The Hughes–Ryan Amendment was an amendment to the
Foreign Assistance Act
The Foreign Assistance Act (, et seq.) is a United States law governing foreign aid policy. It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure U.S. foreign assistance ...
of 1961, passed as section 32 of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1974
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 () was an Act of the 93rd United States Congress that added several amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Aid to South Vietnam
The Act effectively eliminated aid and military funding for South ...
. The amendment was named for its co-authors, Senator
Harold E. Hughes (D-Iowa) and Representative
Leo Ryan
Leo Joseph Ryan Jr. (May 5, 1925 – November 18, 1978) was an American teacher and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. representative from California's 11th congressional district from 1973 until his assassina ...
(D-CA). The amendment required the
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
to report all
covert actions of the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
to one or more
Congressional committees
A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress). Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the ...
.
This amendment addressed the question of CIA and
Defense Department covert actions, and prohibited the use of
appropriated funds for the conduct of such an action unless and until the President issues an official "
Finding" that each such operation is important to national security, and submits this Finding to the appropriate Congressional committees (a total of six committees, at the time, which grew to eight committees after the House and Senate "select committees" on intelligence were established).
The legislation was meant to ensure that the intelligence oversight committees within Congress were told of CIA actions within a reasonable time limit. Senator Hughes, in introducing the legislation in 1973, also saw it as a means of limiting major covert operations by military, intelligence, and national security agents conducted without the full knowledge of the president.
History
![Leo Ryan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Leo_Ryan.jpg)
By the early years of the 1970s, the unpopular war in Southeast Asia and the unfolding
Watergate scandal brought the era of minimal oversight to a halt. The Congress was determined to rein in the
Nixon administration
Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...
, and to ascertain the extent to which the nation's intelligence agencies had been involved in questionable, if not outright illegal, activities. A major stimulus for the amendment came from 1972 and 1973 hearings of the Senate Armed Services Committee on
covert military operations in Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam in the early 1970s. The committee had found that Air Force and Navy air elements had conducted secret air strikes, and falsified after-action reports to conceal this. To Hughes and several other senators, these activities represented a secret war conducted through back-channel communications from the White House directly to field commanders in the Pacific Theater and the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
.
A series of troubling revelations appeared in the press concerning intelligence activities. On 22 December 1974, the ''New York Times'' published a lengthy article by
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and political writer.
Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam Wa ...
detailing CIA operations that had been dubbed the "
family jewels.", including lengthy covert action programs to assassinate foreign leaders and subvert foreign governments. The article also discussed efforts by intelligence agencies to collect information on the political activities of American citizens. These revelations convinced many senators and representatives that the Congress had been too lax, trusting, and naive in carrying out its oversight responsibilities.
The first legislative response was enactment, in 1974, of the Hughes–Ryan Amendment to the
Foreign Assistance Act
The Foreign Assistance Act (, et seq.) is a United States law governing foreign aid policy. It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure U.S. foreign assistance ...
of 1961. The act, as amended, established ultimate accountability of the President for all covert action conducted by the CIA, removing any "
plausible deniability" for the President regarding exposed covert actions. It also expanded the circle of "witting" persons in Congress, which made covert operations to which Congress was opposed much more likely to be exposed by leaks. Thus, the passage of the amendment created both
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
and
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...
Congressional veto power on covert operations, through the ability to leak and the power of the purse, respectively.
See also
*
Boland Amendment
The Boland Amendment is a term describing three U.S. legislative amendments between 1982 and 1984, all aimed at limiting U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua. The first Boland Amendment was part of the House Appropriations Bill ...
*
Case–Church Amendment
The Case–Church Amendment was legislation attached to a bill funding the U.S. State Department. it was approved by the U.S. Congress in June 1973 that prohibited further U.S. military activity in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia unless the preside ...
*
Church Committee
*
CIA activities in Cambodia
*
CIA activities in Laos
*
Clark Amendment
The Clark Amendment was an amendment to the U.S. Arms Export Control Act of 1976, named for its sponsor, Senator Dick Clark (D-Iowa). The amendment barred aid to private groups engaged in military or paramilitary operations in Angola.
Even after ...
*
Foreign Assistance Act of 1974
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 () was an Act of the 93rd United States Congress that added several amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Aid to South Vietnam
The Act effectively eliminated aid and military funding for South ...
*
Intelligence Oversight Act
The Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980 is a United States federal law that amended the Hughes–Ryan Act and requires United States government agencies to report covert actions to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) a ...
(1980)
*
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group
*
Pike Committee The Pike Committee is the common name for the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during the period when it was chaired by Democratic Representative Otis G. Pike of New York. Under Pike's chairmanship, the committee inv ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes-Ryan Act
1974 in law
Cold War history of the United States
United States federal defense and national security legislation
Leo Ryan
1974 in international relations