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(Testimony of James J. Rowley)
Mr. Rankin.
or consultation with independent consultants, it would assist and in fact be necessary to your work?
Mr. Rowley.
I think it would be a great help, and it is necessary today, because under the crash program that we are endeavoring to undertake, I think it is important that we know, in Presidential protection, what the current devices are that are available and are efficient in connection with countermeasures against eavesdropping and other things that we have been researching over the years. But this is not necessary on a day-to-day basis, and it could be on an informal basis with other agencies. I think it is necessary to have somebody of that type, who is conversant with the subject, a trained expert, who knows precisely where to go.
We might spend a lot of time going around the paths, but by having an expert, he knows precisely the organization, the contracting company, what they have, whether it is suitable, whether it is efficient for our purposes.
Representative Ford.
Mr. Rankin, is the letter of April 22, 1964, from Mr. Rowley to you with the enclosures a Commission exhibit?
Mr. Rankin.
Yes; that has been offered. That is Commission Exhibit No. 1027.
Representative Ford.
In this enclosure, Chief Rowley, on page 4, under sub-heading (c), the following is stated: "The Secret Service has no funds for research and very limited funds for the acquisition of protective devices. In the fiscal year 1964 budget, the Service requested $23,057 for two positions for technical specialists. The Congress did not make any appropriation covering this request, and it was repeated in the 1965 budget request, and has been included in the appropriation passed by the House several weeks ago."
Could you define more particularly what you had in mind for these so-called technical specialists?
Mr. Rowley.
Yes, sir; this was someone that knew something about electronics or electronic engineering for the sweeping of different places. We felt that to date we were utilizing the services of agents who primarily came with us on the basis of criminal investigation, and that, therefore, it was my feeling that we should have this type of expert.
As I said earlier, I realize the shortcomings and the requirements which we are operating under--and I was endeavoring to get the funds from Congress, the personnel that I thought were necessary, as well as the equipment I thought we should have, primarily to have this operation under control for us.
Now, I might say that the CIA has been most helpful. The equipment we used in the early days were from that organization and the State Department.
But now they have gotten so busy, as you well know, that they haven't got much time to assist us.
So that we feel we want to have our own equipment, our own experts, and people that know our work, and devote their time to it.
Representative Ford.
When you talk about technical specialists here, you are referring to electronics specialists?
Mr. Rowley.
Yes, sir.
Representative Ford.
You are not referring to a general research and development program, however?
Mr. Rowley.
No, sir; this confusion is why it was refused a year ago.
Representative Ford.
Let me ask this, then, Chief Rowley. Would these technical experts, or technical specialists, have been on duty in Dallas on this particular trip if you had had the funds and had employed them?
Mr. Rowley.
Yes; but they would have been employed in something entirely different.
Representative Ford.
They wouldn't have had any relationship to the motorcade?
Mr. Rowley.
No, sir. If I may go off the record.
Mr. Rankin.
Will you tell us why you are going off the record?
Mr. Rowley.
Because it involves national security.
(Discussion off the record.)
The Chairman.
Back on the record.
Representative Ford.
As I understand it, then, the deletion of these funds for
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