MEMOS DISCLOSE CIA EVASIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89B00236R000500090012-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 29, 2009
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: February 11, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Approved For Release 2009/05/29: CIA-RDP89B00236R000500090012-7
Demos Disdnce CIA Fwicinnc
ccu3e5 a ec shore f
I
Knew of Man 'Who Vanished, -Despite Denials - - . - _ __ Gate to
9
BY WILLIAM ENDICOT? -
Tr. son ttt.ew
- DENVER-A few weeks after
hor..a: Riha associate professor of
=man history at the University of
Colorado. mysteriously vanished in
196,:. one of his colleagues wrote to
-he Denver field office of the Central
Intelligence Agency asking if the
- --wed any light on Riha's
d: aooearance.
the response I got was no re-
sponse." Dr. Stephen Fischer-Galati.
director of the university's Center for
Slavic and-
told The Times this week. "They said
they had never heard of him. They
refused to go into the matter.-
-.---As u-turns out. however, the CIA
knew more about Riha than it wag
telling
-No,
Guard
.S. -Commission and .
the
a
of oil
of oil ?
I
of
he were produced later as a result of a His successor, James Sommerville Hiring-bias men u
suit filed by Cerveny attempting to did not return a telephone call that dead b
learn the identity of the person or was made to him in an effort to elicit BY LEE AUSTIN dawn.
persons who reportedly saw his un- comment. T5..,suer..tw. 32 rec:
cle. and although the memorandums Two days after Fischer-Galati The federal Equal Employment operas:
shed
a rare nosthose iden identities they e wrote to the agency and was told it Opportunities Commission has found r
insight into had never heard of Riha Todorovich charged Caltech with discriminatory Lions of the intelligence community. sent his first memo to Washington on y posted
Most of the memos were written by practices against women and blacks
Michael M. Todorovich to his the case, noting in the employment of rfac sday met l- Green
ursday. collect
ors in Was n. Todo his su was first came to our attention in hers. it was learned Th y
ors chief hof the inge CIA's Denver field the Jail of 1968 when we made in- The commission's findings and Spokes
quiries locally for U.S. citizens who chamwhich have been sent to of- n Thy
office and is now retired and living in might have been caught in Czecho- ' "The
Denver. ficials fi the prestigious institution o
-V Slovakia the time oRt at3i c= ientlfic studyd in Pasadena. say ~c'
Contacted by The Tunes this week, cupation ... y qu li.
Todorovtch indicated some bitterness women comprise only small mac - h -the oil
over the memos be made public Cage of the faculty, their pay is s much
refused to comment further. "I'm "We made several attempts to lee than men and black persons have life age
he
case whatsoever" contact ltiir =but_nver succeeded in been almost totally into not refused the cast excluded from the
but he stdiscussing "I sing[ the that can doing so - -- - - faculty ranks, according to informed -The
yWtg Also,the CU (Colorado Universi- sources. operatic
be misconstrued." ty) history department- is a rather- fog wh:
case--here-involving the missing
a professor show that the CIA. on the
chance it might use him as an infor-
mane had collected "considerable in-
formation- on Riha and had-inter-
cepted letters he wrote to. and re-
ceived from, the Soviet Union
The memos also indicate that the
CIA's chief concern was in keeping
itself out of any news accounts of Ri-
ha's disappearance. And they detail a
serves of events in the Riha case
which aggravated a standjpg feud be-
tween the CIA and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and led to a
_dir puon-Df liasog" between the
two agencies. -
The Riha case has surfaced again in
recent months as a result of efforts by
his nephew 2deuk.Cmeny of near-
by Boulder. to him declared le-
gally dead-'and was outlined in a
--Times story Ie-tOctober. -
The Times reported then that a re-
quest by Cenvety to the CIA under
the Freedom of Information Act last
year had produced two heavily cen-
sored documents contending that
Czechoslovakian late 19?3.
