Documents / FOIA release

CIA Activities in the U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency · 1974-12-24 · 76 pages · text by GLM-OCR

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.

  • p. 16 …I expect that area divisions and senior staffs will be fully cooperative in this effort, both…
  • p. 17 …It is also important to ensure that a cooperative and supportive relationship exists between the Office…
  • p. 22 …the Spring of 1970, the F9I has cooperated operationally with the Special Operations Group along three…
  • p. 34 …Records of the individuals and organizations cooperating with the Agency are maintained as a necessary practical…
  • p. 37 …The Agency has cooperated with and made available to the appropriate law enforcement bodies information about…
  • p. 62 …citizens to cooperate with CIA in its foreign intelligence mission is an appropriate action.
  • p. 67 …will be advised, and the Agency will cooperate with the appropriate authorities in the investigation of…
  • p. 72 …appropriate law enforcement bodies and CIA will cooperate with them in any action required which does…

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No surveillance, telephone tap, surreptitious entry or other action will be taken by Agency personnel in the United States against United States citizens not connected with CIA, under the claimed authority of "protection of intelligence sources and methods." This provision of the law leys a charge and duty on the Director and the Agency to act so as to protect intelligence sources and methods. It does not give it authority to take action with respect to other American citizens. If a threat or exposure of intelligence sources and methods occurs, the Agency can appropriately assemble its information on the topic and conduct such steps within its organization as may be appropriate. With respect to outsiders, the appropriate lawful authorities must be approached for assistance on the matter, e.g., the FBI or local police.

Approved for Release

Date 27 MAR 1985

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About this file

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.