broad legislative authority over the CIA, the FBI, and other compo-
nents of the federal intelligence community. President Ford ran for
reelection in 1976 but lost to challenger Jimmy Carter.FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT (FARA) OF 1938.The
Foreign Agents Registration Act, as amended in 1966, is a disclosure
statute aimed at “agents of foreign principals.” The act requires such
agents to register with the Department of Justice and disclose their af-
filiations, methods, and funding sources.
From its passage in 1938 until the 1966 amendments, the FARAwas
focused on propagandists. The original act included a fairly broad defi-
nition of the term agent and a single felony penalty for the most serious
transgressions. It was used in the World War IIera to prosecute some
23 criminal cases successfully. The Department of Justice assumed re-
sponsibility for the administration of the act from the Department of
Statein 1942. In 1966, the FARAwas significantly amended to focus
on the integrity of the United States government decision-making
process by emphasizing agents seeking economic or political advantage
for their clients. The amendments required any person engaged in “po-
litical activities” as an agent on behalf of a foreign principal to register.
This is substantially narrower than the original act, which did not re-
quire that the activities be “for or on behalf of” the foreign principal.FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE (FBIS).In
1940, the Federal Communications Commission created the Foreign
Broadcast Information Division to take on the task of monitoring the
radio broadcasts in key foreign countries. In 1942, this function was
transferred to the U.S. Army, where it remained until it was transferred
to the Central Intelligence Group (CIG) in 1946. The FBIS became
part of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) when it was estab-
lished on 18 September 1947. As part of the CIA’s Directorate of Sci-
ence and Technology (DS&T), the FBIS maintains stations around the
world to pick up radio and television broadcasts and monitors the print
media. Its translators transform the raw materials into publications us-
able by American decision makers and other consumers.FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT (FISA) of
1978.FISA is legislation that authorizes the United States govern-74 • FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT (FARA) OF 193805-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 74