Documents / FOIA release
This is a letter dated 24 December 1974 from CIA Director W. E. Colby to the President, with annexes attached. It responds to a New York Times article about CIA domestic intelligence activity. The letter denies that the Agency ran a "massive" domestic effort. It traces a counterintelligence program on foreign links with American dissidents, which ran from 1967 until it was ended in March 1974, and admits improper actions such as mail opening, break-ins and the surveillance of reporters. The attached memoranda restrict such activities.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Dear Mr. President: This report is in response to your request. for my comments on The New York Times article of December 22nd alleging CIA involvement in a "massive" domestic intelligence effort. While CIA has made certain errors, it is not accurate to characterize it as having engaged in "massive domestic intelligence activity." The National Security Act of 1947 states that CIA shall have no "police, subpoena, law-enforcement powers, or internal security functions." The Agency's functions thus relate solely to foreign intelligence. Included in this responsibility is foreign counterintelligence, as stated in National Security Council Intelligence Directive No. 5. This provides that CIA shall, inter alia, conduct clandestine counterintelligence outside the United States and its possessions. Under this charge, CIA for many years has maintained liaison with the intelligence and security services of other nations and has conducted independent counterintelligence activities abroad. Whenever such matters relate to the internal security of the United States, information derived from such operations is passed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other Departments or Agencies of the Government when appropriate. In addition, CIA has responded to requests from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and on occasion other Departments, for counterintelligence work abroad. In 1967, when concern grew in the United States Government over domestic dissidence, questions were raised as to whether there might be stimulation or support of such activity from outside the United States. As a result, the Director of Central Intelligence on 15 August established within the CIA counterintelligence office a program to identify possible foreign links with American dissident elements (Annex A). Later that same year, this became a part of an interagency program (Annex B). In November 1967, the Agency produced a study, International Connections of US Peace Groups, in response to a request by the President. In late 1967 or early 1955 the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Approved for Release Date 19-9 MAR-1985
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 76 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.