lications and Information exercise such functions. Their latitude in answering questions from the press and public is quite broad with matters of policy being cleared with the Board of Directors or the Chairman thereof. Other employees are instructed not to comment to the press or public without prior clearance with the Director of Publications and Information or the Division Chief. Review of the actual contacts of those authorized to speak to the press is ordinarily made by the Director of Publications and Information or the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

With reference to question 4, no specific restrictions or controls are imposed by this Corporation over what is authorized for publication, including so-called strategic information other than its regulation relating to confidential and privileged information which are discussed in the answers to question 3 of part I, above. (See sec. 309.1 (f)). No special accreditation is required for representatives of the press covering activities of the Corporation. No special restrictions are placed upon photographers, newsreel, or television representatives. The Corporation is not now preparing nor has it prepared plans for news censorship in wartime or other national emergency.

With reference to question 5, no requests from the press for information have been denied by the Corporation between July 1, 1954, and July 1, 1955. Release of important information has not been delayed in any instance. Information from the Corporation is released simultaneously to all news media. This Corporation has not discriminated against any news media.

PART III. CONGRESS

With reference to questions 1 and 2, see answers to questions 1 (b) and 2 of part I above.

With reference to questions 3 and 4, there have been no instances between July 1, 1954, and July 1, 1955, of refusal of information by the Corporation to individual Congressmen or congressional committees. With reference to question 5, this Corporation regularly transmits to individual Congressmen, congressional committees, and the Congress as a whole its annual report pursuant to section 17 (a) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U. S. C. 1817 (a)) which requires the Corporation to annually make a report of its operations to Congress. There are no policies, practices, regulations, or directives regarding transmittal of the annual report. This information, in our opinion, is timely, necessary, and useful. The Corporation has no security files on Members of Congress. We have no suggestions for improving the flow of information to individual Congressmen and congressional committees.

With reference to question 6, no employees are assigned exclusively to the job of contact with or making information available for individual Congressmen or congressional committees. There is no congressional liaison section. The Corporation does not maintain records of the cost of providing information to individual Congressmen and to congressional committees. From our experience, the costs of furnishing such information have been nominal.

If we can furnish any additional information on this matter, please let us know.

With best regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

H. E. Cook, Chairman.

FEDERAL DEPOSIT Insurance CORPORATION—AMENDMENT OF RULES AND REGULATIONS RELATING TO CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED RECORDS AND INFORMATION (12 CFR, PART 309)

See

301

PART 309—CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED RECORDS AND INFORMATION

Unpublished information.

302 Opinions and orders.

AUTHORITY : Sections 309.1 and 309.2 issued under sec. 9. 64 Stat. 882: 12 U. S. C. 1819. Interpret or apply sec. 10, 64 Stat. 882-883: 12 U. S. C. 1820.

Sec. 306.1 Unpublished information—(a) Confidential information and records. All files, documents, reports, books, accounts, and records (collectively referred to as "records" in this section) pertaining to any bank, or the internal operations and affairs of the Corporation, in the possession or under the control of the Corporation or any officer, employee, or agent thereof, including but not limited to (1) reports of examinations or investigations of any bank. (2) applications, statements, and reports to the Corporation by any bank, (3) proceedings for the termination of the insured status of any bank, or (4) the internal operations of the Corporation including minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors and authorized committees and exhibits filed therewith, and all facts or information contained in such records or acquired by the officers, employees, or agents of the Corporation in the performance of their official duties Koollectively referred to as "information" in this section) are confidential and privilegesi.

(b) Disclosure prohibited. (1) Officers, employees, and agents of the Corporation are prohibited from allowing any person to inspect, examine, or copy any of said confidential or privileged records, or furnishing copies thereof, or from disclosing any confidential and privileged information except as herein provided:

(1) The Chief of any Division having custody thereof, in his discretion, may release or furnish any records or information, other than records enumerated in paragraph (a), (1), (2), (3), and (4) of this section and information acquired in reference thereto, to any governmental agency, State or Federal. for use in the exercise of its official duties; and to any other person upon a verified written application which shall show that the applicant has a substantial interest therein and the purpose for which it is to be used: Provided, however, That when such records or information are requested by any person other than a governmental agency, the Division Chief shall find, and such finding shall be supported by opinion of the General Counsel, that the release or disclosure is not detrimental or prejudicial to the bank or banks or person or persons from whom the records or information were obtained or received, nor contrary to the public interest.

(i) The Chief of the Division of Examination may furnish to any bank copies of any reports of examination or investigation of such bank (except the section of the report designated "confidential”) and other information pertaining to its affairs: Provided, That copies of such reports of examination and other information so furnished to any bank shall remain the property of the Corporation and under no circumstances shall the bank or any of its directors, officials, or employees disclose or otherwise make public in any manner such reports or any portion thereof or other information so furnished.

(iii) The Chief of the Division of Examination may furnish to the Comptroller of the Currency, to any Federal Reserve Bank, and to any commission, board, or authority having supervision of a State nonmember bank, and to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, or its successor Federal agency, if it owns or holds as pledgee, or has under consideration an application for the purchase of any preferred stock, capital notes, or debentures in such bank, copies of reports of examination made on behalf of the Corporation and other information pertaining to insured nonmember banks for use in the exercise of their official duties: Provided. That such reports of examination and other information so furnished to such officials or agency shall remain the property of the Corporation

and under no circumstances shall any such official or agency disclose or make public in any manner such reports or any portion thereof or other information so furnished.

