RULES OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

(Adopted February 28, 1979)

RULE 1-COMMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS

(a) Regular meeting day. The regular meeting day of the Committee on Foreign Relations for the transaction of Committee business shall be on Tuesday of each week, unless otherwise directed by the Chairman.

(b) Each meeting of the Committee on Foreign Relations, or any subcommittee thereof, including meetings to conduct hearings, shall be open to the public, except that a meeting or series of meetings by the Committee or a subcommittee on the same subject for a period of no more than fourteen calendar days may be closed to the public on a motion made and seconded to go into closed session to discuss only whether the matters enumerated in paragraphs (1) through (6) would require the meeting to be closed followed immediately by a record vote in open session by a majority of the members of the committee or subcommittee when it is determined that the matters to be discussed or the testimony to be taken at such meeting or meetings

(1) will disclose matters necessary to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or the confidential conduct of the foreign relations of the United States;

(2) will relate solely to matters of Committee staff personnel or internal staff management or procedure;

(3) will tend to charge an individual with crime or misconduct, to disgrace or injure the professional standing of an individual, or otherwise to expose an individual to public contempt or obloquy, or will represent a clearly unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual;

(4) will disclose the identity of any informer or law enforcement agent or will disclose any information relating to the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense that is required to be kept secret in the interests of effective law enforcement;

(5) will disclose information relating to the trade secrets or financial or commercial information pertaining specifically to a given person if—

(A) an Act of Congress requires the information to be kept confidential by Government officers and employees; or (B) the information has been obtained by the Government on a confidential basis, other than through an application by such person for a specific Government financial or other benefit, and is required to be kept secret in order to prevent undue injury to the competitive position of such person; or (6) may divulge matters required to be kept confidential under other provisions of law or Government regulations.

A closed meeting may be opened by a majority vote of the Committee.

(c) Quorum requirements.-(1) A majority of the membership of the Committee shall constitute a quorum for reporting any measure or recommendation to the Senate. No measure or recommendation shall be ordered reported from the Committee unless a majority of the Committee members are actually present. The vote of the Committee to report a measure or matter shall require the concurrence of a majority of those members who are actually present at the time the vote is

taken.

(2) A quorum for the transaction of Committee or subcommittee business, other than for reporting a measure or recommendation to the Senate or the taking of testimony, shall consist of one-third of the members of the Committee or subcommittee, including at least one member from each party.

(3) For the purpose of taking sworn or unsworn testimony at any duly scheduled meeting a quorum of the Committee and each subcommittee thereof shall consist of one member.

(d) Proxy voting.-Proxy voting shall be allowed on all measures and matters before the Committee. However, proxies shall not be voted for the purpose of reporting a measure or matter except when the absent member has been informed of the matter on which he is being recorded and has affirmatively requested that he be so recorded. All proxies shall be in writing.

(e) Subcommittees.-Unless otherwise authorized by law or Senate resolution, subcommittees shall be created by majority vote of the Committee and shall deal with such legislation and oversight of programs and policies as the Committee directs. Legislative measures or other matters may be referred to a subcommittee for consideration in the discretion of the Chairman or by vote of a majority of the Committee. If the principal subject matter of a measure or matter to be referred falls within the jurisdiction of more than one subcommittee, the Chairman or the Committee may refer the matter to two or more subcommittees for joint consideration.

The Chairman of the Committee shall be an ex officio member, without vote, of each subcommittee.

(f) Subcommittee meetings.-Except when funds have been specifically made available by the Senate for a subcommittee purpose, no subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Relations shall hold hearings involving reporting expenses without prior approval of the Chairman of the full Committee or by decision of the full Committee. Meetings of subcommittees shall be scheduled after consultation with the Chairman of the Committee with a view toward avoiding conflicts with meetings of other subcommittees insofar as possible. Meetings of subcommittees shall not be scheduled to conflict with meetings of the full Committee.

(g) Announcement of meetings.-The Committee, or any subcommittee thereof, shall make public announcement of the date, place, time and subject matter of any hearing to be conducted on any measure or matter at least one week in advance of such hearings, unless the Chairman of the Committee, or subcommittee, determines that there is good cause to begin such hearing at an earlier date.

(h) Assignments to subcommittees.-Assignments of members to subcommittees shall be made in an equitable fashion. No member of the Committee may receive assignment to a second subcommittee until, in

order of seniority, all members of the Committee have chosen assignments to one subcommittee, and no member shall receive assignments to a third subcommittee until, in order of seniority, all members have chosen assignments to two subcommittees.

(i) Staff attendance at meetings.-A Member may have one member of his personal staff, for whom that Member assumes personal responsibility, accompany and be seated near him at committee meetings. Attendance of Committee staff at meetings shall be limited to those designated by the Staff Director or the Minority Staff Director.

Each member of the Committee may designate members of his personal staff, who hold a Top Secret security clearance, for the purpose of their eligibility to attend executive sessions of the Committee. The Committee, by majority vote, or the Chairman, with the concurrence of the Ranking Minority Member, may limit staff attendance at specified meetings.

(j) Reporting requirements.

(1) When the Committee has ordered a measure or recommendation reported, the report thereon shall be filed in the Senate at the earliest practicable time.

(2) A member of the Committee who gives notice of his intentions to file supplemental, minority, or additional views at the time of final Committee approval of a measure or matter, shall be entitled to not less than 3 calendar days in which to file such views, in writing, with the Chief Clerk of the Committee. Such views shall then be included in the Committee report and printed in the same volume, as a part thereof, and their inclusion shall be noted on the cover of the report. In the absence of timely notice, the Committee report may be filed and printed immediately without such views.

