Documents / FOIA release

FOIA on Martin Luther King

Central Intelligence Agency · 2025-06-12 · 295 pages · text by OCR

This Central Intelligence Agency FOIA release, dated 2025-06-12, collects 1976 CIA paperwork on Harold Weisberg's request (76-F-382) for records on Martin Luther King, Jr. It includes routing slips, an Operations Staff memorandum listing releasable press items and exempt cables, dispatches and memoranda, and a CI Staff reply citing a 1968 Office of Security memo on Coretta Scott King. It also contains a 16 May 1968 memo to the FBI reporting that Gerald Lee Richards, investigated in Japan, did not resemble suspect James Earl Ray.

  • p. 5 …1968; Washington Star, 23 September 1968; Los Angeles Times, 7 August 1968; 125-3+7 See…
  • p. 63 …York Times, dated 23 April 1968; Washington Post, dated 5 July 1968; Los Angeles Free Press…
  • p. 72 …York Times, dated 23 April 1968;Washington Post, dated 5 July 1968;Los Angeles Free Press…
  • p. 157 …Los Angeles: The author, 963. on. "November 22, 1963." Progressive Magazine, December 1964. ley. "What They…
  • p. 159 …Los Angeles, September 1964, pp. 1-19. (paper) Sheatsley, Paul B. and Jacob J. Feldman. "The…
  • p. 160 …Los Angeles: Associated Press 1964. Highlights of the Warren Report. Los Angeles Associated Professional Service 1964…
  • p. 161 …Warren Report Wrong, College Teacher Says." Los Angeles Times, 17 November 1967, p. 18. Warren's…
  • p. 162 …Los Angeles: University of California, 1968. Gosset, P. and R. L'homme qui crut guer Kennedy…
  • p. 164 …Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1968. Man in Room 3. Time, 12 April 1968, p. 21. "Martin…
  • p. 165 …ntoosa, Rm. "First Court Appearance; Suspect Gives Impression of Cocky, arrogant Confidence." Los Angeles Times, 9…
  • p. 238 …primarily Miami, New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Dallas, Austin, Galveston…
  • p. 264 …Los Angeles: Bureau of International Relations, 1967. "President and Nation's Journey." Reconstruction Int. 13 December…
  • p. 266 …Los Angeles, September 1964, pp. 1-19. (paper) Sheatsley, Paul B. and Jacob J. Feldman. "The…
  • p. 267 …Los Angeles. Pould, Jan. The Weight of the Evidence: The Warren Report and its Critic. New…
  • p. 269 …Los Angeles: University of California, 1968. Gosset, P. and R. L'homme qui crut tuer Kennedy…
  • p. 271 …Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1968. "Man in Room 5." Time, 12 April 1968, p. 21. "Martin…
  • p. 272 …Worthington, Richard. "New Yorker Warp on Family, Friends Return with Body." Los Angeles Time, 7 June…
James H. Lesar, Esquire 1231 Fourth Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20024

Dear Mr. Lesar:

This acknowledges receipt of your letter of 11 June 1976 on behalf of Mr. Harold Weisberg requesting, under provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, access to any CIA records dealing with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and/or James Earl Ray and any of his alleged or suspected accomplices in Dr. King's assassination.

I shall arrange for a search of CIA files and shall be in further communication with you once the search has been completed and any records found reviewed for releasability under the Act.

As you may know, the heavy volume of Freedom of Information requests received by the Agency has resulted in processing backlogs. If we do not respond within the 10 working days stipulated by the Act, it is your right to construe this as a denial, subject to appeal to the CIA Information Review Committee. It would seem more reasonable, however, for us to continue processing your request and to respond as soon as feasible. Any denials of records could be appealed at that time. Unless we hear from you otherwise, we will assume that this is agreeable to you and proceed on this basis.

For your information, I am enclosing a copy of our fee schedule. If the charges seem likely to be considerable, I shall provide you with an estimate and perhaps require a partial payment in advance of processing.

## Sincerely,

/s/GFW

Gene F. Wilson Information and Privacy Coordinator

Enclosure: as stated

IPS/CES/cb/21 Jun 76Distribution:

Orig - Addressee

1 - IPS Chrono

1 IPS (F-76-382)

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 295 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.