Here's more background on the covert ops bill.
For more info by email you can write to me or to Andrew Lang of the
Christic's Media Department, who's also on the Activists Mailing List
(AML), at: cdp!christic@arisia.xerox.com --Harel

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ANALYSIS OF SENATE COVERT OPERATIONS BILL AND APPEAL FOR SUPPORT
Christic Institute, Monday, 10 September 1990

[The following letter was mailed this week to supporters of the
Christic Institute.]

Unless we stop them, Congress is about to legalize most of what
was illegal or unethical in the Iran-contra scandal and empower
the national security apparatus to operate outside our
constitutional system.

As a supporter of the Christic Institute, you are far more aware
than most of the public as to what this action by Congress would
mean. You are therefore critical to the success of any effort to
stop this surrender by Congress to the national security
apparatus.

Please help us alert your Representative and Senators to the
profound constitutional implications of their actions. Because
unless you and I act, within the next few weeks a bill will be
passed in Washington that could destroy everything we've worked
so hard to achieve.

At 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 4, the United States Senate
passed S. 2834, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 1991, in an unrecorded voice vote. Title VII of this bill,
``Oversight of Intelligence Activities,'' amends the National
Security Act of 1947. This misnamed ``oversight'' section:

--authorizes the President to conduct covert operations, an
authority never before explicitly recognized in legislation, and
erroneously asserts that this Presidential power has a
constitutional basis.

--explicitly denies any power on the part of the Congress to
disapprove covert operations.

--provides that the President may use any Federal agency or
entity, not just the C.I.A., to fund or conduct covert
operations. This step would vastly expand the resources available
for such operations and make oversight even more difficult.

--allows the President to use third countries and private
contractors to conduct or fund covert operations. The use of
third parties was a key source of Iran-contra abuses and allows
the President to bypass the congressional ``power of the purse"
in our constitutional system;


--requires the President to make a finding prior to initiating a
covert action and deliver that finding to the Congress, but
allows the President to withhold key details of an operation from
Congress, either by asserting that such information is
extraordinarily sensitive or by claiming executive privilege.
Withholding information was the primary method used by the
executive branch to limit Iran-contra prosecutions.

The Intelligence Authorization Act is considered by its
supporters to be a ``reform'' bill because it strengthens the
requirements on the President to document the initiation of a
covert operation with a written finding. However, because the
legislation transfers all congressional authority to control
covert operations to the President, the effect of the bill is to
legitimize the attacks on our Constitution that were at the heart
of the Iran-contra scandal.

By abdicating responsibility for covert operations, Congress is
saying it does not intend to curb Iran-contra style abuses but
rather simply to avoid the embarrassment of scandals that
accompany immoral and lawless policies.

The House version of the intelligence authorization bill, H.R.
5422, does not include the ``oversight'' language of the Senate
version, reportedly because the President has not given the House
Intelligence committee a pledge to deliver a written finding
within 48 hours of initiating a covert operation. This means the
House will probably vote on the authorization bill without an
oversight section and send the bill to conference committee
appointed by the leadership to reconcile differences between the
House and Senate versions.

If the President offers the 48-hour pledge that the House
Intelligence Committee has been seeking, the conferees would
almost certainly adopt the Senate oversight provisions.
Therefore, it appears that the only way to block passage of the
oversight section is to put pressure on the likely conference
committee members from the House not to accept this section in
any form during the conference.
[....]
With gratitude for your faithful support,
Sara Nelson
Executive Director
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