ALLEGED PHONE TAP PROBED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000300320009-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 1998
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: October 4, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

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tae pro rs are trying to e-
termine if telephons in congres-
sional officea are Mn.- monitored
by either private investigators or
government agencies.
The inquiry, underway for
several weeks, is being con-
ducted by the staff of the Senate
Judiciary Subcommittee on Ad-
ministrative Practices headed by
Senator Edward Lon.", D-Mo.
As part of the subcommittee's
broad probe of government and
private electronic eavesdropping
practices, Chief Counsel Bernard
Fensterwald is examining testi-
mony before a special Massachu-
setts legislative commission stat-
ing that telephone cables to the
Senate Office Buildings Nave
been tapped.
The witness,, Bernard P. Spin-
del, an expert on telephone mom-
itoring from Holmes, N.Y.,
claims he discovered "about a
year ago" a branch cable run-
ning from Capitol Hill to "an ob-
scure building in which ' the
Justice Department had an of-
fice."
Spindel, who has furnished oth-
er information on wiretapping to
the subcommittee in the past,
will again be questioned by Fen-
steewald to see if he has any
new evidence to back up his
latest charge. _
if Spindel comes up with any-
thing new, the Senate probers
plan to ask him to testify in pub-'
lie hearings. Specifically, they
want to quiz hint about the
location of "the cable and ter-
minal connection box" that he
claims to have seen.
Washington telephone cornpauy
officials, who have vigorously
denied knowledge of any phone
monitoring at the Capitol, may
also be asked to appear for
questioning as well as several
Justice Department officials.
Fensterwald, a former State
Department legal exlh.rt, recent-
1y sent investigators to the Mid-
west to look into the Washington
activities of an internationally
!operating private detective firm.
These investigators, although
armed with information from in-
side the government, got nowhere
in trying to check out a report
that the firm was monitoring
phones and doing undercover
,work here for both the Justice
Department and the Ccntrai In-
`, telligence Agency.
Aj* "' 00
i learned only that rite p',vale
detective firm emp'.oys ..anh?
ber of former CIA and ex-FSI t
agents and has offices in. lhhel~
U.S. and abroad.
One informant said the com-
pany was originally set up by
former employes of the Office
of Strategic Services, a U.S. in-
telligence agency. iti World War
II, but that these persons are
not connected with the investi-
gative operation.
In several ways Fensterwald's
own investigative activities are,'
as mysterious as some of those
he is looking into.
The controversial chief counsel
is compiling a list of former FBI
agents holding government po-
st-ions, especially in the State
Department and Internal Reve-,
nue Service. He has made this
list available to Washington
newsmen.
A report is current that Fen-'
sterwald is seeking, to trigger a''
probe of the FBI.
Also under cover of 'the phone
monitoring probe, Fensterwald
has been trying to obtain infor-
. ration on State Department:
Security Officer Otto Otepka,
Stilt awaiting a hearing on
charges he gave classified infor-
mation to the Senate Internal.
Security Subcommittee,
The Internal Security and the
Administrative Practices Sub-
committees have separate of-
rises, but both are under the
jurisdiction of the Senate Judi- i
ciary Committee. -
To add to the intrigue, both
subcomnuttees have offices in
:he new Senate Office Building.
it is from this building that
Spindel claims the "monitored"
phone cable that he allegedly
inspected runs.
FBI director. J. Edgar Hoover
is convinced 'that "Che" Guevara,
mysteriously missing for months,
is still very much alive.
In Hoover's opinion the former.
top Cuban Communist will'reap?
pe\~r at the head of another Latin
American revolution,
These views 'were voiced by
Hoover at a meeting of a House
Appropriations Subcommittee
when asked about Guevara's
strange disappearance.
After saying that the FBI does
not know of Guevara's where-
abouts, Hoover declared:
"There are rumors he has been
killed by Castro. There are oth-
er rumors he has been in Vene-
zuela trying to stir up a revolu-
, eP o be01 49#~ , in the duras, Guatemala and most' ree
~,PYRGHT
The boxed portion
of this article
did not appear in
the Las Vegas Sun
for-6 October 1966.
300320009-8