Press Release, White House, Press Briefing by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and General
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Michael Hayden, Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence (Dec. 19, 2005), available at
[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051219-1.html].
Congressional Research Service Washington, D.C. 20540-7000
CRS prepared this memorandum to enable distribution to more than one congressional client.
Memorandum January 18, 2006
SUBJECT: Statutory Procedures Under Which Congress Is To Be Informed of U.S.
Intelligence Activities, Including Covert Actions
FROM: Alfred Cumming
Specialist in Intelligence and National Security
Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division
This memorandum examines certain existing statutory procedures that govern how the
executive branch is to keep Congress informed of U.S. intelligence activities, reviews pertinent
legislative history underpinning the development of those procedures, and looks at the notification
process that reportedly was followed in informing certain Members of Congress of the President’s
decision to authorize the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect signals intelligence within the
United States. According to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the program involved
“intercepts of contents of communications where...one party to the communication is outside the
United States” and the government has “a reasonable basis to conclude that one party to the
communication is a member of al Qaeda, affiliated with al Qaeda, or a member of an organization
affiliated with al Qaeda, or working in support of al Qaeda.”
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