September 11, !.972 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 30119 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS ARMY SURVEILLANCE OF Baskir's report stops at Dec. 31, 1970. At I take this opportunity to insert a news­ CIVILIANS that time, by his estlma.te, Army Intelli­ paper article which aptly captures the gence "had reasonably current files on the spirit of the remarkable and veTsatile political activities of at least 100,000 civil­ HON. HARRY F. BYRD, JR. ians unaffiliated with the armed forces." The person of Sister Sebastian. I am deeply Army then was maintaining more than 350 grateful to my friends Dick Martin and OF VIRGINIA separate records centers. Some of these were Bob Hughes for introducing me to her: IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES enormous: Fourth Army Headquarters a.t VERSATILE NUN, COUNSELOR ALso WEARS Monday, September 11, 1972 Fort Sam Houston, Texas, had the equivalent CoAcHHAT of 120,000 file cards on "personalities of in­ (By Pauline Metza) Mr. HARRY F. BYRD, JR. Mr. Pres­ terest." At Fort McPherson, Ga., the Third ident. Columnist James J. Kilpatrick, in Army had dosslers on 4,672 persons and "I was always a little on the wild side," 2,220 organizations. said Sister Mary Sebastian mischievously as an article published in many newspapers she discussed the two "hats" she wears at on September 7, forcefully presented the Some of the most elaborately computerized files were maintained by the Continental Xavier High School in Appleton, Wis., where case against Army surveillance of Army Command, known as CONARC. At the she is a guidance couns~lor and coach of the civilians. press of a button, the computer could search girls' track team-among the few, if not Mr. Kilpatrick's column is based in through "2,269 pages of detailed summaries the only women's coach who also wears a veil. large part on the excellent report re­ of the political beliefs and activities of nearly In Richmond visiting her long-time friends cently prepared by the Subcommittee on 5,500 persons." The information was known Mrs. Freda Martin and son Dick Martin as "plink," computer shorthand for "per­ of Twenty-first Street, "Coach Sister," as she Constitutional Rights under the able is called at Xavier, took over the job last chairmanship of Senator ERVIN, of son ality link." The plink on Subject No. 000001641, mar­ fall as a volunteer when the school was low North Carolina. ried female, Massachusetts, contained this on funds. "I knew absolutely nothing about The column points out that it is still derog info: "Has written a number of letters track," she confided. not certain that all of the dossiers ac­ to U.S. Government officials, civil defense But that" didn't deter Sister Sebastian who cumulated during the surveillance pe­ officials, and to newspapers. The letters are "loves a challenge and is a firm believer in riod have been destroyed. Furthermore, generally very critical of Federal and local doing what you put your m!nd to." She set there is the possibility of a resumption government because of what she considers about learning the intricacies of the sport. of the often objectionable snooping car­ the futility of a civil defense program and With the help of the - manual, which she refusal of countries to disarm." stayed up nights studying, and advice on ried on by several Army commands. the side, she said, "I didn't !eel it was too Senator ERVIN'S subcommittee and . The Army's dossiers, many of them drawn, like the foregoing plink, from FBI records, much of a task to undertake." Mr. Kilpatrick have rendered ttn excel­ covered the whole landscape of political ac­ The team of 25 girls ended up finishing lent service in drawing public attention tivity. The National Committee for a Sane the year under "Coach Sister's" guidance with two successful meets, then a second to this issue. Nucl~ar Policy, in one coding system, had I ask unanimous consent that the text Dossier No. ZA 00 90 26. The National States place win in a four school meet, and a state of Mr. Kilpatrick's column, "How Long Rights Party was nearby: Dossier No. ZA meet in which the team took 18 points. "They Before the Clocks Strike 13 ?", be printed 00 90 97. want me to come back in the fall and I'm Baskir's somber observation, in a conclud­ going to," says Sister Sebastian with sm111ng in the Extensions of Remarks. determination. There being no objection, the article ing statement, evokes the Orwellian night­ mare: "What separates mllitary intelligence Sister Sebastian's road to the convent and was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, in the United States from its counterparts life of a nun !or 35 yea.rs was a roundabout as follows: in totalitarian states," he says, "is not its one. Just 18 and with ambitions to enter the How LONG BEFORE THE CLOCKS STRIKE 13? capabilities, but its intentions." And he adds· entertainment world, she set out for Call­ fornia where she planned to stay with family (By James J. Kilpatrick) "This may not wholly reassure many Ameri: cans." friends while trying to crash Hollywood as a WASHINGTON.