graph 405.15, Veterans' Administration Manual MP-1, part I, covering information policy states: There is no censorship in Veterans 'Administration. A reporter will not be required to submit material for review prior to publication. If a reporter voluntarily submits material for review, check it for factual accuracy only. (b) Is special accreditation required now by your agency for representatives of the press covering either domestic or over seas activities? If so, please explain requirements and procedures Answer. No special accreditation required. (c) Are any special restrictions placed upon photographers or newsreel and television representatives? Answer. Yes. No recognizable photograph for publication may be made of any psychiatric or mental patient in Veterans' Administration hospitals. Photographs of nonmental patients may be made providing the photographer secures the consent of the patient either orally or in writing. (d) Is your agency now preparing, or do you have prepared, plans for news censorship in wartime or other national emergency? Answer. No. (e) What is the nature of the plans or planning? Answer. See answer to question 4 (d). 5. What specific requests from the press for information have been denied by your agency between July 1, 1954, and July 1, 1955? Answer. A search of the files for this period discloses only one denial. At Indianapolis, Ind., a newspaper requested permission to inspect the roster of patients-names and addresses only-of a Veterans' Administration hospital in that city with a view to ascertaining if abuses of the ability-to-pay provision of non-service-connected care were occurring in that area. After securing the advice of his legal and medical counsels, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs decided that accedence to the request would not serve a useful purpose and could be detrimental to many seriously ill patients in the Veterans' Administration hospital. Accordingly the request was denied in accordance with Veterans Regulation No. 11, as amended. Although this denial is the only one of written record, it is possible that a few other requests may have been denied during this period in telephone conversations. Such denials, if any, most likely would have concerned those types of information discussed in answer to question 1, part I. (a) Has release of important information been delayed in any instances? Answer. No. (b) Is information from your agency released simultaneously to all news media? Answer. All press releases are released simultaneously. (c) Has your agency discriminated against any news media? Please explain Answer. No. III. CONGRESS 1. What categories and types of information are not furnished to— (b) Congressional committees on request? (c) Congressional committees upon subpena? 2. If information is refused, on what authority is the refusal based- (b) To congressional committees on request? (c) To congressional committees upon subpena? Answers. See answer to question 2, part I. 3. How many instances have there been between July 1, 1954, and July (a) Individual Congressmen on request? Answer. No statistical data are maintained. Available informa- Answer. No statistical data are maintained. Available informa- (c) Congressional committees upon subpena? Answer. None. 4. Please outline the instances listed in question 3 where the informa- nications Answer. The request referred to in answer to question 3 (b) was 5. What information does your agency regularly transmit to indi- Answer. (1) Annual report of the Administrator of Veterans' Af- (2) Annual report of tort claims paid (authority, 28 U. S. C. 2673). (4) Report of result of any inspection of State or Territorial vet- 68322-55-34 (5) Report of operations under Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (authority, 58 Stat. 301). (6) Report of unauthorized obligations, expenditures, or acceptance of voluntary service (authority, 64 Stat. 768). (7) Report of position reviews and comparative average salaries and grades to Senate and House Committees on Post Office and Civil Service and on Appropriations (authority, 65 Stat. 758). (8) Report to Senate and House Committees on Appropriations of status of each appropriation or fund (authority, 68 Stat. 830). (9) Report to Senate and House Committees on Agriculture of dairy products acquired from the Commodity Credit Corporation for use in Veterans' Administration hospitals (authority, 66 Stat. 900). (10) Reports required under Government printing and binding regulations, Joint Committee on Printing, Congress of the United States: (a) Semiannual class B plant report (authority, par. 43 of the regulations). (b) Quarterly contract printing report (authority, par. 44 of the regulations). (c) Semiannual class A plant report (authority, par. 45 of the regulations). (d) Annual plant inventory (authority, par. 47 of the regulations). (e) Annual inventory of stored machinery and equipment (authority, par. 48 of the regulations). (11) Monthly report of employment to Joint Committee on Reduction of Nonessential Federal Expenditures (authority, letter of February 19, 1954, as amended, from committee chairman, under authority of sec. 601, title VI of the act of September 20, 1941 (55 Stat. 726)). (NOTE.