LETTER TO J. W. FULBRIGHT FROM W. E. COLBY RE YOUR LETTER OF 29 OCTOBER 1973 REQUESTING CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING MR. FRANK STURGIS AND MR. EUGENIO R. MARTINES

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 16201958
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: October 23, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2023
• Case Number: F-2021-00923
• Publication Date: December 3, 1973

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UNCLASSIFI D
SECRET
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r INTERNAL � CUIIFIDENTIAL
USE ONLY
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (0000
FROM:
John M. Maury
Legislative Counsel
EXTENSION
NO.
OLC 73-1252/A
4151
DATE
3 December 1973
_
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICERS
INITIALS
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
i .
ER
40/73
...44-
Attached is a proposed reply
for your signature to Senator.
Fulbright responding to questions
he has raised on apparent
discrepancies between Helms'
testimony before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee on
7 February 1973 and. an affidavit
by Mr. Sturgis which is on file
with the courts.
As you recall, you wanted us
to get Helms' views and he has
approved the proposed reply, as
have the DDO, WH and OGC.
Technically, we do not have
official access to the executive
session transcript involved, but
since Fulbrightis letter raises an
issue out of context, Helms has
urged our quotation from the
transcript, which of course is
available to him, in order to nail
this one down hard.
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John M. Maury
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FORM 61 0 USE PREVIOUS r---1 INTERNAL
3-62 EDITIONS Fl SECRET 1-1 CONFIDENTIAL iicr nNiv n UNCLASSIFIED
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OLC 73-1252/A
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
Honorable J. W. Fulbright, Chairman
Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate
Washington, D. C. 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Executive Registry
a DEC 7973
-01737
This is in response to your letter of 29 October 1973 requesting
certain information concerning Mr. Frank Sturgis and Mr. Eugenio R.
Martinez. Your questions and the answers thereto follow:
Question: Was Sturgis active in the Bay of Pigs operation?
Answer: We have no evidence that Mr. Sturgis officially
participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion. Any activities related to the
Bay of Pigs in which Mr. Sturgis may have been engaged were not
directly connected with or authorized by the CIA nor was CIA knowl-
edgeable of any such activities. One of the groups which was supported
by CIA may have had contacts of some nature with Mr. Sturgis, but if
so this is unknown to CIA.
Question: Did he continue clandestinely working for the liberation
of Cuba thereafter, either on behalf of the CIA or with its knowledge,
approval, or acquiescence? If so, what were his activities?
Answer: Any activities in which Mr. Sturgis may have been
engaged subsequent to the Bay of Pigs operation were without the prior
knowledge or the approval or acquiescence of this Agency. Our files
reflect information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation which
indicates that Mr. Sturgis is a soldier of fortune who had participated
in Cuban revolutionary activities for a number of years. Although we
have no knowledge to this effect, Mr. Sturgis may have been in some way
connected with groups with which this Agency maintained a relationship.
if
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Question: Was Martinez engaged in clandestine incursions
into Cuba for many years following the Bay of Pigs invasion? Were
these made on behalf of the CIA or with its knowledge, approval, or
acquiescence?
Answer: Mr. Martinez was recruited by the Agency in
January 1961 in connection with Cuban operations. The project to
which he was assigned was terminated in 1969. I would be glad to
brief you on the details, if you are interested. Subsequently, he was
held on a part-time retainer to report on individuals coming from Cuba
to the Miami area whom he thought could provide information on Cuba
useful to the United States. The last meeting with Mr. Martinez
occurred on 6 June 1972, and the retainer relationship was terminated
by the Agency because of his involvement in the Watergate breakin.
Question: What does Sturgis mean when he says, "I was doing
similar work though Mr. Martinez was working for a different sector
than I was"?
Answer: We do not know what Sturgis means by this statement.
Our files indicate that Mr. Sturgis was friendly with Mr. Martinez,
and he may have been aware that Mr. Martinez was in some way
associated with CIA. However, Mr. Sturgis was not directly engaged
in any activity sponsored, approved or funded by CIA (see above).
Question: What does Sturgis mean when he refers to "my own
situation which involved the Agency's knowledge and approval of my
operations and their indirect financing of them"?
Answer: We do not know what Mr. Sturgis means by this
statement. Mr. Sturgis was not involved in any operation directly
sponsored, approved or funded by CIA (see above).
While it is true that Mr. Martinez had an "agent" relationship
with this Agency prior to the time that he was put on a part-time
retainer, he was never an "employee" of this Agency and was never
under the type of supervision and control associated with a "staff employee"
relationship. It is believed that the distinctions involved were fully
delineated in the questions and answers immediately following the
testimony by Mr. Helms which is quoted in your letter:
2
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"The Chairman. How would you describe him
[Martinez] again, not an employee but on a retainer,
is that what you call him, a consultant or what?
"Mr. Helms. No, sir, in this case I think you
can say that this was a fiduciary relationship, but he
was not an employee on the rolls of the Central
Intelligence Agency.
"The Chairman. How would you describe it.
He was employed by them to provide and give services?
"Mr. Helms. Let me step back just a minute
so we are talking about the same thing. When we refer
to a CIA employee we refer to those who are actually
hired by the Central Intelligence Agency or on our rolls
in Langley and' are considered to be employees of the
government agency.
Then in doing our work in various parts of the
world we are in contact with various people with whom
we set up a fiduciary relationship, either for purposes
of espionage or whatever the case may be. So there is
a distinction between a man who actually is on the
payroll there and is directly under my control and those
that form the network that we run in the world.
"The Chairman. It is someone like in this
committee we have what you call consultants whom we
pay so much a day or week to do certain things but are
not on the regular rolls of the committee, is that true?
"Mr. Helms. That is not a bad analogy.
"The Chairman. This is what I meant when I
said we have those kind of people.
Well now the others--that clarifies what his
rela4onship was and you did cut if off as soon as you
heard about it.
"Mr. Helms. Yes, sir."
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Finally, it should be noted that the testimony by Mr. Helms which
is quoted in your letter is in response to a question relating to a newspaper
article which stated:
"One member of the Watergate team, Ugenio Rolando
Martinez, was an active employee of the Central Intelligence
Agency at the time of the break-in and kept a diary. He
was stricken from the CIA's payroll within a day of his
arrest and the diary was subsequently found by Federal
investigators in the trunk of his car parked at Miami
International Airport." (underscoring supplied)
In this context it seems likely that uppermost in Mr. Helms' mind would
be to stress the point tliat Mr. Martinez was not an activ_e employee of
this Agency at the time of the break-in, but rather was in a part-time
retainer status.
� Please let me know if there is anything further you desire in
the above connection.
Sincerely,
Let W. E. Colby,
W. E. Colby
Director
Distribution:
Original - Addressee
1- DC1,
y - DDCI
1/4/1 - ER
1 - OLC Subject
1 OGC
1 WH
'1 - DDO
OLC/LLM:fmc (3 December 1973), 4
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