Word: subpoena
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Strategic Services. Officially supervised by four congressional committees, but largely autonomous and excused by a 1949 law from any accounting of the funds it gets or spends. In charge of espionage and clandestine operations abroad as well as overt intelligence-gathering activities; forbidden by law to exercise any police, subpoena or law-enforcement powers, or internal security functions in the U.S., but has occasionally interpreted these laws freely. Grown somewhat fat over the years, was ordered this year to cut its staff by 10%, but cuts are still not completed...
...Vice President used to be just a heartbeat away; now he's just a subpoena away...
True, the press has published a number of Watergate disclosures-plainly labeled as secondhand-that would not be accepted under the rules of evidence in a court of law. But the press has no power to subpoena witnesses or to compel testimony (or, for that matter, to imprison its targets). If a reporter gets information from a reliable source who insists on anonymity he has no choice but to preserve that anonymity. When he tries to check an accusation with the official involved, that official is free to lie about it to a reporter-and sometimes does...
Ellsberg and Russo plan to sue Government officials for $2,000,000 in damages and expenses (their legal costs already total $900,000). For this process, they threaten to subpoena the President himself. In that, they are not likely to succeed, but the Pentagon papers trial, in another guise, may be in the courts and the headlines for months or years to come...
...Ervin committee, which has full subpoena powers, also has solid legal grounds for contending that White House officials cannot spurn any such subpoenas. Since he hopes to begin televised hearings in about two weeks, the issue is reaching a climax. It could easily lead to the most fascinating Capitol Hill TV drama since the Army-McCarthy hearings...