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Letter from Assistant United States Attorney General William F. Tompkins: This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of May 11, 1955, to the Attorney General, with respect to the so-called Attorney General's list. The replies to your questions are set forth numerically below. (What is the standing, in law, of the Attorney General's list?) 1. The so-called Attorney General's list is compiled at the direction of the President as contained in Executive Order 10450 relating to the Federal Employee Security Program. The list is for the guidance of the heads of the Federal executive departments and agencies for use in connection with requests for investigation regarding employment or retention in employment of Federal employees. Its content becomes public information because it is published in the Federal Register. (In the policy of your office, is membership in an organization on the List considered proof of subversion?) 2. The nature and extent of membership in a designated organization is but one factor to be considered in determining the qualifications of individ- uals for employment or retention in employment with the Federal Government. (Is use of the list by private individuals authorized by your office?) 3. The Attorney General's list is issued solely for the purpose of apprizing the heads of executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the names of organizations, membership in which would warrant request- ing a full field investigation in connection with the Federal Employee Security Program. The list necessarily enters the public domain upon its publication but this Department has no authority to permit its adoption for purposes other than that for which it is made. (Is there any official determination by the Government that certain indi- viduals are Communists? If so, which agencies make such a determination?) 4. No official compilation of Communists is maintained by the Executive Branch of the Government. Title I of the Internal Security Act of 1950 requires the registration of members of a Communist-action organization under prescribed conditions and imposes certain sanctions upon such members. Upon the failure of the organization to register its membership and upon the failure of the individual to register himself, the Act provides that the Attorney General may petition the Subversive Activities Control Board for an order to compel such registration. 219