124-10274-10038 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION | Washington, D.C, 20535 Tn Reply, Please Refer : October 15, 1975 _ SECRET UNITED STATES SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES (SSC) RE: INTERVIEW OF FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) SPECIAL AGENT HOMER W. SCHWEPPE BY. SSC STAFF MEMBER JAMES DICK On September 23, 1975, after a short orientation discussion and after advising him of his rights under the Constitution and reminding him that his appearance was voluntary, SSC Staff Member James Dick interviewed FBI Special Agent Homer W. Schweppe in the presence of SSC stenotypist Susan Hanback regarding his knowledge of \ the following: The "Hunter Project," "Bureau Informant 200," "the SAM Survey," "Z Coverage," and opening of mail by FBI employees. ; ao . At the outset Dick asked Schweppe to document his FBI service. Schweppe responded by listing the following: Assignments in San Francisco from late 1946 to mid -1947; in Los Angeles from mid-1947 to mid-1951; at FBI Headquarters (FBIHQ) from May, 1951, to May, 1958, and again from late 1960 to November, 1961; in the Washington Field Office (WFO) of the FBI from May, 1958, on, except for the 1960 to 1961 period just cited. During the course of the interview Schweppe was also asked to indicate the nature of his assignments at FBIHQ, He indicated he was assigned for the main part to units within the Domestic Intelligence Division dealing with Soviet military attache personnel and with members of Elizabeth Bentley's “espionage ring." This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and ifs contents are not te be i d outside your agency, - SECRET Classified by #7366 _ Exempt from GDS, Category 2 ' Date of Declassification Indefinite 6a Wesgc. (6 2D. ENCLOSURE
'- gonsisting, to the best’ of his recollection, of names of . - my ‘what were presumed to bé Soviet residents as well as' addresses - -"4n the Soviet Union, Schweppe indicated that.he had seen - | ' to the type of cases being supervised by Schweppe at the _.’ addresses of interest should be flagged for what was .. presumed to-be.a "watch ist" of some.sort... — (CTA}in connection with, the Faunter Project." ' offered as an exhibit for review a copy of a February Pea —_—e ‘Hunte .4Project.' This ‘memorandum outlined: arrangements to be. ---%:.- ° Jecta) ‘On review of the document,. Schweppe. stated he was certaii © “the basia of the,memg he had a recollection about such =>: | activity by the {CTA.) Schweppe recalled that at some point VET, ESOY | |. prior -to his transfer from FBIBQ in May,.12958, and he = 9+ SL ‘ indicated he felt it must heve been earlier than the. — “his desk. in. the pormal flow of official mail what he referred . ‘with some of the later printouts there were instructions | became aware of the lists'‘mentioned above;. whether he ‘was familiar with FBY Form 5-88, a form prepared for’ placing . - . the results of: the CIA monitoring;) and whether. he hed OT ae . e . . seeet ‘ ° . 78 . . ™ . - “os ok an se. ‘ whee .™ . a . . . . . . , ° A ores ote - . . . ae soy ew fe oe oe ft ‘ woe . o 4s . an oo . . . . =e . . ‘a . veo. wf > . . ’ ° . . bd . . . . an . a . et eee > ‘ «° . a e . . . ° . " . ‘ . . . . a . . . . . . . . "2 4 ory a 2 . . . 7 . | U.8, 880 ON INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES... ©.” SECRET. = 06 *: 42 oe eo +” Diek*’s initial inquiry,was directed. to thesextent ...-” of Schweppe's knowledge of the /‘Hunter- Project J" . When a : Schweppe. conceded he was. not familiar with the”term, Dick. e¢ 1958, memgrandum dirscted to Director Hoover entitied . ted between the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency. yo “pegardi: he manner in which the FBI would be proyided’ - \P) sults of (CIA's monitoring of certain overseas mail JAC | er ree ne had ever seen that memo; but he acknowledged: that on. *. February 8, 1958, date indicated sbove, he had pass across to as the modern day version of computer printout lists several such lists but since they did not ssem ‘applicable .— - time, he paid them little-heed. He recalled that.at least. accompanying theprintouts to the effect that: names and/or "Dick: asked ‘specifically when Schweppe first ‘ “7 a request.on the “wateh list"; whether he had seen any of é Cvs) seen. any: réproduction of correspondence photographed by “SFE GIB) ae
