Senator PASTORE. Don't you think then the responsibility should rest with the FCC, and allow them to call upon the Justice Department or the Immigration Department or FBI, for any comments on the applicant to find out if they have any objection? And they could look over his visa, his passport. I think it ought to stay in one department, don't you agree with that? Senator GOLDWATER. I will let Mr. Hoover answer that. Mr. HOOVER. Mr. Chairman, I think, without getting into the legal side I am an engineer, not a lawyer, although I have had a great deal to do with security problems Senator PASTORE. I am looking more for policy than the written word. Mr. HOOVER. If we take a case of espionage today, nothing to do with this bill, but some espionage or clandestine operation taking place in the radio spectrum, with intent toward espionage, and incidentally I don't know of any such case within the last 10 or 15 years that has taken place. But assuming one did take place, it would be picked up, the messages would be picked up either by one of our FCC monitoring stations, or by some other agency, whether it be an amateur or another commercial station somewhere. Undoubtedly the FCC would be notified, and I think immediately they would be in touch with the Department of Justice and the FBI, because it becomes a joint matter, both of tracking down such a station, which would be a technical matter for the FCC, and finally the prosecution, which would fall naturally in the Department of Justice. So this is the kind of a joint matter of responsibility which I believe is thoroughly covered under existing statutes, as to the responsibility of each of these agencies. Senator PASTORE. The reason why I say that, gentlemen, is this: We have a comment here from the FCC on the security problem. This is what they have to say: What the Commission would prefer, should the Congress determine such legislation along this line is feasible, is that the Commission's role in the matter be essentially an administerial function of registering such operator. Thus, enactment of a bill by the Congress would itself be a determination that it is in the public interest to permit the operation. The Department of State and other appropriate agencies concerned could be given the responsibility of determining with which countries reciprocal agreements would be concluded. That is fair enough, and of overriding importance. The Department of Justice or other appropriate agencies of Government, other than the FCC, should be given the statutory obligation to undertake whatever security measures are appropriate and to report its findings and recomendations to the Commission. Mr. HOOVER. I believe that the Senator has one communication that bears on this, Mr. Chairman. Senator PASTORE. I would hope this, that your responsible people who are conversant in this area, will sit down and talk with Mr. Zapple, to see if we can't fashion some kind of an amendment that will cure this apprehension. Senator GOLDWATER. I might say, Mr. Chairman, that the Department of Air Force, speaking for the Department of Defense, says: Accordingly, the Department of Defense supports the enactment of S. 920. The following technical changes are recommended to the bill: Delete the words "if it finds the public interest, convenience, or necessity may be served," from the title of the bill. This requirement does not appear in the text of the bill. Again, in a broad way, with my very limited knowledge of law, aren't we confronted with a similar problem on every immigration case, on every contract that we make with a foreign company? Don't we all work as Government together? We don't point the finger at the State Department and say you "goofed" on this one, or we don't point our finger at Commerce and say you shouldn't have done this. Senator PASTORE. I don't, but sometimes you do. Senator GOLDWATER. Well, sometimes I am tempted to. But I am talking about cases like we are speaking of now. It is a daily happening in this country, where we find we made mistakes. And I am not surprised, because I know the apprehension of the FCC, but knowing that it is taken care of daily, without anybody's head rolling, I think surely we can work something out. Senator PASTORE. Your representatives get together with Mr. Zapple and they can call upon the Justice Department and FCC attorneys and I think we can work this out. I don't think you have a severe problem there. Mr. HOOVER. Mr. Chairman, could I make a further comment on this? Senator PASTORE. Yes, Mr. Hoover. Mr. HOOVER. As we envision the actual operation of this matter, and taking Mexico as an example, it would be probable that an agreement would be worked out through our State Department channels with the Mexican Government, and I think possibly that might be the first one we would work out. Senator PASTORE. Yes; I think the negotiations, you would have to leave that with the State Department. I understand that. Mr. HOOVER. Yes. And I would think some such procedure as this would be set up, or at least this would be the general guidelines under which the State Department would naturally react. If a Mexican citizen wished to have permission to operate his amateur station in the United States, the agreement would call for his appearing before a U.S. consul, in Mexico, and at that time he would present evidence of his citizenship-passport, probably-together with his amateur license. And under the direction of the consul, the American consul in Mexico, he would fill out a form which the consul in turn would send to the FCC in Washington. And the consul would make the proper notations in his records in Mexico. And if there were subsequently any violations, that would immediately appear in the consular records. That man would be on the blacklist, undoubtedly, as far as any further permits to enter the United States is concerned. If he was in the United States