MEETING WITH ALAN THOMPSON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP93B01194R001300080003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 25, 2005
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: September 23, 1981
• Content Type: MF

- FI E lTI L
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23 September 1981
iNU1' )R'1NDUM FOR: Chief, Classification Review Division
25X1 IRC)i~l;
Chief, C)perations Branch
25X1
SUBJECT : Meeting with Alan Thompson
1. On 18 September 1981 I had a meeting with Alan Thompson, Director of
Declassification Division of MARS. The following issues were discussed:
a. Mr. Thompson wanted to make sure that we had a copy of the letter
from H. L. Theobaid, of the Historical Section of the British Cabi-
net Office expressing to Mr. Thompson the British concern over our
ability to protect information acquired orally and put in U.S.
originated documents; and, Mr. Thompson's reply. I had seen the 25X1
Theobald letter but could not recall Alan's letter so I kept copies
of each and. they are attached hereto. I will check and if they
have not been circulated among CRD reviewers we might want to
arrange that and copies should go to I if they have not 25X1
already been sent.
b. Mr. Thompson asked if I had heard of Nicholas Bethell*. When I ans-
wered that I had not, Mr. Thompson explained that he is a writer who
is working on a project to write about the British and i merican
operation against Albania, 1949-53. Mr. Bothell claims that so
much information concerning this operation is already in the pub-
lic domain that it is absurd in. 1981. to deny the fact of the opera-
tion's existence. Bothell has hired the firm of Messrs. Reid and
Priest of 1111 l9th Street, N.W., Washington, DC, 20036, to prepare
an FOIA re(Iuest. That was as of 6 August 1981. All this is ex- 25X1
plained in a letter from Betholl to the British, a copy of which is
attached. What is unique about this is that Bothell is talking to parti.-
c..i.giants in the operation and names two Americans,
with whom he apparently has already spoken. Mr. Thompson
is aware that FOIA requests come to IPI) and will be sent to them. If
Bothell is talking to p:u?ticipants in the Albania operation there appears
to be prescious :Little that we can do about it.
25X1
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c. Mr. Thompson again brought up the Professor Cruikshank matter, the
English historian who, with official government backing, is pre-
paring to write a history of British-American collaboration in the
Southeast Asian area during WWII. Mr. Thompson is concerned that
this request will be made to various U.S. Government elements by
the British and that these elements will not provide a coordinated
response. I repeated to Mr. Thompson that this basically is not
our primary interest but that the Historian's office, which has
already heard about this matter, and TPD if an FOIA request is
involved, would be the normal points of contact. At might get in
as reviewers since the material is old. Mr. Thompson will try to
do as much as he can by watching for relevant information when
the NABS people review the 198 feet of OSS records. He has looked
at the files titles of this material and realizes that there will
be prescious little in it for Professor Cruikshank. I assured
Mr. Thompson that if the British made the appropriate representa-
tions that we certainly would give them an appropriate and reason-
able response. I also told Mr. Thompson that I would again alert
the History Staff, 1PD, and the DO to in some
small way help ensure that the matter does not drop between the
cracks here.
d. Finally, Mr. Thompson brought up the matter of the Vivian Dykes
Diaries. This is a 55-page memo written by the Englishman. Dykes
about an extensive trip that he took in 1941 with Gen. Donovan
during which they visited British intelligence officers in the field
in several countries. From what we learned in the past a copy of
the diary was in Donovan's papers, was quoted in sanitized form by
Tom Troy in his book on Donovan, and that we reviewed the d.ocLiment
and okayed it for release. Donovan's papers have been turned over
to the Military History Library in Carlise, PA by Donovan's son and
are to be kept closed to everyone except Anthony Cave Irown who is
writing a Biography of Donovan. A year after Brown finishes the
biography the papers will be opened to others. In trying to locate
a copy of the diary for the British (who can't seem to find a copy
in their records) , Mr. Thompson called the Library in Carl i_so and
was informed that the Donovan papers had been handed over to Brown.
who was keeping them in his Virginia residence. Mr. Thompson then
called Brown who confirmed that he recalled seeing the diary in the
papers and when he had the time he would look for it. Mr. Thompson
told Brown that all he wanted to do was to read the document and
could do that in the presence of Brown. Asked to describe the can-
tents of the paper, Brown mentioned that it gave the names of seve-
ral Britishers who were met by Dykes and Donovan. (It is the names
of these British intelligence officers that the British want to pro-
tect). Brown mentioned that there is also a photo copy of the diary.
(With this in mind we could search through the miniature photo copies
of the Donovan appears to see if we could come up with a copy of the
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Dykes Diaries to help Mr. Thompson and the British and make it unncccs-
sazy for Mr. Thompson to go back to Brown in another attempt to get a
copy for the British. I told Mr. Thompson that I would advise him if
we came up with anything.
25X1
Attachments :
1.. Ltr from H. L. Theobald to Alan Thompson
2. Ltr from Alan Thompson to II. L. Theobald
3. Ltr from Nicholas Bothell to Lord Ilai.lshann
istribution:
Orig C/CRD, w/att (Liaison w/NARS)
I w/att
25X1
1 - UK Desk, DO, w/att
1 - IMS, w/att
1 - His tor w/att
- CRDOPS w/att
- Chrono, w/o a:tt.
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March 2_17, 1981
Mr. U. L. Theohal,d
Historical Section
Cabinet Off ice
Hepburn douse
Marsh an Street
London, 3WiP ` {W
ii:N ' LAND
Thank you very much for your letter of 17 ~'ebruary (your ref. H . C> 2O ). I
especially appreciate your.kind remark:, con'oer lin;; my ex-pusition of t ,ro'bio: nay c; rnsol vod 4? t
~ . r i i r a par.' by ltsndi_n ',_+3.er 12f)6173. `non ; rir y' otfl!':nr i't?tr:_ -$, 1,.1.,,..
considc'reii 13 a l ropo&al that h U.3. ?ov?rnmer": '. revert to t:.e r.' R ri; nT
)f reviewing a.sr3if9.ed t f'ornatloil ao it ?sa..crlra '>.) cea-% of . ure ,)f t.Ira
telling re a e behind prop *;r ir._ this ehEuu;e In ih{r conr: rn
: znor1,,r our closest
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if this propo~f`rt1 to f&&._t i:.?1 t!] a c tyke s ', eft
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In the T^eF-ntt.,fie you PLe,y 1-.n ou.r :.1.i cy.
to rprote t your ,-i 01
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Thank ;`ou &100 for in01u-iinA- the t e;"~" uZ! )t ud:' '1 t , :.
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