Documents / FOIA release

FOIA on Martin Luther King

Central Intelligence Agency · 2025-06-12 · 295 pages · text by GLM-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. 1 …The first time the Bureau sent those, they combined King-Ray docs with Kennedy assassination dogs…
  • p. 3 …Weisberg Request (Martin Luther King, Jr.) Part I REFERENCE: 76-F-382 1. This office maintains…
  • p. 5 …Martin Luther King, Jr. are releasable to the requestor. There are no exemptions. Look, 15 April…
  • p. 7 …documents which mention either Dr. or Mrs. King are held in OPS/ITG (SI) vault: 3…
  • p. 8 …3 of this cable mentions an intercepted letter addressed to President Johnson protesting the King assassination…
  • p. 9 …Martin Luther King; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6). (e) OEPA-1097, dated 29…
  • p. 10 …an incidental mention of the name Dr. King) by or about a Jonathan Power; exempt under…
  • p. 11 …Investigation of Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. concerns a subject who did not appear to…
  • p. 12 …as being in contact with Martin Luther King; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6…
  • p. 14 …documents which mention either Dr. or Mrs. King are held in OPS/ITG (SI) vault: 3…
  • p. 17 MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ## Para C: I cannot match the documents with the list you provided…
  • p. 20 …Martin Luther King (Request #F-76-382) In response to this request, CI Staff has no…
  • p. 21 …Stevens SUBJECT KING, Coretta Scott #541 487 AKA: Mrs. Martin Luther KINGnee: Coretta SCOTT 1. Subject…
  • p. 31 ## PRIORITY HANDLING FOIA REQUEST SUBJECT: (Optional) Martin Luther King, Jr., requested by Weisberg TO: (Officer designation…
  • p. 34 …July 1966. - A-62 (7) DDO biographic data on Martin Luther King, dated 5 November 1967.
  • p. 41 …GA-20 SUBJECT OF INDEX SEARCH SURNAME KING GIVEN NAMES Martin Luther Jr. SPELLING VARIATIONS TO…
  • p. 43 …0001 KING, MARTIN LUTHER SEX M CIT USA TO BE INTERVIEWED BY PAUL KRASSNER CONTACT OF…
  • p. 47 …DJSJ REPORTEDLY SHOT AND KILLED MARTIN LUTHER KING SUSPOSEDLY VISITED MEXICO ***LOCATOR DATA: DRUER FROM IP…
  • p. 49 …6 4. 5. SUBJECT (must be furnished): KING HO. FILE NUMBER DOCUMENT SYMBOL AND NUMBER DOCUMENT…
  • p. 50 …SUBJECT (must be furnished) King Martin HQ FILE NUMBER DOCUMENT SYMBOL AND NUMBER OUT DOCUMENT DATE…
  • p. 53 …OR SUBJECT WEISBERG request on Martin Luther King and James Earl Ray SEARCH COST (To be…
  • p. 59 …Martin Luther King, Jr. b. Earl Ray c. Other individuals involved with the assassination of Dr…
  • p. 60 …Martin Luther King, Jr. by the Dade County/Florida police (Criminal Intelligence); excluded under 1900.3…
  • p. 66 …Assassination of Martin Luther King. Subject in this memorandum is a James Ray, born 8 March…
  • p. 68 …have had something to do with Dr. King. (n) Panama City-6193 (IN-98420), dated 25…
  • p. 75 …Assassination of Martin Luther King. Subject in this memorandum is a James Ray, born 8 March…
  • p. 77 …have had something to do with Dr. King. (n) Panama City-6193 (IN-98420), dated 25…
  • p. 81 …Martin Luther King, Jr. 1. At the Attorney General's direction, a task force was established…
  • p. 87 …FBI Referral re Harold Weisberg Request on Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Earl Ray REFERENCES…
  • p. 89 …MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. 2. ANOTHER SENSITIVE RELIABLE SOURCE IN MEXICO CITY REPORTED THAT MCLAREN DEPARTED…
  • p. 91 …MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. 2. ANOTHER SENSITIVE RELIABLE SOURCE IN MEXICO CITY REPORTED THAT MCLAREN DEPARTED…
  • p. 94 …of the suspected killer of Martin Luther King, Jr, and asked for a check against visitors…
  • p. 97 …1234567 APR111968 ENGIPHERED ASSASSINATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. REURTELS NUMBERS TWO AND FOUR DATED APRIL…
  • p. 98 …Rap Brown advocated the death of Martin Luther King and King's assassination would benefit the…
  • p. 103 …Allegedly, they are being detained in connection with the assassination of Martin Luther King. These individuals…
  • p. 104 …MURKIN no knowledge of any connection between these individuals and the assassination of Martin Luther King…
  • p. 107 …Sullivan This is the case involving the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4/4/68…
  • p. 108 …and said he had killed Martin Luther King, Jr. There is no Whitefield, North Carolina. There…
  • p. 110 …Martin Luther King. Liaison advised of the receipt of information from Richard Helms, Director of CIA…
  • p. 113 …Martin Luther King. Liaison advised of the receipt of information from Richard Helms, Director of CIA…
  • p. 114 …In one on which I have paid the CIA large sums without compliance, the King assassination…
  • p. 115 …In one on which I have paid the CIA large sums without compliance, the King assassination…
  • p. 117 …Martin Luther King, Jr. 2. All records pertaining to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King…
  • p. 118 …Martin Luther King, Jr., and/or James Earl Ray and any of his alleged or suspected…
  • p. 119 …Martin Luther King, Jr., and to those dealing with James Earl Ray and any of his…
  • p. 120 …Martin Luther King, Jr. and his assassination. Because you require a down payment of half the…
  • p. 121 …Coretta King and James Earl Ray, respectively." Because Mr. Weisberg's request undoubtedly comprises records which…
  • p. 122 …receipt of the sworn waiver from Mrs. King, as mentioned in your letter of 3 December…
  • p. 123 FOIA Appeal - Harold Weisberg, for information about Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Earl Ray IPS…
  • p. 127 …Martin Luther King, Jr.: 1. All receipts for any letters, cables, documents, reports, memorandums, or other…
  • p. 128 …Coretta King Rev. Andrew Young Rev. Samuel B. Kyles Harry Wachtel 9. All notes or memorandums…
  • p. 130 …Martin Luther King, Jr. since April 15, 1975. 17. All notes, memoranda, correspondence or investigative reports…
  • p. 132 UNCLASSIFIED INTERNAL USE ONLY CONFIDENTIAL SECRET ## PRIORITY HANDLING FOIA REQUEST FBI Referral re Martin Luther King…
  • p. 140 …Association, care of the Rev. M. L. King, Dexter Ave. Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama.' The above…
  • p. 144 …Martin Luther King, Jr.: 1. All receipts for any letters, cables, documents, reports, memorandums, or other…
  • p. 145 …Coretta King Rev. Samuel B. Kyles Rev. Andrew Young Harry Wachtel 9. All notes or memorandums…
  • p. 147 …Martin Luther King, Jr. since April 15, 1975. 17. All notes, memoranda, correspondence or investigative reports…
  • p. 158 …Some disturbing parallels; assassination of M.L. King and J.F. Kennedy." Ramparts Magazine, 29 Uma…
  • p. 162 …28-31, 90. "Ruby and the King of Torto." Times Literary Supplement, 17 March 1966, p…
  • p. 164 …10. "Did Ray Kill King?" National Review, 23 April 1968, pp. 376+. "Doctor King." National Review…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

