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.

non by the U.S.

The claim that Oswald's rifle was in the Texas School Book Depository. The claim that bullet hulls matching old's rifle were found in the same place. The claim that one gunman was seen "Oswald window" of the Dallas Book sitory.

The claim that two gunmen were seen window.

The claim that a gunman was seen different window of that building. Another claim that no shots came from assy knoll, and a claim by the witness saw the gunsmoke on the knoll that so heard a shot from that direction. A claim by a Dallas policeman that he nor Officer Tippitt knew Oswald. The claim by the pathologist—the in Commission's only source of inform about the autopsy—that the X-rays autopsy photographs support his test before the Commission.

the claim by a member of the Warren mission that there was nothing frauduout the Warren Report.

The claim by Earl Warren that the mission found no evidence of a cony; that none of the Warren Report's ever found anything the Commission issued; that he had found nothing since blication of the Report to change his and that he knew of no Commission er. who had ever changed his mind their conclusions.

indicates deception, an interesting and unexpected possibility emerges:

Oswald was involved in some way in the assassination, if only as a fall guy. Some of the Dallas police force may have been involved, planted the evidence that implicated Oswald, and covered up the fact that there was a conspiracy. The medical examiner believed his own testimony to the Warren Commission, but later had doubts. The Commission found evidence of a conspiracy but didn't believe it, so they covered it up in order to present a tidy package to the public. Later, at least one member of the Commission changed his mind, but since he didn't know what really did happen, he decided to say nothing. So there was conspiracy in Dallas, and in Washington nothing worse than blundering.

I could say all this with certainty if I knew that stress always equals deception. Unfortunately, I do not know that. But the PSE analysis of the assassination tapes has generated a staggering amount of fresh doubt regarding the Warren Report. This doubt rises not only from specific points the PSE has called into question, but from the very sinister implications of the very existence of deception among policemen, government officials and Commission members. The question remains: did such deception exist or was the stress found by the PSE the result, in every case, of an outside issue?

the PSE and cannot be cross-checked by a structured interrogation, some probability must be accepted that this stress is caused by an outside issue. No study has yet been conducted to establish what this probability might be, but let us pick, for the sake of discussion, a figure that may seem ridiculously high—70 percent. In other words, we are assuming that 70 percent of the times the PSE finds stress in testimony, it results from something other than lying.

Now, let's ignore the deception indicated in the testimony of the eyewitnesses; even if present, it might have resulted from mere desire for attention. That leaves eight "insiders" who have demonstrated stress when making statements supporting the Warren Report: the Dallas policemen Hill, Jacks, Jackson and Weitzman; the medical examiner, Captain Humes; Commission staffer Wesley Liebler; Commission member John McCloy; former Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Assuming that there is a 70 percent chance that any single instance of stress is "outside issue," what is the probability that all eight instances are due to factors other than deception? Elementary probability theory tells us that it is seven-tenths raised to the eighth power, or approximately 6 percent.

In other words, even making some fairly conservative assumptions, there is a 94 percent chance that at least one of these eight men is lying.

My own personal opinion? I don't know. I remember the young man with the ring. He said he was wearing it, and he was, but he stressed. He stressed not because he was lying, but because there was something about that ring that really bothered him, something he didn't want the world to know. Perhaps that is also true of these men who, in one way or another, learned some part of the truth about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

I suppose I'm not absolutely sure even of that. When I first met Bob Smith of the Committee, I asked him if there was any one thing the government could do to clear up the mystery. Yes, he replied, the one thing that would help more than anything else would be to make available the physical evidence the detailed FBI lab reports, the X-rays and autopsy photographs, the microscopic slides, the bloodstained clothing, yes, even the President's brain, wherever it has been hidden. These things, he said, would go far toward answering the questions about what actually happened that day in Dallas. Maybe they would even confirm the Warren Report.

So when I say I'm not absolutely certain these men are concealing something, I mean I can think of something that could conceivably change my mind. That is, if the government would open all its files on this matter to us and prove that we are wrong we, the people who ten years later still believe we haven't yet heard the full account of the events of November 22, 1963.

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.