"3 Q n Phone (Area 203) §44-6000 ha 10 11 12 WARD & PAUL 13 14 15 16 ‘1? 18 19 20 21 Re 25 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 24 25 so -- Senator Mondale.. Would you agrse that it would not be a proper basis for an investigation for the FBI or any other government official to bs concerned about the success of tha negro movement? more | In other words, that. is not a valid -- Mr. Adams. I have no problem. senator Mondale. All right. So let us take the one ground that appears to have justified the investigation of Dr. King and thé investigation of the women's liberation . movement -- the fear that "dangerous influences might infiltrate thesé organizations." | Suppose itis true. Suppose that a Communist did have influence over Dr. King, or suppose an SDS member infiltrated and became a dominant influence in a chapter of the women's liberation movement and you established it as a fact. What would you do? | Assuming that we can't get into this harassing and so on, you agree that that no longsr has any validity. So what? What do you have? . Mr., Adams. We have potential violations which might arise, which rarely come to fruition and haven't for many years, but we do have an intelligence responsibility under an : . the directives from the President and the Attorney General. - That is, with a revolutionary group, like the Communist Party NW 55086 Docld: 32989543 Page 110
Q M Phone (Area 202) 544-6000 uw raw) Gt 10 11 12 13 WARD & PAUL 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 Re 25 RA 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 25 20 1834}. has taken over control of a domestic group and ths Communist Party is operated by the Soviet Union. We would furnish that information as we do. Every copy of our reports goes to the - Department of Justice. _ . 1.2 | Ls Sanator Mondale. “Right. But r just want to get the King case because as I understood, he was being investigated for the reason that it was feared that a Communist or Communists who were suspected of being Communists, or known to be Communists, were gaining. influence over him. Suppose you established that. What present use or need is there for that information? Mr. Adams. I feel that the President, the Attorney Ganeral, the Executive Branch, needs to know the extent of a foreign-directed Communist organization, its influence and effect on the United States of America. Senator Mondale. All right. So if such information is valid and an investigation to seek it are necessary, is there any limit on ths investigative authority of the FBI? We have just heard about the women's liberation movement where we were fearful that’ New Left, SDS types might have an influence. That justified that investigation. We now have your statement that we were fearful that some Communists might have influence over Dr. King, and therefore, he was thoroughly investigated. | ot Are there any limits.then on who can be investigated? NW 35086 Docld: 32989543 Page iii
ty* t Phone (Area 202) 544-6000 fon) nw 10 ll 12 13 WARD & PAUL 14 15 16 1? 18 19 20 eal 235 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 24 25 ‘99° Mr. Adams. Well, the only limits are that we must relates it to a statutory basis of one of the Presidential guidelines we have or the criteria we have, which criteria are receiving scrutiny at the present time by Congress. They have in the past by the~ Department of Justice, and this is the area of guidelines. This whole area of domestic security is what we need guidelines in. | Senator Mondale. Right. And: you would agree, we talked about this earlier, that being a Communist is not a crime, Mr. Adams. No, it has not been a crime. | Senator Mondale. So that the whole basis for this has .to apparently stem from a Presidential directive, you think has’ tasked you’ to do this. Mr. Adams. Yes. Senator Mondale. Just a few other points. In 1970, 11/6/70, a telegram from Newark to the Director want forth proposing that the following telegram be sent: "Word received, Food donated to party by anti-liberation white pigs contained poison. ‘Symptoms: cramps, diarrhea, severe stomach pains.. Destroy all food donated for convention suspected of poison. | "However, still required to meet your quota. Signed, Ministry of Information." And this was a telegram that was ‘to be sent from Oakland, California to the Jersey City, New Jersey headquarters. The ” NW 55086 Docld: 32989543 Page 112
“I _F Q n Phone (Area 202)'544-6000 _ 10 11 12 13 WARD & PAUL 4 15 16 1? 18, 19 20 21 22 23 24 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 25 % 1836 telegram went on further. It is suggested that the Bureau then consider having the laboratory treat fruit, such as oranges, with mild laxative type drug by hypodermic needle or other appropriate method and ship fruit as a donation from a fictitious person in Miami. to the Jersey City headquarters. The answer then from the Director of the FRI: "The Bureau cannot authorize the treating of fruit to be shipped to Jersey City because of lack of control over the treated eruit in. transit. However, Newarks's proposed telegram regarding food collected for the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention has merit." How did you ever get to a point like that? Mr, Adams. I don't know. What was the response from Newark and then the final answer taken? Senator Mondale. It was turned down because they couldn't control transit, but they thought it was a good idea. Do you think that's a good idea? Mr. Adams. No, I don't. [I think that --~ Senator Mondale. How did we ever get to the point that this kind of insane suggestion violating everyone's civil liberties based on government-sponsored fraud? How does anyone ever consider something like that? Mr. Adams. I don't know. & "+e ena Senator Mondale. One final point. When we interviswed one of your former amployess, he MW 35066 Docld: 32989543 Page 113
