INTRODUCTION

There is now broad agreement that legislation should be enacted to authorize and restrict the activities of intelligence agencies, but there is substantial and important disagreement about what these conditions should be. Several different comprehensive sets of recommendations have been put forward. This report compares five of these reports as they relate to eight major issues affecting foreign intelligence activities.* The five official documents are:

Executive Order 12036 on U.S. Intelligence
Activities (The Carter Order), issued by
President Carter on January 26, 1978.

This order currently governs the activities
of the intelligence community;

S.2525, The National Intelligence Reorga-
nization and Reform Act of 1978, charter
legislation for the foreign intelligence
related activities of the intelligence co-
mmunity. The bill was introduced by the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
on February 18, 1978 and is currently the
subject of hearings before that committee.
If and when enacted, it will supersede
Executive guidelines then in effect;

Recommendations of the Final Report of the
House Select Committee on Intelligence, 94th
Congress, 2nd Session, (The Pike Committee
Report);

Recommendations of the Final Report of the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, 94th Congress, 2nd Session (The Church Committee Report);

*Some of the guidelines also deal with domestic intelligence gathering where the targets are American citizens not believed to be agents of foreign powers. The issues involved in these activities are not discussed in this report. See: Testimony of Jerry J. Berman, John H.F. Shattuck and Morton H. Halperin on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union on FBI Charter Legislation before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, April 25, 1978.

H.R.6051, The Federal Intelligence Activities
Control Act of 1977, a bill designed to pre-
vent abuses of power by the intelligence
community and introduced with the support
of a number of civil liberties groups in-
cluding the American Civil Liberties Union.*

The major sets of activities compared in this report are:

Each section identifies the major policy questions and describes the recommendations contained in each document.

*Underlined words are used to refer to these reports hereinafter. Executive Order 11905 (The Ford Order) and the recommendations included in the Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities Within the U.S. (The Rockefeller Commission Report) are also discussed, though less extensively. See the Appendix for more information on these documents.

I. COVERT OPERATIONS CONDUCTED ABROAD

Covert operations are activities conducted abroad which are designed to further U.S. policies and are carried on in a manner which is designed to conceal the role of the U.S. government. The tactics employed and the secrecy in which these missions are carried out are, according to the Church Committee, "in basic tension" with the demands of a democratic system and raise important civil liberties issues. All of the documents deal with covert operations.

A. AUTHORIZATION

1. Should the United States conduct covert operations?

The Carter Order authorizes the conduct of covert

operations. 1/ S2525 would authorize covert operations subject to procedural requirements, Presidential findings and with specified limitations and prohibitions._2/ The Church Committee, after "serious consideration of the option of proposing a total ban on all forms of covert activity," recommended authorizing covert operations only in "extraordinary circumstances involving grave threats to United States national security." 3/ The Pike Committee Report recommended prohibition of specific types of covert operations and authorization of all others. 4/ HR6051 would prohibit all covert operations in peacetime._5/

B. IMPLEMENTATION OF COVERT OPERATIONS

1. Who should be allowed to conduct covert operations?

The Carter Order authorizes the CIA to conduct covert operations; any other intelligence agency may conduct an operation if that agency appears more likely

1

Carter Order, 881-302-303.

2

S2525 88134-135.

3

4

Church Committee Report, Book I, p. 446; see also Church Committee Report, Book I, p. 448, Recommendation #35.

Pike Committee Report, p. 2.

5

HR6051 88303 (e)

than the CIA to achieve the objective of the operation. 6/ S2525 would authorize the CIA and, in wartime, the Armed Forces, to conduct covert operations. 7/ S2525 would permit any other intelligence agency to "provide support" for a covert operation. 8/ The term "provide support" is not defined.

The Church Committee Report recommended authorization of only the CIA to conduct covert operations. 9/ The Pike Committee Report did not specify which intelligence agencies should or should not conduct covert operations. HR6051 would prohibit covert operations in peacetime and does not specify who may conduct such operations during war.10/

2. What activities should be prohibited in the
conduct of covert operations?

The Carter Order prohibits only assassination.11/ S2525 absolutely would prohibit the following:

Church Committee Report, Book I, p. 448, Recommendation #35.

10

HR6051 303 (e) (1).

11

Carter Order $2-305.

12

S2525 134 (5).

13

Id. §135 (a) (4).

3) use of chemical, biological, or other weapons
in violation of treaties or other international
agreements to which the United States is a
party; 14/

4)

5)

the torture of individuals; 15/ and

the support of any action, which violates
human rights, conducted by the police, foreign
intelligence, or internal security forces of
any foreign country."16/

S2525 would prohibit the following but would provide for a Presidential waiver of this restriction in times of war or when the President determines that there is a "grave and immediate threat to the national security" and that such action is "vital" and is the only way to accomplish the objective: 17/

1) "the support of international terrorist activities; 18/

3) the creation of food or water shortages or
floods; 20/ and

4)

the violent overthrow of the democratic government of any country. "21/