DEAR MR. DULLES:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01240A000100140015-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 2000
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: May 23, 1961
• Content Type: LETTER

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COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON 25
MAY '2 3 1961
Honorable Allen Dulles, Di>rectcx
Central Intelligence Ag ncyr
Dear Mr. Dullest
youx irette r dated May 17, 1961, #esponding to
work of the G neral Accounting Office has been most $aneficial
to you.
audit at this time. Your letter notes that over the years
the, Congress and for this reason tic? planned to discontinue the
to permit us to stake revie#s sufficient in scope to be helpfu
Intelligence Agency and your comm?nt that the review made by our
representatives have been helpful. As noted in our latter of
May 16, 1962., we do not b" lieve th t re have hh%d suf icient access
expand the General Accounting Office activities at the Centra
We acknowledge aisc your epprrciation in our joint attempt to
Intelligence .Age?}ncy .
our ,letter of May 16 to you relatinrci to our reviews it the Ce
We believe it is appxcpriatl: here to clarify the scope of our
work program prr%ceding t; t r-lvI uI~~s that
our exchange of letters in October 1959.
underta* n following
Following the enactment of the central Intellie, 4gtce Agency
Act in 1949, the then Oi.re:ctor of the Agency rsquesteii that not-
withstanding the very broad and unusual powers grant 4i to the
Central Intelligence Agency b - tot an audit of 4enditures
at the site as previously performed by the General Accounting
Office be continued. Accordingly th General Accoun i.ng Offic:
continued to make audits of vouch?.re1 axpcnditures ur~lvr the s.am;
arrangements that re~ in effect Fitz the predecessor Central
Intelligence Group. In vi.eq of the provisions of 3-.-ion 8 of
the Central Intelli;enc~ Agency Act no excerptions wex 3 taken to
any expenditures but que:itionabl payments cc ,nq to our attention
were referred to the CIA Co patrollsr's Office for co#~e>ctive action.
We did not make a substantive, review of Agency policiu-:s nor of its
practices and proc -dur,-s ant we rn ie no audit of exp aditures of
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or,
Fiowev wr, at the tiase of th enact nt of CIA le fi.slation in
1949 we were in the proocass of applying the cospreheraive audit
approach to the activi ti as of most Goverment sgenci >. Under
this audit approach our 'b1sic purpose is to review ar1ri evalust:
the manner in which the irancy --)r activity under audit carries
out its financial responsibilitl-,~; . Wa construe fin cial rc -
sponsibilit: es a3 including .he ~xponcliture of funds :ind th?
utilization of property and ,3sxsonnel in furtherance manly of
authorized programs or ?etivities in art effective, efficient
and economical manner. In c rrying out this type of audit we
examine the organization's sstr4cture and revie# the gstablishe:J
agency policies for confoxt.i?ry to legislative intent .and applica-
bility to agency activities. A,? also examine Lge-ncy _oractices
and procedures followed in carrying out the agency aaticies and
make a selective examineticn of actual transactions is a means
of appraising the application of :=gsncy practices and procedur s.
It was this kind of a rs-via= that we proposed for V,4 Central
Intelligence Agency in decor-1encaa with wheceve' agre4ment we
could reach with you as to access to the records. ij~r work dur-
ing the last 18 months has dras`rste=:t to us that u der existing
security restrictions wr :c Wit have sufficient aces s to make
coraprrhensivo revie34s of CIA activities on a ctntinu nc basis;
that roul,d be productive ci :va.leu,,Mons h lpfuk to the Congress.
We deeply appreciate lour Interest in the, posssii lity of
continuing our work at the Central Intelligencl Agen4y on some
scale and we arc prepared to discuss this prospect at your con-
venience. For the present and pending ctiscussl.ons .~ th you and
appropriate congressional inter s ws, we .ill continue our limited
program.
3 ncately yours,
Comptrollevr General
a f the United Vtates
EMI
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