315.3/10–652
The Secretary of State to the Attorney General of the United States ( McGranery )1
My Dear Mr. McGranery : The Secretary General of the United Nations has advised the United States representative to the United Nations that a number of United States nationals employed on the United Nations Secretariat have been subpoenaed to appear before a Federal Grand Jury now sitting in New York. The Secretary General has also stated that certain Secretariat employees have already appeared before the Grand Jury pursuant to these subpoenas and that the Grand Jury has inquired into matters pertaining to their discharge of their official duties at the United Nations. While he does not wish to interfere in the exercise by the Grand Jury of its legitimate [Page 313] functions, the Secretary General is concerned lest those employees in the Organization who are still to appear before the Grand Jury will be asked such questions in violation of the privileges and immunities of the Organization.
The Department of State is therefore bringing this matter to your attention at the present time in the hope that appropriate clarifying instructions may be issued to the United States Attorney in New York concerning the matter. This Department, of course, recognizes that United States citizens should not be able to avoid inquiry by a grand jury by reason of United Nations employment when the inquiry relates to matters outside the scope of their official functions. Accordingly, while protecting the regular and legitimate processes of the Grand Jury, this Department hopes that instructions may be issued to the United States Attorney to confine the questioning of United Nations Secretariat personnel to matters outside the scope of their official duties.
In a letter dated July 15, 1952, Mr. Jack B. Tate, the then Acting Legal Adviser of the Department, transmitted to you the Secretary General’s letter of June 13, 1952 to Ambassador Gross setting forth the position of the United Nations with respect to certain requests which the Grand Jury was then making to the United Nations officials.2 In transmitting this letter Mr. Tate stated: “The power of the United States investigatory bodies to question United Nations employees is of course also circumscribed by Articles 100 and 105 of the Charter and by the International Organizations Immunities Act.”
It is therefore hoped that appropriate instructions may be issued to the United States Attorney in New York which would at the same time assure the legitimate scope of Grand Jury inquiry into the activities of United Nations employees while avoiding inquiry into matters falling within the official functions of United Nations officials. In this way, I believe we may avert the eventuality of the United Nations instructing its employees to claim the immunities of the organization when they are testifying before the Grand Jury. It would be in the interest of the United States relations with the Organization and with friendly Member States to resolve this question without resort by the United Nations to a strict legal position.
Sincerely yours,
The Legal Adviser