PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM FOR THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 96TH CONGRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000700090044-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 22, 2006
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: October 12, 1978
• Content Type: MF

OGC HAS REVIEWED.
Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
OLC- RECORD COPY
OLO 78-3160-
12 October 1978
MEMORANDUM FOR: See Distribution
Chief, Legislation Staff, OLC
SUBJECT : Proposed Legislative Program for the
First Session of the 96th Congress
STATI NTL
1. Office of Management and Budget Circular No?' A-19, revised
requires the head of each agency or department to submit annually to OMB
a proposed legislative program for the next session of the Congress.
Attached for your review is a draft of the Director's legislative program
for the first session of the 96th. Congress, which convenes in January 1979.
2. Last year, we included in the proposed legislative program for
the second session of the 95th Congress specific proposals concerning
firearms authority and legislation to prevent the misuse of the Agency's
name, initials or seal. In addition, we said the Director was contemplating
legislation to protect against the unauthorized disclosure of intelligence
sources and methods, legislation to provide trips for dependents of
employees to schools in the United States and legislation to authorize the
payment of death gratuities. We did submit this year a legislative proposal
on the firearms authority; as indicated in the attached legislative program
for next year, that legislation has been referred to the intelligence
committees but no further action was taken this session. Although, of
course, most if not all of the matters contained in the attached proposed
legislative program will be considered in the context of charter legislation,
again this year it seems advisable and appropriate to single out several
specific items that we would like to see enacted sooner rather than later.
Thus, I have included in the draft program the following items: amend-
ments to the Freedom of Information Act; a proposed intelligence
authorization bill for FY 1980; legislation to protect against the unauthorized
disclosure of intelligence information, especially information on the
identities of intelligence officers; firearms legislation; and legislation
that would authorize educational travel allowances and death. gratuity.
3. If your office has any additional matters that you would like to
be considered in the context of the proposed legislative program, please
let me know. We intend to submit the material to OMB by the end of
October. We will, therefore, be preparing; a final draft next week; please
let me have any comments you may have by that time. Thank you.
Attachment
Approved For Rease 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81M00980R000700090044-8
 Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
Distribution:
Original - OLC/Legislation Staff
DDA
OGC
DDO
0/Comptroller
IG
DDS&T
0/Finance,
0/Personnel
1 - IC Staff - .
1 - OLC Subject
- NFAC
- OLC Chrono
Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81M00980R000700090044-8
 Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
DRAFT
Mr. James M. Frey
Assistant Director for
Legislative Reference
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D. C. 20503
Dear Mr. Frey:
Enclosed is the proposed legislative program of the Director of
Central Intelligence for the first session of the 96th Congress. This
program is submitted in accordance with Office of Management and
Budget Circular No. A-19, revised.
Intelligence charter legislation was introduced in both Houses
of Congress during the second session of the 95th Congress. Extensive
hearings were held by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and
the Administration has devoted and continues to devote considerable time
to the study of the intelligence charter legislation and the development
of Administration positions thereon. Continuation of this process,
including probable Administration testimony on the- charter legislation,
will continue and probably accelerate early in the first session of the 96th
Congress. The Director of Central Intelligence, therefore, will be
considering the full range of legislative matters, both proposed and
current, which pertain to the Central Intelligence Agency, other
entities of the Intelligence Community and intelligence functions of
the Government, in the context of the charter legislation.
There are, however, several legislative matters of concern to
the Director which he intends to propose as separate legislative
proposals during the first session of the 96th Congress. At this time,
we envisage five such matters, which are explained in the attached
proposed legislative program, for the first session of the 96th Congress:
a. Legislation to amend the Freedom of Information
Act so as to exempt from the provisions thereof intelligence
information.
b. Fiscal Year 1980 Intelligence Authorization Bill.
c. Legislation to protect against the unauthorized
disclosure of intelligence sources and methods, including
information revealing the identities of certain intelligence
personnel.
d. Authority of the Director of Central Intelligence
to authorize personnel of the Central Intelligence Agency
to carry firearms under certain. circumstances.
Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090.044-8
 Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
e. Legislation to allow, annual educational travel for
dependents of employees of the Central Intelligence Agency
serving overseas, and to allow for the payment of a death
gratuity to surviving dependents of employees of the
Central Intelligence Agency who die as a result of injury
sustained in the line of duty.
It is not anticipated that any laws or provisions of laws affecting
the Central Intelligence Agency will expire in 1978.
Sincerely,
J I egis a ive Counsel
Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
 Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
DRAFT:
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY STAFF
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM FOR THE
FIRST SESSION OF THE 96TH CONGRESS
PART I--PRESIDENT'S PROGRAM PROPOSALS
96-1. Legislation to Amend the Freedom of Information Act so as to Exempt
from the Provisions thereof n e igence Tr?orma -ion: a isc year 19_ _i
budget submission of the Director of Cenfr`t In a igence contained, as an
integral provision thereof related to budgetary cuts, proposed legislative
relieve from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Director of
Central Intelligence intends to propose, during the first session of the
96th Congress, legislation which would exclude from the provisions of the
FOIA all CIA information systems consisting of intelligence information
that is collected clandestinely and which is in a raw unevaluated form.
This would consist largely of field intelligence reports, operational
reporting, and various other highly classified material collected overseas
through various clandestine means.
This legislation is a major concern for the CIA for several reasons.
In the first place, the amount of information of this type which is releasable
to the public is extremely small in comparison to both the tremendous
number of man-hours required to review it- and to the actual quanity of
information which must be reviewed pursuant to the terms of the FOIA as
currently drafted. In the final analysis, the Agency is unable to release
all but a very small portion of this vast quanity of material that must be
reviewed. The manpower required by this task necessarily must be
drawn from areas in which it would normally be utilized to further
the intelligence mission of the CIA. Furthermore, an expanded exemption
would clearly demonstrate to those individuals and agencies abroad with
which the CIA deals that the information which is provided to us will not
be released in any form, a condition without which the information would
simply not be provided to us.
The Agency currently is studying the form, such an exemption would
take. It could, for example, be formulated along the lines of exempting
from the Act itself, and thereby from the review requirements of the Act,
certain record systems maintained by the Agency which consist of raw and
unevaluated intelligence information collected through clandestine means.
In an effort to assure that information related to those types of information
covered by the Privacy Act would still be reviewed and releasable pursuant
to the terms of that Act, the exemption for the Agency from the FOIA could
be coupled with an amendment to the Privacy Act removing the Agency's
present discretionary exemption from the Privacy Act. The specific
language reflecting such an exemption from FOIA as described above will
Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
 Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
be provided shortly after the convening of the 96th Congress in January
1979.
This legislation would result in significant savings to the public
and to the Agency, since an exemption of particular record systems from
the review requirements of the FOIA would greatly reduce the currently
enormous time necessary to process and review such requests.
96-2. Fiscal Year 1980 Intelligence Authorization Bill: The Government's
first In e igence Authorization bill was passes y eongress and signed
into law by the President in 1978. The Director of Central Intelligence
intends to submit to OMB a proposed fiscal year 1980 Intelligence
Authorization bill for submission to the Congress early in the first session
of the 96th Congress. The language and terms of such a proposed authorization
bill are currently being studied by the Director and components of the
Intelligence Community. It is anticipated that the bill to be proposed will,
among other things, address the problems and potential problems which
developed during the process of enacting the FY 1979 authorization bill and
which may develop as a result of the implementation of that legislation.
