i d r blh Gr- Ln - Nelson A Rockefeller Ronald Reagan - 531W 0N CIA WITHIN THE UNITED star's-s if I Washington DC 20500 i - David w Belln anlrman Executive Dlrector John T Connor C Douglas Dillon Erwin N Griswold Lana Kirkland Lyman L March 10 19 5 Edgar F Shannon Jr MEMORANDUM TO - Members of the Commission I 3 David W Belin Executive Directorrit %gaf SUBJECT Scope of Commission Investigation - Assassinations The attached statutory background with the Executive Order _crsating the Commission and the statement whether or not its authority extends to alleged assassination attempts which might have taken place abroad If these attempts involve no activities conducted within the United States other than activities within the confines of - CIA-Headquarters or activities conducted by other CIA personnel then it is very questionable whether or not this Commission has jurisdiction to investigate such activities On the other hand if an investigation of the facts discloses that there was CIA recruitment of non-CIA personnel having contact with organised crime and that these were recruited to recruit in turn hther non goVernment personnel in the United States to plan and carry out an attempted assassination then the 3 Fresno as nous momma sateen duos better view would be that this does constitute activities within the United States which give rise to questions as to whether the Agency has exceeded its statutory authority HOWever an argument can be made to the contrary along the following lines Since the ultimate goal of the activity involved a foreign operation therefore even though some support activities were conducted Within the United States the Commission does not have jurisdiction The difficulty with such an argument is that it could be applied to exclude many of the other areas the Commission has already taken to inVestigate I I Ed Rec Collecticnifact of 1 993 l lyr- nmeem as PER 02 526 JFK A013 arth For instance to ascertain whether in domestic disorder Commission would not activitygor it might abroad proprietgies-of of'the propriety were direoted termines that it has authority to investigate into one plans should the Commission then take the next step of those other assassinations might not involve improper domestic activity to decide acknowledging that this is not-within the precise language of its charter Nevertheless during its inVestigation into alleged assassination attempts in activity it dichVered'two additional alleged attempts goal of attempted assassination remaining two attempts the-collection of intelligence information One final matter should be discussed If the Commission de alleged assassination because the non GoVernment personnel in this country were recruited in an effort to carry out the addition to finding one which involved improper domestic and it feels compelled to report on these since they occurred at about the same time and involved the same kind of an ultimate assassination attempt but not undertaking to investigate the Many citizens would find it hard to imagine a greater threat to the principles for which this country stands than the threat of assassination using as a rationale that this is part of collecting and coordinating '21 mass H085 mansions EHVHHIT 0305 ELEASED PER -