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<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htm<br><br>
</a></font><font size=5><b><i>The CIA's Family Jewels<br><br>
</i></font><font size=4>Agency Violated Charter for 25 Years,<br>
Wiretapped Journalists and Dissidents<br><br>
</font><font size=2>CIA Announces Declassification of 1970s
"Skeletons" File,<br>
Archive Posts Justice Department Summary from 1975,<br>
With White House Memcons on Damage Control<br><br>
</b>National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 222<br>
Edited by Thomas Blanton<br><br>
Posted - June 21, 2007<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dl>
<dd>For more information contact:<br>
<dd>Thomas Blanton - 202/994-7000<br><br>
<dd>Washington D.C., June 21, 2007</b><font size=3> </i>- The Central
Intelligence Agency violated its charter for 25 years until revelations
of illegal wiretapping, domestic surveillance, assassination plots, and
human experimentation led to official investigations and reforms in the
1970s, according to declassified documents posted today on the Web by the
National Security Archive at George Washington University.<br><br>
<dd>CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden announced today that the Agency is
declassifying the full 693-page file amassed on CIA's illegal activities
by order of then-CIA director James Schlesinger in 1973--the so-called
"family jewels." Only a few dozen heavily-censored pages of
this file have previously been declassified, although multiple Freedom of
Information Act requests have been filed over the years for the
documents. Gen. Hayden called the file "a glimpse of a very
different time and a very different Agency." The papers are
scheduled for public release on Monday, June 25.<br><br>
<dd>"This is the first voluntary CIA declassification of
controversial material since
<a href="http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F40D17FC35550C768DDDAE0894D0494D81">
George Tenet in 1998 reneged</a> on the 1990s promises of greater
openness at the Agency," commented Thomas Blanton, the Archive's
director.<br><br>
<dd>Hayden also announced the declassification of some 11,000 pages of
the so-called CAESAR, POLO and ESAU papers--hard-target analyses of
Soviet and Chinese leadership internal politics and Sino-Soviet relations
from 1953-1973, a collection of intelligence on Warsaw Pact military
programs, and hundreds of pages on the A-12 spy plane.<br><br>
<dd>The National Security Archive separately obtained (and posted today)
a
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wilderotter.pdf">
six-page summary</a></b> of the illegal CIA activities, prepared by
Justice Department lawyers after a CIA briefing in December 1974, and the
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wh1.pdf">
memorandum of conversation</a></b> when the CIA first briefed President
Gerald Ford on the scandal on January 3, 1975.<br><br>
<dd>Then-CIA director Schlesinger commissioned the "family
jewels" compilation with a May 9, 1973 directive after finding out
that Watergate burglars E. Howard Hunt and James McCord (both veteran CIA
officers) had cooperation from the Agency as they carried out "dirty
tricks" for President Nixon. The Schlesinger directive, drafted by
deputy director for operations William Colby, commanded senior CIA
officials to report immediately on any current or past Agency matters
that might fall outside CIA authority. By the end of May, Colby had been
named to succeed Schlesinger as DCI, and his loose-leaf notebook of memos
totaled 693 pages [see
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Crusader-Colby-Americas-Secret/dp/0195128478">
John Prados,
</a>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Crusader-Colby-Americas-Secret/dp/0195128478">
Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby</a></i>
(Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 259-260.]<br><br>
<dd>Seymour Hersh broke the story of CIA's illegal domestic operations
with a front page story in the New York Times</i> on December 22, 1974
("Huge C.I.A. Operation Reported in U.S. Against Antiwar Forces,
Other Dissidents in Nixon Years"), writing that "a check of the
CIA's domestic files ordered last year… produced evidence of dozens of
other illegal activities… beginning in the nineteen fifties, including
break-ins, wiretapping, and the surreptitious inspection of
mail."<br><br>
<dd>On December 31, 1974, CIA director Colby and the CIA general counsel
John Warner
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wilderotter.pdf">
met with the deputy attorney general</a></b>, Laurence Silberman, and his
associate, James Wilderotter, to brief Justice "in connection with
the recent New York Times</i> articles" on CIA matters that
"presented legal questions." Colby's list included 18
specifics:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>1. Confinement of a Russian defector that "might be regarded as
a violation of the kidnapping laws."<br>
<dd>2. Wiretapping of two syndicated columnists, Robert Allen and Paul
Scott.<br>
<dd>3. Physical surveillance of muckraker Jack Anderson and his
associates, including current Fox News anchor Brit Hume.<br>
<dd>4. Physical surveillance of then Washington Post reporter Michael
Getler.<br>
<dd>5. Break-in at the home of a former CIA employee.<br>
<dd>6. Break-in at the office of a former defector.<br>
<dd>7. Warrantless entry into the apartment of a former CIA
employee.<br>
<dd>8. Mail opening from 1953 to 1973 of letters to and from the Soviet
Union.<br>
<dd>9. Mail opening from 1969 to 1972 of letters to and from China.<br>
<dd>10. Behavior modification experiments on "unwitting" U.S.