-In answering this question it has been assumed that the question is not concerned with reports on pending legislation which are made pursuant to requests of congressional committees, or replies to other correspondence from congressional committees or individual Congressmen, or press releases furnished congressional committees or individual Congressmen upon request.) (a) Please explain the policies and practices of your agency on transmitting such information Answer. To comply with the request to the best of our ability by submitting complete factual information. (b) Please supply the regulations, directives, etc. regarding transmittal of this information (c) Where this information is transmitted pursuant to statute, please supply citation Answers. The bases for transmitting the information mentioned in the answer to question 5 are cited in the parentheses following each item. Where the citation is other than statutory, copy of the reference material is enclosed. (d) Is all this information, in your opinion, timely, necessary, and useful? Please explain Answer. This agency does not have sufficient information regarding the use to which the material is put by the recipients upon which to base an answer. (e) Do security considerations affect your decision whether to supply information to individual Congressmen on request? Answer. Yes. (f) In this connection what use do you make of security files on Members of Congress? Answer. The Veterans' Administration does not maintain or use any such files. (g) Please suggest ways of improving the flow of information to individual Congressmen and congressional committees Answer. Insofar as we are informed, the flow of information from this agency to individual Congressmen and to congressional committees has been satisfactory. We have no suggestions to offer on this subject. 6. How many employees of your agency are assigned the job of contact with or making information available for individual Congressmen or congressional committees? Answer. There are 11 employees in the congressional liaison service who are engaged in contact work with individual Congressmen and their staffs. They are assisted by 3 stenographers. There is one employee in the Office of the Assistant Administrator for Legislation assigned to assist Senate committees concerned with veterans' affairs. A legislative research assistant is assigned to the employee. In addition there are 23 employees in the Office of the Assistant Administrator for Legislation part of whose time is devoted to contacting, or furnishing information to, individual Congressmen or congressional committees. These employees are supported in these activities by 16 employees whose duties are administrative, clerical, or stenographic. Moreover, information is furnished individual Congressmen by numerous Veterans' Administration employees, incidental to their regular assignment, both in Washington, D. C., and the field offices of the agency. There are no statistics to show the number in the last category. (a) What are their titles? Answer. The titles of the 11 employees referred to in answer to question 6 are: director, congressional liaison service; assistant director, congressional liaison service; liaison representatives. The title of the employee assisting the Senate committees is legislative attorney. (b) If you have a congressional liaison section, please describe its day-to-day operation Answer. The congressional liaison service handles correspondence received by Congressmen from their constituents, and when necessary, refers it for appropriate consideration and report; telephone inquiries regarding Veterans' Administration activities are answered; veterans personally contacting Congressmen for assistance in connection. with their claims, admission to hospitals or Veterans' Administration domiciliaries, and other matters pertaining to the Veterans' Administration are interviewed and when necessary referred for consideration and any action indicated. In addition, individual claims files are made available to Congressmen who may desire to review the records, and problems of their constituents which involve the Veterans' Administration are discussed personally with the Congressmen, or their assistants. (c) Please estimate the annual cost to your agency of providing information to individual Congressmen Answer. It is not possible to estimate the annual cost to the Veterans' Administration of providing information to individual Congressmen in view of the various organizations of the Veterans' Administration concerned in assembling, preparing, reviewing, and transmitting such information, and the fact that cost data pertaining to these activities are not available. For your information, the cost of the congressional liaison service for the fiscal year 1955 approximated $80,000. (d) To congressional committees Answer. It is not possible to estimate the annual cost to the Veteran's Administration to provide information to congressional committees in view of the various organizations of the agency concerned in assembling, preparing, reviewing, and transmitting such information, and the fact that cost data pertaining to such activities are not available. For your information, the expenditures of the Office of the Assistant Administrator for Legislation (other than the congressional liaison service), which, among other things, is responsible for the supervision and coordination of all matters pertaining to proposed legislation, for the fiscal year 1955 amounted to approximately $261,000. LIST OF ENCLOSURES OF VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION 1. VA regulations entitled "Release of Information Concerning Claimants and Beneficiaries From Records of the VA" 2. VA regulations entitled "The Security Program of the Veterans Administration Pursuant to Executive Order 10450 (As Amended).” 3. MP-1, part 1, TL-2, dated June 7, 1955, covering Chapter 4: VA Information Policy. 4. MP-1, part 1, TL-1, dated June 6, 1955, covering Chapter 5: Safeguarding Classified Defense (and Other) Information or Material. 5. Governmen Printing & Binding Regulations, dated July 1, 1955, No. 8. 6. Copy of letter dated February 19, 1954, from Senator Harry F. Byrd, chairman of Joint Committee on Reduction of Nonessential Federal Expenditures, to Hon. H. B. Higley, Administrator, Veterans' Administration, regarding monthly reports to the committee. 7. Copy of letter dated March 24, 1954, from Senator Harry F. Byrd, chairman of Joint Committee on Reduction of Nonessential Federal Expenditures, to Mr. H. B. Higley, Administrator, Veterans' Administration, regarding monthly reports to the committee. 8. Excerpt from Instructions for the Preparation and Submission of Annual Budget Estimates, Executive Office of the President, Bureau of the Budget. |