MEMORANDUM (Sanitized)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00793R000200170011-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2002
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: June 14, 1973
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Mr. John Warner, OGC
Mr. 1 -1 OLC
Forwarded herewith are copies of memoranda prepared by
reporting his participation in discussions between Mr.
Helms and John Ehrlichman concerning review of certain documents
for declassification. There is also a memorandum (a copy of which
we had in our files) signed by W. E. Colby. The documents are
listed below:
a. A. one-page memorandum of 1 October 1971 memorandum
on "Declassification Exercise" by
b. A. longer memorandum, same date and same subject,
by the same author.
c. 19 October 1971 memorandum on "Declassification
Exercise, " specifically on "Record on Vietnam, " by
II
d. 19 December 1972 memorandum by W. E. Colby titled
"Retention of Documents by Mr. John D. Ehrlichman, " with a
copy of a receipt.
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S. D. Breckinridge
OGCSUBJ: SECURITY E01169 2 CLASSIFICTION & DECLASSIFIATION
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1 October 1971
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
Mr. Helms met this morning with Mr. John Ehrlichman of the
President's staff. He described to Ehrlichman the nature of the
documents available for review on the 1958 Lebanon crisis, the
1962 Cuban missile crisis, and the 1961 Bay of Pigs operation
25X1A Ehrlichman asked that all of the displayed documents, except one-,
be delivered to him in the White House. At 0905 I delivered the
documents to 0 in Executive Registry and gave instructions
on delivery. The documents are identified as follows:
SNIE 36-4-58: "Consequences of Possible US Courses of Action
Respecting Lebanon," 5 June 1958, burn copy of Copy No. 184.
SNIE 36.4-1-58: "The Lebanese Crisis", 14 June 1958, burn copy
of Copy No. 184.
"Report to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board on
Intelligence Community Activities Relating to the Cuban Arms Build-up
(14 April through 14 October 1962)," F_ I Copy No. 15
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Volume II of Annexes thereto, Copy No. 1
it III 1
11 IV it 1
(Ehrlichman did not want volume I of the annexes, which consists
solely of the "Interrogation Guide: Cuba')
"Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation, October 1961";
"An Analysis of the Cuban Operation by the Deputy Director (Plans),
18 January 1962"; "Related Memoranda," including TS 173040 and
TS181884, Copy No. 2.
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1. I first became involved in the declassification exercise on
31 August 1971 although I did not know at that time what was going on.
Col. White called on that date and asked if I knew the composition of
the group appointed by the President in 1961 to review CIA's role in
the Bay of Pigs operation. The scurrying around that I did on the
basis of that query is recorded in a memorandura of 1 September 1971
which is bound in the inside cover of Copy No. 6 of the IG report
of the Cuban Operation. (,4--J -.s ..Co Jc ems)
2. Col. White called on 22 September and asked me to bring
him a copy of the internal IG report on the Bay of Pigs operation.
I took him our file copy No. 2. He asked me to determine the present
whereabouts of the seven copies originally distributed of the interal
IG report. I gave him such a list on 23 September, a copy is attached.
3. Col. White called a. opening of business on 24 September
and asked me to come up. He had with him a stack of documents
about 10 or 12 inches high. He asked if I was aware of the reason
for his ixjtee rest in what had been going on in recent weeks. I told
him thatSd.id not. He said that there are two general lines of
action under way. One is a government wide review of classified
materials which might now be declassified for publishing in the
Department of State's Foreign Affairs Series. The other line
consists of a personal interest by the President in reviewing official
documents relating to certain well known episodes with a view toward
their possible declassification and release. There are four episodes
of particular interest.
a. The landing in Lebanon.
b. The overthrowing of _Diem._-
c. The Bay of Pigs operation, both the Taylor
report and the IG report.
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d. The Cuban Missile Crisis.
4. Col. White has been pulling together documents relating
to these episodes and he told the Director ye':terday what he had
found. Ed Proctor had brought in two SNIE's on Lebanon. These
are the only important papers that we have on that episode. Bill
Colby will be responsible for pulling together what we have on the
Diem incident. I mentioned in this connection that there are two
important papers in existence. One is the Record ofVietnam which
had a limited distribution, and the other is a paper prepared specifi-
cally for the Director and distributed to him only in one copy. Col.
