13. Do you, or your immediate family, have custody or control over any cash or other property of value of morets $1,000.00 which is owned by someone outside your immediate family, such as executor, administrator, trustee, dian, agent or bailee? If "Yes," give details. Yes No 14. Have you a any member of your immediate family, since the date of your appointment to the Internal Revenue Service (a) Received any gifts, bequests or legacies, the aggregate value of which exceeded $1,000.00? If so, explain. Yes No (b) Received proceeds from the sale of assets (house, securities, etc.) or the maturing of insurance policies amounting to $2,500.00 or more? If so, explain. Yes No 15. Have you received any income during the past three years from employment ar business in addition to salary from Internal Revenue? If so, explain and show amounts. Yes No 16. Has your spouse or any other member of your immediate family been employed during the past three years? If so, give details. (Name of employer, income earned, etc.) Yes No 17. List below the office of the District Director of Internal Revenue with which you and your immediate family files federal income tax returns for the preceding five years. if a return was not filed for any year, explain. Senator ERVIN. Do any of you gentlemen have any further comments that you would like to make? Mr. CONNERY. For the record, Senator, I would once again-I touched on it very briefly, but I would like to emphasize the fact that in these various financial reporting requirements with which you are so properly concerned, we operate under this system in the Internal Revenue Service that each and every one of our income tax returns are subjected to considerable scrutiny each and every year. Also each and every month. And in most of our divisions each and every day we have to submit a stamp attached to our daily report that reads-report of activities for that day To the best of my knowledge and belief I have no personal or financial interest in any of the private or other non-Federal enterprises listed above, nor in any that I have handled during this reporting period. Vincent L. Connery. Senator ERVIN. Some schools make the child say, "I did not cheat on this examination." Mr. CONNERY. Exactly. Senator ERVIN. I would like to say that there is no group of Federal employees whose ability I have a higher respect for than those in the Internal Revenue Service. It requires an expert technical knowledge in the field of taxation, and the rules of taxation are necessarily somewhat arbitrary. In other words, Congress outlines what will be the rule in certain cases, although it does not usually say it in language readily understandable. It is impossible to frame tax laws exactly on this basis. It requires a very profound technical knowledge and a high degree of skill in applying that knowledge and in many cases they have to deal with the most intricate questions of fact, many of which are too difficult to properly analyze. In my experience, when I practiced law and dealt with tax matters to a limited extent, I was always impressed by the high degree of efficiency of those who handled matters that envolved my clients. I think they are to be commended and I would hate to see their morale destroyed by what I consider to be, not petty-because no tyranny is petty-but bureaucratic tyranny. Mr. CONNERY. We salute your efforts in this regard, Senator. Thank you very much. Mr. BRADY. Will you accept our brief for the record? Senator ERVIN. Yes. From time to time if you have any suggestions or changes that would improve this bill, which attempt to set it out more clearly, I would appreciate your suggestions. Mr. CONNERY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. AUTRY. Mr. Chairman, second today is the National Association of Government Employees represented by Mr. Kenneth T. Lyons and by Mr. Stanley Lyman. STATEMENT OF KENNETH T. LYONS, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES; ACCOMPANIED BY STANLEY LYMAN, LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT Mr. LYONS. My name is Kenneth T. Lyons. I am national president of the National Association of Government Employees. Senator ERVIN. I am delighted to welcome you to the subcommittee and express the appreciation of the subcommittee members for your willingnesss to come here and give us the benefit of your views with respect to what we consider a very important piece of legislation. Mr. LYONS. Thank you, Senator. Mr. Chairman and committee members-it is indeed a pleasure for the National Association of Government Employees to be recorded today wholeheartedly endorsing S. 3799, a bill designed to prohibit unwarranted invasion into the privacy of Federal employees, and beyond, to that of their families. The National Association of Government Employees further wishes to be recorded in recognizing those sponsors and cosponsors of this vital measure. Many years ago Justice Brandeis predicted that "advances in the psychic and related sciences may bring means of exploring unexpressed beliefs, thoughts, and emotions." "Can it be," Justice Brandeis asked then, "that the Constitution affords no protection against such invasion of individual security?" And he answered this question thusly: The makers of our Constitution recognized the significance of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions, and their sensations. They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be left alone-the most comprehensive rights and the most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Ironically, it would appear that it is far more safer today to take the fifth amendment than to be assured of the fourth. Justice Brandeis' prediction fell true many years ago but none of us recognized it. The psychic advances he referred to are today's psychological tests and science has given us electronic devices to snoop and pry on all classes of Americans. It is an undeniable fact that Government has been and is still using various means at their disposal, however justified, to