Mr. ROWLEY. I am giving the background.
Mr. RANKIN. I think the question is as to when you got the complaint.
Mr. ROWLEY. Well--excuse me. [Continuing.] Before he left his detail
assignment, you see, he alleges that he told me about the condition
that was going on up in Hyannis.
Representative FORD. Before he left on this 30-day assignment?
Mr. ROWLEY. When he left to return to his office in Chicago.
Mr. RANKIN. And what is the fact in that regard?
Mr. ROWLEY. The fact is he never informed me. He never informed any of
his supervisors or anyone on the detail.
Mr. RANKIN. I think the record should show, Mr. Chairman, that we
were never advised that he wanted to testify, nor had we any inquiry
or anything about the matter, until after we learned about it in the
newspapers. And, even then, he didn't ask to testify. And we asked the
FBI to check into it, and he had counsel, and they refused to tell
anything about the matter at that time.
Mr. DULLES. Could I ask a question?
Did I understand you to say that the Civil Service prescribes that
certain men must be assigned to the White House for a certain detail?
Mr. ROWLEY. No, Mr. Dulles; we have an arrangement with the Civil
Service that they will permit us to recruit these men, not from
the register, but under what they call schedule A. They give us an
opportunity, 2 years, to train these men, with the understanding that
within 2 years' time they will have to be assigned to the White House
detail or we will not be able to retain them in the Service.
However, during that 2 years, we urge them to take the civil service
examination, so that they get on the register. And then when they
do--quite frequently this occurs--they are selected from the register,
and once they become permanent, if they are not interested in the White
House detail, then they continue their work as a criminal investigator
in the field.
Mr. DULLES. But if they do not take that special examination, then--and
become a part of the civil service, then they have to be assigned to
the White House, to stay on?
Mr. ROWLEY. Yes.
Mr. DULLES. I was a little worried when you said certain people had
to be assigned to the White House, that you were under compulsion to
assign certain people to the White House in order to retain them.
Mr. ROWLEY. No; anyone who works in the White House, whether he is
an electrician, a painter, or anything, for a period of 2 years, he
automatically becomes eligible for permanent civil service status.
Representative FORD. Is that by law or by regulation?
Mr. ROWLEY. That I cannot say. I would always interpret it as under
law. I may be wrong on that, Mr. Ford, but this is what happens. When
our men spend 2 years on the detail at the White House, they come
within that classification.
Mr. RANKIN. Chief, can you clarify Commissioner Dulles' inquiry? The
Civil Service does not direct that you put certain people in the White
House?
Mr. ROWLEY. Oh, no; we do that in order to--I see your point, sir. We
do that in order to give them the permanency that they should have to
continue their employment with the Secret Service.
Mr. RANKIN. But that is the choice of the Secret Service rather than
anybody else?
Mr. ROWLEY. Yes, sir.
Mr. DULLES. I gather the Civil Service prescribed if they did not do
this, they could not be retained. Is that correct?