-If it has been some time How did this outrageous invasion of con­ nightclub performer. since you read "1984," let me recommend a stitutional rights get started? It was for the The trip had to be postponed because of the return to George Orwell's classic; and then best of motives: The Army wanted to prepare death of an uncle. Then she decided to visit read a supplement to it. The supplement, itself for the threat of internal revolution a friend at Holy Family Convent in Mano­ published only a few days ago, ls titled, and major civil disorders. Then the cancer towoc, Wis. "Army Surveillance of Civilians: A Docu­ of bureaucracy went to work. People had to "I was brought up in Mingo Junction, mentary Analysis." We are not far from Or­ apJ?ear to be "doing something." Vast quan­ Ohio," she said "and went to a Catholic well's bright cold day in April, when the t1t1es of useless material piled up, and the School up to the 10th grade before going clocks were striking thirteen. technological wonders of computerized data on to public school. In those days, the sisters This is a bone-chilling report, prepared for processing did the rest. never went out anywhere, never went to a the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Assuming that most of the dossiers have private home. Classrooms were crowded and Rights under the direction of Chief Counsel indeed been shredded, and most of the tapes the Sisters were strict disciplinarians. All I Lawrence M. Baskir. The document achieves wiped out, what ls to prevent a recurrence thought Sisters did was crab to students and dramaitic impact by not being dramatic; of such surveillance in the future? That pray." "My impression was," she continued it sounds a thundering warning without practical question, says Baskir, "remains to "that if you couldn't get a man, you went raising its voice. For many years, politically be considered." Thus ends his report; and to the convent." active Americans have been wondering: Were we are left to wonder, to go back to Orwell That childhood view took a dramatic re­ they suffering a kind of paranoia, or was Big when our clocks will start striking thirteen'. versal when she visited her friend at Holy Brother really watching them? Answer: He Family Convent, taking along her silk stock­ was watching. ings and hoping to have a little fun. "Here The report covers some familiar ground, I met beautiful girls who had chosen to enter already traversed in hearings before Sena­ the life of a convent. They had such a joyous tor Sam Ervin's subcommittee, but it con­ SISTER MARY SEBASTIAN community." tains much that ls new. It transpired She never left the convent, graduated through the hearings last year th.at over a from Holy Family College with a bachelor's period of decades, going back at least to the degree, and after taking her final vows as a time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Army HON. JEROME R. WALDIE sister of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian had been systema.tically gathering intelli­ OF CALIFORNIA Chartiy, worked in the field in Nebraska gence on civilians who might cause trouble. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Hawaii, Michigan, Ohio, and California. It In the ensuing uproor, thousands of files was in the latter state that she first met and dossiers were destroyed, or so it was Monday, September 11, 1972 the Martins when she was teaching at San said, and orders went out to halt the sur­ Mr. WALDIE. Mr. Speaker, in these Miguel Mission where Dick Martin had signed veillance. days when the headlines are occupied by up for three months of volunteer work in the Were the doss·iers in fa.ct destroyed? Has Mission School. the surveillance ceased? Baskir leaves the tragic international events and seesaw­ In the entertainment field since childhood questions unresolved. "It ls unlikely" he ing national politics the actions of such days, Dick was doing some work in Holly­ says, "that we will ever know the ~xtent people as Sister Mary Sebastian often go wood at the time. For many years now, he to which the monitoring and the data banks unacknowledged save by those fortunate has been part of the Dick Martin and Bob have been cut back." enough to cross paths with her. Hughes team, cafe society entertainers who 30120 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS September 11, 1972 perform at hotels and resorts all over the for one day a month, and their work might adopt a more realistic attitude with re­ United States.