An Act to require the registration of certain persons who have knowledge of or have received instruction or assignment in the espionage, counterespionage, or sabotage service or tactics of a foreign government or foreign political party, and for other purposes
PL 84-893 (H.R.3882), enacted 08/01/1956

70 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89 3-AUG. 1, 1966 
Public Law 893 
CHAPTER 849 
AN ACT 
To require the registration of certain persons who have knowledge of or have 
received instruction or assignment in the espionage, counterespionage, or 
sabotage service or tactics of a foreign government or foreign political party, 
and for other purposes. 
August 1, 1956 
[H. R. 3882] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 20 of 
the Internal Security Act of 1950 is amended by repealing subsection 
(a), and by deleting the designation "(b)" which appears in said 
section. 
SEC. 2. Except as provided in section 3 of this Act, every person 
who has knowledge of, or has received instruction or assignment in, 
the espionage, counterespionage, or sabotage service or tactics of a 
government of a foreign country or of a foreign political party, shall 
register with the Attorney General hj filing with the Attorney Gen-
eral a registration statement in duplicate, under oath, prepared and 
filed in such manner and form, and containing such statements, in-
formation, or documents pertinent to the purposes and objectives of 
this Act as the Attorney General, having due regard for the national 
security and the public interest, by regulations prescribes. 
SEC. 3, The registration requirements of section 2 of this Act do not 
apply to any person— 
(a) who has obtained knowledge of or received instruction or 
assignment in the espionage, counterespionage, or sabotage service 
or tactics of a foreign government or foreign political party by 
reason of civilian, military, or police service or employment with 
the United States Government, the governments of the several 
States, their political subdivisions, the District of Columbia, the 
Territories, or the Canal Zone; 
(b) who has obtained such knowledge solely by reason of aca-
demic or personal interest not under the supervision of or in 
preparation for service with the government of a foreign country 
or a foreign political party; 
(c) who has made full disclosure of such knowledge, instruc-
tion, or assignment to officials within an agency of the United 
States Government having responsibilities in the field of intelli-
gence, which disclosure has been made a matter of record in the 
files of such agency, and concerning whom a written determina-
tion has been made by the Attorney General or the Director of 
Central Intelligence that registration would not be in the interest 
of national security; 
(d) whose knowledge of, or receipt of instruction or assign-
ment in, the espionage, counterespionage, or sabotage service or 
tactics of a government of a foreign country or of a foreign polit-
ical party, is a matter of record in the files of an agency of the 
United States Government having responsibilities in the field of 
, intelligence and concerning whom a written determination is made 
by the Attorney General or the Director of Central Intelligence, 
based on all information available, that registration would not be 
in the interest of national security; 
(e) who is a duly accredited diplomatic or consular officer of a 
foreign government, who is so recognized by the Department of 
State, while he is engaged exclusively in activities which are rec-
ognized by the Department of State as being within the scope of 
the functions of such officer, and any member of his immediate 
family who resides with him; 
Foreign agents. 
Registration. 
64 Stat. 1005. 
22 u s e 611. 
F i l i n g 
s t a t e - , 
ment. 
N o n applicabil-
ity. 
900 
PUBLIC LAW 893-AUG. 1, 1956 
[70 &r AT, 
R e t e n t i o n 
of 
registration state-
ments. 
Rules and regu-
lations. 
V i o l a t i o n and 
penalties. 
8 u s e 1151. 
Offense. 
Compliance. 
Separability. 
(f) who is an official of a foreign government recognized by 
the United States, whose name and status and the character of 
whose duties as such official are of record in the Department of 
State, and while he is engaged exclusively in activities which 
are recognized by the Department of State as being within the 
scope of the functions of such official, and any member of his 
immediate family who resides with him; 
(g) who is a member of the staff of or employed by a duly 
accredited diplomatic or consular officer of a foreign govern-
ment who is so recognized by the Department of State, and 
whose name and status and the character of whose duties as such 
member or employee are a matter of record in the Department 
of State, while he is engaged exclusively in the performance of 
activities recognized by the Department of State as being within 
the scope of the functions of such member or employee; 
(h) Who is an officially acknowledged and sponsored repre-
sentative of a foreign government and is in the United States 
on an official mission for the purpose of conferring or otherwise 
cooperating with United States intelligence or security personnel; 
(i) who is a civilian or one of the military personnel of a 
foreign armed service coming to the United States pursuant to 
arrangements made under a mutual defense treaty or agreement, 
or who has been invited to the United States at the request of 
an agency of the United States Government; or 
(j) who is a person designated by a foreign government to 
serve as its representative in or to an international organization 
in which the United States participates or is an officer or em-
ployee of such an organization or who is a member of the 
immediate family of, and resides with, such a representative, 
officer, or employee. 
SEC. 4. The Attorney General shall retain in permanent form one 
copy of all registration statements filed under this Act. 
They shall 
be public records and open to public examination at such reasonable 
hours and under such regulations as the Attorney General prescribes, 
except that the Attorney General, having due regard for the national 
security and public interest, may withdraw any registration state-
ment from public examination. 
SEC. 5. The Attorney General may at any time, make, prescribe, 
amend, and rescind such rules, regulations, and forms as he deems 
necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. 
SEC. 6. (a) Whoever willfully violates any provision of this Act 
or any regulation thereunder, or in any registration statement will-
fully make a false statement of a material fact or willfully omits any 
material fact, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for 
not more than five years, or both. 
(b) Any alien convicted of a violation of this Act or any regulation 
thereunder is subject to deportation in the manner provided by chap-
ter 5, title II, of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 163). 
SEC. 7. Failure to file a registration statement as required by this 
Act is a continuing offense for as long as such failure exists, notwith-
standing any statute of limitation or other statute to the contrary. 
SEC. 8. Compliance with the registration provisions of this Act does 
not relieve any person from compliance with any other applicable 
registration statute. 
SEC. 9. If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to 
any person or circumstances is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, 
and the application of such provisions to other persons or circum-
stances, is not affected thereby. 
Approved August l, 1956.