Reading Room Document

Short staff memorandum on the question of wiretapping U.S. citizens abroad for governmental purposes

In this memo, the OLC advised that American federal agents could not wiretap U.S. citizens abroad without court approval (where court order would be required to conduct the same wiretapping domestically), because the U.S. officials were still bound by the Constitution in their relations with U.S. citizens abroad. The OLC also admitted that the question of whether the U.S. could utilize the services of foreign police forces to conduct such surveillance on its own behalf was more complex, and the author suggested referring this question to the Department of Justice’s criminal division. This memo contains a cover sheet clarifying that it was written for the attorney general to rely on during press conference remarks and was not intended for press distribution.

April 15, 1974