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organization, a transfer is defined as a change of position by an
employee from a U.S. agency to an international organization. 5
U.S.C. secs. 3343(a)(2), 3581(4). It is evident that petitioner
was required to be an employee of the U.S. Government in order to
apply for the NATO position; whether he remained a U.S. employee
while performing services for NATO throughout the years in issue
is a threshold issue we are called upon to decide.
We cannot ignore that ERTA modified the relevant language of
section 911, while the language of the Ottawa and London
Agreements has remained unchanged. Although the United States
retained the power to tax its nationals by following the London
hiring procedures, ERTA added a change to the tax law that has
not caused a change in the Ottawa or London Agreements.
Congress can abrogate a treaty provision by subsequent statute.
Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1, 18 (1957). It is equally true,
however, that when a treaty and a statute relate to the same
subject, courts will always attempt to construe them so as to
give effect to both. Whitney v. Robertson, 124 U.S. 190, 194
(1888). The intention to abrogate or modify a treaty is not to
be lightly imputed to Congress. Menominee Tribe v. United
States, 391 U.S. 404, 413 (1968). We agree with petitioner that
respondent fails to distinguish between Congress' power to tax
and its exercise of that power. The Ottawa and London Agreements
are construed as contracts, one among nations and the other
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