LETTER TO THE HONORABLE EDWARD H. LEVI FROM W. E. COLBY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77M00144R000600070011-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: September 26, 1975
• Content Type: LETTER

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/20: CIA-RDP77M00144R000600070011-0
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Zxecwive Ilz,gistry
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON,D.C. 20505
Honorable Edward H. Levi
Attorney General
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Mr. Levi:
26 SEP ITI0S24, aft
In my letter to you of 6 September 1975, I raised the question of the
refusal of the Department of Justice to represent former employees of the
Agency in the Rodney Driver, et al. v. Richard Helms, et al. case. In your
letter to me of 19 September 1975, you responded by saying the Department
of Justice would retain private counsel to defend Agency employees or former
Agency employees but specified that this was solely in the context of the
Driver case. In addition, of course, the Department of Justice has undertaken
to represent Agency employees and former Agency employees in the following
civil litigation matters: Bohmer v. Nixon, et al. (S.D. Cal.) (Defendants
Colby, Walters, Helms and Angleton); Jane Fonda v. L. Patrick Gray, et al.
(C.D. Cal.) (Defendant Colby); and Richard Bast v. Clarenc& Kelley, et al.
(Defendant Colby).
There is now pending another civil case, John Doe, et al. v. John
McCone, et al. (N.D.C. Cal., Civil No. C-75-1211-CBR), in which the
Department of Justice has not taken a position as to representation of Agency
employees and former Agency employees. While there is a court-ordered
stay of any action in this case, I believe the defendants are entitled to know
whether the Department of Justice will represent them for the reasons 'set
forth in my letter to you of 6 September 1975. The gist of the complaint is
the same as that in Driver, and there is pending an application for default
against three of the defendants.
In recent days the Department of Justice undertook to retain private
counsel for with respect to the taking of depositions by and
appearances before the Senate Select Committee to Study Government
Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. Upon learning that the
Department of Justice had undertaken this action, my representatives were
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