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.

Open the PDF at page 9 Original source ↗

“Nevers”14 pages

  • p. 167 …mysterious autopsy photographs which the Warren Commission never saw—do they support the Commission's lone…
  • p. 169 …The Kent State incident had never been fully cleared up. But one subject seemed to loom…
  • p. 170 …I worked there years and never saw or heard any-suggesting the Agency was involved assassination…
  • p. 171 …There was occasional stress, but it never reached the high level I was finding in the…
  • p. 172 …The bullets never gained perfectly intact, as the one found the stretcher, they became twisted lumps…
  • p. 173 …The word "never" was a perfectly "trimmed hedge." "I have found nothing since that time." he…
  • p. 206 …and documents were destroyed through some catastrophe never resumed business or were permanently closed down within…
  • p. 250 …mysterious autopsy photographs which the Warren Commission never saw—do they support the Commission's lone…
  • p. 252 …The Kent State incident had never been fully cleared up. But one subject seemed to loom…
  • p. 253 …I worked there three years and never saw or heard anying suggesting the Agency was involved…
  • p. 254 …There was occasional stress, but it never reached the high level I was finding in the…
  • p. 255 …The bullets never mained perfectly intact, as the one found in the stretcher; they became twisted…
  • p. 256 …The word "never" was a perfectly "trimmed hedge." I have found nothing since that time." he…
  • p. 291 …Union member on 21 February 1968 but never shipped out. His Social Security Number is 562…
# CONFIDENTIAL

(i) Addis Ababa-1027, dated 18 August 1971; source (JEPYX-1) entertained Hosea Williams in his home during latter's visit to Ethiopia. Incidental reference to the Subject; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6).

62 Dispatches: uFQT-16828, 15 June 66-05 Referral b1 (OGA1) b3

(a) OELA-48626, dated 19 January 1968; forwards a memorandum prepared by (Rufus F. Rodigast) which deals with MHALPHA-related individuals; incidental reference to the Subject; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6).

(b) FJTA-53902, dated 29 January 1968; forwards a pamphlet (which also contains an article mentioning Dr. King's name) from BEHEIREN Hqs. in Tokyo, obtained by (POFRAGRANCE) a unilateral source still active and sensitive; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6).

(c) OEPA-982, dated 15 March 1968; forwards a copy of recent correspondence between (QRPHONE/1) and (QRPEONY/1). Incidental reference to the Subject; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6).

(d) OEPA-1058, dated 17 April 1968; contains operational information submitted by the Station concerning (RODIGAST); contains an incidental mention of the name Dr. Martin Luther King; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6).

(e) OEPA-1097, dated 29 April 1968; is a report by (RODIGAST) on SNCC activities in Paris in the aftermath of the Dr. King assassination; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6).

(f) HMMA-34688, dated 20 May 1968; contains items from (LIBIGHT/LIMUD) a sensitive teletap and mail intercept operation coverage; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6).

(g) FJTA-54934, dated 31 July 1968; Americans Invited to Leftist Conference in Japan. (POFRAGRANCE/1) a unilateral source still active and sensitive provided the information; exempt under (b)(3)(a) and (b)(6). Note: An extensive search has failed to locate the attachment for this document. The covering dispatch makes no mention of Dr. King or his assassination.

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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.