# sassination Tapes

JESO FROM PAGE 194

ed hard stress on the PSE. Unfortuhe made no other definite statement the nature of the wound.

interview with Captain Humes was informative. Just before the interview, 7. Humes had re-examined the autopotographs and X-rays, and he disd them at length on the CBS tapes. Grams drawn during the autopsy, d. had not been intended to preciselyent the location of the wounds. Howe now produced a sketch which, he did represent these locations accu-

The interviewer asked. "Your reation of the photographs verify that funds were as shown here?"

; sir," he replied. No stress.

e there any wounds other than one base of the neck and one up in the "No, sir, there were not." Moderate not enough to suggest deception. there any doubt that the wound atck of the President's head was anound?" "There is absolutely no doubt, gain stress but again moderate.

gether, now many wounds were "There were two wounds of entrance o of exit." At this point the stress beard.

where were the entry wounds lo. "Posteriorly, one low in the right or scalp, and one in the base of the n the right." Hard stress again. d he be absolutely certain that what I was an entry wound was, in fact, 'es, indeed we can." Hard stress. interview with Humes was one of the it and most detailed on the CBS and I charted most of it with the PSE. clear to me that he believed much he was saying, but the frequent lick of moderate stress and the occasions of hard stress suggested that he nearly as confident of his testimony claimed to be. As Dr. Perry had I out, sometimes it's not easy to tell y wound from an exit wound.

interviewer asked him one good "botte" question:

you have any different conclusion, different ideas, any different thoughts after seeing [the autopsy photographs] than you had at that time?"

replied Captain Humes, "we think ear up very well, and very closely, imony before the Warren Commis-

## tress was hard.

Specter, one of the Warren Commisprincipal investigators, also spoke on tapes. He said that the case against fitted together very well, and that could one find among actual crim-

the charge that the Commission had been formed to whitewash the facts.

