Hearings

PUBLIC LAW 601, 79TH CONGRESS

The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79th Congress [1946]; 60 Stat. 812, which provides:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * * *

17 Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.

(q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities. (A) Un-American activities.

(2) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States. (ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American prop”. ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (iii) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation.

The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investigation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.

For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person designated by any such chairman or member.

RULE XII

LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BY STANDING COMMITTEES

SEC 136. To assist the Congress in appraising the administration of the laws and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem neces sary, each standing committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdic tion of such committee; and, for tha. purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the Congress ↳ the agencies in the executive branch of the Government.

RULES ADOPTED BY THE 86TH CONGRESS

House Resolution 7, January 7, 1959

RULE X

STANDING COMMITTEES

1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Congress,

(q) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.

RULE XI

POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES

18. Committee on Un-American Activities.

(a) Un-American activities.

(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation.

26. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary, each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by the agencies in the executive branch of the Government.

SYNOPSIS

In opening the instant hearings, the chairman pointed out that they were designed to develop information pertinent to H.R. 12852, a bill he had introduced to cope with Communist infiltration of the radio communications field. This bill would bar issuance, and provide for the revocation, of operators' licenses in the cases of persons who refused to answer questions concerning Communist activities before certain designated Federal agencies.

The recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in the case of Borrow v. Federal Communications Commission, the chairman said, had upheld the FCC in its denial of a license renewal to a man who had refused to state whether or not he was a member of the Communist Party. He also pointed out, however, that this decision did not apply to persons who were holders of licenses as distinct from applicants.

Robert E. Lee, a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, testified that the FCC has the responsibility of determining whether or not, in the public interest, a license should be issued to any person in this country (except a Government or military employee) who applies for permission to operate a transmitter of any kind. There are presently about 22 million people, he said, who have transmitting licenses of one kind or another.

CONELRAD, which means CONtrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation, Mr. Lee testified, had been developed by the FCC at the request of the military and civil defense officials. The military had asked for some means of denying radiation from any transmitter which would, under attack conditions, provide navigational aid (a homing signal) to an enemy. Civil defense authorities, on the other hand, had requested the FCC to devise some means of communication to the public under attack conditions.

CONELRAD, proposed by the FCC as a means of filling these two contrasting needs, Mr. Lee said, is a compromise system, not perfect for either purpose, but at present the only practicable solution to the problem.

Under this system, in the event of enemy attack, some 1,300 stations in the United States will either go off the air or shift to frequencies of 640 or 1240 on a signal from the North American Air Defense Command. The latter will reduce their power and will not identify their location. All other transmitters, except those of very short range which will be used for police work and other vital communication needs, will go off the air.

Mr. Lee stated that CONELRAD is a must for national defense and for protection against interference with the operation of U.S. defensive and offensive missiles in the event of an enemy attack.

Any station, he said, which stayed on the air without shifting to the two designated frequencies, would provide a navigational aid to enemy aircraft. An operator of a transmitter who stayed on the air could also give intelligence information to the enemy or transmit subversive information to the listening public. He also said that, at the present time, a Communist who transmitted a signal after the CONELRAD system had gone into effect could adversely affect this country's defense system.

When asked if he was apprehensive concerning Communist attempts to penetrate communications facilities, Mr. Lee replied: "I certainly am *** and always have been."

Frank M. Kratokvil, Assistant Chief of the Field Engineering and Monitoring Bureau, FCC, testified that Murray Goldberg, Philip Douglas Boothroyd, Harold O. Townsend, Stanley Blumenthal, David Jay Gould, and Wayne P. Paschal-all witnesses subpenaed to testify in the hearing-had recently held, or had applied for renewals of, licenses to operate transmitting equipment through which the CONELRAD warning system could be adversely affected.

Mr. Lee said that under the decision in the Borrow case, the FCC now has power to deny an operator's license to any applicant who refuses to answer questions about Communist Party membership. However, he pointed out that this ruling did not give the FCC the power to deny a license in the event an applicant admitted Communist Party membership (in which case a hearing would have to be held), nor to deny a license if an applicant lied and said he was not a Communist Party member when the FCC had a witness who had identified him as such. He also pointed out that this court ruling did not give the FCC the power to revoke the license of a person who joined the Communist Party after obtaining a license.

The FCC, he said, sometimes receives confidential derogatory information from another Government agency concerning a current license holder. When the time comes for renewal of this person's license, the FCC has to consider whether or not it will be able to prove its case against the licensee in the hearing which must be granted prior to denial of a license renewal. Often, for security reasons, a witness cannot be produced for this hearing. The FCC then has no choice but to renew the license.

Mr. Lee said that, in spite of the ruling in the Borrow case, the FCC has no specific legal authorization for sending a questionnaire concerning Communist Party activity to persons who apply for renewal of their licenses and that the FCC has been able to deny renewals in only a few instances.

It was his personal judgment, he said, that H.R. 12852 would be "a useful tool" in attempting to preclude Communists from access to communications facilities.

Michael Mignon, a representative of the AFL-CIO Communications Workers of America who had once been a member of the Communist Party and had previously appeared before the committee as a cooperative witness, testified that, in his opinion, a Communist Party member who had access to communications facilities "would not hesitate at all" to sabotage CONELRAD.

"I have no doubt in my mind," he said, that any member of the Communist Party, in the event of war or an attack on the United

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