and anything arose, undoubtedly his visas or entrance permits would be canceled and he would be sent home. I think the chance of espionage for somebody who registers like that, through the normal channels, is extremely remote. Senator PASTORE. Yes; I think that is a good suggestion. Mr. HOOVER. I believe Mr. Huntoon would like to make a statement at this time. Senator PASTORE. All right, sir. STATEMENT OF JOHN HUNTOON, SECRETARY AND GENERAL MANAGER, AMERICAN RADIO RELAY LEAGUE, NEWINGTON, CONN. Mr. HUNTOON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are grateful for the opportunity to offer our views. My name is John Huntoon. I am secretary and general manager of the American Radio Relay League, with headquarters at Newington, Conn., and editor of its official organ, "QST." I am also secretary of the International Amateur Radio Union, an association of 55 national amateur societies in as many countries of the world bonded together in common interests. I have been a licensed radio operator for more than 30 years, and, professionally, a member of the league staff for more than 25. During World War II, I was a chief radioman in the U.S. Coast Guard, first as an instructor in radio and later as supervisor of a monitoring branch of a military communications intelligence unit. I am chairman of the Amateur Radio Working Group of the National Industry Advisory Committee. I have attended, as a member of the U.S. delegation, three administrative radio conferences of the International Telecommunications Union during the past 15 years. As the national membership association of amateur radio operators, the league wishes to record with your committee its support of the objective of Senate bill 920, proposing to amend the Communications Act of 1934 so as to permit the issuance of amateur operating authorizations to alien amateurs under certain conditions, on a reciprocal basis, through bilateral agreements with individual foreign countries. The first U.S. radio communications law of substance, in 1912, provided that radio station licenses would be issued only to citizens of the United States or U.S. corporations. No citizenship restriction was placed on operators, and indeed operator licenses were freely issued to aliens by the Department of Commerce, in the amateur as well as the commercial field. This concept was continued in the Radio Act of 1927. However, in 1932, Congress amended the 1927 act to provide that operator licenses would be issued only to citizens of the United States. Operator licenses then held by aliens were valid until expiration, but. were not renewed. This change originated as a measure to help the unemployment situation, the purpose being to confine commercial radio jobs to our citizens. Although the commercial aspect was not pertinent in the amateur service, Congress was not receptive to our request to exempt amateur from this restriction. But the point of note here is that the citizenship requirement for operator license eligibility arose from purely economic considerations and was not prompted by any matter of national security. The basic citizenship restriction has remained in the law for the past 30 years. In recent years, however, the tendency has been to make exceptions to this general restriction, to wit: (1) In 1952, the Government of Canada and the United States signed an agreement which, among other things, authorizes, on a reciprocal basis, operating privileges for amateurs of each country while in the territory of the other, subject to simple application procedures. For more than 10 years, this arrangement has worked admirably and amend the act would do much toward creating a favorable image of the United States among a most influential group of our foreign friends. Mr. Chairman, in the appendix we have attempted to give a list of countries which do and those which do not normally issue licenses to amateurs. Senator PASTORE. Do you want this in the record? Mr. HUNTOON. If it would be helpful to the committee. Senator PASTORE. Without objection, the appendix will be made a part of the statement. (The appendix to the statement follows:) APPENDIX This is a tabulation of foreign countries and/or administrations listed as to their policies in the matter of issuing amateur licenses to U.S. citizens. As these policies change from time to time, the list may not be fully accurate as of this moment. It is also not complete. However, it should serve the purpose of illustration. I. Administrations which will issue amateur licenses to visiting U.S. citizens: Lebanon Bermuda Bolivia Canada Chile Ecuador Formosa II. Administrations which normally will not issue amateur licenses to visiting U.S. citizens. Known exceptions are noted (M-Issues amateur licenses to U.S. military personnel only. S--In special circumstances, such as an expedition or a U.S. diplomatic official, an amateur license may be issued in individual cases) : Senator GOLDWATER. Mr. Chairman, I think it might be interesting to have in the record at this point the prefixes by countries. The reader of the record might wonder how many countries in the world have prefixes or amateurs. This is a rather long list I would like to have in the record. Senator PASTORE. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. HOOVER. I might add these prefixes have been set by international agreement at the administrative conference in Geneva. Senator PASTORE. Thank you. Mr. Booth. (The prefixes by countries follow :) PREFIXES BY COUNTRIES The following countries listed in alphabetical order by country show international radio amateur prefixes. Characters in () designate the continent and zone in which the country is located. Abbreviations are as follows: A-Asia, AF Africa, E-Europe, NA-North America, O-Oceania, SA-South America. Bermuda Islands (NA-5) Antarctica (0-30). Bhutan (A–22 ) . ..CR6 | Chagos Islands (AF-39). KC4US Chile (SA-12)--- VQ8 _GC CE |