2000nn
104-10330-10102
NGY.28.199.
2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992
SECRET
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
==
The Honorable John Raymond Tunheim
Chairman
Assassination Records
Review Board
600 E. Street N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Dear Judge Tunheim:
(C) I have just received informal word of the
decisions the JFK Board made at its 17 November 1997
meeting. Most of the Board's decisions--those relating to
the CIA presence (in Warrenton) CIA's involvement in various
non-governmental organizations, and the details of CIA
funding of the Cuban Revolutionary Council--are very
welcome. I must, however, urge the Board to reconsider its
decision to release documents in a form that would reveal
the Agency's use of State Department cover.
(C) We stand behind the position that we have
presented in writing and in discussions with the Board on
previous occasions. I would welcome an opportunity to have
a senior CIA representative meet with the Board at your
convenience to explain why the Agency considers this
information so sensitive and to answer any questions you may
have. Meanwhile, I offer the following summary of our
fundamental concerns.
7
(S) Effective official cover is necessary to enable
‹ our officers to work overseas in often hostile and volatile
environments. Official cover also enables the Agency to
conduct its business with allied liaison services in
_ countries where host governments would find it politically
unacceptable to acknowledge a cooperative relationship with;
the Central Intelligence Agency. In all such settings,
State Department cover is critically important because its
use affords our officers the rights and privileges set forth
in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic and Consular
Immunity--diplomatic immunity, in particular. Indeed, the
effectiveness of the Agency's use of State Department cover
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26.1997 12:52PM
NO.226
SECRET
Judge Tunheim
clearly illustrates the purpose behind the Director's
statutory obligation to protect intelligence methods from
unnecessary and inappropriate disclosure.
(S) No other cover mechanism can provide our officers
the operational utility and personal security that State
(Department cover does. Achieving effective cover requires
that our officers be fully integrated into 'State Department
entities, offices, and functions. Our officers are¨¨¨
routinely assigned State Department duties to make it harder
for hostile services and others who might try to harm or.
expose our officers to identify them as Agency employees.
Official acknowledgment of even the fact of Agency use of
State Department cover would increase dramatically the risks
that both Agency officers and our State Department
colleagues encounter in serving US interests around the
world.
(S) State Department cover continues to be an
important intelligence method. Its use is undiminished
since the 1960s, and it will remain essential for the.
foreseeable future. I urge the Board to reconsider its
recent decision insofar as it concerns the Agency's use of
State Department cover, In this regard, we will be
forwarding a more comprehensive memorandum addressing the
damage issue prior to the next Board meeting, and we would
also like to offer the Board the opportunity for a personal
appearance by a senior CIA representative should that be
appropriate.
Sincerely,
David W. Cam
David W. Carey
SECRET