REP. ASPIN CHARGES CIA HAS 'BUFFALOED' CONGRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100240044-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: March 10, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

C` -r A -r
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100240044-8
STAT
t;l'1IALE A?p2 .i D
THE WASHINGTON POST
10 March 1980
'I'll r 1'`U a--%
4
, C, o* j i E.- r 1 -3 11 8 S
al, 0 e C
-By George Lardner Jr.
wa;hir'scon r otc Staff writer
The chairman of the House Intelli
gence oversight subcommittee .j
charged yesterday that the central In-;, l
telligence Agency has ' "buffaloed"'
Congress is to aecepting?,a warped it -- i,
'._terpretation of the law governing co-
vert operations.
Subcommittee Chairmai Les Aspin
;Q-Wis.), said the Hughes=Ryarr
amendment; of ,.1974- was into ded!fo''
require notice to -the congressional
ommittees before the C1 could un?
dertake covert activities in foreign
countries. . . c'
The CIA has maintained that it
need not give Congress- prior notice.
President Caeter- opposes provisions
of a proposed charter for the-CIA that
would require prior notice even more
explicitly. White .House aides and CIA
officials contend that-this would en-
croach on the president's constitu-
tional prerogatives.
However, Aspin, said a study by a
senior lawyer for the Library on Con-
gress' Congressional Research Service
concluded that prior notice is re-
quired by the 1974 law.
:'But in an effort to cooperate with
the, intelligence community, we have
accepted a warped interpretation of
the law" Aspin said.
-"The key term is `unless and until,"'
'he;-declared. "The CIA cannot launch a:
covert action -'unless-:and. until' con-:_
gress has been notified. And that
plainly ::leans prior notification."
The Hughes-Ryan amendment was
enacted after a furore over CIA activi-
ties in Chile. Under it, the CIA may
not undertake any foreign operation
-other than those strictly limited to
intelligence gathering "unless and
until -the- president finds that each
such operation is important to the na-
'tional security of the United States
-and reports, in a timely fashion- a de-
scription and scope of such operation
to the appropriate committees of Con-
gress' - .: '
The CIA has always emphasized the
"in timely fashion" clause. The words,
,.and until, 'were added on the House
floor at the behest of Rep. John Bur-
ton (D-Calif.) shortly before the law
was passed in final form. - .
In practice, the CIA notifies hey
members of the House and Senate In-
telligence committees, and several
other panels, in advance. But CIA of-
ficials contend that the practice ought
not to be nailed down in law on the
grounds that there always will be a
need for unforeseen exceptions.
The practice, in any case, is some-
what diluted- The notifications some-
times are extremely vague. Both Pres-
idents Ford and Carter have made so-
called "generic findings" declaring in
advance that the CIA could-carry out
-a wide range of covert operations
dealing with narcotics, terrorism and
counterintelligence,' according to in-
formed sources.
Other secret-- subjects. sources sayit-
since have been-added to the list. The',
congressional committees are not told
of the specific covert actions dealing
with those problems unless they ask
about them.
The author of the Library of Con-
ess legal study; Raym n elada
sai the
Hu