Mr. STERN. So far as PRS was concerned?
Mr. BOUCK. Nothing was done by PRS.
Mr. STERN. These individuals did come to light in the liaison
activities just prior to President Kennedy's trip to Dallas?
Mr. BOUCK. Yes, sir.
Mr. STERN. And they were then, as I understand it, placed in your
permanent records and are now in your trip-index files?
Mr. BOUCK. That is correct.
Mr. STERN. Mr. Bouck, since the Stevenson trip received a great deal of
publicity and I take it you knew about it at the time or PRS knew about
it, can you tell us why there was no effort in October to determine
who these people were for possible use if President Kennedy or a later
President should consider a trip to Dallas?
Mr. BOUCK. Well, there are a great many disturbances and activities
around, and we have never felt that we should document those per se
inasmuch as they did not constitute a jurisdiction--they were not
within our jurisdiction except when the President went to an area,
so it has always been something that we attempted to resolve when we
had jurisdiction in the area because the President was going there,
rather than engage in investigative activity that was not within our
jurisdiction just per se, whenever there was a disturbance.
Mr. STERN. I am not sure I follow that. I take it your jurisdiction
is to determine, perhaps not to act upon, but to determine people who
might be threats to the President or Vice-President.
Mr. BOUCK. These people were not judged at that time to be threats to
the President, necessarily.
Mr. STERN. I see. Their activities in connection with Ambassador
Stevenson's visit did not seem to you at that time----
Mr. BOUCK. They did not fit our criteria as being a direct indication
that the President might be harmed, but then when the President went to
that area, then a more serious connotation was put on those people and
they were investigated and were identified and pictures were made of
them and given to the agents.
Mr. STERN. That is because the President was then going to that area?
Mr. BOUCK. Yes; that is right.
Mr. STERN. Suppose the President was going to another area to which
these individuals had moved in between the Stevenson visit and the
hypothetical Presidential trip. You would have had no record of them,
no way of knowing about them, is that correct?
Mr. BOUCK. No; that would have to--unless it had been reported to me
they had moved, then the only way we would pick that up would be in the
local liaison which begins some days before a trip.
Mr. STERN. But there would have been no basis to report to you that
they had moved as I understand it because they would not have been
persons of concern to you merely because of their involvement in the
Stevenson affair?
Mr. BOUCK. That is probably right.
Mr. McCLOY. To summarize your testimony a bit, I gather that the
fundamental criterion that you were looking for is the potential
threat to the health and life of the President of the United States,
that you are not a general security agency of the United States, but
are directed particularly to that particular objective, and one of
the things that alerts you most is the threat, and then you examine
that threat to determine whether or not it is a serious threat. A lot
of elements enter into that and at that point when it does become a
serious threat, then you put it on your alert files, is that abut right?