F.B.I.'S TARDINESS IS FACING INQUIRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400450030-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 9, 2004
• Sequence Number: 30
• Publication Date: April 4, 1976
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/13 :.CIA-RDP88-01315R000400450030-9
F 8I'S TAI I DIN'q 1
IS FACING INQUIRY
Justice Department Lawyers
Heard About Burglary Files
Just Before Disclosure
By JOIN CREWDSON
&p-t'.Al to :be New York Tama
WASHINGTON, April 3 -
Justice Department lawyers,
stung by the belated discovery
that agents of the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation had com-
mitted 92 burglaries at the So-
cilist Workers Party's offices,
will take steps to find out
why the bureau failed to pro-
duce the information sooner,
a . well-placed department
source said.
Bureau documents describing)
the burglaries, which took'
place in New York City from
1960 to 1966, were provided
to the party by the Justice
Department under ti^te discov-
ery provisions of a civil lawsuit
brought against the Govern-l
meat by the Socialist Workers.
The party made the records
public.
Department sources said later
that lawyers defending the
Government in that case had
not been informed of the exis-
tence of the documents until
the day before they were pro-
vided to the party's attorneys.
Moreover, the sources said,
other Justice Department law-
yers who were conducting a
general investigation of burgla-
rles by the bureau were not
aware that the documents had
been found until they saw news
accounts of their discovery ear-
lier this week.
The sources said that the
bureau had made known to
the Justice Department the rec-
ollections of some of its long-
time agents that the Socialist
Workers had been the target
of an undisclosed number of
break-ins.
But the lawyers had no idea 1
of the timing or the scope
of the burglaries, which- came
on an average of once everythree weeks and produced some,
10,000 photographs of the par-
tv's files, until the documents
containing accounts of thosey
operations were discovered in,
the bureau's New York City,
The department's civil rights!
division, which had been in:?es-'
tigating all known F.B.I. bure:a
rigs from 1966 to 1968, is now;
considering expanding its in-!
quiry to include the Socialist;
Workers burglaries, an officiail,
there said.
One source in, the Civil Rio*
ts1
,division said that its lawyers,
were also "very concerned`' ti;
not having been given the re,
ports of those burglaries ear-`r
Tier. The source added that the!.
lawyers would attempt "to fin$i
out why one branch of the Jus-
tice Department doesn't know;,
what another branch is doing.";
Based on the information'
gathered up to now, the sourcei
said, "no thought is being given!
to possible prosecutions' cf
agents involved in the burgia-!
rigs.
The bureau itself has had)'
no comment on the helatedl
discovery of the documents be
cause, a spokesman said, "the
matter is currently in litiga-1
tion."
One source in the bureau,
said recently, however, that the
documents were thought to,
have been destroyed years ago.;
and as soon as their existencei
was discovered they were for-;
warded to the Justice Depart-i
ment. No details of how on
when they were found could)
be learned.
The discovery. of the papers),
poses a separate problem for;'
Government lawyers involved!
in the Socialist Workers civil);
lawsuit. They assured the party.;
two years ago that it had not
been the object of any break-;
ins by F.B.I. agents. !:
In its civil complaint, the par.
ty asserted that it had reason
to believe that it had over
the y"eai-s been the target of 1
warrantless electronic surveil-l
lance, mail openings and bur-
glaries glaries perpetuated by the;
F.B.I. the Centra;i Tnteiti,ence'.:
Agency _ and other Federal;
agencies.
In response, the Justice De-
partment acknowledged than
there had been some e!s?ctronic'
surveillance and that the bure-!
au had attempted to disrupt!
the party's operations, but its
denied that mail openings or
burglaries had occurred. Orel
Justice Department source said;
that the response had been'
based entirely upon irforma-i
tion provided by the h':reau.
which had been asked to pro-j
vide all relevent information{
from its files:
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400450030-9
But even after the bureau)
told the Senate Intelligence)
Committee in September of
some agents' recollections thatI
the--frArty probably had been)
burglarized, the Justice Depart-
ment made no move to amend
its answers.
One government lawyer fa-
miliar with the civil case said,
that whila criticism of the bu-l
reau was "justified" because of
its delay in locating the bur-
gla.ry reports. he had so fart'
seen "nothing to indicate bad-
faith.".
Another chagrined Justice
Department official remarked,
however, that it was "embar-
rassing when you have to keep
going before a judge and say-
ing. 'Sorry, sir, we just found i
this.'
A spokesman for the Socialist,
Workers said that the party's)
lawyers would ask Federal Dis-l
trict Judge Thomas P. Griesal
next week to find the F.B.I.;
director,. Clarence T. Kelley.!
in contempt because of the!
bureau's tardiness in producing!
the.' jfrglary repo t3. i