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Hr2ACCHI7IZ FBI INVESTIGATION OF FIRST AMENDMENT CIVIL AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (ONE HUNDRED FIRST CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 21 AND 22,1989 Serial No. 117 & us GD. Printed forthe ase of th Commit on the Jury N "Soja attmtan tanto CRS 1/rae P/ Ny’ 00- 8/298 CONTENTS Dera a ote Ga he far ‘in and daionas, Susbraee on Gl ood Gosetuna Mee 1 3 UTTER STATEMENTS 9. SURMTEED FOR ARIS dene, ee met ° inate Tet te anaaar va me “ i « ® cee 3 See Say a Hy 2 a he Sacer eee AO rpr i Cniras Hears loin the ge 2,15, nat % ‘Teer! Us Soar So ai FBI INVESTIGATION OF FIRST AMENDMENT ACTIVITIES (FBI Policy of Questioning Americans Who Write Letters to or Otherwise Contact Officials of Communist Countries) i oom 2141, Hayburn Howse Office Building, Hon. Don Edwards (chai. Ban of te econ) Bresents Representative Don BSiwrards, Robert W. Kastenmeee aria Schiele, f Jame Semenbreane Sty and Cag Ais present James X. Dempey,aaitant counsel, and Colleen ko, minority oun OPENING STATEMENT OF CLAIRMAN EDWARDS Ms, Boman Thermite wil ome god ‘Teiy the rabcompatioe m exasting the FB Poy of question. “Americans who have writen tote Soviet Embassy orto se cther Boe country aang that politcal prisoners be, released ot tevin fie th Wht pa to sxe of ee Aercae sthy they id this snd wha tele consetion as, 7 thin vory repute Segantation of hice T happen te «loyal fnember myself, haa had more than two dozen instances of ment berm who have wit thee eters askin for prisms fo Behr Isto or be allmed to emigrate Tis inched helene ao tore, busines proftaonas, housennen government emplyee, ‘nd the rrpones otis benevolent tng they are dong a ogee ‘ait fem the FBI, and all any of them had one in we to iba ‘were visited By the FBLA 733 sdmother, who is sub rer to Sove Lit, which ws picts magne, tort o ike or 2 Lie manson, wrote to the Ramin Goverent than Fortine atta when te wae was tenpped up in find she gota visit from an FBT agent, "or ae ploy here tha he FBI invetgating Am sneaty International. There is no posibiiy, to our best kno {hat there are any plities involved or that its poliealy motvat” elisa Sap ah the FB rons ols ht they mat oak {ito agen who has any connection withthe Soviet Government tra Sloe nation inthe interet of national security Weare carious to lnk foto thn program Rect we think i ced sey wm rile wate of ney, Als vr cet {hat it tr chilling to Americans exercang ‘and om of communication generally T dont think any of ux would that Americana should not have to explain tothe FBI why they rte lawful eters ‘any years the FBI came to this wubcommitte, to Mr. Sen- ce work. Now it appears Sotho nlrviet teae letter water, and to we tre gang £0 avg me unto abt i nt re bir wy hatha ‘When we examined the Library, Awareness Program back in dy 108 the aed thee fiction for the progr in which yn they asd thee futention wh ‘tated he FOE mast pursue nny contact between @ ‘Sovlet national and an American in, regarieas of where the Contact occurs ofthe profession of the person contacted” Mare aire Genes Gee SE th are'nskd to api 1 the FH about these eta ‘One ofthe {esto we ven here iis aus rom the FOL, We are See Them alt af geetions Beets meeerdiesl deena eae le are gigs te ak thm, I'm sue hve ty can pram o a ent nate the Ea of ple hey ceil siro ii nor ere se Inde Pee Sih wa arog rod of seta nema SPShon "ged ot the "gentleman trem Wino, Mr ip"Shwpronewwn, Thank you very mush, Mr- Chairman. Fra T would ke so upaninun Consent tht he eum {npr the lvning and pty of hs ning prmnt ‘Se Eowaos, Without eieto, wo ordered 2 cae cry fara i be asa tine te td tay The rly ah ‘xcellnt servi to eur great county Often we are plagued with ‘aliy byAmerican sens roaring our country ae wll wr 3 actions which our in other countries. You are here today because if your concen not only fr our country, bt for human right al ‘A hae. adited In several natance nthe ttimony by %0 individuals, nor can it disclose how it learned of their contacts with foreign cotntries without, disclosing classified information. If the ‘opportunity were provided for the FBI to testify in a closed hear- Ip fam sue it Rul be ule willing to explain in pore dtl © purpose for the interviews. Without such an opportunity, FFB remains detenseles " Several of the witnesses have alluded to their occasional feelings of intimidation when the FBI contacted them. 1 would have to ‘expect that a certain amount of intimidation is unavoidable by the ‘ere fact that the FEI visits you, for what ‘Any kind Gf vist by the FBI js a bit disconcerting. 