OPEN BUDGET HEARINGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M00165A000600140001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 11, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 25, 1977
• Content Type: MF

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NAL USE ONLY
OLC: 77-1611
25 April 1977
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
FROM : George L. Cary
Legislative Counsel
SUBJECT : Open Budget Hearings
3R.
1. I know you are concerned about the tack you should take
on the open budget hearings. I have recommended that you not state
the figure during your testimony before the Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence. I still hold to that recommendation. While I under-
stand that the Administration wishes to take the lead in opening the
single NFIP figure, I am seriously concerned that this inevitability
will lead to an unraveling of additional figures, and you will be blamed for
this unraveling.
2. I think your purpose will be well served by withdrawing
objection from publication of a single figure, leaving the announcement
of that figure to the Committee. By having the Committee take the
responsibility for publication of a figure, the appearance of dissidence
between yourself and former Directors will be softened. and the substantial
number of Members of Congress who oppose any publication will feel that
their concerns have been more fully recognized.
3. If the hearings are restructured so that you will be the only
witness testifying on 27 April, followed by additional testimony by
witnesses in May, announcement of the figure by you on 27 April, will
shift the emphasis of the follow-on hearings. Instead of focusing on
publication of a single figure, the Committee will be starting with the
single figure already published and will either have to debate the publication
of additional intelligence figures or will be put on the defensive to hold
publication to the already announced NFIP figure.
GEC GE L. CAR
Legislative Counsel
Distribution:
Original - Addressee
1 - DDCI r
1 -- D/DCI/IC
1 - ER
USE ONLY
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Next 1 Page(s) In Document Denied
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''w' ~,,- 117
27 April 1977
1. 1 have your note concerning the time lapse involved in getting
this into the system. Though Admiral Turner's memorandum is dated
9 April, we first saw it on 20 April and immediately carried it
the info addressees; namely, DDCI, your office, OLC, and A/DCI
2. tells me he received it shortly after
9 April, noted the distribution on the last page umed that
copies had been provided each. When I talked to about that,
we agreed that in the future if there is some dou , my office and
his should compare notes. Also, the present procedures are that any
DCI memorandum comes to me first for a look at its classification,
and I also effect distribution and assign action as appropriate.
3. is out today but I will share our concerns
with him and regre any problem the handling of this paper created
for your staff.
B. C. Evans
Executive Secretary
Distribution:
Orig - Adse.
1 - ESCrono
1 - E R
ES/BCEVANS:cs (27 Apr)
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 CONFIDENTIAL
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9 April 1977
I agreed with Senator Inouye on 8 April 1977 that I would
appear before the Senate Select Committee at 1000 on 27 April
(Room 407) as the first witness in a hearing on whether or not
the intelligence budget should be made public. The Senator told
Bill Miller to arrange for TV coverage.
Please prepare a draft testimony for me to give, coordinating
carefully with the info addressees of this memo. The general thrust
The way we spend our money on intelligence in
this country is one of our necessary secrets. The techniques
-of collecting and analyzing intelligence change with time and
technology. If the details of our intelligence budget were
revealed, those against whom we are collecting intelligence
could decipher from our areas of emphasis, where they should
be placing emphasis in countermeasures. From such information
they would be able to nullify our advantage where it exists,
and deny us opportunities that we presently have.
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 t1AATT.+TT1T!1TTT AT 25X1
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At the same time, we are a free society. We appropriately
place high emphasis on keeping our citizens well informed of the
activities of their government so that the citizen body is, in fact,
the best oversight to any possible excesses of governmental action.
The public's right to understand the workings of our intelligence
processes is a part of their being adequately informed of our
governmental process.
Therefore, some compromise is necessary between the risks of
giving the enemy necessary advantage over us and of protecting the
basic openness of our society. Accordingly, President Carter has
directed that I release to you and to the public, the overall budget
of the U.S. Intelligence Community. For fiscal year 1.978 we have
requested of the Congress of the United States, the amount of $
Let me explain precisely what that figure includes. I am
presenting that figure in the capacity as Director of Central
Intelligence., not as the Director of Central Intelligence Agency.
the
Thus, this figure is/one, which as Director of Central Intelligence
I present and defend to the Congress. It includes the budget of the
CIA, but it also includes portions of the budget of those other agencies
in the Government that have intelligence functions. Within those other
budgets, what is included in this figure are those activities which
are exclusively intelligence in nature. Clearly there are many related
activities especially in the DOD which make some contributions to
intelligence. For instance, the military airplane flying on a training
i
mission may well be able as a collateral function, to collect some
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 CONFIDENTIAL 25X1
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intelligence. Or carried to the extreme perhaps, a corporal on
lookout duty with binoculars could be called an intelligence collector.
These expenses. of such operations as these, are not included in the
intelligence budget for which I am responsible. Basically, the
dividing line is whether we fund the activity for a primary purpose
of intelligence collection or analysis or whether we fund it for
another purpose and derive collatoral benefits for intelligence from it..
Finally, I must mention the limitations which must prevail on
additional information concerning this budget figure. There will be a
natural and understandable tendency on the part of the press to the.
public, to want to obtain detailed breakdown of this budget figure.
This we cannot do either by the deliberate release of additional figures
or by comments on the composition or character of intelligence budget.
