The Internal Security Act of 1950, 64 Stat. 993, also known as the Subversive Activities Control Act or the McCarran Act, after Senator Pat McCarran (D-Nevada), is a United States federal law of the McCarthy era. It was passed over President Harry Truman's veto. The anti-communist fervor was bi-partisan and only ten Democratic senators voted to uphold the veto.
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Its Title II was the Emergency Detention Act.[1]
It required Communist organizations to register with the United States Attorney General and established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate persons suspected of engaging in subversive activities or otherwise promoting the establishment of a "totalitarian dictatorship," fascist or communist. Members of these groups could not become citizens and in some cases were prevented from entering or leaving the country. Citizens found in violation could lose their citizenship in five years. The act also contained an Emergency Detention statute, giving the President the authority to apprehend and detain “each person as to whom there is a reasonable ground to believe that such person probably will engage in, or probably will conspire with others to engage in, acts of espionage or sabotage.”[2]
A key institution in the era of the Cold War, it tightened alien exclusion and deportation laws and allowed for the detention of dangerous, disloyal, or subversive persons in times of war or "internal security emergency". The Democratic-controlled Congress overrode President Harry S. Truman's veto to pass it.[3]
President Truman called it "the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798,"[3] a "mockery of the Bill of Rights"[3] and a "long step toward totalitarianism".[3][4][5]
Several key sections of the Act were taken from the earlier Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill, which Congress had failed to pass. Sections of the Act were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The Act modified the Espionage Act of 1917, by taking Title 18 793(d) and modifying it slightly to create Title .[6] Notably 793(e) was later used in several cases that did not involve 'traditional espionage' but rather interactions with the media (or in AIPAC's case, lobbyists). These cases included the Pentagon Papers Russo/Ellsberg case (1972), the Morison case (1985), the AIPAC case (United States v. Franklin, 2005), the Thomas Andrews Drake case (2010), and the Bradley Manning case (2010),[7]
The US military continues to use 50 USC 797, citing it in US Army regulation AR 190-11, to support that installation commanders have authority to suspend the 2nd Amendment. The ACT itself does not state this authority, but it is interpreted in the same manner as the suspended portion codified as 50 USC 798.
An Army message known as an ALARACT (ALARACT 333/2011 DTG R 311939Z AUG 11) states "SENIOR COMMANDERS HAVE SPECIFIC AUTHORITY TO REGULATE PRIVATELY OWNED WEAPONS, EXPLOSIVES, AND AMMUNITION ON ARMY INSTALLATIONS." The ALARACT refers to AR 190-11 and public law (SECTION 1062, NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011(PUBLIC LAW 111-383)). This reference is a truncated version of the public law [8]. The actual wording of the public law restricts commanders to only exercise this authority over military and paid DoD employees while on duty on a military installation. This overstep of authority is similar to the reason given by the US Supreme Court for repealing 50 USC 798. Summary of authority: ALARACT cites AR 190-11 and public law; AR 190-11 cites McCarran Internal Security Act (codified as 50 USC 797).
Part of the Act has been repealed, for example by the Non-Detention Act of 1971. For example, violation of 50 U.S.C. § 797 (Section 21 of "the Internal Security Act of 1950"), which concerns security of military bases and other sensitive installations, may be punishable by a prison term of up to one year.[9]
The part of the act codified as 50 USC 798 has been repealed in its entirety [10] for violating the 1st Amendment. Senator Karl Earl Mundt also introduced into the law an addition to Title , criminalizing certain people (such as government employees) from passing certain classified information to agents of foreign governments. He claimed this was because of experiences with Alger Hiss, Elizabeth Bentley, HUAC, etc.[11] (the SIGINT statute) was not part of this Act, although it was passed around the same time. It criminalized, under certain circumstances, the release of communications intelligence and cryptography info. [12]
The bill revoked the passport of the renowned singer and actor Paul Robeson, preventing him from traveling outside the United States.
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". 50 USC 798. Findlaw. http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/50/23/I/798.