'CIA & FBI ARE UNDERMINING THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING,' SAYS HALPERIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000200230009-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: May 16, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN

Approved For Release 2005/01/11 : CIA-I?,DP88-01315R00020U23 0i -
MAY 16, 1977 ? VOL. LXXI - NO. 20
0 f i 4~ 4~ t/ .MV c is1C rt.
1XVICIAL
PiE ColrMOy, LTH CLUB '
OF CALIFOftjtk
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 54105
!
r'
CAI-
224 THE COMMONWEALTH
"CIA & FBI Are Undermining the Rights of the People
They Are Supposed to be Protecting," says Hatperin
FRIDAY FLASHES MAY 6th
From Address by
DR. MORTON HAL1'ERIN, Direcfor,
Project on National Security and Civil Liberties
"The topic of my address today is the
crimes of intelligence agencies. I will be
talking about some of their activities
which are in my view in clear violation
of the laws of this land and of the Con-
stitution. People of the intelligence agen-
cies feel that these subjects should not be
discussed. They describe these matters as
`state secrets' which if released, they say,
would injure the national security of the
United States.
Constitutional Violations
We have found that the information
which is to be kept secret is information
which is readily available to foreign gov-
ernments, to our potential enemies, and
is in fact being kept only from the Ameri-
can people.
It is important to understand that the
U.S. intelligence agencies and the law en-
forcement agencies which are supposed to
be protecting our security in fact engage
in deliberate and systematic violations of
our Constitutional rights.
The FBI engaged in a series of illegal
and unconstitutional programs. It engaged
in wiretaps without warrants against peo-
ple who were being investigated for crim-
inal activities. It engaged in burglaries
The Commonwealth
Published every Monday by the
Commonweelfh Club of California
681 Market Street
San Francisco, California 94105
[phone]
Editor: Jane M. Rumolo
Second class po:~taaa paid at San Francleco,
California. Subacrlplton rati) $6.00 per year In-
cluded In annual marnbarehip duaa.
called 'black-bag jobs.' In defending these
activities within the Bureau, senior offi-
cials of the FBI said that these activities
were clearly illegal, but they were useful
and should have been carried out.
WLNI-Subversive?
The FBI had a program of infiltration
and surveillance of political organizations
in the U.S., for example, Klu Klux Klan,
Communist Party, Socialist Workers Party,
Southern Christian Leadership Confer-
ence, American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), and many others. This infiltra-
tion and surveillance were not based on
the belief that these organizations were
breaking the law. It was based on the be-
lief that the FBI had a right and a patri-
otic duty to investigate people whose
politics the Bureau disapproved of, or
whose political activities might be of in-
terest to the Communist Party in the U.S.,
or political activity which the Bureau
thought jeopardized the status quo within
the U.S.
One of'the groups 'whic'i a ime to' the
attention of the FBI was referred to as
the WEDS, the Women's Liberation Move-
ment. Mr. Hoover sent out a directive say-
ing that the Bureau had decided that the
Women's Liberation Movement should be
infiltrated and put under surveillance. As
a result, many memorandums were sent
out including one from the office in New
(Conrrnaed on nosy P-10)
OFFICERS Of TI4 CLUB 4977
David J. McDaniel __ President
Bradley B. Garretson__._.Vlcee President
Renee Rubin _Chmn. Exec. Committee
Howard G. Vesper.... - -_Seoretary
Henry T. Maschat___.._...-Treasurer
Michael J. Brassington
_____Executlv& Director
John B. Bates, Bernice W- Behrens, Dean
Daskarolis, Vernon L. Goodin, Eugene M.
Herson, Donald P. Krotz, Bruce T. Mitch-
ell, M. Lester O'Shea, Dr. Edgar E. Robin-
son, Justice Allison M. Rouse, Renee
Rubin, John R. Shuman, Benjamin H.
Swig.
Approved For Release 2005/01/11 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000200230009-2