MEMO:TELEPHONE CONVERSATION W/KENNETH BROOTEN, FORMER ASST. COUNSEL HSCA
Originator: CIA
From: CUMMINS. OLC
To: THE RECORD
Document date: 1977-05-16 00:00:00
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

# DOCID-32370190

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104-10147-10128

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CIA

CUMMINS. OLC

THE RECORD

MEMO: TELEPHONE CONVERSATION W/KENNETH BROOTEN, FORMER

ASST.

COUNSEL HSCA

05/16/1977•

1

SUBJECTS : BROOTEN, K.

DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER

CLASSIFICATION : CONFIDENTIAL

RESTRICTIONS :

3

CURRENT STATUS : RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW

: 07/22/93

COMMENTS

:JFK60 : F4: 1993.07.22.17:26:16:780360

Heleased under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection Act of

1992 (44 USC 2107 Note). Case#:NW

65924 Date: 10-26-2021

IRI - ITEM IS RESTRICTED

104-10147-10128

NW 65924 Docld:32370190 Page 1

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CONFIDENTIAL

OLG NECORD COPY

OLC 77-1971

16 May 1977

INd- BRooteN

HSCA

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

77-0041

SUBJECI: Telephone Conversation with Mr. Kenneth Brooten, Former

Assistant Counsel, House Select Committee on Assassinations

(HSCA)

1. On 11 May 1977, the Office of Legislative Counsel received a

telephone call from the office of Representative Henry Gonzalez

(D., Texas) asking that this office contact Mr. Brooten, who is now

practicing law in Florida. It was stated that he had information of

interest about the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

undersigned responded to this request but was unable to reach Mr.

Brooten until this date, since he was out of town.

2. I reached Mr. Brooten in his office in Florida and identified

myself to him as representing the Office of Legislative Counsel of the

CIA.

I reminded him of the last time we had met in December 1976 when he

still a member of the HSCA staff.

He said that he recalled that

meeting.

Mr. Brooten stated that he had been receiving "dribbles of

information"

', which he termed as third hand and hearsay, indicating to him

that someone

who purported to represent CIA was making general inquiries

about the modus operandi of Mr. Richard A. Sprague, the former Chief

Counsel of the HSCA.

When I learned the intent of his call, I asked

Mr. Brooten for his permission to have my secretary monitor the conver-

sation so that we could have an accurate transcript. He agreed to this.

The purpose of his contacting us was to offer his views on how Sprague

and his people had operated in the past and would operate in the future.

I declined his offer.

When I mentioned that Mr. Sprague was no longer

with the Committee, Brooten answered most emphatically by saying Sprague

"hired most of the people on that staff except me." I responded that

the HSCA was George Cary's and my account and that I knew nothing about

any such inquiries nor would I even know why such questions would be

asked.

3. We ended the conversation on a pleasant note and I tried to

leave the impression with him that we would not be contacting him further

on this matter.

Chief, Coordination and Review Staff

Office of Legislative Counsel

Distribution:

E. L MeDEr ci ensigner

Wriginal - OLC Subject 1 - OLC Chrono 1 - Asst. to DDCI (Lou Lapham)

1 - OGC (Morrison) 1 - SA/DO/0 (Katrosh)

1 - Dir/OS

1 - 16 (Leade 2 2 2 1 3

OLC: DTC: hms

NW 65924 Docld:32370190

(16 May 1977)

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CONFIDENTIAL

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