secretaries. This Office is in daily contact with Members of Congress and their staffs furnishing information requested. Inquiries received from both individual Members of Congress and congressional committees are routed to the Legislative Liaison Officer for action. Most of the information requested is developed in the appropriate program offices by subject matter experts, who handle such assignments along with their other duties. In addition, the Legislative Liaison Officer assists in planning the Department's legislative presentations and coordinates schedules for hearing dates, witnesses, appearances, etc. The annual cost of operating the Legislative Liaison Office is $25,000. Approximately half of this cost is to handle inquiries received from individual Congressmen. EXPLANATION OF ATTACHMENTS OF DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Appendix A-Page 1, "Limitations applicable to all executive departments" are listed as Executive Order No. 10450, Executive Order No. 10501, Presidential directive of March 13, 1948 (Federal Personnel Manual Z1-181), White House letter dated August 5, 1948, Bureau of the Budget Circular No. A-10, Bureau of the Budget Circular No. A-19, President's letter to Secretary of Defense, dated May 17, 1954 Page 2, "Statutes and implementing regulations applicable to disclosure of information by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare" are listed as follows: The policy of the Department is set out in title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 5, copy of which is found at tab 1. SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION Section 1102 of the Social Security Act, as amended, provides as follows: "SEC. 1102. The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, respectively, shall make and publish such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, as may be necessary to the efficient administration of the functions with which each is charged under this Act." Section 1106 provides as follows: "SEC. 1106. (a) No disclosure of any return or portion of a return (including information returns and other written statements) filed with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue under title VIII of the Social Security Act or under subchapter E of chapter 1 or subchapter A of chapter 9 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, or under chapter 2 or 21 or, pursuant thereto, under subtitle F of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, or under regulations made under authority thereof, which has been transmitted to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, or of any file, record, report, or other paper, or any information, obtained at any time by the Secretary or by any officer or employee of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the course of discharging the duties of the Secretary under this Act, and no disclosure of any such file, record, report, or other paper, or information, obtained at any time by any person from the Secretary or from any officer or employee of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, shall be made except as the Secretary may by regulations prescribe. Any person who shall violate any provision of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. "(b) Requests for information, disclosure of which is authorized by regulations prescribed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, may be complied with if the agency, person, or organization making the request agrees to pay for the information requested in such amount, if any (not exceeding the cost of furnishing the information), as may be determined by the Secretary. Payments for information furnished pursuant to this section shall be made in advance or by way of reimbursement, as may be requested by the Secretary, and shall be deposited in the Treasury as a special deposit to be used to reimburse the appropriations (including authorizations to make expenditures from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund) for the unit or units of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare which prepared or furnished the information." The regulations pertaining to the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, issued pursuant to this statute, are found at tab 2. The policy of the Bureau of Public Assistance and the Children's Bureau is the same as that established for the Department. The Director of the Bureau of Federal Credit Unions is authorized by section 16 of the Federal Credit Union Act, as amended (12 U. S. C. 1776), to issue rules and regulations for the administration of the Federal Credit Union Act. Such regulations are found at tab 3. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE The Surgeon General, with the approval of the Secretary, is authorized by section 215 (b) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended (42 U. S. C. 216 (b)), to promulgate regulations with respect to "the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property of the Service." The regulations issued pursuant to the authority are found at tab 4. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION The Secretary is authorized by 21 United States Code 271 (a) to promulgate regulations for the enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, section 331 (j) of which prohibits the following acts and the causing thereof: "The using by any person to his own advantage, or revealing, other than to the Secretary or officers or employees of the Department, or to the courts when relevant in any judicial proceeding under this chapter, any information acquired under authority of sections 344, 355, 356, 357, or 374 concerning any method or process which as a trade secret is entitled to protection." The regulations issued pursuant to this authority are found at tab 5. ST. ELIZABETHS HOSPITAL The regulations governing the disclosure of information are found at tab 6. FREEDMEN'S HOSPITAL The regulations governing the disclosure of information are found at tab 7. The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Office of Education follow the policy set out in the Department regulations. Appendix B-Report to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare of the Citizens Advisory Committee on the Food and Drug Administration, dated June 30, 1955 68322-55-17 HOUSING AND HOME FINANCE AGENCY 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 23, 1955. Chairman, Government Information Subcommittee, Washington, D. C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN MOSS: This is in response to your letter of August 8 and the enclosed questionnaire. Before answering the specific questions, it may be helpful to make reference to the following materials relating generally to the subject of disclosure of information. 5 U. S. C. 22 authorizes the head of each department to prescribe regulations, not inconsistent with law, "for the government of his department, * * * and the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property appertaining to it." This statute, derived from R. S. 161, has been interpreted by the Attorney General as granting the head of a department the right to determine whether documents should or should not be taken from department files for any purpose except for use in connection with department business (25 Op. Atty. Gen. 326 (1905)). In the same decision, the Attorney General held that the head of an executive department may properly decline to furnish official records of his department or give testimony respecting facts which have come to his knowledge officially whenever in his judgment to do so might prove prejudicial for any reason to the Government or the public interest. The Attorney General has also stated the position of the Department of Justice, with the approval and at the direction of the President, that all investigative reports are confidential documents of the executive department of the Government and that congressional or public access to them would not be in the public interest (40 Op. Atty. Gen. 45 (1941)). 