Letter, President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Secretary of Defense Regarding Testimony of Defense Department Employees

May 17, 1954 Dear Mr. Secretary: It has long been recognised that to assist the Congress in achieving its legislative purposes every Executive Department or Agency must, upon the request of a Congressional Committee, expeditiously furnish information relating to any matter within the jurisdiction of the Commictee, with certain historical exceptions -- some of which are pointed out in the attached memorandum from the Attorney General, This Administration has been and will continue to be diligent in following this principle. However, it is essential to the successful working of our system that the persons entrusted with power in any one of the three great branches of Govern- ment shall not encroach upon the authority confided to the others. The ultimate mesponsibility for the conduct of the Executive Branch reste with the President. a Within this Constitutional framework each branch should 1 << cooperate fully with each other for the common good. How- ever, throughout our history the President has withheld information whenever he found that what was sought was confidential or its disclosure would be incompatible with the public interest or jeopardize the safety of the Nation. Because it is essential to efficient and effective administra- tion that employees of the Executive Branch be in a position to be completely candid in advising with each other on official matters, and because it is not in the public interest that any of their conversations or communications, or any documents or reproductions, concerning such advice be disclosed, you will instruct employees of your Department that in all of their appearances before the Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Operations regarding the inquiry now before it, they are not to testify to any such conversations or communications or to produce any such documents or reproductions. This prin- ciple must be maintained regardless of who would be benefited by such disclosures.