White knew of the existence of both papers.
5. Col. White said that we could forget about the Green report
since there are no copies in the Agency. This leaves us primarily
with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the IG report on the Bay of Pigs.
Col. White asked that I read all of these volumes over the weekend
with a view toward determining what could and could not be released.
Of even more importance is the decision as to what we can give the
President for his personal review in the way of unvarnished versions.
I should keep an eye out for anything that would reflect adversely on
the Agency as a consequence of the publicity attending the release
of the documents. There is no need to worry about the papers
relating to the matches among those no longer here.
6. I came in over the weekend, read all the documents, and
wrote brief blind memorandums calling attention to the more sensitive
portions of the text. I delivered the material and the blind memos
to Col. White first thing Monday morning.
7. Col. White called me at home on the early evening of
28 September and told me that the Director would like to meet with
me at 0845 the following morning. He planned to accompany me.
At the last minute the Director called and postponed the meeting
until 1130. I met with the Director at that time for about 45 minutes.
Col. White was not present. The Director said that John Ehrlichman
was coming out to see him probably not before Friday morning, and
that he would have to do some thinking about the documents to decide
on what his rec, mmendations would be. I ra.i over for him in con-
siderable detail the various sensitive aspects of all of the documents.
Essentially I read selectively from the blind memos.
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8. The Director said that he had settled on Record of Vietnam
as the best of our documents on the Diem incident but that he would
have to think awhile on whether it should be sent to the President.
9. The Director was much interested in report
on the Cuban Operation and was worried about the fact of its being
a CS historical paper. He thought it imprudent for us to let it out
of the Agency as an historical paper since this might only lead to
calls for other histories. He asked that I have the document altered
to remove all traces of its being an historical record.
10. Bill Colby had done some work on Record of Vietnam
principally adding to it a glossary of terminology. He also had
prepared a draft memorandum to the President forwarding Record
of Vietnam. The Director gave me Colby's draft memo and asked
that I expand it to cover all of the documents under consideration.
Attached is a note of 29 September with a series of squibs represent-
ing the guidance the Director gave me on writing the memo.
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11. The Director asked that I stand by and be prepared to
attend his meeting with Ehrlichman. He specifically asked that I not
take the initiative in any conversation, merely being present to answer
any direct/ questions that the Director might have. I assured him 25X1A
that I would keep my neck tucked in.
12. Immediately after leaving the Director I took
report to 'n Printing Services Division, and asked him if
it would be possible to print a new cover, remove two pages from the
volume, and then rebind it with a spline binder. He said he could do
this with ease and asked what my deadline was. I told him that I
needed it no later than close of business 30 September. Approximately
two hours later he called and said it was ready and I picked it up
immediately thereafter.
13. The Director called at 1130 hours on 30 September. He is
meeting with Ehrlichman at 0830 on 1 October. He asked me to arrive
in his office in time to have the documents laid out on his conference
room table before 0830 and to stand by while he first met privately
with Ehrlichmar.. He said that he had not yet made up his mind on Record of
Vietnam and specifically asked that I not bring my copy of the document
to the meeting. He said it would be alright for me to have my notes with
me on the other documents.
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14. I went to the Director's office at 0800 hours on 1 October
and spread out the documents in the conference room and waited.
Ehrlichman arrived at perhaps 0840 and he and Mr. Helms spoke
privately in M- Helms!_office for about ten minutes. They then
came into the ,conference -room where I was waiting. Mr. Helms
identified each of the documents to Ehrlichman. Helms pointed
out that the IG report on the Bay of Pigs was highly controversial
and that taken as a whole the volume tells the story as it actually
was without any bark on it. Ehrlichman said that he thought the
President would like to have all of the material on Lebanon and
Cuba with the single exception of Volume I of the annexes to the
report to the PFIAB on the Cuban Missile Crisis (that was the
"Interrogation Guide: Cuba"). He asked that the material be
bundled up and delivered to him in Room 25 in the West Wing
of the White House. He asked that he receive it with the least
possible delay. We assured him that it would be on its way almost
immediately.
15. As soon as Ehrlichman left I made a list of the documents
for my own record. A cop *f'attached. I then delivered the documents
to n ER and askthat lye have them delivered immediately
to Ehrlichman by 0 courier and with receipts to be obtained.
