U.S. WATCHED, LISTED GAYS IN THREE DECADES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303090029-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: September 9, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303090029-7
ON PAGE A
11t", SUP! 1982
U.S. Nvatched, Hosted gays in tnree
decades
Washington (Reuter)-The federal
government routinely spied on organ-
izations promoting gay rights and
compiled voluminous lists of homo-
sexuals in the 1950s, 1960s and early
1970s, according to FBI and Pentagon
documents.
An FBI spokesman would not com-
ment directly on the documents but
said the bureau automatically turned
in federal employees discovered to be
homosexual on grounds that they
might pose a security risk.
The documents, released under-the
Freedom of Information Act and ob-
tained by Reuter from a private
source, underscore a concern in the
intelligence community that homo-
sexuals may pose a risk to national
security.
Soviet intelligence agents routine-
ly cruise gay bars seeking candidates
for blackmail who could be coopted
as spies, a spokesman for the CIA, an-
other agency which is concerned
about possible espionage, said.
Former CIA official Victor Mar-
chetti said in a separate interview
that the United States employed simi-
lar techniques not only against Com-
munists but in order to extract infor-
mation from officials of allied gov-
ernments who were "closet" homo-
sexuals.
The CIA declined to comment on
Mr. Marchetti's statement.
The documents show considerable
surveillance of gay rights organiza-
tions took place in San Francisco,
which has a large homosexual popula-
tion, but FBI agents across the coun-
try were involved.
According to the documents, the
FBI spied for years on the Mattachine
Society and the Daughters of Billitis,
two gay rights groups, and was con-
cerned that they had been infiltrated
by Communists.
Spokesmen for both rights groups
denied there had been any such infil-
tration.
FBI spokesman Lane Bonner said
he would not comment on the docu-
ments, adding that surveillance of the
sort revealed in them was ended in
the mid-1970s under rules that re-
But two members of Congress fa-
miliar with the documents have
sharply criticized the FBI.
"The Orwellian nature of this con-
duct revives the frightening specter
of the McCarthy witch-hunt era of the
1950s," said Representative Phillip
Burton, a California Democrat, in a
letter asking for an investigation by
Congress.
"[The FBI] appears to have sub-
verted the Constitution," Representa-
tive Henry Waxman, also a California
Democrat, charged in a similar let-
ter.
Among the documents is a Decem-
ber,1965, memorandum from the late
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover entitled
"Homosexual Hangouts Throughout
the United States."
It instructs agents to obtain a copy
of "The Address Book," a publication
that lists such hangouts, "in order to
conduct thorough interviews and for
use in getting ... leads."
Another document says a 53-page
list of homosexuals and of those
"identified as having homosexual
tendencies [or] as associates of homo-
sexuals" had been added to the files
in the San Francisco FBI office.
One document describes a ruse
FBI agents used to gain admission to
the Mattachine Society offices in San
Francisco for purposes of spying:
"Pretext: searching for an office that
was in fact on the fourth floor."
The document then describes the
premises and notes that "four men
were observed in the offices, all obvi-
ously homosexual."
In other documents, agents pro-
vide descriptions of men who attend-
ed a gay rights rally in 1966. One
reads: "White, male, 35, five-feet-10,
150 pounds, carrying sign stating, 'I
served honorably.' "
One agent reports on surveillance
in 1962 of a "leather store" for homo-
sexuals called Cloak and Dagger:
"Agents observed that various items
of leather clothing were displayed ...
and concluded that the store catered
to a masochistic clientele."
Other documents describe
"Project 220" in which the Army ob-
tained names of those arrested on
homosexual offenses from local po-
lice: "Reports on individuals of obvi-
ous interest to the Department of De-
fense are marked with red tabs."
There are also many files of in-
dexed newspaper clippings about
homosexuals, including articles about
an alleged "homosexual ring" in Ron-
ald Reagan's gubernatorial adminis.
tration in California.
In addition to concern about poasi-,.
ble security risks, the documents re..'"
(erred to an investigation designed to!'
prevent the blackmail of closeted
homosexuals by common imimlc
The probe was codenamed Homex
(for "Homosexual Extortion").
The document describes a pro-
gram to prevent extortion by compil-
ing lists and photographs of potential
victims, who are code-named 'Baby
Dolls."
It defines a Baby Doll as "a victim
who exhibits a real fear of being
caught and exposed" and . urges
agents to develop such people as in-
formants.
An FBI spokesman said the
Homer program,. which continued
until the late 1970s, was not intended
to spy on homosexuals but rather. to
protect them. He said Homer had re-
sulted in the conviction of a number
of would-be extortionists.
But Mr. Waxman, in his letter de-
nouncing the FBI, charged that "ef-
forts ostensibly to protect individuals
from blackmail have created a form
of government extortion."
An aide to the congressman said
he meant that FBI agents were coerc-
ing the names of other secret homo-
sexuals. from certain of the Baby
Dolls. -
Whether homosexuals in govern-
ment actually pose a security risk has
long been a matter of dispute. The
CIA and some ex-agents such as Mr.
Marchetti maintain the risk is high.
quire e Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303090029-7
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