LETTER TO MR. WILLIAM E. COLBY FROM LAW OFFICES OF PILLSBURY, MADISON & SUTRO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300010063-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 18, 2004
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: November 11, 1974
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2004/10/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300010~C^ j
LAW OFFICE'S OF
[phone]
PILLSBURY, MADISON & SUTRO
STANDARD OIL BUILDING
225 E3USE) STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94104
oi. l'~ 4 I
/ ? L'
r1 ~v~ 11 ~ ~ y t~
Mr. William E. Col
by
Director
Central Intelligen
ce Agency
Washington, D.C.
20505
Dear Mr. Colby:
TELEX 34743
CABLE ADDRESS'EVANS'
TEL ECOPI ER: TEL. [phone]B
I represent Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. My.
client has purchased from Penguin in the United Kingdom
the right to publish in the United States a volume written
by Philip Agee who claims to have been formerly employed
as a IA agent. It is my understanding that Penguin plans
publication in the United Kingdom and Canada shortly after
the first of the year. The publication date in. this country
would be sometime thereafter.
My comments and questions in this letter are based
on an assumption that you know all about Agee's manuscript
and have had a copy of it available for your study. If this
assumption is wrong and you would like to receive a copy of
the manuscript, I believe that I can arrange it for you.
I have read the Marchetti case and therefore am
familiar with the CIA's efforts to suppress that publication.
That activity leads one to suspect that some objection might
be made to the Agee book. The material in the Agee book is
all pretty well dated and I have no way of knowing whether
such an objection could be a legitimate one. The critical
factor in the present situation is the impending publication
in the United Kingdom and Canada. Any person who is really
interested in the details and personalities involved in the
covert operations described in the Agee book will surely
obtain a copy of it when it is published overseas and publi=-
cation here in the United States of material already in the..
public domain could not further compromise the security of
CIA operations. I conclude therefore that unless the publi--
cation in the United Kingdom and Canada is somehow prevented,
Approved For Release 2004/10/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300010063-3