the security advisor wishes to have questions directed to the employee or his witnesses, he may submit such questions to the Chairman or the Attorney-Advisor, who, in his discretion, may ask them of the employee or his witness.

d. Hearings may be attended only by members of the Security Hearing Board, officials of the Army Establishment who have an official connection with the program and the case, Government and employee witnesses only while they are testifying, the employee, his counsel or personal representative, and necessary clerical and technical assistants. The employee and his counsel or personal representative will be permitted to be present throughout the hearing, except for executive sessions.

e. All testimony will be given under oath, administered by the Chairman, under authority hereby granted by the Secretary of the Army. The person responsible for preparing the verbatim transcript (reporter) will also be sworn. A complete accurate verbatim transcript will be prepared in quadruplicate and certified to by the reporter.

f. The Government and the employee may introduce such evidence, oral or written, as the Board may consider proper. Strict rules on admissibility of evidence will not be followed but reasonable bounds of relevancy, competency, and materiality will be maintained.

g. Hearings will be called to order by the Chairman who will make an appropriate opening statement in which will be included the authority for the Board and the hearing; notice to the employee concerning the conduct of the hearing as an administrative proceeding and not as a court of law; advice that the employee may participate in the hearing, be represented by counsel or other representative of his own choosing and present witnesses in his own behalf; a statement that the transcript will contain only the information elicited during the course of the hearing and that classified information will be stricken from the record; notation that a copy of the hearing transcript can be made available to the employee or his counsel upon request; and that the Board will take into consideration that confidential sources of information cannot be disclosed to the employee and that he may not have the advantage of confronting certain informants who have given adverse information.

h. The Chairman then will read the individual charges contained in the letter of charges to the employee. This requirement cannot be waived. The employee may then be asked if he desires to make a general opening statement.

i. Government witnesses then will be heard. Government witnesses may be interrogated as to whether they have been interviewed by a Government investigator and, if so, may testify as to the state

ments which the witnesses made to the investigator. Government witnesses who appear at the hearing may then be cross-examined by the employee or his counsel or representative.

j. The employee will then be heard. He may control the sequence of his witnesses and the Board should cooperate as much as possible in hearing witnesses on any time schedule established by the employee. k. The Chairman may recess the Board at any time and may call executive sessions to review the record, discuss any phase of the case or problems which have arisen or to obtain technical or administrative assistance. No transcript of such executive sessions will be made.

1. The employee or his counsel may submit, within 10 days after receipt, any corrections to the transcript. The Chairman of the Board or the Board will pass on the corrections and make those corrections which are accepted. The employee's statement of corrections should be submitted at least in duplicate and attached to and made a part of the transcript. If necessary, the Chairman of the Board or the Executive Secretary may meet with the employee or his counsel. Corrections will be allowed only to conform the record to the testimony unless it can be shown that an error was made in the testimony as presented.

m. At the close of the hearing the employee will be advised that the Board will report to the Secretary of the Army and that advice as to the final decision in the case will be transmitted to the employee through the author ties at the employing installation.

37. Government witnesses.-All Boards are instructed to invite, as a matter of standard procedure, each nonconfidential witness who has been personally identified, who has given information adverse to the employee and who has not indicated expressly an unwillingness to appear. Geographic distances will be no bar to extending invitations, except that invitations need not be issued to witnesses in noncontiguous overseas areas. Such witnesses will be asked to appear at the hearing to testify in the employee's presence and be subjected to cross-examination. They will also be asked whether they wish to appear privately before the Board, whether they would submit a signed statement, permit their names to be disclosed as the source of the information given and whether their statement previously given may be read to the employee with or without the witness' name being disclosed. The invitation will state that the Board can not pay witness fees or reimbursement for travel or other expenses. A suggested invitation to qualified witnesses is contained in appendix II. Whenever a witness signifies a desire to appear before the Board in private, the Executive Secretary will arrange such a meeting, preferably before the hearing. The witness will be heard under oath and a verbatim confidential transcript of his testimony will be made and

added to the complete file. A copy of that transcript will not be supplied the employee unless the witness agrees. If the witness agrees to release the transcript, it will be regraded unclassified and the witness' name will be deleted unless the witness permits it to be used. The witness' agreement should be included in the questions and answers in the transcript, usually at the end. Adverse witnesses who are employees of the Army Establishment should be urged to attend and commanding officers should be requested to permit such employees to attend. Necessary time to attend a hearing would be recorded as official duty and no charge made to leave.

38. Release of information during a hearing.—During the course of the hearing the line of questioning will be evolved so as to give the employee all possible information forming the basis for the charges, but confidential sources of information and other classified information are to be protected. Parts of written statements submitted by informants may be read verbatim to the employee provided that the source of the information has authorized its release or provided that the reading would not disclose the source. This restriction similarly applies to expressions or statements attributed to an employee by an informant. In all other cases information disclosed to the employee should be phrased in such a manner as to insure that the sources of the information are not compromised.

