The special subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in room 318, Old Senate Office Building.

Present: Senators Stennis (chairman), Thurmond, Bartlett, Saltonstall, and Smith.

Also present: Cyrus R. Vance, General Counsel, Department of Defense; James T. Kendall, chief counsel, special subcommittee staff.

MEMORANDUM BY SUBCOMMITTEE STAFF

Senator STENNIS (presiding). The subcommittee will please come to order.

There are a few announcements to make this morning. First, I would like to say a few words with reference to the testimony already taken and our ability to take it and get it into the record, fairly rapidly. A great deal of our progress has been due to the fact that there has been a mass of preliminary staff work done on the speeches, particularly in the matter of review, drafting of memorandums that have already been referred to, the witnesses being acquainted with these matters, and the Senators to a degree. All of these factors enable us to move along much more rapidly than would otherwise be possible.

As we now come into a new phase of this testimony, even though a great deal of work has been done, it is not of a nature that will permit condensation as much as the other, and, relatively speaking, we may not move quite as fast.

But, in an effort to facilitate the hearing and also get before the subcommittee the proper facts, we have had prepared a memorandum that is entitled, "Department of Defense and Department of State Policies and Procedures Regarding Review and Clearance of Speeches Delivered by Defense Personnel."

Now, you understand that includes civilian personnel in the Department of Defense as well as military personnel, and also there is a requirement outside the Department of Defense about the clearance of certain civilian speeches.

So this procedure generally is what is followed by the Department of Defense and the Department of State with reference to speeches delivered by Defense personnel.

There is a short introductory statement, followed by statements that are believed to represent accurate information as to the procedures that are required. The subcommittee cannot guarantee, of

course, the full correctness of every sentence in this memorandum, but it is believed to be correct, and, subject to corrections, the subcommittee will use it as a general guide and, again subject to corrections, if any apply, it will now be put in the record officially as a part of the proof before the subcommittee.

(The memorandum referred to is as follows:)

MEMORANDUM

JANUARY 10, 1962.

To: The chairman and all members of Special Preparedness Subcommittee. From: James T. Kendall, Chief Counsel.

Subject: Department of Defense and Department of State Policies and Procedures Regarding Review and Clearance of Speeches Delivered by Defense Personnel.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this memorandum is to summarize the speech review and clearance policies and procedures of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the Department of State as shown by the various directives, regulations, and other documents applicable to the subject and other information in the subcommittee's possession. The memorandum has been prepared in response to the specific request of the chairman. It is intended to be as factual as possible.

DOD POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The speech review or censorship policies of OSD are purportedly designed to safeguard classified defense information and to make certain that public speeches conform with and do not conflict with established Department of Defense policy, established national policy and established foreign policy. The security objective is not directly or specifically involved in the subcommittee's investigation. The discussion here will comment on the review or censorship of speeches for policy. Development of clearance policy

The review and clearance of speeches before their delivery by members of the Defense Establishment is sanctioned by Presidential directives. Toward the end of World War II, some speeches were reviewed by the Department of State under an arrangement with the Office of War Information (Departmental Order No. 1229, Department of State, dated February 22, 1944). However, speech reviews— as an effort by the President to insure that in their public statements the members of his administration enunciated our national security policies in unison-did not originate until the early postwar period.

In a press conference statement on September 20, 1946, President Truman declared:

"No member of the executive branch of the Government will make any public statement as to foreign policy which is in conflict with our established foreign policy. Any public statement on foreign policy shall be cleared with the Department of State. In case of disagreement, the matter will be referred to me."

In a memorandum to the heads of department and independent agencies of the executive branch on December 5, 1950, President Truman directed that "no speech, press release, or other public statement concerning foreign policy should be released until it has received clearance from the Department of State." The President also required clearance by the Department of Defense of speeches relating to military policy and weapons development, and, in an amendment on May 9, 1952, to this memorandum, he directed that "reference to atomic weapons should not be made until they received clearance from the Atomic Energy Commission, as well."

The agreement covering "Procedures for Speech Review and Clearance" between the Department of Defense and the Department of State, which became effective December 1, 1961, states that "President Eisenhower in March 1960 reminded the Cabinet that the Truman directive was still in effect."

President Kennedy informally reaffirmed the coordination procedure at his press conference on February 9, 1961, when he stated:

"I would hope that those who make speeches in the area of national security. Chiefs of Staff, and others, and all others, would attempt to have those speeches coordinated with the Department of State and with the White House, so that

In addition, in a TV interview on February 17, 1961, Secretary McNamara voiced "a very simple and strongly held belief *** that its' inappropriate for any member of the Defense Department to speak on the subject of foreign policy (because) that's a field that should be reserved to the President, the Seretary of State, and other officials in the State Department."

At a press conference held on July 11, 1961, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gilpatric emphasized this policy by saying "Our policy is that military personnel should in their public appearances stick to matters within their responsibility" and that "ever since we have been here, we have been trying to stick to our business here and we have been trying to have military spokesmen confine themselves to defense matters." He further said "some members of the Defense Establishment in their speeches do get into matters of foreign policy. We think it is better organization within Government if we stick to our business."

Directives and procedures

On August 17, 1957, Secretary of Defense Wilson issued Directive No. 5122.2 setting forth the responsibilities and functions of the Directorate for Security Review in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Among other things, it was provided that this office should "review material originated within the Department of Defense for official public release, or similar material submitted for review by other executive agencies of the Government, for conflict with established policies or programs of the Department of Defense or of the National Government."

In Department of Defense Directive 5230.13 dated May 31, 1961, issued by Secretary McNamara, the following rule is laid down:

“4. In public discussions, all officials of the Department should confine themselves to defense matters. They should particularly avoid discussion of foreign policy matters, a field which is reserved for the President and the Department of State ***."

Secretary McNamara has, however, made it clear that his reference to "public discussions" does not encompass congressional testimony. He so stated in response to a question from Senator Russell in his testimony before the Committee on Armed Services on September 6, 1961 (p. 7 of transcript).

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs now operates under a charter set forth in Department of Defense Directive 5122.5 dated July 10, 1961, which requires him to provide for a review of official speeches, press releases, photographs, films, and other information originating within the Department of Defense for public release. The charter states that "this review will be for conflict with established policies or programs of the Department of Defense or of the National Government."

The agency which actually performs the function of reviewing or censoring public speeches is the Directorate for Security Review. Among its functions is the review of material originating within the Department of Defense "for conflict with established policies or programs of the Department of Defense or of the National Government."

As an ordinary rule speeches are delivered to the Directorate for Security Review through the Chief of Information of the service involved or from unified or specified commands.

Prior to being submitted to the Directorate for Security Review, speeches of military personnel are reviewed by the public information officer of the service involved. This review is for conformance with service policy, general propriety, and security. Therefore, speeches reaching the Directorate for Security Review from the services may already contain changes and comments of the service through which it is submitted. As already indicated, the Directorate for Security Review reviews a speech for conflict with established Department of Defense policies and established policies of the National Government. It is, of course, also reviewed for security clearance and, incidentally, for technical accuracy. In addition, if it is determined that a speech deals with foreign policy, then it is mandatory that it be coordinated with and cleared by the Department of State.

When a speech is cleared and returned to the source from which it came it may be unchanged or it may contain either mandatory or suggested changes which are identified as such. Mandatory changes are those which the speaker is obligated to accept unless he desires to seek reconsideration, and suggested