The military, which has the primary concern and has established procedures for making determinations of this kind, with full protection of the rights of individuals, is certainly procedurally able to see that the individual is better protected under the established procedures which the Secretary referred to earlier, than another agency which simply, having no experience or background in these matters, takes a file in a case where the military says: "This fellow is all right; he is not guilty of anything," and they take the file over and come to an opposite conclusion on it. That just does not make sense to me, and I think that is what Mr. Morgan, the President's assistant, is saying, and that is why I want to associate myself with his views, Mr. Chairman. Mr. FRIEDEL. Are there any further questions? Mr. Klein, in his absence, has asked me to announce that the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission will return for further questioning at a later date to be arranged by the Chair and subject to the call of the Chair. It will not be this coming week. It will be the week after. (Thereupon, at 11: 55 a. m., the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of the Chair.) (On June 23, 1956, Chairman Klein addressed the following letters to Hon. Percival F. Brundage, Director, Bureau of the Budget, and sent copies of this letter to the Departments of Justice and Defense, and the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission :) Hon. PERCIVAL F. BRUNDAGE, JUNE 23, 1956. Director, Bureau of the Budget, Executive Office of the President, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. BRUNDAGE: The Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance, of which I am chairman, held hearings on June 13 and 14 on H. R. 9584 and H. R. 9749. The comments received from the various departments and agencies and the Bureau of the Budget with regard to this legislation were unfavorable. During the course of the hearings, the attention of the committee was called to a letter received by the sponsor of H. R. 9749, Congressman Quigley, from Gerald D. Morgan, special counsel to the President. This letter contained the following statement: "The administration was from the beginning opposed to the provision contained in the bill that became Public Law 615 requiring the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission to pass upon the serious charge of collaboration in connection with its consideration of a claim for prisoner-of-war compensation. It is still opposed to having the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, in the absence of a final determination by the armed service concerned, pass upon such a serious matter, and hopes that the Congress will see fit to amend the law." At the same hearing, the Department of Defense proposed to declassify as much of the information contained in the files furnished to the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission as is consistent with national security, so as to permit the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission to conduct hearings at which claimants will be given access to the declassified information for the purpose of allowing claimants to rebut such information. Finally, a proposal was discussed at these hearings to permit the FCSC to rely on the certification now required of each claimant that he did not collaborate with any force hostile to the United States and to pay all claimants who have so certified. It would then be left to the discretion of the FCSC to furnish to the Department of Justice, in those cases in which the Commission felt circumstances justified such action, information which might lead to the prosecution of the claimants for falsely certifying a material fact. While the FCSC, the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and the Bureau of the Budget have had an opportunity to review the amendments to the War Claims Act proposed in H. R. 9584 and H. R. 9749, and to coordinate their views with respect to these proposals, they have not had a similar oppor tunity to express and coordinate their views with regard to the three alternative proposals which were suggested at the subcommittee hearing. I shall greatly appreciate the submission on the part of the departments, agencies, and the Bureau of the Budget, of their views on these proposals at the earliest possible date so that the subcommittee will be placed in a better position to take proper action with regard to the legislation now pending before the subcommittee. DEAR MR. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am enclosing for your information copy of a letter which I have sent today to Hon. Percival F. Brundage, Director, Bureau of the Budget, and I trust that your Department will be able to submit your views on the three proposals referred to in the enclosed letter, at your earliest possible convenience. Sincerely yours, ARTHUR G. KLEIN, Chairman, Commerce and Finance Subcommittee. Hon. ARTHUR G. KLEIN, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Chairman, Commerce and Finance Subcommittee, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of June 23, requesting comment concerning certain proposed amendments to legislation relative to certain procedures of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. I am having the matter looked into and we will communicate further with you. Sincerely, WILLIAM P. ROGERS, Deputy Attorney General. JUNE 23, 1956. Hon. CHARLES E. WILSON, Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense, DEAR MR. SECRETARY: I am enclosing for your information copy of a letter which I have sent today to Hon. Percival F. Brundage, Director, Bureau of the Budget, and I trust that your Department will be able to submit your views on the three proposals referred to in the enclosed letter, at your earliest possible convenience. Sincerely yours, ARTHUR G. KLEIN, Chairman, Commerce and Finance Subcommittee. OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, LEGISLATIVE AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Hon. ARTHUR G. KLEIN, Chairman, Commerce and Finance Subcommittee, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in reference to your letter of June 23 to the Secretary of Defense, forwarding a copy of a letter to the Honorable Percival F. Brundage, Director of the Bureau of the Budget, concerning H. R. 9584 and H. R. 9749, and requesting the views of the Department on certain proposals. On behalf of the Secretary of Defense, I wish to advise you that your letter, together with that to Mr. Brundage, is being forwarded to the appropriate officials within the Department in order that you may have the Department's position at the earliest possible moment. DEAR CHAIRMAN GILLILLAND: I am enclosing for your information copy of a letter which I have sent today to Hon. Percival F. Brundage, Director, Bureau of the Budget, and I trust that your agency will be able to submit your views on the three proposals referred to in the enclosed letter, at your earliest possible convenience. Sincerely yours, ARTHUR G. KLEIN, Chairman, Commerce and Finance Subcommittee. WAR CLAIMS AND RETURN OF ENEMY ASSETS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1956 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE AND FINANCE OF THE The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m., in room 1435, New House Office Building, Hon. Arthur G. Klein (chairman of the subcommittee), presiding. Mr. KLEIN. The committee will come to order. The first witness this morning will be the Honorable Henry J. Clay, member of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. You may proceed, Mr. Clay. STATEMENT OF HON. HENRY J. CLAY, MEMBER, FOREIGN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT COMMISSION Mr. CLAY. Mr. Chairman, by your leave I would like to submit the statement of Whitney Gillilland, Chairman of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, to be inserted in the record. Mr. KLEIN. Without objection, it may appear in the record at this point. Mr. CLAY. Judge Gillilland is in Hungary at this time examining some of the problems under Public Law 285, and he could not be here. (The statement referred to is as follows:) STATEMENT OF WHITNEY GILLILLAND, CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT COMMISSION Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I appear today to testify on the general subject of claims arising out of World War II. You are, of course, more than familiar with the provisions of the War Claims Act of 1948, as amended. You will recall that the original act provided benefits for civilian American citizens interned in the Philippine Islands and other islands of the Pacific during World War II, members of the Armed Forces of the United States detained as prisoners of war anywhere during that conflict, and religious organizations in the Philippines, affiliated with similar organizations in the United States which had rendered assistance and services to our civilians and military personnel in the Philippines. Subsequently, during the 82d Congress, Public Law 303 extended additional benefits to prisoners of war and the religious organizations to which I have referred. On January 16, 1953, there was transmitted to the Congress a detailed study and report of all types and categories of claims arising out of World War II which had been prepared by the former War Claims Commission. In the letter of transmittal President Truman noted that there had been insufficient time for the executive branch of the Government to analyze the legislative proposals and recommendations contained in the report and in effect authorized its transmission for informational purposes only. |