DAVID A. PHILLIPS (AND AFIO) WIN RETRACTION IN CHALLENGE-AIDED SUIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200890009-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 9
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200890009-6
PERISCOPE
Spring 1986
David A. Phillips (and AFIO)
Win Retraction in
Challenge-Aided Suit
David Atlee Phillips, founder of AFIO, has won a full
retraction and financial award in the out-of-court set-
tlement of his malicious libel suit against a group which
claimed publicly that Phillips had been involved in the
1976 assassination of former Chilean diplomat Orlando
Letelier, and had used the alias of "Maurice Bishop."
the alleged CIA case officer for Lee Harvey Oswald. In
winning the case, Phillips was afforded financial assist-
ance by Challenge Inc., an intelligence officer's legal
action fund based in Bethesda, Md.
The suit had its origins in a press conference given
by Donald Freed, Fred Simon Landis, William F. Pepper
and John Cummings on June 25, 1980, in Washington.
The invited media audience was told that Phillips had
headed a conspiracy to cover up the facts concerning
the assassination of Letelier, and that Phillips and other
ex-intelligence officers were accused of a number of
crimes. It was stated further that the Association of
Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), a non-profit organi-
zation of ex-intelligence men and women from all intel-
ligence services, was involved as an institution in the
crimes attributed to Phillipsl The allegations were made
orally and in printed material distributed at the press
conference.
In October 1980, Death in Washington, a non-
fiction book co-authored by Freed and Landis, with an
introduction by Pepper, repeated and elaborated on the
charges against Phillips, other former intelligence offic-
ers and AFIO. Not content with the earlier charges, the
authors claimed that after Phillips' retirement from CIA
he had engaged in a few other crimes, to wit: obstruc-
tion of justice, accessory before the fact of murder, con-
spiracy to defame, and acting as an unregistered foreign
agent. The authors captioned a photograph of Phillips
with "The Other Lee Harvey Oswald."
In the retraction, Freed and Landis withdrew all the
allegations they had made against Phillips, and assured
that they had no intention of charging or suggesting that
Phillips had played any role in the assassination of Lete-
lier, that he was an accessory before or after fact of that
murder, or that he had any connection with Lee Harvey
Oswald. They told the court that they regret that any
such statements had found their way into the press
conference or into their book. Joining them in expres-
sion of regrets was Lawrence Hill & Co. Publishers, Inc.,
who has actually published the defamatory charges. As
for the other charges made by the authors, Freed and
Landis said that because of Phillips' long career with CIA
and the secrecy requirements imposed by CIA (and en-
forced by the courts) it "made it difficult" for them to
secure the necessary evidence for their defense against
Phillips' counter-charges of malicious libel.
Missing from the retraction and settlement was co-
defendent William F. Pepper, who disappeared some
five years ago, and of whose whereabouts Freed and
Landis claim no knowledge.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200890009-6