ARMY IN '68 FEARED CIVIL 'INSURGENCY'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300320035-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: March 1, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 20011031Y~,g CI gARDP80-01 61 R0
i;i; Among the ez. enlen s
S '+l S()~fj i i r L~,tl the annex set out i'stibversive,
(-, ~f ~.~ ~ry * Potntlrlg up the high-level in-[ element, it cover find dccep-' Y I '~ Pitt i?ij tcre,L, fire intelligence z+nnexf? tior+ cffarts in civil clistnrhs?I,res
d
a plan
rawn strikes or labor 71 11-1 - i 1t ti g t i +T( 73 up by a group that was chaired and civil disturbances of suffi-
1 by Under Secretary of the Army dent magnitude to indicate a
s ta.,1 ~, ;le,f t{ ' a a ' probable esuplaynicnL ofpFed-
Da vid E. McGiffer t and includdd
War- oral trop s to preserve or re-
t)INCIiVe I.J nks Surveillance
of Civilians to .Of'iicE;l's'
Wal,11 t10 on Dissenters
By r ICHAIiu FJALLORAN
VAS I I INGTON, Feb. 27.-
A directive issued by thp'Army
in February, 1968, as part of
its lii?ogram to keep civilians
,under surveillance, shove's that
senior: officers feared tea true
insurgency, should external
subversive forces develop sue-
cessful,control" of the racial
.and antiwar dissidents who,
were aeti}"c at that time
u
e
e
oi
s
r
Dray, ,1 68, requested a large' , gene ?
collection vaatvactivitie activities IttduLr"eiinlig-i
?numb;.r of Government. agen-i several months in which no mil
?cies, inclucling the Federal) itary or civilian official blew the
Bureau of Investigation and; whistle on these Operations."
'
/ the Central Intelli
ence A
enc
B
g
g
y; St Bih
,enaorrc.ay, ]7emo-+
h
to provide, Army Intelligence; crat of Indian.i, who is a menu
with evidepce of subversion in' ber of Senator Ervin's subconi-j
%left- ing, right-wing, peace and mittee, said he.c that he was
'civil rights groups. "saddened and afarnied by tliel
The two documents, the in- scope and de
th of
n
i
p
s
oop
ng an
r telligence annex of the Army's, peaceful drill ii apparent in
civil disturbance
l
d
h
"
p
an an
t
e; thel
pan.e sa tatpoce
Hidh "li
~?civil 'disturbance information; state tactics" ha
-collection plan, constituted the: I ci uo ; ,ac= ,in(
h
e United .State, of t'1e-x- ;ca,
rationale and the orders th, t
;put the Army surveillance of 1. The intelligence anne- ap-
.civilians in high gear.
And the two documents show
,clearly that the Army's donies-
ren Christopher and' a special
assistant to the President, Ste-
phen Pollak.
The collection plan was ?. air
outgrowth of high level meet.
ings in the White Ilou: e in
April, 1968, during and after
the riots that followed the as-
sassitlation of the Rev Dr. Mar-
tin Luther I~ilhg Jr. Its distribu-
tion list included the Presi-
dent's Foreign Intelligence Ad-
visory Boars} and the National
Security Council, of which the
President is cha.irman.
Representative Ogden it. }Rid,
Republican of Westchester, who
was instrumei tal in persuading
the Array- to release the
two confidential papers, said in
Buffalo ,aturd?.y that "their re-
-lease shows th
f
ll
--,-..,
l
stole order;" "changes in Fed-
eral, state, or municipal laws,
court decisions, referendums,
anlcndments, executive orders,
or other directives which affect
Illillor'ity groups;" and "cause of
civil disturbanc;.? and names of
instigators- and group partici.
pants,"
The
annex; said that "infor`-
niation required to accomplish
the -mission of tile:. Chiefs of
;Staff, U.S. Army, will be ob-
tained through all.-resources
available to the commanders, to
.include intelligence reports, esti-
mates, str!dic-s, and special
'studies prepared by the caru-
inand."
The civil disturbance infor-
mation collection plan, which
was circulated in more than
300 addresses throughout the
defense establishment Federal
, Government agencies, lawv en-
forcemellt officials, and the
National' Guard, was based on
what tlii" Army called a long-
standing tradition of rendering
assistance to state ar local au-
tilorities in peacetime.
"The current civil disturbance
situation dictates a change in
the degree to which the Army
must -seek advances infromatioll
concerning potential and prob-
able trouble areas :and trouble-
makers."
~
pears to equate dissident e!e-' help quell
violences it bsaid, o11 t
men -
ffi
ts such as VI D civil rights cials 'must know in advance as
movement and time anti-Vietnam ' much as possible about the
war and anti-draft.movernents Wellsprings of violence and the
with subversive conspij'acy. It heart and nerve c
auses of
:with. the knowledge of the high-1 concluded that "meaningful de chaos."
'est officials. in the Johnson green of subversive.. influence But it cautioned that the
Administration. f
and organized control are 'din- Army Sought to collect only
Representatives of the Arm tract future possibilities in the that info rrat}oil "needed t
Y United States civil disturbance 'exercisehOhest and sound judg
are scheduled to appear before problem."
Senator Sara J. Elvin Jr.'s Sub-1 problem."
agent of the measures. to b o
e
-cormnittee on Constitutional. ah the Army conceded taken in suppressing rampant
Ri ht" on T d that it could not substa t' viol
r
t
t
g
d
-tic intelligence operation was
-.mounted under the orders and
ues ay
a
e ns,, an
o eaplatn
restoring order"
the authority under which thej the: allegation, the annex poil,t- ` It prohibited Army .
Army operated and the extent
of its surveillance activities.
The two documents were su-
perseded last June by a Depart-
ment of the Army order strictly
-limiting the collection -of infor-
mation on civilians by the
!Army.
They reflect the turmoil of
day and the manner in which
the Government reacted to it.
IThey illuminate the perceptions
of the situation of top authori-
ties in the?Pentagon, particular-
,1y those of lielaj. Gen. William D.
Yarborough, an expert in psy-
chological warfare who had
been the Army's senior intelli-
gence Officer and under whose
direction the documents w
ere
unaw. rr F-
lr
wr; f proved-For- tole see tad 1iCIYl II
a,?- i-- .wx,"e1
' titan -ODLainlrm
`are supporting tlhe stated ob- civil disturbance information
jectives of foreign elements to unless ordered by the Pentagon.
the U.S.A." Similarly, it forbade covert op-
It said that "ninny leaders of orations without prior approval
the antiwar and antidraft move- from Washington. Pentagon of-
meat have traveled to foreign ficials acknowledged earlier
countries, including Cuba, East that orders for both had been
Europe, and North Vietnam to given from Washington.
meet with Communist leaders." The plan asks for reports oil'
"Therefore," it continued, "the identity of newspapers,
"the possibilit
exi
t
h
di
y
s
s t
at these ra
o or telceiitti
,son saons, arid
individuals. may be either?heav? - prominent -persons who are
ily'influenced or outright domi_ friendly with the Ieaders ofthe
anted by their ,foreign'. con- disturbance and arc sympa_:
tarts." thetic with their plans."
"1 hey- may, in turn, influence . The plan requires reports on
their followers, time majority of the"'failure of law enforcement
whom have no sympathy for agenci 13' to properly respond
the Communist cause but are due to indecision, lack of man-
DR', 'A O 16 i l O&O0a320035-9