to attempt to hake an audit at CIF, within the principles
stated by the Director in bis letter of October 16, 059, but in our
reply dated October 21, 1959, we stated that its the event it appeared
after a trial period our reviews were limited to such an extent that
we could not effectively and constructively acctlisx any worthwhile
objectives we would consider whether or not the audit should be
continued.
During the ensuing 30 moths we undertook to make reviews of
selected overt activities as access to the covert activities was not
made available to us. In this connection, access to he activities
of the Support Component in which we could be expected to be most
effective in our reviews was significantly limited because covert
and overt activities of this co pcpsent are intlgrste i`. We were not
able to review sufficiently financial management, property management,
contracting, procurement, and similar activities for tiny effective
appraisal of the administration of disease activities. Our access for
a review of the internal audit prc*raa and reports tans very limited
and we had no access whatever to the work of the Inspector General;
therefore, we were not able to appraise the internal review mechanisms
within the Agency. We have had rather complete acceav to the activities
of the Intelligence Component, but the nature of thesab activities and
the lack of complete access to internal review program s and reports
has significantly limited our effectiveness in this area.
In undertaking to make reviews at the Central Intelligence Agency,
we recognized that the nature of the activities of this Agency pre-
sented problems on sufficient breadth of cover a and review of detail
for the purpose of reaching sound ammIusions. We hate made every
effort to broaden our review of the activities of the Agency within
the limitations which were placed on us, and we wish to assure you
that our conclusion that we could not effectively accomplish any
worthwhile audit objectives at CIA on a continuing basis was reached
only after considering all the factors as we saw them.
To obtain the maximum effectiveness of a General Accounting Office
audit of CIA activities, it would be necessary for our audit staff to
have nearly complete access to CIA activities. Howevtr, we believe it
to be possible to perform reasonably c rebensive relieve of CIA
activities if we were permitted conplatte access to tho administrative
activities, such as financial, procurement, property, and personnel
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management and internal revi r activities that Are performed in
support of both sensitive &ad nonsens Live operations of CIA.
We appreciate your Interest in our work at CIA anti the
expression. of your views on the disco nti ncee of our stork there
is invited. We are prepared to discuss these natters further with
you.
',incerely yours,
!'3oseP1 Cain 'r
t;orgptroller General
Of the United States
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