THE CIA'S GENTLEMEN DID READ OTHERS' MAIL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100240068-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 68
• Publication Date: October 4, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100240068-3
agents also poked into mall flowing be Robert Olsen of es ones,'
tween points in the United States. Iowa, served, like Baker, as serior-
Church's disclosure likely will give counsel to the .Rockefeller Ccmrnisslcn.
added impetus to the demands for. Says Olsen; who was not Involved In
s t r o n g e r outside con rOis over the CIA, the thciulry Into the matt 1rterc pt op
'.j Decrying the CIA's .--,hest of ~:~;uvuutu- a a.lt,v,i. It is illy i,?f,lession that the
," Church said'?'It is obvious that staff and commission members were
bility,"
In the. opening of mail they have gone aware of the fact that the operation
very far afield indeed." The .Idaho probably Included the mall of prominent
[l `~ ' ~s Democrat, was one of those v, hose :nail : people. There was no attempt to scan
V; as another: The. former ce Frost- Batter said that to his Knowledge
:rogarce, vlolation;of law, 'invasion of. he, had seen no evidence that the CIA
privacy, and abuse oI power., opened any domestic U.S- mail. "If
In a statement-Qt the opening of a,;' there had been any 'evidence, I would
~:.__._- _.e i-:- e,.i,,.s n...,.:-a.. ..,,..., ...:a.--.'. t.--._ .-__._S__1 ?z_. ,. .-_ ___?__.. .._
on intelligence". Church disclosed that':! the report." = ...- ..
3. -1 ^the? CIA had opened the mall of.?"se-. The CIA mail-intercept nroeram be-.
-it
the '. intelL`gence.; agency regularly .'cording to the Rockefeller Commission
hiihhself; ' ixon; I'Iumphrey? Sen, iEd- 1
d'..,c,ied ir. eti Cork City, ;ith snialie:
ward i~enned;r; '.: Arthur F. Burns, programs for brief periods of time car-'
chairman. of the `Federal Reserve ,
~~ Board, Rep. Be Abzti of Nevi York, rie4 our San Francisco, New Orleans,
For more than 20 years the Ce"tral p? g , - and Honolulu. In. 1972 -CIA agents In
fihielligeroe Agent snooped into the ,,.'. John ,.D..Rockefeller ? IV, former' West. New York examined the cutsides of
A
merlcans. And .bit by bit;the . `Virginia secretary. of stage; and the 2.3 million pieces of mall sent to and
mail of
atll.exte-it of "~iT.hingiial," the CI,1's., ' late Martin Lutiher King, Jr., and his from Communist countries, photo-
Widow, Coretta:;,The Abzug mail open- graphed 33,Oi,'0 envelopes, and opened
.ode narie for the mail, intercept Pro .; Ing had been revealed earlier. The CIA: 5,700 letters.
drawl, seems to be coming to i:gi,it. : the also pried Into the mail o, harvard At the Church committee hearing,.
Last June the Rock feller Comr is University and the Ford and Rocke James Angleton, retired-CIA chief of
pion, in its.report on CIA domestic lc-. feller foundations, Church said. counterintelligence and head of the.
ti'iLies, ri,counte~l the ;origin and his- Church said none of the n'ne indi- mail-intercept operation for most of its
lorry of the mail-intercept o.-3 r2tion, vid::als was on treCIA w-tca list for life, acknowledged that the program
i, aich t-'e..ommisslon.saic1 was limited.' .thy mail-cover operation, watch violated Federal Jaws, but nevertheless
to mall coming from or`noirg to Russia list usually included the names of about defended it. "From. a counterintelii-
and other Communist;, countries. Last 300 Americans and foreigners whose gence point of view, we believed it was
week Sena Frank-Church,' chairman'of ? mail was scrutinl2ed by the CIA; for, extremely important to know any pos
a Senate ,committee ''.investigating the Intelligence purposes. ' sible contacts -of American citizens"-,.
GIN,; reported that.the.CIA opened the with Communist?:countries?"_?he said,
mail,':-of.-,three well-knovrti institutions Committee aides later bzc ed off
..Angleton insisted that the program
and n" ie.prcmiaent.Ainericans, ii:ciud?`: from Church's statement that the-mall ? had nothing to do with im in ng on
in a 1995 Jester sent to .then-Preslden- _o: the nine individuals he na 'ed was ? nothing ? p
? when
g "regularly" opened. We know of at or harmi. g Americans . But
tial aspirant r ichard,Nivon:': asked why the CIA poked into the mail
least one letter involving each of theme. of prominent Americans, Angleton Cuter this month the Senate commit and we have a feeling there were p said
tee will,' hold hearings.on. AT Lingual; more," said a committee ai;''e..:e salt],.` he would prefer to answer the question
and committee aides raise. the prospect'.tofa at a closed committee rhee ani; rather
o, at the committee d:u t know.' than at a public session
of yet more disclosures. :' The mail of wt'etrer the nine individuals were tar ''
"a lot of prominent people" apparently. gets of the CIA or whether the CIA,--
was. opened by CIA.agerts, said an alcie..>'; opened the mail for other reasons.
to the Senate committee:?And he told ?
The'.Observer;. there,:.is'.*evidence that: ? Members of the Rockefeller Com
the CIA, operation:Wvas: nbt confined 'to mission staff said they were aware that'.
mail.;flowing';betsveen:~bther countries . mail of prominent persons was involved
and'. the. United: States, but that CIA in tlhe CIA operation but thought the
matter too -"insignificant" to Include
In the report. The CIA "ran a regular.:
vacuum-cleaner operation Involving
millions of pieces of mail," says Harold
.-.A. Baker, a Champaign, Ili., Iawyer
who ? investigated the mail-Intercept'
program for the Rockefeller Commis- `.
.. slop. "We came across the names of.
prominent Individuals,. but we did not..
,-think there was any deliberate attempt
by the CIA to pick out their mall, it
was ail etdental to the CIA's Intelligence-."
gatherrng operation. The Intercept was
not directed against the prominent per-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100240068-3
By Richard Egan'