Opinion ID: 105539
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Regulations.

Text: When the Department's proceedings against the petitioner, which resulted in the clearances of October 6, 1950, and July 31, 1951, were begun, the Regulations in effect were those of March 11, 1949, entitled Regulations and Procedures relating to Loyalty and Security of Employees, U. S. Department of State. [14] Section 391 stated the Authority and General Policy of the Regulations in three subsections. Subsection 391.1 stated that it was highly important to the interest of the United States that no person be employed in the Department who is disloyal or who constitutes a security risk. Subsection 391.2 stated that so far as the Regulations related to the handling of loyalty cases, they were promulgated in accordance with Executive Order No. 9835, which had recognized the necessity for removing disloyal employees from the Federal service and for refusing employment therein to disloyal persons, and the obligation to protect employees and applicants from unfounded accusations of disloyalty. Subsection 391.3 referred to the language of the McCarran Rider, noting that the Secretary of State had been granted by Congress the right, in his absolute discretion, to terminate the employment of any officer or employee of the Department of State or of the Foreign Service of the United States whenever he shall deem such termination necessary or advisable in the interests of the United States. In the exercise of this right, the subsection concluded, the Department will, so far as possible, [15] afford its employees the same protection as those provided under the Loyalty Program. And, as we shall see hereafter, the Regulations made no provision for action by the Secretary himself, under the McCarran Rider or otherwise, except following unfavorable action in the employee's case by the Department Loyalty Security Board, after full hearing before that Board on the charges against him, and approval of the Board's action by the Deputy Under Secretary. [16] In May and September 1951, prior to the time of petitioner's discharge, the Regulations were revised, and the amended § 391 provided even more explicitly than the original that the procedures and standards established were intended to govern exercise of the authority granted by the McCarran Rider. After stating in the first subsection [17] that the Regulations were adopted to implement the Department's policy that no person be employed in the Department [18] who is disloyal or who constitutes a security risk, the section continues in the next two subsections [19] to state in effect that the Regulations relating to the handling of loyalty cases were promulgated in accordance with Executive Order No. 9835, and that those relating to security cases were promulgated under the authority of the Act of August 26, 1950 [20] and the McCarran Rider. [21] The phrase so far as possible, in reference to McCarran Rider authority, was deleted. The Regulations thus drew upon all the sources of authority available to the Secretary with reference to such cases, and purported to set forth definitively the procedures and standards to be followed in their handling.