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oe ee ee Senator Monpate. Mr. Adams, I am trying to get at the legal basis in this particular case for investigating Dr. King on the grounds that he might be subject to Communist influence. Can you cite any legal basis for that, or is it based entirely upon a generalized authority thought to exist in the FBI to investigate internal security matters! Mr. Apasrs. It would fal! also in the Presidentia! directives of in- vestigating subversive activities. . Senator Moxparz, Then the question would return to what authority the President had. ; Mr. Apame. That’s right. . ; Senator Moxpate. Now Dr. King was investigated, among other things, for matters of, I think you call it delicacy. Would that be a basis for investigating an American citizen by the FBI! Mr. Apams. No, . Senator Monoate. Would you say then that those investigations were improper? . . Mr. Avasta. I don’t believe that there is an allegation that we investi- gated him for that. I think there were certain by-products of informa- tion that developed and I think at a point you had a situation where the tail was wagging the dog. perhaps, but I don't see any basis for such investigation. And I find it very difficult to get into a discussion of this in view of the prohibitions that I think—— Senator Moxpatz. You answered my question. That by itself would not be a basis for investigation. Mr. Apama, No, sir, Senator Moxpaue. Would you agree with me, Mr. Adams, that this area of the assignment that the FBI had been tasked, which they thought they possessed or could use to investigate Americans: is an exceedingly vague, difficult. if not impossibije, aren to define? It is not an area where there were allegations of crime or suspicion that crimes were about to be committed, or that violence was about to be committed, but rather this whole generalized area, to investigate Americans in terms of ideas that they have or might be persuaded to have, ideas that might hold potential for danger to this country. This vague area has got the FBI into an awful lot of trouble, including today’s hearings. Mr. Apams. Yes, sir. Senator Moxpate. And because of that, there is a very important need to sit down and redefine the guidelines, and haye those guidelines asaa. at = known specifically by all, so that the FBI can know precisely what #t can do and what it cannot do. . Mr. Apams, I think this is why the country is fortunate in this particular time to have an Attorney General who is n lega! scholar and a lawyer of unquestioned repute who has indicated a willingness to address these problems, which, as the staff has determined, was not. always the case over the years. But we have an Attorney General, we have a Director, who has offered his complete cooperation, just as he has to the committes in this inquiry, that we are not trying to avoid embarrassment. The only thing we are trying to hold back are identi- ties of informants and sensitive. ongoing operations that we have, a concern on the part of Congress that not only recognizes there have been abuses. but recognizes that there still always has to be some degree of flexibility.