Reading Room Document

Disclosure of Grand Jury Material to the Intelligence Community

Grand jury material subject to the requirements of Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure may be disclosed to agencies in the Intelligence Community pursuant to Rule 6(e) insofar as necessary to assist government attorneys in performing their duties to enforce federal criminal law, but may not, under Rule 6(e), be used by the recipient agencies for other purposes, including intelligence purposes. In circumstances where there is a compelling necessity for grand jury material to be made available to the President in furtherance of his constitutional responsibilities over foreign affairs and national defense, and where the President has authorized the provision of such material to the Intelligence Community, we believe that a court should and would authorize such disclosure outside the provisions of Rule 6(e), on the basis of Article II of the Constitution and separation of powers principles. Indeed, in such compelling circumstances, a constitutionally necessitated disclosure could properly be made by attorneys for the Government even without prior court approval. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/19766/download.

August 14, 1997