1975-01-03 CIA Family Jewels - Wilderotter Memo

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G ~ ' " r p , . . . i " i~tC""I IOI-11.G ~~ 'I ; _~_1 V ~

. UNITED STATES GOVERNMEN'I~·,,:l ~ ~~ ~ .~ ~ -U

Memorandum~. . . . . .-----

O MEMOR!U,:DUH FOR THE FILE

. 1 \ , , 1James A. \·hlderotter\;.J}Associate Deputy Atto.~ney General

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DATE: Japuary 3, 1975

SUBJECT: CIA Hatters

DECLASSIFIED

f , l~_"E.J'. .3Go.~s. R - : l . < : . Ccllection Act of 199

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r~.!·~-',-_. :/G '2 1 f ' t f o t O By I { . I S H

FRO:-'!

CIA Director William Colby and CIA General Counsel ~ohn Warnermet with LHS and JA'i,v Tuesday, December 31 to discuss certainmatters, including items a~parently reported to the Presidentby Colby in connection with the recent New York Times articles.Colby did not show us his report to the President, but para-phrased that portion of its contents which, in Colby and Warner'sjudgment, presented legal questions.

Colby began the meeting by describing the management style offormer CIA Director Richard Helms. According to Colby, Helmsutilized a very Ilcompartmentalize'dH organizational structure,with each head of a constituent unit within the organization re-porting directly to Helms. Colby described it as like "spokesfrom a hub," with Helms as the IIhub II and the various compart-mentalized units constituting the IIspokes.1I It was possible tobe in one 1tspokelland have no know'l.edqeof what the other IIspokeswere doing. :

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Colby indicated that the various ljat~~:r_:gateevelations touched thCIA in several ways r including: ,J)~). _"How a.r-dHunt~ (b) the matterof IIpsychological profilesill and Ycf the NcCord letters to theCIA. Colby indicated that former CIA Director James Schlesingersent a memorandum on May 9, 1973 to all CIA employees, directingthem to report on all activities undertaken that may have fallenoutside the CIA's charter. Nhen the reports came in, Colby -- bythen the CIA Director -- sent out Ilcorrectivellmemoranda. Ac-cording to Colby, the reports submi~ted in response to SchlesingerNay 9, 1973 memorandum constitute the Itskeletons in the closet,"and form the basis of Colby's recent report to the President. Coand Warner are trying to track down more details about the variousIIske1etons.u

The Hskeletonsll related to us by Colby are as follows:

(1) In 1964, a Russian defector was brought to theunited Statesi apparen-tly, CIA thought he was a "f alce " The de-fector f a Russian citizen ( Vias Lmmad i,at.ely confined in a house in

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-_.---Maryland, and later in a CIA facility in Virginia, for aboutbvo ye<J.rs. Apparently, he was interrogated during the two-yea~ physical con£inement. This defector is now settled inthe United States, is married, and still works voluntarily withthe CIA. According to Colby, former CIA Director McCone ap-

proved this confinement. Colby stated that occasionally, theCIA confines defecting individuals, but only outside the UnitedStates. Defectors are interrogated in the United States onlyvolun tarily i according to Colby, IIthey can waLk away any time. II

Colby speculated that the confinement of the Russian defectorfrom 1964 to 1966 might be regarded as a violation of the kid-napping Laws .

(2) In 1963, the CIA ·.viretapped two columnists -- RobertAllen and Paul Scott -- follmving a column in a newspaper inwhich they disclosed certain national security information. CIArecords indicate that the wiretapping was approved by McCone aft"dLscussi.ons " with then Attorney General Robert Kennedy and then

Secretary of Defense Robert ;vlcNamara. The \·,iretaps,whi.ch con-tinued from Harch 12 to June 15, 1963, were described as liveryproductive" -- among those overheard calling Allen and Scott ,vetwelve Senators, six Congrassmen and so forth. Apparently, thetap did not disclose the source of the security information publin the Allen-Scott coLumn,

~ (3) From February 15 to April 12, 1972 r "personal surveili*nces" were conducted by t.he CIA on Jack Anderson and membershis staff (Les Whitten, Britt Hurne, and Mr. Spear). The physicasU,rveillances consisted only of watching the targets, and involvnO:-breaking, entry or wiretapping. Apparently, the physical sur

v~illance occurred after Jack Anderson' s seri.es ofII

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t.owaxdPakistan" stories. The physical surveillances were authorizedby Helms and conducted by the CIAls Office of Security. (The Ofice of security was headed by Howard Osburn from 1967 to 1973.)

(4) Between October, 1971 and January, 1972, the CIA coducted a physical surveillance of Mike Getler, a Washington Postreporter. Again, there is no indication of \~iretaps, a break-inor an entry. Like the Anderson surveillances, the Getler physi-cal surveillance was apparently authorized by Helms and run bythe CIAls Office of Securi~y.

(5) In 1971, the CIA had reason to suspect a female CIA

employee, who was then Li.vi.nq w i.t.ha foreign (Cuban) national.The former CIA employee and tileCuban national apparently rnaii1a joint residence and a joint place of business. CIA agents brinto the business premi.ses C!lld unsiucce ssfuj Ly attempted to breakinto the residence to search [or any documents the former CIA eployee may have taken with (! ·r. The agents found nothing. Thebreak-in apparently occurred in Fairfax, Virginia, and was con-

ducted by the Off ice of Seclll:ity .