intrude on the privacy of Government employees. And please do not think I am reaching when I say that through such sophisticated and subtle aids our Government agencies have a captive audience who have been conditioned down through the years into thinking that to work for the Government is a privilege-not a right. If one can agree it is a privilege, we cannot disagree as to the abuses. This expression, we submit, has been taken as a fact for too many years by numerous past and present individuals in the top echelons of Government who through endless streams of directives have reduced Government employees to the status of second-class citizens too frightened to resist. Today, as never before, if you accept the premise it is a privilege to work for our Government, we find our employees subjected to and acquiescing to various kinds of tests, disclosures, subtle attempts at blackmail and other scandalous forms in order to maintain or gain employment in Government. To this concept we say "Nonsense." It is both. There must be a two-way street somewhere in the relationship between Government employment and the employee. Failure to achieve the proper balance will continue to see, what we have discovered, an increasing breakdown in morale, a reluctance to accept Government employment, an indifferent employee, and a threateningly inferior Government service. Too many of our employees are not aware that their constitutional rights are being infringed upon. And we have discovered to our alarm that too many are begrudgingly submitting to various tests, not only because they feel it is a privilege to work in Government, but that they are fearful that in failing to do so would jeopardize their chances of promotion, assignment, and future careers. Someone, somebody, has to speak for them for they are powerless to go it alone. The individual Federal employee should not have to do this alone or collectively. It is up to Government and we are convinced that through this committee they are finally having their day in court. I don't know if anyone can with exactness pinpoint where this overpaternalistic attitude all began. But as sure as we gather here today no one will argue that we are well on the way to "computerizing man." And the Government man doesn't like it any more than his counterpart in private industry. By what divine rights has a head of any agency or department or personnel officer have to subject Government employees to reveal their innermost thoughts, habits, and beliefs? They may be well-meaning and believe they are doing a good job, but along the way they have stripped people of their dignity. We submit that no employer, be it public or private, is entitled to conduct any program that invades the privacy of people. We hold that the individual should have the choice as to what he shall disclose or withhold. The key to any successful program to determine the fitness or loyalty is the word "consent." Not to be given grudgingly, under coercion, promises or out of fear. This committee has been the recipient of the views of countless numbers of representatives relative to obvious violations inflicted upon Federal employees by agency heads and departmental directives. They run the gamut from psychological tests, the monitoring_and bugging of telephones, questionnaires seeking highly personal data, and the disclosure of financial matters of the individual and members of their families. Today I would like to touch upon some inequities that have come to our attention. Chief among them concern the psychological testing programs which have recently been conducted upon Federal Aviation Agency air traffic controllers against their wishes and in violation of their constitutional rights. From the outset our organization, the American Federation of Government Employees, and the Air Traffic Control Association were asked by the FAA to review the program prior to its implementation. Our request to the FAA for a sample questionnaire or psychological test sheets were refused. The NAGE, in behalf of air traffic controllers through the Nation, therefore would not and could not endorse the program. When the employees began taking the tests we soon learned what the questions involved. We do not wish to be redundant, I am sure the committee has since learned of the very personal queries contained in the test. They were asked if they believed in birth control; what was their reaction to members of the opposite sex; about the present situation of the police department in their community; were they conservative or liberal thinkers; of the strength of the United States and our Nation's involvement in international affairs-to name just a few. Our organization immediately contacted the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John W. McCormack, and Senator Mike Monroney, charging the FAA with violating the constitutional rights of the employees. The speaker informed me I have received your letter, the contents of which amaze me. You will remember within the past year or two, Congressman Cornelius Gallagher of New Jersey looked into a similar matter and did a grand job. I have talked with him. He told me that John W. Macy, Chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, promised him that all government workers would be excluded from being asked such questions. At his request, I am sending your letter to him. I also received a letter from Senator Monroney in which he had enclosed a letter he had sent to Mr. Macy, which reads as follows: I am enclosing, for your information and attention, a letter I received from Kenneth T. Lyons, National President of the National Association of Government Employees, protesting the psychological examination which your agency is now giving to air traffic controllers employed by the FAA. The charges which Mr. Lyons makes are serious and I would like for you to give me a complete report on these examinations, your reasons for giving the tests. your authority to conduct such examinations, and a statement of the purpose and |