(iv) The Chief of the Division of Examination may furnish to any official of the Department of Justice or to any State prosecuting authority any information regarding defalcations, burglaries, or robberies affecting insured banks, when, in his opinion, there is urgent need for immediate action to be taken by such Department or authority in the investigation thereof or the apprehension or prosecution of persons responsible therefor.

(v) The Chief of the Division of Research and Statistics may furnish to the Comptroller of the Currency, to any Federal Reserve Bank, and to any commission, board, or authority having supervision of a State nonmember bank, copies of reports of condition made by insured banks to the Corporation including statements of assets, liabilities, and capital accounts, and of earnings, expenses and distribution of profits for use in the exercise of their official duties: Provided, That under no circumstances shall such Federal or State officials make public the contents of such reports or any portion thereof, except in the publication of general statistical reports.

(vi) The General Counsel of the Corporation may disclose to the proper Federal or State prosecuting authorities any and all records and information relating to irregularities discovered in open and closed insured banks believed to constitute violations of any Federal or State statute.

(vii) The General Counsel may authorize the production of any record, the disclosure of any information, and the giving of any testimony with respect thereto, by any officer, employee, or agent of the Corporation, upon any proceeding, hearing, or trial, civil or criminal, in any Federal or State court or before any administrative board, commission, or committee, on behalf of or at the request of the Corporation, the United States, or State prosecuting official, or the bank or person from whom such confidential and privileged records and information were received or obtained.

(2) The authorization hereunder may be given only in response to a subpoena or other legal process duly issued and served upon the Corporation at its principal office, which service may be by registered mail addressed to the Corporation at Washington, D. C., specifying the record requested, the nature and scope of the testimony to be elicited, the name of the witness and the place and time of appearance: Provided, That the General Counsel, in his discretion, may waive the requirement of service of subpoena or process when he believes it to be in the interest of justice to do so. Without such prior authorization, any officer, employee or agent of the Corporation required to respond to a subpoena or other legal process shall attend at the time and place therein mentioned and respectfully decline to produce any record or disclose any information or give any testimony with respect thereto, basing his refusal upon this rule.

(c) Application for disclosure without subpoena. Applications for disclosure of information or records hereunder should be addressed to the appropriate Division Chief or the General Counsel of the Corporation, as the case may be. (d) Service of process on officer, employee, or agent. Any officer, employee, or agent of the Corporation served with a subpoena, order, or other process requiring his personal attendance as a witness or the production of records or information upon any proceeding mentioned in paragraph (b) (1) (vii) of this section shall promptly advise (1) the court or tribunal which issued the process, and the attorney for the party at whose instance the process was issued, if known, of the substance of this rule, and (2) the General Counsel of the Corporation at Washington, D. C., of such service and of the records and information requested and of any facts which may be of assistance to the General Counsel in determining whether such records and information should be made available.

(e) Authority of Chairman of Board of Directors. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, in his discretion and pursuant to law, may authorize the production, examination, or inspection of any records, or the furnishing of copies thereof, or the disclosure of any information, or the Chairman, in his discretion, may direct the General Counsel or the Chief of any Division to refuse to permit the production, examination, or inspection of any records, or the furnishing of copies thereof, or the disclosure of any information, if he shall find such action to be in the best interests of the Corporation and consistent with the public interest.

(f) Publication of data. The Board of Directors or the Chairman may from time to time authorize and direct the publication and public distribution of information and data compiled from the records of the Corporation.

SEC. 309.2 Opinions and orders. (a) A survey and review of the opinions and orders heretofore made by the Board of Directors of the Corporation in the adjudication of cases, in connection with licensing, supervision, investigation, termination of insured status, payment of insured deposits, and the administration of liquidations and receiverships, disclose that their publication would not be of current interest or importance, they are not cited as precedents, and are required for good cause to be held confidential. Accordingly, they will not be published nor made available to public inspection.

(b) The Board of Directors will, however, either publish, or, in accordance with published rule, make available for public inspection, final opinions and orders in the adjudication of cases which are cited as precedents and which are not required for good cause to be held confidential.

FEDERAL MEDIATION AND CONCILIATION SERVICE

Answer to questionnaire submitted to Federal executive departments and independent agencies by Government Information Subcommittee of the House Government Operations Committee

Hon. JOHN E. Moss,

SEPTEMBER 13, 1955.

Chairman, Government Information Subcommittee,

Committee on Government Operations, Washington, D. C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN MOSS: I have your letter of August 8, 1955, requesting answers to the questionnaire submitted by the Government Information Subcommittee on the subject of the dissemination of information by this Service.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is a small unifunctional agency established by the Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947, for the purpose of assisting in the settlement of labormanagement disputes occurring in business and industries affecting interstate commerce.

The Service employs only 350 persons, 215 of these 350 employees are professional mediators employed by the Service on a full-time basis to settle labor-management disputes, which come within its jurisdiction and which occur in the continental United States. These 215 mediators are all located in the field and work under the direction of 8 regional directors.

Organizationally the Service does not have an information or public-relations section. Historically the Director of the Service, national-office staff officials, the 8 regional directors, and the 215 mediators in the field are authorized to give to the press information which is nonconfidential in nature. Because of these facts many of the questions proposed in the questionnaire of the Government Information Subcommittee are not pertinent to the Service.

I am pleased to submit these answers to your major questions:

I. GENERAL

1. These three categories of information are not disseminated : (1) Loyalty and security information concerning employees of the Service.

(2) Information classified in accordance with Executive Order 10501, and which has been originated by other agencies of Government.

(3) Dispute case files containing information divulged to the mediators of the Service in confidence by the parties to labormanagement disputes.

2. Authorities for the above items are