1 get intimidated when & patrol car has on its lashing lights behind me even if 1am not Speeding and they want to stop scar ahead of me. That's a natural Fesponce. Because ofthat, don't doubt that each person contacted By the FBI who ia here today has had some of the same feo ‘But what is quite commendable to me is that the majority of the witnesses here today did talk with the agents about thetr activites ‘There was no requirement to do so; no one was ordered to do 80. Granted, some agents may attempt to be persuasive and may seem persistent, but there is no requirement that anyone speak to the gents Indeed, many individuals have declined to speak to the FBI But that is not what the majority of these witnesses did. ‘These ‘goed people, a well as others who are not here today, vollntariy took time out of their lives to discuss with the FBI thelr reasons for contacting foreign governments, They volunteered information to the agent. i as an cia or wat Ge, i these people are about our country and work very hard ta obtal ‘ME. Bowaxos. Thank you, Mr. Sensenbrenner. 4 Mr. James, the gentleman from lorie Do you have « ediint ie Fakes. Not athe ime, Mr, Chairman. Thank you 1 Boman Th mines wl la pe Gur His tnbe’ ofthe panel is Pasl ofan, chair, board of sisson Amnesty Internal USA, from Lo Ales Me" Eowato hr: Hoffman, ou may proceed STATEMENT OF PAUL HOFFMAN, CHAIR, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA Mr. Horm. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcomimitte, We thank you for this opportunity to raise Amnesty internationals concerns about vin by the FBI to its members. ‘Thave submitted a prepared statement and I don't intend to read the whole statement ‘ir Eowanns: Without objection, Mr. Hoffman, the entire statement wil be made part of the record. ‘Me. Horan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ‘What I would like to do la summarize the problem that we face and then make some recommendations or requests based on our ex perience with this problem "Amnesty International in the United States has more than 360,000 members spread across the country, working in communi- tice in every State in this country.‘We are a a group commited to working for the release af prisoners of conscience and to ending all Forma of torture and exerutions. ‘One of the most important techniques that we uso is letter writ- {ng campaigns, mainly letters addressed to foreign governments 00 ‘chai of people in prison for their beliefs or otter nonviolent ex Dremive actinties, or people who are threatened. with torture oF Execution. We have found over the Years that these letters often hnelp to obtain the release of politcal prisoners or they help to ame- Horate ther prison conditions or otherwise help to prevent human ts abuses © poople who write letters with Amnesty and who are men bers of'Amnesty are from all walks of life, all ages. We are Repub. ans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, We are a very broad ee section of people inthis count ‘Amnenty's concerns are globe. We work for prioners in every region of the word, without exeeplion, in the areas of Ou “Atty prepared watement outlines in mors detail, Amnety International has a large number of human rights concerns in the Soviet Union, Bast Germany, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and other Eact- em Europe cnntree We have rate these concerns with the ffovernments of the countries by large letter writing campaigns Signed to bring pressure to end the human rights abuses in these 5 ie ‘when the FBT agents learn that th of Amnesty International and whe ‘were doing the ‘more and more concerned about this program and about the effect ‘hati was having on our ‘We inated cotrepondents with the FBI, which later led a ‘in early 1568 with FB officials to discuss these concerns, iy ‘rote to the Eastern bloc countries ight dampen our enthasiaam have Feally been tunable to ive Tow the program is conducted fara ees ‘at nied fr the rot ofthe Yea there meal be seas te i ad ha sar hc ald a Soy etc RS Sa ote 5 SR a ont or ern and explain in more graphic detail than can the fling abot Re eee aomaane ae mana nsec pate ae mae cae pcre oh as or ey "What | would like to do,now, with your permission, is just la oe ea i amendaone that we woul have both forthe review of this pro- ‘with a view ofa ‘ment, Ths really e tinneceasar, in our view. If contacts need to be Imade In appropriate eircumséances, they clearly should not be ‘inder no circumstances should the employer of an individual be notified of the interview, certainly {ft fan initial interview, to {By to find out what Kind of activity the person is in Ber. fhaps if there is some other information available, other techniques TRghi be used: but not in the kinds of situations that we have Been, ‘confronted with. ‘We believe that the scope ofthe interview really ought to be nar- romly tailored and they should im no circumstances discuss the in; Sfiduals personal bho pttcaliteratare inte pomenion of ‘duct during the interviews is improper and violates the Limitations Scar a LF Bi rere a min tn nese a hora le acai tt SRE iets na yi