iQ Phone (Area 208), 544-6000 i. co 10 11 12 WARD & PAUL 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 . | @ 25 > 13. 1837 referred to something I never heard of before called a no- contact list. He did it jokingly because he said when the Pope agreed to see Martin tuther. King, he was sure hé would be put on. the no-contact list thereafter. aa Can you tell mé-what.that list is? Mr. Adams. Not in any specific detail: I know that at oné time there was a, there would be a list that if an agent interviewed an individual and this individual created a storm or a ruckus and we didn't want some other agent stumbling out thers and interviewing the same person, that we would make Sure that they were aware of the fact that further contacts 6£ this individual would result in a problem. Senator Mondale. All right. Now on 6/24/71, ina memo to Clyde Tolson, it refers to a conference on 8/26/71 with certain -- it looks Like about 10 members of the FBI. And this is what it says: "Pursuant to your instruction,. members of the conference were briefed concerning: recent attempts by various newspapers and reporters to obtain information about or from FBI personnel. Members were specifically advised that there would be absolutely no conversations with or answers from any of ths representatives of the Washington" -- something. Oh here, from the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, “CBS and BC. "The only acceptable answer to such inquiries is no NW 3.5086 Docld: 32989583 Page i114
' Gomment.” Now Senator Huddleston sarlier asked about efforts to Phone (Area 293) 544-6000 influence newspapers and media outlet. Does this trouble you, a decision not to answer questions from certain selected media outlets? Mr. Adams. It is not the policy today. I think this has been aired in the past. There was a period of time . wherein Mr. Hoover, in reacting to criticism from some of these. newspaper men, where he felt he hadn't been given a fair shake, or for some other reason, that he felt that they should be told no comment, and he instructéd they be told no comment. The motivations I am not in a position to discuss, but WARD & PAUL. I can tell you that there has been no such policy in ths last several years that I know ‘of. ’ Senator Mondale. TE you could submit for us, if you can find it, the no-contact list, I would appreciate that. I have some other questions I will submit for the record, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman. Very well. I just have one final follow-up question on Senator Mondale's interrogation. | I continue to be somewhat fascinated by how Long these _investigations go, and when, if ever, they are stopped. Apparently they never coms out of the files, whatever is ppa e . . . +e 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 found. But Senator Mondale raised the point of a suspicion that in the Martin Luther King case, an advisor, he was % NW 55006 Docld: 32989543 Page 115
g - 1839 $ gsh 10 1 getting advics from a person who had or was thought to have a ; e g 2 Communist leanings. 3 5 And so without using the name, because we are trying to i 4 protect privacy as we conduct this investigation a Bi 5 ‘ Mr. Adams. I think we have a little more problem than 6 that, too, Senator. - | ? The Chaizman. ‘I am just using a Mister X in place of 8 the name. What I am trying to. get at is when the Bureau, 9 what the criteria is for pursuing an investigation, for LO pursuing the matter, and this is the kind of a statement that ll || ieaves' me so perplexed. This has to do with a reply to the J Pe] . é 12) new vork office by. the Bureau here in Washington. 6 . © < 13 “ The part I read to you is as follows: 14 a "The Bureau does not agree with the expressed belief 15 of the New York office that Mr. X is not sympathetic to the 16 | Party cause. While there may not be any direct evidence that 17 | Mr. X is a Communist, neither. is there any substantial 18 || evidence that he is anti-Communist." 19 And so the directions are to continue the investigation 20 of this matter. And in cases of this kind, do you pursue al the investigation until. you prove the negative? 22 || | Mr . Adams. No. I believe in that particular cass, if £5 || it is the one I am thinking about, that there was evidence 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 24 || that at one time he had-been a Communist and that there was 25 | a. question of whether the office felt -- well, it's like we NW 55086 Docld: 32989543, Page 116 |
a Phone (Area 202) 544-6000 WARD & PAUL 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 | MW 35066 11 12 13 14 (15 16 1? 18° 19 20 22 235 25 1840 have had some situations where a person comes out and publicly disavows their former leanings. | | Do you take them at words right away after they have been engaged in violent activities, or do you wait until - you determine that they really have carried through the dis- avowed practice? ~ | . That's a gray area. This one seems like on the wording itself, would seem like an extreme philosophy, leaning towards averyons has to prove in the united States they are not a Communist, and I can assure that is not a policy of the Bureau and does not fit into the oriteria of our genéral investigative matters. I just ‘feel that thers is mors to it than just that brief paragraph. The Chairman. That particular Kind of philosophy has kept up in our life from time to time. I remember during the days of McCarthyism in this country, we came very close to the point where people had to prove that they were: not now or had never been a Communist in order to establish them- selves as patriotic citizens. , Me Adams. That's right. That's trus. The Chairman. And when I see standards of this kind. or criteria of this kind emarging, it worries me very much. I have no further questions. I want to thank you both. If thers-are no further. questions, I want to thank Docld: 323689546 Page Liv
1841 12 you both for your testimony this morning. It has. been very helpful to the Committee, and the Committee will stand adjourne Q a Phone (Area 202) 544-6000 until: 2:00. *. We will stand adjourned in, public session. Our next public sassion will be 2:30 tomorrow afternoon for purposes of press questioning on the assassination report. (Whereupon, at 1:07 o'clock p.em., the Committee adjourne to reconvene at 2:30 o'clock p.m., Thursday, November 20,. 9 | 4975.) 10 11 12 13 WARD & PAUL 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Al 22 25 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 24 a . e 25 WwW 55086 Doocld: 32989543 Page 116 oe So ee _ a ee ee