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File #:

66-5J.996

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I OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR

UNITED

STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535

STATEMENT OF

CLARENCE M. KELLEY

DIRECTOR

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

BEFORE THE

SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE

SEPTEMBER 22, 1976

66-996

SERIALIZED...... FILED. s

SEP & 41976

FBI - SAN JUAM

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Today marks my first appearance before the Senate

Select Committee on Intelligence.

I want to assure you that

I sincerely welcome the opportunity to work with you.

I believe that we can and must develop a clear

base of understanding between the Executive and Legislative

Branches on the proper role of the FBI in the discharge of

its complex national security responsibilities.

As the Supreme Court so aptly observed in its

Keith Decision in 1972, "Unless Government safeguards its

own capacity to function and to preserve the security of its

people,

society itself could become so disordered that all

rights and liberties would be endangered. "

Yet the maintenance of national security is a

hollow victory unless it can be achieved with the least

possible intrusion into the rights and privacy of our citizens.

Balancing these imperatives will require the greatest study

and serious thought.

Together, I feel we can reach a meaningful understanding

which will best serve our country.

Since I became Director in 1973, there has been a

continuous examination of all major aspects of the FBI's

operations.

One such study, initiated in 1974, established

that a quality, rather than a caseload quantity, approach in

the assignment of our manpower and other resources would

produce better results.

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Originally, this quality approach was tried on an

experimental basis in four of our 59 field divisions. It

proved so successful that we implemented it field-wide in 1975.

Today, the quality approach is being applied to all

areas of jurisdiction, including those in the foreign

intelligence and domestic security fields that are of prime

interest to this Committee.

In July, 1973, we had 21,414 domestic security cases.

By March 31, 1976, before the Attorney General's guidelines

took effect, we had--through application of the quality

approach--reduced this caseload to 4,868 investigative matters,

a 78 percent reduction. As of September 20, 1976, this figure

has been further reduced to 626. This includes investigations

of 78 organizations and 548 individuals.

This reduction has been made possible largely because

we have discontinued investigations of rank and file members.

We are confident that the FBI can meet its responsibilities

by focusing our investigations on the activities of organ-

izations and on individuals who are in a policy-making position

in those organizations or who have engaged in activities which

indicate they are likely to use force or violence in violation

of Federal law.

In effecting this reduction, we have kept these

vital principles in mind:

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First, there must be no sacrifice or compromise

of the essential security needs of the United Statés.

Second, there must be the least possible intrusion

on the rights and privacy of our citizens, including

their sacred right of legitimate dissent.

Third, although domestic security cases differ in

some respects from ordinary criminal investigations,

these

cases should be tied as closely as possible to

actual or potential violations of Federal law. In

furtherance of this objective, last month I transferred

the supervision of all domestic security cases from our

Intelligence Division to our General Investigative

Division, which has responsibility over criminal matters.

In an effort to insure uniform adherence to the

guidelines and laws applicable to these and all other areas

of our jurisdiction, I have combined the Office of Planning

and Evaluation and the Inspection Division. In this new

Division I have created a Professional Responsibility Section.

It will report directly to me.

I have also expanded the role of the Legal Counsel

Division in reviewing all areas of FBI policies and operations.

Legal Counsel will report directly to me and to the Associate

Director:

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The investigations transferred include those

involving domestic organizations oriented toward violence

and individuals affiliated with such groups, as well as civil

unrest and demonstration matters and basic revolutionary

groups dedicated to the overthrow of the Government. The

General Investigative Division will also be responsible for

several categories of criminal investigations formerly

administered by the Intelligence Division. These are

bombing matters, sabotage, passport and visa violations,

and protection of foreign officials and official guests

of the United States.

The guidelines which the Attorney General issued

last March set forth standards and procedures for domestic

security investigations. But, the FBI regards these to be

minimum standards. FBI Headquarters has imposed stringent

criteria to insure we use our manpower resources in the most

productive manner.

There are a number of reasons why we have been able

to bring about a major reduction in our domestic security

caseload.

The decade of the 1960's was marked by protests,

often violent, on our Nation's streets and campuses.

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We entered the 1970s still engaged in an undeclared

conflict in Vietnam which was unpopular with some segments

of our population. Not in recent history had this country been

so divided over an issue, and this division was not limited

to rhetoric but included

demonstrations that often erupted

into violence.

There were deliberate criminal acts, including

bombings and sabotage, by persons opposed to our involvement

in Vietnam. The role of the FBI in this confrontation was

clearly to thwart the efforts of those who resorted to

violence as an expression of their opposition.

With the cessation of the Vietnam War in early 1973,

a major cause for divisiveness in this country was eliminated, and

the potential for violence was lessened, but not eliminated.

The FBI began closing thousands of investigations

at that time as determinations were made that certain groups

and individuals no longer were engaged in activities that

were likely to involve violations of Federal law.

The FBI met the unusual challenges of the 1960s and

early 1970s. The Senate Select Committee has examined these

and other problems in the intelligence field which led

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to the creation of this Oversight Committee; and as the

Committee is aware, the FBI fully cooperated in that review.

You have my absolute assurance that your Committee

will receive the same full cooperation in carrying out its

responsibilities under Senate Resolution 400.

One of the tasks confronting this Committee is the

formulation of a legislative charter defining the FBI's

jurisdiction in the domestic security and intelligence fields.

This will be a most precise and demanding undertaking.

As I remarked to Senator Church's Committee, the

legislative charter must be sufficiently flexible that it does

not stifle the FBI's effectiveness in combating the high

incidence of crime and violence across the United States.

The charter must clearly address the demonstrated problems

of the past; yet, it must amoly recognize the fact that times

change and so also do the nature and thrust of our criminal

and subversive challenges.

The fact that the Department of Justice has

undertaken the formulation of operational guidelines governing

this area of our activities does not in any manner diminish

the need for legislation. The responsibility for conferring

jurisdiction resides with the Congress.

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