    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress]
    [105th Congress]
    [House Document 104-272]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 776-777]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 776]]

                                   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).

      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 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 the Member has a secret communication to
    make to the House (June 6, 1978, p. 16376).

    [[Page 777]]

    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).
      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

      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).

      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 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 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).