39. The Hearing Board's findings.-Immediately following the hearing it is advisable for the Security Hearing Board to meet in executive session to define the issues in the case, arrive at a tentative decision, if possible, and to decide who is to prepare the Board's findings. Final decision should be delayed until the transcript of the hearing is available. The Board's findings and the transcript, each in quadruplicate, should be submitted to the Administrative Assistant, Office, Secretary of the Army, not later than 30 days after the hearing. The transcript must be prepared without delay. The function of the Security Hearing Board is to advise and recommend to the Secretary of the Army the action which should be taken. The findings and the accompanying memorandum of reasons should be a complete résumé of the case in detail. Complete instructions on preparation of the Board's findings and the memorandum of reasons will be provided in other media.

SECTION VIII

ACTION AFTER HEARING

40. Review after hearing.-When a case is received from a Security Hearing Board it will be reviewed in the Office of the Administrative Assistant to assure that the record is complete. The case then will be processed as follows:

a. When the Security Hearing Board has found employment clearly consistent with the interests of the national security and has made a favorable recommendation, the case will be referred to the Security. Review Board for consideration.

b. If the Security Review Board agrees with the favorable findings and recommendations of the Security Hearing Board, the Review Board will submit the entire case file, together with the Board's findings and recommendations, to the secretary of the Army for final decision.

c. If the Security Review Board does not agree with the favorable action of the Security Hearing Board, a letter of notification will be sent to the employee, with copies to all interested offices, advising him of the findings of the Security Hearing Board; that it is proposed to recommend to the Secretary of the Army that removal be effected in the interest of national security under Public Law 733, 81st Congress; that he may, if he so desires, submit a further explanation of his case, together with additional statements and affidavits to support his defense, within 20 days after receipt of the letter of notification; and that he may request further consideration by the Security Review Board. If the employee does not reply, the entire case file will be referred to the Secretary of the Army for final decision. If the employee does reply, the case will be referred again to the Security Review Board for consideration. After reconsideration, the Security Review Board will submit the entire case file, together with the Board's findings and recommendations to the Secretary of the Army for final decision.

d. When a Security Hearing Board finds that employment is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security and makes an unfavorable recommendation, the case will be reviewed in detail in the Office of the Administrative Assistant. In such cases a letter of notification will be sent to the employee direct, with copies to all interested officers, advising him of the Security Hearing Board's findings; that it proposed to recommend to the Secretary of the Army that removal be effected in the interests of national security under Public Law 733, 81st Congress; that he may, if he so desires, submit a further explanation of his case, together with additional statements and affidavits in support of his defense, within 20 days after receipt of the letter of notification; and that he may request that his case be referred to the Security Review Board for action. If the employee does not reply or does not request action by the Security Review Board, the entire case file will be referred to the Secretary of the Army for final decision with recommendations that removal be effected in the interest of national security under Public Law 733

81st Congress. If the employee does reply, the entire case file, together with the employee's reply, will be referred to the Security Review Board for action. After consideration of the case in detail, the Security Review Board will submit the entire case file, together with the Board's findings and recommendations, to the Secretary of the Army for final decision.

41. Decision by the Secretary of the Army.-After the action indicated in paragraph 40, the final decision of the Secretary of the Army will be communicated to the employee through command channels with copies to other interested offices. If the decision of the Secretary of the Army is favorable to the employee, instructions will be given to the employing installations for returning the employee to duty and for paying retroactive compensation authorized by Public Law 733, 81st Congress. If the decision of the Secretary of the Army is unfavorable to the employee, instructions will be given to the employing installation concerning removal and the prohibitions, if any, upon final payments which are required by section 9A of the Hatch Act (53 Stat. 1147, 1148, 5 U. S. C. Supp. V; 118j) and the applicable appropriation acts.

SECTION IX

PERSONNEL ACTIONS

42. Suspensions.-As indicated in paragraph 23a suspension action, pending completion of investigation or adjudication of the case, will be taken by the commanding officer when the record available indicates that the retention in employment of the employee is not clearly consistent with interest of the national security. Reassignment or detail to a nonsensitive position or restriction to nonsensitive duties with revocation of security clearance, if any, may be accomplished in preference to immediate suspension when the interests of national security would be amply served. Suspension will be accomplished whenever a letter of charges is received for delivery to the employee.

a. All suspensions under these regulations will be for an indefinite period. If, however, a letter of charges is not delivered to the employee within 30 days after suspension (including the first full day of the suspension), the authority for continued suspension exptres and it then becomes necessary to return the employee to duty or to place him on enforced annual leave. Leave without pay beyond the 30-day period would be equivalent to suspension and is not authorized unless the employee consents in writing.

b. The following remark will be placed on the Standard Form 50: Immediate suspension is deemed necessary and advisable in the interest of national security under authority of Public Law 733, 81st Congress and Executive Order 10450, pending adjudication of your case under SR 620-220-1.