2

1 tivities Control Act of 1950 is amended to read "Federal

2 Internal Security Board".

3 SEC. 2. The provisions of subsections (c) and (d) 4 (1), (2), and (3) of section 13, and section 14 of the 5 Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, as amended, 6 shall apply to proceedings conducted pursuant to section

92D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION

H. R. 574

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 22, 1971

Mr. ASHBROOK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Internal Security

A BILL

To strengthen the internal security of the United States. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. 3 That the Internal Security Act of 1950 (title 50 U.S.C.) is 4 hereby amended by adding a new section as follows: 5 (1) Immediately after the last word of section 13 (a) 6 the following new subsection 13 (a) (1):

7

"The attorney general of a State or Commonwealth shall 8 have power to initiate cases before the Subversive Activities 9 Control Board. This power of a State or Commonwealth 10 attorney general shall be coextensive with and shall be exer11 cised in the same manner as, the similar power conferred

2

1 upon the Attorney General of the United States by this Act. 2 Proceedings before the Board, and with respect to Board 3 action, upon a petition filed by the attorney general of a 4 State or Commonwealth pursuant to the authority herein 5 granted and the powers and duties of the Board with respect 6 thereto, shall be the same in every respect as such proceed7 ings upon, and the powers and duties of the Board with 8 respect to, a similar petition filed by the Attorney General."

Mr. PREYER. As we begin our consideration of these three bills, our first witnesses are from the U.S. Postal Service and we are glad to have Mr. William Cotter here, Mr. Roger Craig, and Mr. Masterson. Is Mr. Ansaldi also here?

If you gentlemen would come forward, we would be glad to hear from you today.

It is good to see you, Mr. Cotter. If you would like to, you may read your statement.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM J. COTTER, ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE; ACCOMPANIED BY ROGER P. CRAIG, SOLICITOR, LAW DEPARTMENT, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE; JAMES T. MASTERSON, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL, EMPLOYEE RELATIONS DEPARTMENT, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE; AND LOUIS ANSALDI, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF INSPECTOR, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE

Mr. COTTER. We are delighted to be here today, Mr. Chairman. I am William J. Cotter, Assistant Postmaster General, Inspection Service, U.S. Postal Service. Accompanying me are James T. Masterson, Special Assistant to the Assistant Postmaster General, Employee Relations Department, and Roger P. Craig, Solicitor, Law Department. I also have with me Mr. Louis Ansaldi, Special Assistant to the Chief Inspector.

I am here in response to your request for the views of the Postal Service on H.R. 11120, legislation which would be known as the "Constitutional Oath Support Act." After reading my prepared statement my colleagues or I will be glad to respond to any specific questions you may have on my testimony.

My prepared statement today will be confined to a discussion of those parts of the bill which would directly affect the Postal Service. Accordingly, I am not prepared to discuss the general merits or constitutionality of the legislation, but would defer to the views of other agencies, in particular the Justice Department, with respect to such questions.

As you know, the Postal Service was recently reorganized under the Postal Reorganization Act (P.L. 91-375) as an independent establishment in the executive branch of the government. One of the major goals of this reorganization was to create a Postal Service capable of operating in a businesslike efficient manner, free of restrictions contained in other general federal personnel laws.

In the area of personnel loyalty-security matters, Congress by enactment of section 410 (b) (1) of title 39, made 5 U.S.C. 3333 (dealing with a loyalty affidavit) and chapter 73 of title 5 (dealing with suitability, security and conduct of employees) applicable to the Postal Service, but exempted it from all regulations issued under that section and chapter unless expressly made applicable to the

Postal Service. Such exemption has the effect of requiring particular attention to be paid to the special problems of the Postal Service resulting from our large work force of nearly three-quarters of a million employees, less than 1 percent of whom occupy sensitive positions, before issuing regulations implementing that section and chapter. In this connection, we note that section 14(d) of the bill makes the provisions of the proposed Constitutional Oath Support Act applicable to the Postal Service, without exempting the Postal Service from regulations issued under that act unless expressly made applicable to the Postal Service. Thus, the Postal Service would be required to follow automatically all of the regulations issued under the proposed Act without regard to the special problems that may arise from the unique status of the Postal Service as an independent establishment required to operate in a businesslike manner.

Prior to conversion to the U.S. Postal Service on July 1, 1971, the Post Office Department's personnel loyalty-security program was based on the requirements of Executive Order 10450, as amended. This program was the subject of my testimony at hearings conducted by this committee on June 9, 1971. As I explained at that time, each employee in a nonsensitive position was the subject of a national agency check and written inquiries investigation (NACI) conducted by the Civil Service Commission. Of the more than 300,000 NACIS made during fiscal year 1971 by the Civil Service Commission for all government departments and agencies, approximately 106,000 were made for the Post Office Department.

The Postal Reorganization Act did not require the Postal Service to continue the personnel loyalty-security program of its predecessor, the Post Office Department, but gave it independent authority to institute its own such program based on its particular needs; however, on July 1, 1971, steps were taken by reason of Postal Service Orders No. 71-10 and 71-14, copies herewith, to generally continue in effect as regulations of the Postal Service the laws and regulations previously applying to employees of the Post Office Department. Thus the loyaltysecurity program used by the Post Office Department was carried forward by the Postal Service, pending completion of a review of the program in light of the new responsibilities and authority granted the Postal Service. To this end we entered into an agreement with the Civil Service Commission in July 1971 to continue to provide investigative services for us at a cost for this fiscal year of $1,217,000. Accordingly, appointments to nonsensitive positions are now, as in the past when the Commission had jurisdiction over setting Post Office Department employment requirements, being made subject to investigation. As in the past, the individual is permitted to begin work prior to completion of the NACI. Although the Civil Service Commission is constantly striving to reduce the time it takes to complete the NACI, at present it takes the Commission approximately 8 to 9 weeks to complete this investigation for us.

Under section 5(b) of the bill, however, we could not appoint or employ any person until, among other things, the NACI had been