LETTER TO HONORABLE PATRICK J. LEAHY FROM WILLIAM J. CASEY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00210R000300060003-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2007
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 9, 1981
• Content Type: LETTER

Apprbved~or ~e~easea2b~'`3~01 ? `CAA-I~lSp$~M00~1~R006~Ob066~b~=~ `- ~~~
The Director of Central Intelligence
WashingEon, D 0.20505
Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
United States Senate
Washington,.. D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Leahy:
This is in response to your letter of
I2
May in which
you posed a number of questions concerning
"Intelligence Identities Protection Act."
S.
391, the
4~lith regard to your first question, the Administration
believes that from a prosecutorial perspective the Senate's
subsection 601(c) "reason to believe" standard is preferable
to the "intent to impair or impede" language of H.R. 4. The
Department of Justice is in the best position to evaluate the
practical evidentiary problems that can develop in a criminal
prosecution. Although it might appear that past disclosures
which would have met all of S. 391's other criteria and which
also would have met the requisite "reason to believe" standard
have been accompanied by something like an "intent of
neutralizing a covert agent or impairing or impeding our
intelligence act-ivities," the Administration's concern is that
it could be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the
kind of subjective intent as to purpose now contained in
H.R. 4. Such proof might be particularly troublesome if an
unauthorized disclosure were to be accompanied by a declaration
that its ultimate intent was to somehow enhance intelligence
capabilities.
Your second and third questions deal with my suggestion
that the House Intelligence Committee consider. amending the
"Privacy Protection Act of 1980" (P.L. 95-440) so as to include
unauthorized disclosures of intelligence identities among the l
enumerated offenses for which court authorized searches and
seizures may be conducted. As you know, this enumeration was
not intended to give the listed statutes any special standing.
It was designed to ensure that their enforcement was not
obstructed by the Privacy Protection Act`s prohibition of court
authorized searches to enforce relatively minor receipt,
possession, or communication offenses. The sole effect of this
enumeration is to preserve with respect to the listed national
security-related offenses an authority applicable to virtually
all other offenses, i.e., use of a search warrant to obtain
documentary evidence in the possession of a suspect.
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Addition of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act
to the offenses now listed in the Privacy Protection Act would
not conflict with the Judiciary Committee's intent with respect
to 18 U.S.C. 793. I do not view that intent as inconsistent
with the Administration's position that the pattern of
activities and knowledge elements of the Identities legislation,
combined with the serious consequences of unauthorized dis-
closures, make it appropriate to include the offense among those
for which a search warrant may be obtained pursuant to the
Privacy Protection Act whether the Identities legislation is
ultimately enacted with a "reason to believe" or an "intent to
impair or impede" standard.
I would emphasize that this is not an issue which should
be allowed to delay consideration of the Identities Bill, and I
would support separate consideration of the extent to which the
Identities statute ought to be added to the Privacy Protection
Act. My letter to Chairman Boland of the House Intelligence
Committee merely suggested that the Committee might wish to
consider the issue, and I did not raise the matter in my Senate
testimony because I do not consider it to be integ ral to the
Identities Bill. I thank you for your continuing interest in
this matter and look forward to working with you to ensure
speedy enactment of the Identities legislation.
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