Such matters include, for example, language in the legislation incorporating
classified annexes by reference; some ambiguity over specific functions
performed by certain components of the Intelligence Community and whether
these are intelligence matters; and whether it is possible in the legislation
to define "intelligence related activites. "
96-3. Legislation to Protect Against the Unauthorized Disclosure of
Intelligence Sources and Methods-, Including orma ion eve- ing t e
en i ies o Certain Intelligence erso`nne : Recent publication of information
purporting to identify the covert operations, contacts and identities of U. S.
Government intelligence officers serving at home and abroad serves to
underline the importance of securing legislation which would provide
criminal penalties for the unauthorized disclosure of such information,
most importantly relating to the disclosure of identities of present and
former intelligence personnel who are or have been undercover. Toward
this goal, the Director of Central Intelligence in conjunction with the
Attorney General and other appropriate agencies and departments, is
considering legislative proposals to protect against the unauthorized dis-
closure of intelligence sources and methods. This review is taking place
in the context of the present statutory authority of the Director of Central
Intelligence to protect intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized
disclosure (paragraph 102(d)(3) of the National Security Act of 1947, as
amended), the pending intelligence charter legislation (S. 2525/H.R. 11245),
and separate legislation introduced by various members of Congress during
the 95th Congress.
Action by the 96th Congress to protect against the unauthorized
disclosure of intelligence information is essential in order to prevent, to a
much greater degree than is possible under current law, serious damage
Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81M00980R000700090044-8
 Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8
to our foreign intelligence effort resulting from the unauthorized disclosure
of information relating to intelligence sources and methods.
96-4. Authority of the Director of Central Intelligence to Authorize
Personnel of the Central Intelligence gency~arry Firearms Under
Certain Circumstances: The Director of entr. a Intelligence su milted
through to the ongress during the second session of the 95th
Congress, legislation that would amend those provisions of the Central
Intelligence Act of 1949, as amended which relate to the carrying of firearms
by CIA. personnel. This legislation was referred to the Intelligence
Oversight Committee in each House but no further action was taken by the
95th Congress. Although this matter is addressed in provisions of the
Intelligence Charter legislation (S. 2525/H.R. 11245), the Director of
Central Intelligence continues to believe that legislative clarification of
the authority for CIA personnel to carry firearms is of sufficient
importance and urgency to warrant separate prompt action by the Congress.
The Director, therefore, intends to resubmit such legislation early in
the first session of the 96th Congress. The terms of, and explanation for,
this legislative proposal are contained in the Director's proposed legisla-
tive program for the second session of the 95th Congress and in the
separate legislative proposal submitted in 1978 pursuant to that program.
96-5. Legislation to Allow Annual Educational Travel for Dependents of
Employees of the Central Intel igen eAgency Serving Overseas, andto"
ow for the Payment of a Death ratuit to urviving Dependents of
Employees of Me Central me igence Agency w o Die as a Res f o
-njury Sustained in the Line of u : P. : ~JJ3=45, approved c Ober
1974 granted authority or two new benefits for employees of the Depart-
ment of State, AID and USIA (now ICA) serving overseas. The benefits
provide for (1) one round trip per year to and from overseas posts for
student-dependents who attend high school or college in the United States;
and, (2) payment of a death gratuity to the surviving dependent[s] of an
employee who dies as a result of injuries sustained in the line of duty
which is in addition to any other benefit[s]. Although a portion of CIA
officers serving overseas receive the travel benefit, others do not.
Currently no Agency officers serving overseas receive the death gratuity.
As Agency officers serve in circumstances similiar to employees
of State, USIA and ICA, it is inequitable that they do not receive the same
statutory benefits as do their counterparts. The Director of. Central
Intelligence, therefore, intends to submit legislation in the first session
of the 96th Congress to correct this inequity, so that benefits available
to CIA personnel serving overseas are comparable to those received by
employees of other Executive Branch agencies in similar circumstances.
It is estimated that, in light of past experience and numbers of
employees that would be eligible for the two benefits, the cost to the
United States Government would be in neighborhood of $200, 000 per year.
3
Approved For Release 2006/11/22 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000700090044-8