The PSE said he was telling the truth.

John McCloy, a member of the Warren Commission, said much the same thing, and added that he had seen no credible evidence to contradict the findings of the Commission. The PSE backed him up on this, but it failed to do so when, speaking of the Warren Report, he said, "There was nothing fraudulent about it." Here the PSE showed hard stress.

If Specter and McCloy were as confident as the PSE shows them to be in the truthfulness of the Warren Report. What could be fraudulent about it? Perhaps the snipping off of a few loose ends, the suppression of a few pieces of inconvenient evidence which conflicted with a version of events they believed to be essentially true.

The one man who could be expected to have the most informed opinion regarding the work of the Warren Commission is former Chief Justice Earl Warren himself. He had declined to be interviewed on the CBS program in 1967, but he did appear on television in May, 1972, in an interview

"...we found no evidence of any kind that there was any conspiracy." There was very hard stress on "no evidence"

which was part of a series called The Brandeis Television Recollections. Bob Smith of the Committee provided me with the tape.

The interview was an hour long, but the Kennedy assassination and the Warren Commission came up only once. The interviewer, Abram Sachar, Chancellor of Brandeis University, was friendly and deferential. I charted some of Warren's remarks unrelated to the assassination and found that he was generally unstressed. Sachar raised the subject of the Commission obliquely, and Warren volunteered several rather lengthy statements about it

Warren said that immediately after the assassination there were two theories, one that Khrushchev and Castro were behind the killing, the other that a group of right-wing Texas oilmen were responsible. He said:

"We explored both of those theories for ten months and found no evidence that either of them was involved in it."

The PSE showed hard stress.

He continued:

"... we found no evidence of any kind that there was any conspiracy."

Again there was stress, and particularly hard stress on the words "no evidence."

that have criticized the Commission very severely, but I have never found that they have discovered any evidence of any kind that we didn't discover and use in determining the case as we did."

"I have read everything." said Justice Warren, "that has come to my notice in the

Hard stress once again. The word "never" was a perfectly "trimmed hedge."

"I have found nothing since that time." he continued, "to change my view, nor have I heard of anything that has changed the view of any member of the commission since that time."

The stress was hard. As I had now come to expect, the word "nothing" seemed a particularly beautiful example of stress. Another word seemed to show even more stress: "member." Could he have been thinking of someone in particular? On January 19, 1970, Senator Richard B. Russell, a member of the Warren Commission, revealed that he had never believed that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

I had charted the last of the assassination tapes. Of course, these few thousand feet of recording tape are only a small fraction of the relevant testimony recorded and stored away in the archives of television news departments. There is, for example, Lee Harvey Oswald, as he was led through the Dallas police station, denying that he had killed the President. There are statements by Marina Oswald, Jack Ruby and by others.

I have no doubt that with these tapes, a Psychological Stress Evaluator, and time to work on them, a very detailed picture of the assassination of John F. Kennedy could be reconstructed, a picture that might even reveal the identities of the assassins and their co-conspirators. I hope that sooner or later someone does this. I have gone as far as the private resources of a free-lance writer permit.

What, given the sample of testimony I have processed with the PSE, can I say about the assassination?

We should first examine the testimony in which no stress was found, since it is almost certain that these people were telling the truth as they saw it. This strongly suggests the following:

1. Oswald owned a rifle.

2. A bullet fired from that rifle was found on Governor Connally's stretcher at Parkland Hospital.

3. Bullet fragments alleged to have been found in the presidential limousine also came from Oswald's rifle.

4. At least one eyewitness believes he saw gunsmoke on the grassy knoll, but another is equally certain no shots came from that direction.

5. Oswald shot and killed Officer Tippitt.

6. At least one member of the Warren Commission and one member of the Commission's staff really believe in the validity of the Warren Report.

7. Jim Garrison had little or no case against Clay Shaw.

Almost all of this tends to support, in one way or another, the Warren Report. But now

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 above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 295 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.