(Testimony of Abram Chayes)
Mr. Chayes.
That is correct. The lookout card would have been had it been made, on January 29, 1963, 6 months before the passport application, when Oswald finally paid the last of his outstanding loan balance.
Mr. Dulles.
Can I ask a question there? Is the lookout card then only prepared in those cases where a passport should be refused irrespective of the moral turpitude or idiosyncracies or whatever else may be the case with regard to the individual?
Mr. Chayes.
There are three cases in which a lookout card is prepared. One is the case you have just mentioned, where a passport should be refused or there is evidence that might warrant refusal that you have to look into further. The second is if you are a very important person and your passport is supposed to be given specially expeditious treatment.
And the third, if another agency, for example, your old agency or the or any other agency has asked the Department to inform them in case of the passport application by a particular individual, a lookout card will be made. those are the three categories.
Now, the first category is by far the biggest. There are 250,000 lookout cards, and by far the overwhelming majority of those is in the first category," that is people as to whom there is evidence which would warrant a determination that they should not be issued a passport.
Mr. Coleman.
Does the State Department have any regulations which set forth the circumstances under which they will refuse a person a passport?
Mr. Chayes.
Yes; we have regulations which are set forth, a copy of which is attached to question 17. They appear in volume 22 of. the Federal Register.
Mr. Coleman.
Volume 22, title 22?
Mr. Chayes.
Yes; title 22, part 51 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Mr. Coleman.
I take it then that in 51.135 you have the regulation which says that you can deny a passport to a member of a Communist organization, is that correct?
Mr. Chayes.
Well, I think you have to be careful how you read that. It is a member of a Communist organization registered or required to be registered under section 7 of the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, as amended.
This 51.135 is a regulation which implements section 6 of the Subversive Activities Control Act, which denies passports to members of organizations required to register.
The only such organization so far against which a final order of registration is outstanding, is the Communist Party of the United States. So, not only technically but actually, membership in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union would not bring you within this paragraph of the regulation.
Mr. Dulles.
Or the Communist Party of any other country.
Mr. Chayes.
Of any other country.
Mr. Coleman.
Is there any other regulation, which the State Department has, dealing with the circumstances under which they can refuse to issue a passport?
Mr. Chayes.
The other regulation covering substantive grounds of refusal is 51.136.
Mr. Coleman.
Could you read into the record the regulation?
Mr. Chayes.
Yes; the regulation says: "In order to promote"
Well, it is entitled "Limitations on Issuance of Passports to Certain Other Persons."
It reads:
"In order to promote and safeguard the interests of the United States, passport facilities except for direct and immediate return to the United States shall be refused to a person' when it appears to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State that the person's activities abroad would (a) violate the laws of the United States, and (b) be prejudicial to the orderly conduct of foreign relations, or (c) otherwise be prejudicial to the interests of the United States."
Mr. Coleman.
In 1963, on June 24 when Oswald applied for a passport, he was issued the passport within 24 hours after the application; is that correct?
Mr. Chayes.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Coleman.
Is there any record in the Department that anyone ever
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