It is here that we regrettably must draw the line between openness and
necessary secrecy. Were we to disclose further details of this budget
figure, we would expose the areas of emphasis and expertise with which
we collect and analyze our intelligence and over time we would indicate
trends in such emphasis. It is my view that this would jeopardize the
interest of our country more than the additional information would
benefit it. The people of the country can be assured, however, that
we are sharing with their representatives in the Congress the details
of this breakdown fully. Hence, our response to further inquiries'in
public form must simply be "no comment" and I am formally directing
members of the Intelligence Community to so respond to all such
inquiries.
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 CONFIDENTI_4 _25X1
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I recognize that this new policy of disclosure of a single
figure, and only a,single figure, is a major break with tradition.
It is not one without risk. I know that you gentlemen of this
committee will fully understand the importance of this new open-
ness, but at the same time, appreciate the necessity of rigidly
limiting our disclosure-to this single figure.
DCI/IC
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Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505
[phone]
Herbert E. Hens
Assistant for Public Affairs
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20 April 1977
SUBJECT : DCI's Statement to SSC on Open Budget
1. In response to Admiral Turner's 9 April 1977
memorandum to me, the attached draft statemEnt has been
prepared. It is very little changed from the Admiral's
original draft.
2. Request you provide any comments or suggestions
on this statement directly to me by telephone if possible.
My intention is to incorporate your suggestions in a follow-
on draft which he can look at Thursday evening (21 April 1977).
Attachment
As Stated
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CONFIDENTIAL)
20 April 1977
Senate Select Committee
Draft Intelligence Budget Testimony
1000, 27 April 1977
Mr. Chairman, Gentlemen. When I appeared before you
in February of this year for confirmation, I said that I was
inclined to favor releasing the Intelligence Community's
aggregate budget figure, but that I would like to study the
question further before committing myself. I have since had
that opportunity and am prepared to recommend that a singly.,
inclusive budget figure be made public subject to several ex-
tremely important qualifications which I would like to discuss.
The techniques of intelligence collection and analysis change
with time and technology. The intelligence budget accurately
reflects these.changes. Over time it can reveal to any interested
observer our areas of interest and the technologies on which we
depend most. From such information they would know where they
should place emphasis in countermeasures and effectively nullify
any advantage we might have. The detailed intelligence budget in
the hands of our enemies would be a powerful weapon which would make
further collection more difficult, more hazardous to life, and much
more costly. The way we spend-our intelligence money in this
country is one of our necessary secrets.
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.
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-2-
At the same time, we are a free and open society. It is
appropriate that our citizens be kept well informed of the
activities of their government. They are in fact, the best
oversight body in the prevention of any possible excesses of
governmental action. The public's right to understand the
workings of our intelligence processes is a part of their being
adequately informed of our governmental process.
Some compromise then is necessary between the risks of giving
the enemy an unnecessary advantage over us and of protecting the
basic openness of our society. Accordingly, President Carter has
directed that I release to you and to the public, the overall budget
of the U.S. Intelligence Community. For fiscal year 1978, as the
Director of Central Intelligence, I have requested of the Congress
of the United States, $
Let me explain precisely what that figure includes. It includes
the budget of the CIA and also those portions of other Government
agencies' budgets which are devoted exclusively to intelligence.
Clearly there are many related activities in other Departments,
especially the DOD, which make some contributions to intelligence.
For instance, the military airplane flying on a training mission
may well be ableas a collateral function, to collect some intelligence.
CONFIDENT TAT. 25X1
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CONFITIAL 140 25X1
Or, carried to the extreme perhaps, a corporal on lookout duty
with binoculars could be called an intelligence collector. The
expense of such operations as these are not included in the intel-
ligence budget for which I am responsible. Basically, the dividing
line is whether we fund the activity for the primary purpose of
intelligence collection or analysis or whether it is funded for
another purpose and we derive collatoral intelligence benefits from it.
Finally, I must mention the limitations which must prevail
on additional information concerning this budget figure. There will
be a natural and understandable tendency on the part of the press
and the public to want a detailed breakdown of this budget figure.
This we cannot do either by the deliberate release of additional
figures or by comments on the composition or character of the intel-
ligence budget. It is here that, regrettably, we must draw the line
between openness and necessary secrecy. Were we to disclose further
details of this budget figure, we would expose the areas of emphasis
and expertise regarding collection and analysis of intelligence and,
over time, trends in such emphasis would become obvious. This would
jeopardize the interest of our country more than the additional
information would benefit it. The people of the country can be
assured, however, that we are sharing with their representatives
CONFIDENTIA
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C( 'IDENTIAIJ 25X1
in Congress the details of this breakdown fully. Bence, our
response to further inquiries on the budget in the public forum
must simply be "no comment." I am formally directing members
of the Intelligence Community to so respond to all such inquiries.
I recognize that this new policy of disclosure of a single
figure, and only a single figure, is a major break with tradition.
It is not one without risk. I know that you gentlemen of this
committee will fully understand the importance of this new openness,
but at the same time, appreciate the necessity of rigidly limiting
our disclosure to this single figure.
STANSFIELD TURNER
Admiral, USN
CONFIDENTIAL
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