FOOTNOTES

1/ Watergate Special Prosecution Force, Report (October, 1975)

2/

3/

See Report to the President by the Commission on CIA
Activities Within the United States (June, 1975); Final
Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental
Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities,
United States Senate, 94th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1976).

Much of this legal analysis is excerpted from a Report by the Committee on Civil Rights of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Intelligence Agency Abuses: The Need for a Temporary Special Prosecutor (1976). (The Analysis was drafted in substantial part by Jerry J. Berman at the Center for National Security Studies and Ray Calamaro, now Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legislation in the Department of Justice. 41 Justice Department Press Release, April 7, 1977.

5/

ཤ། ཧ། ༄།

New York City Bar Report, op. cit. p. 2.

6/ Report of the Department of Justice Concerning Its Investigation and Prosecutorial Decisions With Respect to Central Intelligence Agency Mail Opening Activities in the United States (January 14, 1977).

7/

8/

91

Ibid.

Goshko, John, M., High FBI Official Claims 'Vendetta'
on Burglaries, Washington Post, April 13, 1977 (A-2).
New York Times, February 15, 1977, p. 15.

HIGHLIGHTS OF ACLU'S PROPOSED CHANGES IN S.1 AS AMENDED
A BILL TO CODIFY THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAW

A.

The Official Secrets Act, $$1121-1125: Substitute ACLU proposed espionage statute set out at p. 18 of statement. Drop $$1122-1125 in their entirety. Require that, wherever the word "war" is employed, it be defined to mean a war declared by Congress under Art. I, Sec. 8 of the Constitution.

3. Impairing Military Effectiveness by False
Statement, $1114. Drop it entirely.

A. Inciting or leading a Riot, §§1831-1834.
subsections (c) (3) (4). and (5) from $1831.

B.

Drop

Disorderly Conduct, $1861. At the very least, drop subsections (2), (3), (5), (6) and (7). Reconsider subsections (1) and (4).

C.

Drugs, $1813.

marijuana.

Decriminalize use of possession of

3.

D.

Obscenity, $1842. Decriminalize pornography by
dropping $1842 in its entirety.

Offenses Against Government Processes

A. Criminal contempt, $1331.

B.

Maximum penalty should be 5 days imprisonment and a $500 fine.

Refusing to testify, $1333.

All immunity statutes should be abolished.

2.

3.

4.

Disclosing national defense information...10

Mishandling national defense information..12

Disclosing classified information....

.13

Introduction

The ACLU is a nationwide, non-, artisan organization of 275,000 members dedicated to the preservation and promotion of individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. One of the ACLU's primary missions is to encourage legislative advancement of civil liberties and to oppose legislative

encroachment on them.

The ACLU supports revision and reform of the federal criminal laws. The over-all goal of making the federal criminal law more rational and more predictable is a salutary one. Clear, coherent, and uniform laws serve the public by making it plain what conduct is lawful and what is forbidden. They give fair notice to citizens and law enforcement officials alike, thereby restricting the possibilities of arbitrary punishment. However, obtaining clear and coherent laws at the expense of the rights and liberties of our people would be a step back

ward.

In the pages that follow, we express our strong opposition to some specific provisions of S.1, as amended. In particular, we focus on the bill's national security provisions which we believe are especially dangerous to First Amendment freedoms. In some cases, such as

All reference to S.1 in the succeeding pages are to S.1, as amended, the version of the bill now before the Senate Judiciary Committee.