ca eo, * t & = ra o OPTIONAL 7ORM NO. 10 - 5010-106 MAY 1962 EDITION GSA GENGREG. U0. 27 ” UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT L-Mr. J. B. Adams Assoc. Din oa 2 ~“ Mr. J e A. Mintz Dep. AD | eA Memorandum Cee Ae ee cist ed a VA - 1 - Mr. W. R. Wannall Comp, Syst — To =: Mr. W. R. Wnihelt yee pate: 10/20/75 Files & Com — 1 + Mr. W. O. Cregar pens Inve —— Ins pegtjon ROM : W. . pes ede Laboratory Plan. & Eval. ’ P ALL INVORMATION Con Spec. Inv. 4tef suspect: “SENSTUDY 75 ; HEROIN 18 Yt a a roy . DATE Legal Coun oad aaa x Telephone Rin. — MN le Dicectgrgec’ y — a2 aed Attached letter to the Attorney General responds p.~ to request received from Department, dated 10/17/75, with reference to a letter from Senator Frank Church, Chairman, Senate Select Committee (SSC), to the Attorney General, dated 10/15/75 (copy also attached). Senator Church's letter, in summary, proposes that SSC Staff conduct interviews with nine FBI confidential sources in connection with activities of the sources on behalf of the FBI in our COINTELPRO operations. The Senator indicated to the Attorney fiscerr that he hoped there would be no objection to such interviews but if objections were evident he desired to be contacted by Tuesday, 10/21/75. This is not a new issue, During August, 1975, SSC Staff Member John T. ELLiIff proposed interviews of this type which were objected to on the principde of the FBI's yf obligation to protect the confidentiality of our relationshipy # with any source whether that confidentiality be implied It a expressed. The Director, at that time, strongly supportéd~ )” this princip&e of confidentiality and the issue was take the Attorney General. At a conference between the Attorney General and Senator Church on the evening of 8/14/75, it was greed that the Committee would attempt a Limited number of | finterviews of individuals whose identities and/or relationship A fwith the FBI had been protected, However, as a condition precedent to such interviews, the FBI was to be allowed to contact such individuals to inform them of the proposed interview and to determine whether each would be receptive atic such an interview, Senator Church concurred in this \s arrangement; however, subsequently on 8/18/75, ELLiff advised that Senator Church hagteconsidered his ime with 62-116395 rec 2a V2 / sag 0 hie CONTINUED - OVER EWL:Lhb' (6) _ 15 NOV 171975 Enclosures.sg tf /2-20-2% WB 4:0 BV LRIMG.000591 rage 15
Memorandum to Mr. W. R. Wannall Re: Senstudy 75 62-116395 Attorney General to the aforementioned procedures as a result of persuasion by SSC Staff. ELLiff, at that time, indicated a letter recording Senator Church's change of attitude had been drafted, To date, no such formal acknowledgement has been received and no interviews have been attempted in the interim. . By his most recent communication, 10/15/75, Senator Church again raises this issue. Although he does note that the matter was originally discussed with the Attorney General "some weeks ago," he makes no mention of the agreement with the Attorney General at that time. Apparently, as some sort of precedent, he does cite the fact that the FBI did make available for use and interview the names of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) personnel who coo énated with the FBI in certain COINTELPRO activities. We do not consider this action on our part to be a concession with respect to confidentiality of sources since we specifically stipulated that we considered IRS personnel to be U. S. Government officials acting in their apacity as such., OBSERVATIONS : Obviously, the SSC has not given up on this issue, It is just as obvious that no valid issues have arisen which should cause us to modify the position taken by the Director and the Attorney General concerning the confidentiality, implied or expressed, of our relationships with sources cooperating with the FBI. CONTINUED ~ OVER Docld: 32989534 Page 155
Memorandum to Mr, W. R. Wannall Re: Senstudy 75 62-116395 RECOMMENDATION : That the attached letter to the Attorney General be approved recording our strong protest to the proposed action by the SSC, 7, ny i ., a 55077 Docld: 32969534 Page 156 > _ _
e MUUIF A, MART, Ieich. HOWARD H, BAKER, J., TENAL _ . . : * WALTER Ff, MONODALE, MINN. BARRY GOLDWATER, ANIZ. . WALTER D, RUDOLLSTON, KY. CHARLES MCC. MATHIAS, JI, MD. . ROBERT MENGLN, HC, RICHARD.4. SCHWEIKER, PAs -. £ ete tee ot an chav sant exe : Mintled Slates Senate” OE ae « yn. 20 cHURCits IDavo, CHAIRMAN * . . . a ; 1 r . J0HN'G, TOWE™ TEXAS, VICE CHAINMAN - _ my WILLIAM G. MILLER, STAPF DIRECTOR FREDERICK A. O, SCHYIARZ, JR., CHIEF COUNSEL, ‘ Dear Mr.’ Attorney General: CUATIS %. SMOTHERS, MINORITY COUNSEL SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH . . “RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES : ° - . COURSUANT ‘To 5. RES. 21, ITH CONGRESS) WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510 6 . October 15, 1975 oe | ryoLy ae The Honorable ‘Edward H. Levi. oe Attorney General “OT ve U.S. Department of Justice: ceamox coma 7 Washington, D.C. 20530 _ suo srr | G16) SI 490 WAND ASF 130 39 aN gaalgoal W The Select Committee is presently investigating the. activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation carried on as part of the COINTELPRO program. We appreciate the cooperation of the FBI and the Justice Department in | making materials available to us in this area. However, one problem remains to be resolved. The Committee believes its staff must contact and interview certain persons wno received information from the FBI in the- course: of. COINTELPRO operations. The FBI has withheld the names of such persons from the Committee's use on the grounds that . they were FBI "sources" ; nN ‘ ‘ The Committee wishes to stress that it is not inter-_ ested in ‘questioning these persons about any role as a --the FBI. ‘Indeed, in many instances we would not have been "source", but rather as a recipient of information from aware that the individual was a “source"™ had not the FRE excised the namé from the materials delivered to us. Nevertheless, to minimize any incidental. deleterious effects on legitimate FBI operations, the Committee has selected a . very limited number of persons whom we desire to contact HW 545077 and interview, (See attached list and materials.) ° As you will recall, we originally discussed this tiatter with you some weekc age. Since then the Committee has had an opportunity to consider the issue more fully in’: ‘the light of our experience with other investigations. - For’ example, our inquiry into the relationships between the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service clearly showed the poctd:32989534 Page .157 -pyeLOsUKE fH - 2 bs 9s" 03% ew Ate ee em Anennininriralye ee dessins tre ety 9 wervee |
need to use the names of IRS personnel who cooperated with the FBI in certain COINTELPRO activities. Those names ‘were made available to us for our use. - As I am sure you can appreciate, what is at stake... here is the investigation of serious breaches of the . security and confidentiality of information obtained by 7 ‘the FBI. Such information was apparently disclosed or "leaked" for the purpose of disruption. The .full extent: of such disclesures in many of the cases, such as the . efforts to discredit Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is still ‘unknown. Surely, it would be imcongruous for an inquiry into these matters to be impaired on the grounds of the FBL's interest in preserving confidentiality. 3: ‘The Committee has a clear mandate .and a firm ‘commit- “-" - ment to investigate allegations that the FBI attempted to ’ harass and discredit individuals. The integrity of this _ investigation depends upon our ability to conduct inter- views without the appearance of outside interference. Therefore, we hope you have no objection to our conducting | the interviews of the persons on the attached list, but. if. you do, please contact me by LL. October 21. S neerely., Frank Church . . Cea. oe ae ji Chairman Toe. ee HW 55077 DoctId: 32989534