* ; * soe . rots a . . ry . . : . . ec « ° fe 4 co’ . ! . . .° . : . voy { - : “G ey ~ . , . . e i ef er? .- a . 3 ’ . oe = ¢ . ot . . . "oot : . oo a rand vO . .  * . . ; ve * “a . _ oa . : 5 ‘oo, . 7° . . e : ey e - . * wai ssc Ow iNTeLLIGRNCE ACTIVITIES a _ SBORET ae a 7 ‘Schweppe - replied that he > thought the. lists a ao lie’ mentioned earlier probably were seen by him. before . - . February,: 1958, but he acknowledged he ‘could not: recall - exactly when.:. He said he vould ‘not now recall ever having. seen FBI Form. 5-88, “He. replied that, since’ he. felt he bad — néver placed a name or address on. the. "watch. list," he . would not. have any specific results: routed:. ‘to ‘his: personal - | attention, He added, however, that if the results wore .° wouted to. all supervisors concerned with Soviet intelligence -. and related. matters, -he probably did. see such results ..— :- . and routinely initialed the accompanying routing slips. oy - He said. he vould: recall no specific pCIA fréselts" if,in | Backs he ‘did see anything ‘specific. sea a oe . ’ Dick anked whether Schweppe. was aware. of, who designated the routing ‘of the lists he had seen, -and. Schweppe | responded. that ‘he assumed ‘it was some, individual . ‘in the office of ‘the'division’s Assistant Director who perforned such an. administrative function, Schweppe. said” he did not recall a Miss Triplett (phénetic),. who, according to-Dick, was responsible for routing the. “Bunter . . Project" material to appropriate supervisors. Schweppe oo SO : . > said he could have been included i in such. routing because ee ) so of. bis. assignment . Te S, ; 4 kn, ne oe “ Dick ‘then queried Schweppe ¢ on. his familiarity 7: -with the term "Burgau Informant 200" (BI 200),:wher be . | ' first became aware of the term,.and whether he ever. aan 5 any of the material attributed to that informant. In — this connection Dick exhibited. another FBIHQ-memo dated - - February 6, 1958,:which referred to BI 200 as ‘the. designation ' -ysed by FBIHQ to forward: fn field officeg.information ', pveesived: from[CIAJunder the ]Hunter Project.” Schweppe was unable to recall exactly-when he first becamé avare - of the use ‘and. identity of BI' 200, but he sgsumed it was in early 1958. He said he could récall seeing information attributed: to BI 200: both while at FBIHQ and. in WFO but that he could no longer re¢ali the specific nature. of the items involved, He ‘séid he ‘presumed that all.of then |. dealt with Soviet-related' investigatory matters, . Schweppe ° " gaid hé did not believe he has seen any references. to ' BY 200 in the past 15 years or so and that he may have seen: as “many as five references, a year before shat. mo, Sgro 0S SRGRET ap ~ Py Pee eo
: . ‘ = ; “ 7 . a ‘ 4 a Dick also qu of the "SAM. Survey" (SAM) and "Z Coverage" (Z). “He —~ » - asked Schweppe whether he knew when "SAU". and -"Z" were = initiated, whet they consisted of, when they ceased, when he first ‘became awere.of them, and whether he had seen -.' gmy results of those projects. Schweppe replied that . , - "SAU" ‘and | "Z" were, on @ need=to-know basis within WFO but _ ‘that he in time heard about them through office “shop. ' talk" and then concluded: that those designations indicated — . ' ; projects in which mail to and/or: from the Soviet Union and — ' ‘Soviet bloc countries was_.monitored,” He said he did. .. not: know . terminate when those projects. were initiated or when they. - d. He said that he would have to guess within a’ - “. tolerance of twoor three years that he first‘heard of. those © “projects on from t in the early 1960s. Schweppe said he-was.called = - ime to tine to translate correspondence in German, |. which correspondence had besa: photographed by some’ source — not identified initially. Schweppe suggested. ‘that.on later =~ dnquiry. about the soures. of the correspondence he was - .. informed. unable to it.was possible that word was. just “passed along" to that =. it was either from:."SAM" or "Z," He ‘said he was" recall specifically who so advised him. He felt... 1 effect. He could ‘not. -récal] whether each specific individual. ' item was _.to tis it _ all such . at the So identified in a particular, special manner 60 as’ in to‘its source, . Schweppe stated that he. believes . : ‘material translated. by him was directed to officials. viet and/or Soviet bloc embassies in Washington, . - D. C., and not to any hon-diplomatic personnel, .Such —_- . translation requiremeats were quite infrequent, ani Sckweppe - . was not called-on to translate any. such material within — - |.‘ (thé past * eight or ten years; to the be t:of his recollection. © ‘Schweppes said it was his. impression that "SAM". a ‘ga New York City. was handled in space at one or the other - of New: York's airports,. He said hé-was. unaware of the ~ .. ‘specific arrangements in Washington, D:.C, .He related that’ _-he, was aware that, FBI Special Agent John De Bettencourt, ~~". - .gince deceased,- wis directly ‘involved in WFO's “Z Coverage". too, project but that he did not. know specifically ‘to whom De: — ae '- Bettencourt was answerable..: .- ae a : a 7} . éried. Schweppe'about-his-knowledge |
U8. S8¢ CO, INTRLLIGEACE ACTIVITIES . ue SER Dick asked whether ‘Schweppe “was aware of any maa. having been opened by FBI “employees ‘4a ‘situations’ other’ than the projects referred to above. ‘Schweppe, after making. the observation ‘that Federal: law and FBI regulations -. -prohibit such activity,. said he himself had.never opened - anyone’s mail in His capacity as an FBI employee, that he never observed any other FBI employée so engaged, and- ‘that wae he personally was not .aware: of any spécific instances in- “whieh that might have happened. At ‘this point Schweppe ' related that while he was assigned to the Los Angeles Office, he suspected that. a female employee, whose name he. ao “gould not recall, might possibly ‘have been: ‘engaged in. the . surreptitious opening of other people's mail because of. the suspicicus nature of her actions at certain times, Schweppe added that. these were ‘suspicions raised by _ oe _ /eigcumstantial evidence only. ok. ; ° . Dick then presented a hypothetical: situation -da ‘whach agents on duty’ might obtain ‘mail posted ‘by. an” individual and then proceed to open the same and. ‘review “>. the contents. He asked whether. Schweppe was- aware of any yo “2 guch instances, . Schweppe acknowledged that the suggested -. “scenario sounded realistic enough but added ‘thet he » coulda’ recall. no such actual situations. , © Sas . on During the course ‘of the ‘\uterview; ' Scliweppe ‘ indicated that he hed been assigned to Soviet-related, ‘investigatory matters in WFO until early 1959,.after- . which he was assigned ‘to the. handling of German, Latin |’ American, Middle East, .and- Chinese investigatory matters i . Bt Mifferent times, - Y re oo ‘ Schweppe concluded by stating that his ‘inowledge.” - and recollection of the subject. matter constituting the’ . .. basis for the inquiry were ‘weak. ‘He reiterated that he. ot . hever ‘opened any other: person's mail in-his capacity as an. - | FBI employee, that’ he never witnessed any other FBI employes - opening any such mail, and that he cannot recall ever. . being aware’ of any situation in which. mail Was opened. by .: FBI employees, . ‘exclusive of -the- “SAM” and “aN " Projects» ‘ mentioned above. ” This ‘interview commenced about 10: 4s: ‘aeine ». "  : September’ 23; 197, and concluded at about 1:15 Bom, : the sane Gaye : 5a — mon aoe 8