18 U. S. C. 283 prohibits any officer or employee of the Government from acting as agent or attorney for prosecuting any claim against the United States, or aiding or assisting in the prosecution or support of any such claim otherwise than in the proper discharge of his official duties. 18 U. S. C. 1905 prohibits any officer or employee of the Government from publishing or making known, in any manner or to any extent not authorized by law, any information coming to him in the course of his employment or official duties (or by reason of any examination or investigation made by him or his agency, or any return, report, or record made to or filed with him or his agency) which information concerns or relates to the "trade secrets, processes, operations, style of work, or apparatus, or to the identity, confidential statistical data, amount or source of any income, profits, losses, or expenditures of any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or association." 50 U. S. C. 783 makes it unlawful for any officer or employee to communicate to any other person whom he knows or has reason to believe to be an agent or representative of any foreign government or an officer or member of any Communist organization any information of a kind which shall have been classified by the President (or by the head of the agency with the approval of the President) as affecting the security of the United States, knowing or having reason to know that such information has been so classified, unless specifically authorized by the President or head of his agency to make such disclosure. 26 U. S. C. 4047 makes it unlawful for any officer or employee to divulge or to make known in any manner whatever not provided by law to any person the "operations, style of work, or apparatus of any manufacturer or producer visited by him in the discharge of his official duties." 28 U.S. C. 2507 authorizes the head of the agency, when called upon by the Court of Claims for information or papers which are "not privileged," for purposes of discovery or for use as evidence, to refuse to comply "when, in his opinion, compliance will be injurious to the public interest." Executive Order 10450 (April 27, 1953), dealing with security requirements for Government employment, provides that reports and other investigative material and information shall remain the property of the investigative agencies conducting the investigations, but may, subject to considerations of the national security, be retained by the department or agency concerned; and that such reports and other investigative material and information shall be maintained in confidence, and no access shall be given thereto except, with the consent of the investigative agency concerned, to other departments and agencies conducting security programs, as may be required for the efficient conduct of Government business. Executive Order 10501 (November 5, 1953), which requires agencies to classify official information in the interests of the defense of the United States, provides that knowledge or possession of classified defense information shall be permitted only to persons whose official duties require such access in the interest of promoting national defense and only if they have been determined to be trustworthy. It also prohibits the dissemination of classified information outside the executive branch except under conditions and through channels authorized by the head of the disseminating agency. Also, in general, it prohibits the dissemination of classified defense information originating in another agency without the consent of the originating agency. A Presidential directive of March 13, 1948, concerning the confidential status of employee loyalty records, provides that reports of the FBI and other investigative agencies are to be regarded as confidential and that they shall not be transmitted or disclosed except as required in the efficient conduct of business; and that any subpena, demand, or request for information or files relative to the loyalty of employees (received from sources other than persons in the executive branch who are entitled thereto by reason of their official duties) shall be declined and the request referred to the Office of the President for such response as the President may determine to be in the public interest. A Presidential letter of May 17, 1954, to the Secretary of Defense relates to information incompatible with the public interest or jeopardizing national safety and to internal executive branch communications. The Civil Service Commission has issued instructions to agencies (under the authority of Executive Order 10561) to control the review of restricted material in official personnel folders, including examination papers and other material attached to applications, and medical documents (Federal Personnel Manual R1-35). The answers for the Housing and Home Finance Agency to the specific questions contained in the questionnaire are as follows: I. GENERAL 1. (a) All general information is made available to the press and other information media serving the general public except to the extent that it is limited as to release or access by virtue of limitations imposed by law or other appropriate authority; examples of information which are not available are national security information, information regarding specific cases under investigation or in litigation, information regarding the personal and financial affairs of applicants, such as credit ratings, and personnel records. (6) All information is made available to Congress except insofar as it may be limited by higher authority. A great deal of information is made available to Congress, such as classified information, which cannot be made available to the press and other media serving the general public. (c) All information is made available to other Federal agencies if they have a legitimate need for the information and a qualified recipient. (d) and (e) Same as (a) above. 2. Please refer to general discussion above. Also please note regulations attached hereto. 3. Aside from classified defense information (which is covered by question I-4 below), no particular terms are used to describe restrictions placed on imparting information. (a) and (b) None. (c) In the administration of the housing programs, including the orientation of personnel, every effort is made to impart to officers and employees the policy of the Agency that information should not be withheld unnecessarily. (d) Responsible officials in the operating office or top officials of the Agency. (e) The supervisors of the persons referred to in I-3-(d) above are expected to keep tab on the situation. (f) The supervisor next in line and finally the Administrator. (g) From time to time as required or in response to specific requests. (h) Either the originator or a superior official. 4. Although this Agency is not authorized to originate the classification of official information, the provisions of Executive Order 10501 |