citizens.<br>
<dd>11. Assassination plots against Castro, Lumumba, and Trujillo (on the
latter, "no active part" but a "faint connection" to
the killers).<br>
<dd>12. Surveillance of dissident groups between 1967 and 1971.<br>
<dd>13. Surveillance of a particular Latin American female and U.S.
citizens in Detroit.<br>
<dd>14. Surveillance of a CIA critic and former officer, Victor
Marchetti.<br>
<dd>15. Amassing of files on 9,900-plus Americans related to the antiwar
movement.<br>
<dd>16. Polygraph experiments with the San Mateo, California,
sheriff.<br>
<dd>17. Fake CIA identification documents that might violate state
laws.<br>
<dd>18. Testing of electronic equipment on US telephone
circuits.<br><br>
</dl><hr>
</font>
<dd><font size=4>Read the Documents<br>
</b></font>
<dd><font size=1>Note: The following documents are in PDF format.<br>
<dd>You will need to download and install the free
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html">Adobe
Acrobat Reader</a> to view.</font><font size=3> <br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=2>
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wilderotter.pdf">
Document 1</a>: Summary of the Family Jewels <br>
</b>
<dd>Memorandum for the File, "CIA Matters," by James A.
Wilderotter, Associate Deputy Attorney General, 3 January 1975<br>
</font>
<dd><font size=1>Source: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=3>On New Years' eve, 1974, DCI Colby met with Justice
Department officials, including Deputy Attorney General Laurence H.
Silberman, to give them a full briefing of the
"skeletons."<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=2>
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wh1.pdf">
Document 2</a>: Colby Briefs President Ford on the Family Jewels<br>
</b>
<dd>Memorandum of Conversation, 3 January 1975<br>
</font>
<dd><font size=1>Source: Gerald R. Ford President Library<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=3>Ten days after the appearance of Hersh's New York
Times</i> story, DCI William Colby tells President Ford how his
predecessor James Schlesinger (then serving as Secretary of Defense)
ordered CIA staffers to compile the "skeletons" in the Agency's
closet, such as surveillance of student radicals, illegal wiretaps,
assassination plots, and the three year confinement of a Soviet defector,
Yuri Nosenko.<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=2>
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wh2.pdf">
Document 3</a>: Kissinger's Reaction<br>
</b>
<dd>Memorandum of Conversation between President Ford and Secretary of
State/National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, 4 January 1975<br>
</font>
<dd><font size=1>Source: Gerald R. Ford President Library<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=3>An apoplectic Kissinger argues that the unspilling of
CIA secrets is "worse than the days of McCarthyism" when the
Wisconsin Senator went after the State Department. Kissinger had met with
former DCI Richard Helms who told him that "these stories are just
the tip of the iceberg," citing as one example Robert F. Kennedy's
role in assassination planning. Ford wondered whether to fire Colby, but
Kissinger advised him to wait until after the investigations were
complete when he could "put in someone of towering integrity."
The "Blue Ribbon" announcement refers to the creation of a
commission chaired by then-vice president Nelson A. Rockefeller.<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=2>
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/family_jewels_wh3.pdf">
Document 4</a>: Investigations Continue<br>
</b>
<dd>Memorandum of Conversation between Kissinger, Schlesinger, Colby et
al., "Investigations of Allegations of CIA Domestic
Activities," 20 February 1975<br>
</font>
<dd><font size=1>Source: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=3>Cabinet and sub-cabinet level officials led by Kissinger
discuss ways and means to protect information sought by ongoing Senate
(Church Committee) and House (Pike Committee) investigations of
intelligence community abuses during the first decades of the Cold War.
Worried about the foreign governments that have cooperated with U.S.
intelligence agencies, Kissinger wants to "demonstrate to foreign
countries that we aren't too dangerous to cooperate with because of
leaks."<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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