March 28, 1974
Page 8682
NOTICE OF HEARINGS ON WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING AND ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, next week the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure, together with the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights and the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Surveillance, will begin a series of hearings on warrantless wiretapping and electronic surveillance. The first two hearings will be held on Wednesday, April 3, and Monday, April 8.
I ask unanimous consent that the release announcing the hearings be inserted in the RECORD at this point.
There being no objection, the release was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
SENATORS KENNEDY, MUSKIE, AND ERVIN ANNOUNCE OPENING OF WIRETAP HEARINGS
Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Edmund S. Muskie and Sam J. Ervin, Jr. today announced the opening of joint hearings on warrantless wiretapping and electronic surveillance.
The joint hearings will be held by the Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure, chaired by Senator Kennedy; the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Surveillance, chaired by Senator Muskie; and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, chaired by senator Ervin.
The first day of hearings will be held Wednesday, April 3, in Room 2228 Dirksen Office Building, at 10:00 a.m. The second hearing will be held Monday, April 8, in Room 4221 Dirksen Office Building, at 10:00 a.m.
The witnesses scheduled to testify include:
Wednesday, April 3: Elliot L. Richardson, former Attorney General; Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General.
Monday, April 8: Senator Lowell P. Weaker, Jr.
Additional hearings will be held following the Congressional recess. During these hearings the Subcommittee will invite testimony from present and former officials of the Departments of Justice and State, representatives of the press, public interest groups, legal authorities, and victims of warrantless wiretaps.
The joint hearings follow an intensive five-month investigation conducted by the three Subcommittees. They will focus on the historical background of warrantless electronic surveillance; the "national security" concepts on which it has been justified; the practices and procedures of the Justice and State Departments and other agencies in conducting and authorizing electronic surveillance without court orders; and the cases of the wiretapping of 17 government officials and newsmen, plus others, which have recently come to light.
It is expected that the hearings will result in the development of new legislation and improved administrative guidelines.