(3) The results of all rollcall votes taken in any meeting of the Committee on any measure, or amendment thereto, shall be announced in the Committee report. The announcement shall include a tabulation of the votes cast in favor and votes cast in opposition to each such measure and amendment by each member of the Committee

RULE 2-NOMINATIONS

(a) Waiting requirement.-Unless otherwise directed by the Chairman and the Ranking Minority Member, the Committee on Foreign Relations shall not consider any nomination until six days after it has been formally submitted to the Senate.

(b) Public consideration.-Nominees for any post who are invited to appear before the Committee shall be heard in public session, unless a majority of the Committee decrees otherwise.

(c) Required data.-No nomination shall be reported to the Senate unless (1) the nominee has been accorded a security clearance on the basis of a thorough investigation by executive branch agencies; (2) in appropriate cases, the nominee has filed a confidential financial statement with the Committee; (3) the Committee has been assured that the nominee does not have any interests which could conflict with the interests of the government in the exercise of the nominee's proposed responsibilities; and (4), for persons nominated to be ambassador or

minister, the Committee has received a complete list of any contributions made by the nominee or members of his immediate family to any Federal election campaign during the year of his or her nomination and for the four preceding years.

RULE 3 WITNESSES

(a) General. The Committee on Foreign Relations will consider requests to testify on any matter or measure pending before the Committee.

(b) Presentation by witnesses.-If the Chairman so determines, the oral presentation of witnesses shall be limited to ten minutes. However, written statements of reasonable length may be submitted by witnesses and other interested persons who are unable to testify in person.

(c) Filing of statements.-A witness appearing before the Committee, or any subcommittee thereof, shall file a written statement of his proposed testimony at least 48 hours prior to his appearance, unless this requirement is waived by the Chairman and the Ranking Minority Member following their determination that there is good cause for failure to file such a statement.

RULE 4-COMMITTEE TRAVEL

(a) Approval procedure.-No member of the Committee on Foreign Relations or its staff shall travel abroad on Committee business unless specifically authorized by the Chairman, who is required by law to approve vouchers and report expenditures of foreign currencies, and the Ranking Minority Member. Requests for authorization of such travel shall state the purpose and, when completed, a full substantive and financial report shall be filed with the Committee. Any proposed travel by committee staff for a subcommittee purpose must be approved by the subcommittee chairman and Ranking Minority Member prior to submission of the request to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the full Committee.

(b) Travel by personal staff.-A member of the personal staff of a member of the Committee may travel with that member with the approval of the Chairman and the Ranking Minority Member of the Committee. During such travel, the personal staff member shall be considered to be an employee of the Committee.

(c) Foreign travel by Committee staff.-When the Chairman and the Ranking Minority Member approve the foreign travel of a member of the staff of the Committee not accompanying a member of the Committee, all members of the Committee shall be advised, prior to the commencement of such travel, of its extent, nature, and purpose. The report referred to in the first paragraph of this section shall be furnished to all members of the Committee and shall not be otherwise disseminated without the express authorization of the Committee. (d) Staff travel in U.S.-All official travel in the United States by the Committee staff shall be approved in advance by the Staff Director, or in the case of minority staff, by the Minority Staff Director.

RULE 5 TRANSCRIPTS

(a) General.-The Committee on Foreign Relations shall keep verbatim transcripts of all Committee and subcommittee meetings and such transcripts shall remain in the custody of the Committee, unless a majority of the Committee decides otherwise. Transcripts of public hearings by the Committee shall be published unless the Chairman, with the concurrence of the Ranking Minority Member, determines otherwise.

(b) Maintenance and security of classified transcripts:

(1) The Chief Clerk of the Committee shall have responsibility for the maintenance and security of the classified transcripts. (2) A record shall be maintained of each use of the classified transcripts.

(3) Classified transcripts shall be kept in locked combination safes in the Committee offices except when in active use by authorized persons. They must never be left unattended and shall be returned to the Chief Clerk promptly when no longer needed. (4) Transcripts classified secret or higher may not leave the Committee offices except for the purpose of declassification.

(5) Classified transcripts other than those classified secret or higher may leave the Committee offices in the possession of authorized persons with the approval of the Chairman. Delivery and return shall be made only by authorized persons. Such transcripts may not leave Washington, D.C. unless adequate assurances for their security are made to the Chairman.

(6) Extreme care shall be exercised to avoid taking notes or quotes from classified transcripts. Their contents may not be divulged to any unauthorized person.

(c) Use of classified transcripts. The following persons are authorized to use classified transcripts:

(1) Members and staff of the Committee in the Committee

rooms.

(2) Senators not members of the Committee, by permission of the Chairman, and designated personal representatives of members of the Committee with appropriate security clearances in the Committee's Capitol office, with the permission of the Chairman. (3) Members of the executive departments involved in the meeting, in the department's offices, or, in the Committee's Capitol office, by permission of the Chairman.

(d) Declassification of executive transcripts and other executive records: (1) Any executive transcript or classified Committee report, or portion thereof, may be declassified by the Committee less than 12 years after the date on which such transcript or record was made if

(A) the Committee by majority vote approves; and

(B) each member of the Committee who participated in any meeting at which such transcript was made, approves of such declassification, except that the Committee may by majority vote declassify such transcript in the absence of such approval.