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(6) In July 1970, CIA agents broke into and entered anoffice occupied by a former defector who was still lioncontract"to the CIA, looking for any CIA documents he may have had. Theoperation was conducted by the Office of Security, and occurredin Silver Springl Maryland.

(7) CIA agents apparently "talked their way into" theapartment of one Toftey -- at that time a CIA employee -- to re-cover CIA documents he had converted. The documents were re-covered I and Toftey "\.,asromptly fired. Toftey apparently suedHelms, alleging thatt in addition to the CIA documents, the CIAagents had also taken some of hist Tofteyts, personal correspon-dence. The suit was dismissed.

(8) Bet\'Teen1953 and 1973, the CIA's CounterintelligenceStaff screeneo -- and in some cases opened -- mail to and fromthe Soviet Union going through the Kennedy Airport Hail Depot.This operation was terminated in 1973 by Colby. While it was inexistence, it was "cleared byltat least three Postmasters Generaand CIA records indicate that Helms discussed it with then At-torney General John Mitchell.

(9) From 1969 to October,.1972, the Far East Division ofthe CIA reviewed, in San Francisco, mail going to and from thePeoples' Republic of China in an operation similar to the Sovietone at Kennedy Airport. Apparently the CIA sought in this operatLon IItips II with respect to possible sources t contacts t etc. i th

-CIA was apparently also interested in mair handling procedureswithin the PRe.

some institutions, apparently including academic institutions,on the general subject of behavioral modification. According toColby, these activities included the participation -- on a lTun-

w i,tting basis II -- of some U. S. citizens, who were not told of ttrue nature of the testing. The example given by Colby was thatof a pole put in the middle of a sidewalk, with peoples' obser-vations recorded as to which side of the pole they would walk.Apparently, some of the other testing also included reactions tocertain drugs, although it is not known whet.her any "unw'itti.nq"individuals were used with respect to that type of experiment.response to a question from LUS,.Colby and Warner indicated theywould provide more information on these activities, but that theQ!.,;nnowledge of them was very limited at this point.

(lO) Betv;een 1963 and 1973, the 'CIA funded research in

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(11) The CIA apparently "plotted" the assasination of someforeign leaders, including Castro I Lumumba and Truj ilIa. TheCIA had no role whatsoever in Lumumba's murder on January 17,1961. With respect to Trujillo's assasination on May 30, 1961,the CIA had "no active part;U but had a "faint connectionll with

the groups that in fact did. it. In connection '.'lith these matters,Warner referred to 18 U.S.C. 960, concerning "expeditions againsta friendly nation. II

(12) Between 1967 and 1971, the CIA covertly monitoreddissident groups in the Washington, D. C. area (and possibly else-where) who were considered to pose a threat to CIA installations.The monitoring apparently consisted of physical surveillances onlyno \viretaps 'vere involved. Some results might have been distribu~eto the FBI. . ~

(13) Between May and September, 1971, the CIA conducted a ~physical surveillance of a Latin American female (and others, in-~eluding U. s. citizens), apparently ~n the Detroit area, who had 0advised the CIA of a plo~ to assasinate Helms and then Vice Presi~dent AgneH. It is possible t:hat a "mail cover" wa s also utilizeCh:It is likely that the Secret Service was advised of the assasina-~tion threat with respect to the Vice President. ~

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(14) In 1972, the CIA conducted a physical surveillance o~Victor Harchetti -- who wrote a book about the CIA -- to deter- ~mine his contacts with CIA employees. ~

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did not indicate whether any o~by any individuals outside the ~

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Except as noted, Colby and Warnerthe above items had been approved

CIA.

* * *Colby then discussed a progrru~ conducted by the CIA beginning in1967 and aimed at identifying possible foreign links to Americandissidents. This program ...;'ashandled in the CIA by James Angletonand Richard Ober. Around July, 1967, Helms sent a cable from CIAHeadquarters referring to CIAJs "participation in an inter-agencygroup" with respect to these matters. Apparently, the cable alsorefers to "overseas coverage of subversive students and relatedactivities. It

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(2) Colby and Warner indicated that the CIA utilizescertain systems to create alias documents, such as birth certi-ficates. Other documents -- such as credit cards _- are usedfor what Narner described as 1tflashUpurposes; that is, theyare not utilized in themselves, but are used only to corroboratethe operative identifying document (such as a birth certificate)

For example, a false credit card or similar materials describedby Warner as 1tpocketlitterU will not be used to actually chargecredit purchases but rather only to corroborate a driver1s licenor birth certificate. When documents of a Federal Agency areinvolved -- such as a Social Security Card -- the CIA does notmanufacture or otherwise create the documents except with theknowledge of that Federal Agency. Warner indicated, however ,that it may be a violation of some State Laws to umanufactureUotherwise forge state agency documents. Colby and Warner indicathat this was an on-going operation. .

(3) Colby indicated that the CIA occasionally tests exp~

mental electronic equipment on American telephone circuits. Th~CIA apparently has established guidelines for these tests, whic~provide among other things that r.orecords may be kept, no tapeand so forth.

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1975-01-03 CIA Family Jewels - Wilderotter Memo

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