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B-222758 1 (1986-06-25)

handle is hein.gao/gaobablfn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES ~ ~ 11111 ulli i i nA- 1NCTON D.C. = 4so111 ul111111li ~lIll UN ,IT' 'T ' N 7 141197 B-222758 June 25, 1986 The Honorable Dante B. Fascell Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs House of Representatives Dear Mr. Chairman: This responds to your letter of March 27, 1986, in which you and Representative Jack Brooks, Chairman, House Committee on Government Operations, requested this Office to render a legal opinion and conduct an investigation con- cerning certain activities of the Chemical Warfare Review Commission (CWRC), a Presidential advisory committee. Sub- sequent discussions with your staff limited the scope of the legal opinion to the question of whether the employment and use of two legislative and public affairs consultants by the CWRC may have violated applicable laws and regulations. We conducted a preliminary investigation to develop the facts regarding the use of the consultants, which consisted of interviews of knowledgeable individuals and a search of available files. The factual data reported in the opinion was derived from these interviews and from relevant docu- ments. As a result of the preliminary investigation, we concluded, for the reasons given below, that the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act and other applicable statutory and regulatory provisions regulating lobbying and public affairs activities in the course of providing administrative support for the CWRC. A more detailed explanation of our findings and legal conclusions is attached hereto. We are presently continuing our review and investigation of the activities of the entire Commission and expect to issue our report within a few months. SUMMARY OF THE LEGAL OPINION Background Congress authorized the President to establish the CWRC in the DOD Authorization Act, 1985, Public Law 98-525, October 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2492. That Act required the CWRC to report its findings and recommendations to the President, who was directed to submit the report together with his comments to the Congress not later than April 1, 1985. The President promulgatedExecutive Order 12502 on January 28, 1985 (3 C.F.R. p. 331 (1986)) establishing the CWRC. Among other things, the Order stated that: (1) the CWRC was subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. Iss3s-

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