[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
[104th Congress]
[House Document 103-342]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 741-743]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 

                               Rule XXIX.


                             SECRET SESSION.




Sec. 914. Secret session of the 
House.

  Whenever confidential  communications are received from the President of the United 
States, or whenever the Speaker or any Member shall inform the House 
that he has communications which he believes ought to be kept secret for 
the present, the House shall be cleared of all persons except the 
Members and officers thereof, and so continue during the reading of such 
communications, the debates and proceedings thereon, unless otherwise 
ordered by the House.


  This rule, in a somewhat different form, was adopted in 1792, although 
secret sessions had been held by the House before that date. They 
continued to be held at times with considerable frequency until 1830. In 
1880, at the time of the general revision of the rules, the House 
concluded to retain the rule, although it had been long in disuse (V, 
7247; VI, 434).

  The two Houses have legislated in secret session, transmitting their 
messages also in secrecy (V, 7250); but the House has declined to be 
bound to secrecy by act of the Senate (V, 7249). Motions to remove the 
injunction of secrecy should be made with closed doors (V, 7254). In 
1843 a confidential message from the President was referred without 
reading; but no motion was made for a secret session (V, 7255).


[[Page 742]]
addressed to the Speaker and not to the Chairman of the Committee of 
the Whole (May 9, 1950, p. 6746; June 6, 1978, p. 16376; June 20, 1979, 
pp. 15710-11). A Member seeking to offer the motion that the House 
resolve itself into secret session must qualify, as provided by the 
rule, by asserting that he himself has a secret communication to make to 
the House (June 6, 1978, p. 16376).
  The House and not the Committee of the Whole determines whether the 
Committee may sit in executive session, and an inquiry relative to 
whether the Committee of the Whole should sit in secret session is 
properly 

  On June 20, 1979, the House adopted by voice vote a motion that the 
House resolve itself into secret session pursuant to this rule (the 
first such occasion since 1830), where the Member offering the motion 
had ensured the Speaker that he had confidential communications to make 
to the House as required by the rule (Speaker pro tempore Wright, pp. 
15711-13). The Speaker pro tempore announced on that occasion before the 
commencement of the secret session that the galleries would be cleared 
of all persons, that the Chamber would be cleared of all persons except 
Members and those officers and employees specified by the Speaker whose 
attendance was essential to the functioning of the secret session, who 
would be required to sign an oath of secrecy, and that all proceedings 
in the secret session must be kept secret until otherwise ordered by the 
House (June 20, 1979, pp. 15711-13). Where the House has concluded a 
secret session and has not voted to release the transcripts of that 
session, the injunction of secrecy remains and the Speaker may 
informally refer the transcripts to appropriate committees for their 
evaluation and report to the House as to ultimate disposition to be made 
(June 20, 1979, pp. 15711-13).

  The following procedures apply during a secret session. The motion for 
a secret session is not debatable. The Member who offers the motion may 
be recognized for one hour of debate after the House resolves into 
secret session, and the normal rules of debate, including the principle 
that no motions would be in order unless he yields for that purpose, 
apply. The Speaker having found that a Member has qualified to make the 
motion for a secret session, having confidential communications to make, 
no point of order lies that the material in question must be submitted 
to the Members to make that determination (the motion for a secret 
session having been adopted by the House). No point of order lies in 
secret session that employees designated by the Speaker as essential to 
the proceedings, who have signed an oath of secrecy, may not be present. 
A motion in secret session to make public the proceedings therein is 
debatable for one hour, within narrow limits of relevancy. At the 
conclusion of debate in secret session, a Member may be recognized to 
offer a motion that the session be dissolved (July 17, 1979, pp. 19057-
59).


[[Page 743]]
he has confidential communications to make to the House, and since the 
Speaker was aware that the Committee with possession of the materials 
had authorized those materials to be used in a secret session (Feb. 25, 
1980, pp. 3618-19). Another secret session was held in the 98th Congress 
pending consideration of a bill amending the Intelligence Authorization 
Act to prohibit U.S. support for military or paramilitary operations in 
Nicaragua (July 19, 1983, p. 19776).
  The House conducted another secret session in the 96th Congress to 
receive confidential communications consisting of classified information 
in the possession of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Permanent 
Select Committee on Intelligence, which those committees had authorized 
to be used in a secret session of the House if ordered; on that occasion 
the Speaker overruled a point of order against the motion for a secret 
session since the Speaker must rely on the assurance of a Member that 




  The House may subsequently by unanimous consent order printed in the 
Congressional Record proceedings in secret session, with appropriate 
deletions and revisions agreeable to the Committees to which the secret 
transcript has been referred for review (July 17, 1979, p. 19049).