He assured me he would do so.
16. Q called at 1005 hours on 1 October. The OCI
courier was then at the West entrance to the White House. Although
the courier was known to the guard, the guard would not admit him
without first examining the contents of the package. I told =that
this was not permissible. I asked 0 to have call
Ehrlichman's office and arrange to get the package through the guard
unopened. called back five minutes later and said it had all been
taken care
17. Mr. Helms spoke with me briefly after Ehrlichman left
and said that he had not yet made up his mind on Record of Vietnam.
He suggested to Ehrlichman that the two of them should meet privately
with the President sometime next week to explain the problem to him
(the problem is that if a document such as this were to be released
neither Mr. N..xon nor any future President could be assured of
privacy of conversation with his senior advisors).
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SECRET
19 October 1971
MEMORANDUM OR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: General: Declassification Exercise
Specific: Record on Vietnam
I met with the Director at his request at noon today.
The purpose of the meeting was to bring me up to date on the
disposition of the documents furnished to the White House.
After the Director's meeting with John Ehrlichmann on
1 October, the Director told me that he and Ehrlichman would
meet later with the President to discuss the problems posed
by "Record on Vietnam'.'
At today's meeting, the Director said that he had given
the President "Record on Vietnam" and that the President
subsequently gave it to Ehrlichman to read. Ehrlichman reported
to the Director that he has the document and that it is locked
in his safe.
The copy that Ehrlichman has is the ribbon copy, which
was originally submitted to Director McCone.
The Director said that he was telling me this so that
one other person (than he) would know precisely what the
White House has as of this date.
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19 December 1972
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Retention of Documents by Mr. John D. Ehrlichman
During the course of a meeting on other matters on 15 December,
Mr. Helms asked Mr. Ehrlichman whether he had finished with the
documents listed on the attached so that they could be returned. Mr.
Ehrlichman said that he did not have them because they were in the
hands of the President. Mr. Ehrlichman said he would inquire of the
President whether he wished to return them.
W.. EColby
W. E. Colby
Executive Director-Comptroller
Attachment:
Document Receipt #1826 dtd 1 Oct 71
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STAT
VTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
NOTICE TO RECIPIENT
COURIER REC. NO.
DATE SENT
LI )CUMENT RECEIPT
Sign curd Return as Shown on Reverse Side
SENDER OF DOCUMENTISI MECUTI VL lrEv1.31TR Y
ROOM
KDG.
DATE DOCUMENT(S) SENT
ROUX 7-E-12
1 Oct 71
DESCRIPTION OF DOCUMENT(S) SEN
T
CIA NO.
DOCUMENT DATE
COPIES DOCUMENT TITLE (IN BRIEF)
ATTACHMENTS
CLASS
,0TS 034511, 1 machine
copy. Vol
V, copy 1
PI'S 034522, 1 machine
copy Xecret paper, Reco
d of Paramilitary acti
n
cy 15
against castro go
ernment, 1 copy (60-61
.
Vol II,
cy 1 S 173040, cy 2
TS/SC
Vol III
cy 1
RECIPI
ENT
ADDRESS OF RECIPIENT
S#GjNATU E LE IN CEIP OF ABOVE DOCUMENT(S))
Mr. John rlichman
L
Assistant to the President for
Domestic Affairs, The Wh L(be I^ ouse
OFFICE
DATE OF RECEIPT
O'tober 1, 1971
STAT
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 ear _
LNCLASS FIED CONFIDENTIAL S RET
OFFICIAL ROUTING SLIP
TO
NAME AND ADDRESS
DATE
INITIALS
IG
Z
i? C. C' - -/173
3
4
S
6
ACTION
DIRECT REPLY
PREPARE REPLY
APPROVAL
DISPATCH
RECOMMENDATION
COMIiLNT
FILE
RETURN
CONCURENCE
INFORMATION
SIGNATURE
Remarks:
For your records. The original is filed in a
sealed envelope in Executive Registry.
FOLD HERE TO RETURN TO SENDER
FROM: NAME. ADDRESS AND PHONE NO.
DATE
O/ExDir
f13 Jan 73
UNCLASSIFIED CONFIDENTIAL
SECRET
(40)
iONN NQ 237 Use previous editions
1-67
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