Doc Ref ID: A4268763 7 . i Date: 03/24/97 Pace: 1 JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION FORM AGENCY INFORMATION AGENCY : NSA — RECORD NUMBER : 144-10001-10134 RECORDS SERIES : AGENCY FILE NUMBER : ORIGINATOR : FROM : TITLE : REQUESTS DATE : 01/05/78 PAGES : 4 SUBJECTS : T TYPE : MEMORANDUM, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT CATION :—— . CTIONS : 1B STATUS : X REVIEW : 08/12/93 I COMMENTS : [R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED Released on 10-26-2017 under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2017 Note)
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE FORT GEORGE G. mazap, MARYLAND 20755 Serial: wnoois ' 5 January 1978 MEMORANDUM FOR THE HONORABLE DEANNE STEMER, GENERAL COUNSEL, ‘DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE a < . ge SUBJECT: Pending Congressional Requests =. REFERENCES: (a) 15 December 1977 letter from Senator Gedrge McGovern to Secretary of Defense — (b) Undated letter received on 20 December 1977 from Congressman Louis Stokes to Director, NSA (c) 16 December 1977 letter from Mr. Ira Nordlicht to the Honorable Deanne Siemer vided to Congressional Committees which exercise no traditional * and, if it is to be provided, how it is to be done. NSA Charter legislation, now in draft 2.-° We anticipate that requests for information, as illus- trated by the three referenced letters, will continue to increase and can Present difficulties in maintaining good relations with _ the Congress. While this Agency has been fully responsive to the needs of ‘the Intelligence, Armed Services, and Appropriations Committees; we have treated requests. for ‘information by other committees on a purely case-by-case basis. Several times during the past two years, Committees -of the Congress which do not have jurisdiction for intelligence’ oversight have approached NSA directly for foreign Signals, intelligence information. In each case it has been our understanding that the SIGIN? information responded directly to the requesting committee providing either access to SIGINT product or briefings, as required. Charsitte NS | | : wert a —_ ’ DOWNGRADE: TO CONFIDENTIAL Se, ( SA/CSSu 123.2) oo . 5 fea Ges po N6S2, Cea 2 : | PMSssuy Uroa y . OBeg Py Sion by the Origineton meres ates HVCCO UPON REMOVAL OF INCL wBtnes aos wee eda Aaa 92 (44 USC 2017 Note) & y 26-2017 under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 19 ° \“ _ rene Released on 10-26- ‘ ST ST ee te ee Neg
Doc Ref ID: A4268763 a > NOOIS 3. Regarding these three specific requests, inclosed for Sarena: Serial: your information is a summary of NSA's contacts with Senator McGovern's Subcommittee on International Operations. As indi-- cated in the summary and as discussed previously with Mr. Andrews of your staff, we have not shown nor discussed any material with Senator McGovern's staff representative pending the drafting of an approved memorandum of understanding by your office and the execution of such an MOU between the Executive Branch and the Senator. p & 4. In his letter “received by NSA on 20- ~December; Representa~ tive Louis Stokes, Chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, requested certain information from NSA relating to the Cuban intelligence network during the period 1959 - 1964. Chairman Stokes also certified that access to any NSA material would be restricted to those staff members with a TOP SECRET security clearance; access to NSA material, of course, indoctrination for SI as well. Chairman Stokes' requires No response has been made to correspondence pending resolution of how NSA should deal with non-oversight committees. Once that decision is made, we recommend that any SIGINT information selected for the Select Committee on Assassinations be provided only by the DoD or DCI as part of a larger submission of data and that the / SIGINT be properly sanitized. . of Oe Mr. Ira Nordlicht' s 16 December letter to you requested information from NSA on the flow of oil to South Africa and Rhodesia. At the time of his initial telephone call, Mr. Nor alicht had a TOP SECRET clearance. It is our understanding that he has since been indoctrinated for SI/TK by DIA. While any SIGINT ‘pertinent to-Mr. Nordlicht's request may contain unique informa- tion, it must be emphasized that SIGINT alone may be incomplete or misleading unless it is examined in the context of all-source intelligence information. .In this instance, .after the execution of a suitable MOU, we recommend the requested information be furnished by the DCI combining the SIGINT with other materials - available to him. You may recall that earlier this year the’ . ‘Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Economic Policy requested and was provided information on Arab foreign. investments and the lifting and sale of Saudi and Iranian oil. .- This is the information which was provided specifically to.Mr. Jerome Levinson, then counsel of the Subcommittee, and which subsequently formed the basis for a 20 June 1977 letter from Senator Frank Church, Chairman of the Subcommittee, to the Secretary of State citing "ola substantial discrepancy between CIA and NSA ASEINEtES of Saudi crude oil exports in the first quarter of 1977. This charge was repeated 2 a tina i ETERS SRST SETS : Pets Sorotrin late Sree corac es
an -in the New York Time Serial: NOO15 by Mr. Levinson in an article by Seymour M. Hersh appearing 2S Of December 23, 1977. Mr. Nordlich: stated hiS present request is not relate@ to the previous inquiry. 7 6. The lack of an MOU or other with requests for. .SIGINT from other than the three traditional Oversight committees mentioned above has severely hampered NSA's ability to be responsive to the Congress. We urgently recommend that an agreed Procedure be developed’ between the Executive and Legislative Branches which would seat forth the terms an@ condi- tions on which sensitive cryptologic or’ other intelligence information would be provided to the non-oversight committeas. In the absence of such an agreement with both the Senate Poreicn agreed procedure for dealing ba eos oa Oy Relations Committee and the House’ Select Committee on Assassina- We also recommenda sman Stokes and Mr. Nordlicht and also determine a Proper response to Senator McGovern consistent with the President's instructions. Me An B. R.\ INMAN Vice Admiral, U. s. Navy Director, NSA/Chief£, css incl: ° oo a/s Copy Furnished: _ Col. Stephen Harrick OASD (LA) ”
Doc Ref ID: A4268763 et << oe a“ Serial: NOO15 cc: DIR Vv D/DIR G DDO : EX REG Exec DDO - F221 ADLA NCRDEP Ul U2 oe Di that the channel of communications for Such requests should be through a designated individual on the IC Staff and that responses to the Congress should flow back through the- sa person, providing the DCI, on behalf of the President, the oppor- tunity to review what intelligence information is made available to the Congress. The DCI has never responded to this memorandum. b. Instant memo recommends that an agreed procedure be developed between the Executive and Legislative Branches which would set forth the terms and conditions on which sensitive cryptologic or other intelligence information would be provided to the non-oversight committees. It also recommends OSD GC “assume action on R/S 5507 and provides background information On two Congressional requests (references a and c) for SIGtn? information. now pending in osp. oe Cc. Deadline on R/S 5507 response to Ms. Siemer extended to 4 January per Col. steve Harrick, ATSD (LA), and Mr. Boo Andrews, OSD (GC). , dad. .Mr. Yeates, Exec DDO, and Mr. Brady, GC, concur. Classification reviewed by Mr. Michael Levin, D4. a Ae a JULIA | WETZED, U2, 3V61s, 4 Jan.78, bj } : LAO nw