Memorandums recently made pub-
L.A. WILL SEEK
drop.-
$126 MILLION FOR-
PEOPLE MOVER
ny
rest
invest
The Los Angeles City Council de- agency as early as 1958 had consid?
cided Thursday to seek $126.3 mitliarr-'e ed using Ribs as an intelligence
in federal transit and highway funds source-while he was an exchange
to help build an automated downtown stud Rit at the University of Moscow.
people-mover system.. Please Tara U Pace 32. Col. I
Over objections by a bloc of San
Fernando Valley councilmen. the
council voted 9 to 3 to file a formal
application to get work started on the
$165.4 million, 2.6'L-,mile demonstra-
tion project from Union Station to the
Los Angeles Convention Center. -
The Los Angeles people-mover
program is one of five selected by the
federal Urban Mass Transportation
Administration in a nationwide com-
petition to test the feasibility of
driverless transit systems to relieve
vehicular and pedestrian congestion
Approved For Release 2009/05/29: CIA-RDP89B00236R000500090012-7
tried to
-- ~n
.~....__ -.......,,..e,....:,..e-..: - Ling ur
around
H s u;ie. W:nae? rte t- sell rfai esa:e,
is sr:: -.
Untrained for ar,? 2-ing ty ng d:
rosters and other adnt,nis auve office chores.
Holmes said he has no idea how he w1i earn a
His pia-: to reenlist and then rese with a
pension anal full benefits two years nence came
unglued last Aug. 23 when vie Enlisted Perfor-
mance Boa-d at USMC Headcuarters :n Wash-
ington. D.C.. decided he had too many fitness
reports showing less than adequate perfor-
mance of his duties. !
Holmes requested reconsideration and got
some support, including that of Maj. Gen. Ken-
neth Houghton, recruit depot commander, who
wrote'that his personal observation of the ser-
geant's performance "suppor_ his reten'an in
the corps.-
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Louis H.
Wilson ordered reconsideration. but the board
of officers and enlisted men held firm and the
commandant did not overrule them.
"No sir. I'm not exactly what you call a
clean-cut all-American kid." Holmes admitted
Thursday. "But I know for I'!fl7fgi?s ma-
rines on duty worse than I am."
He contended that in the five years he-has
been at ttie recruit depot, his fitness reports
sure mmcauon tram his colleagues
that he would be receptive to a CIA
approach we finally let the matter
- -
In fact, it appears CIA headquarters
ovich everything because, as testimo-
BY RAY HEBEBT - .
before ,
__-t
.-.
for three marginal or submarginal ones based
on the opinions of one or two officers."
'Holmes suggested that most of his troubles
-stemmed -from one particular officer with
whom he had a "personality conflict."
-trains
A
from
cover.
~Coas-
opera'.
pate
Goldo?
water,
the b::
T:-.::
620-fo
Proerc
But Maj. M.L. (Buza) Hefts. public affairs of. ? ship
Youth
h
ficer at USMC headquarters in Washington, _ 'night.
said the Enlisted Performance Board turned
down the sergeant's reenlistment bid because
of a series of marginal or submarginar fitness - -- The
reports from 1968 on. at a'ne
The reason Holmes' current commanding of. heavy
ficer thinks well of him. Hefei said. is that the as of the
sergeant "shaped up in the last 18 months or eviden'
so. but the board saw he had a histoi y_aLmar._- = into tr.
ginal or submarginal performance." -A c'
ceived a letter from headquarters warning that
his performance could result in the denial of
further service. -
port includes a warning that unless s
the situation is resolved, court action
could follow. I'~
Caltech officials refused to discus, `
the case. Said Dr. Robert Christy.
Caltech acting president and provost ?
"We have not been releasing any in ? in
formation. We choose to regard it as
confidential." . - - - -
The EEOC investigation stems
from a complaint filed with the coin
mission by Dr. Jenijoy LaBelle. an
assistant professor of literature at_
Caltech who was dismissed a year ago
Please Tura to Page 34, Cot 5
-Two
in& fc
priests
ery inn
ladelph
investi f
that cit
Paste
to be li.
Rome :
sties of
John h
adelphi
phogc
them
taps to
A hr
U.S.-Th.
whethe
strainin
to apps
The L
 Approved For Release 2009/05/29: CIA-RDP89B00236R000500090012-7
32 Part I- fn.; fek 11. !977 -
-,
gent s Memos.
mos' Outhre (1A. EvasiOns
Continued from Third Page a congressional inquiries about Riha. "Maury told rtant
odorovich wrote in another
However. there is no evidence on,the record us that he simply wished to agree u
on' a c
e
Ws
p
mo to
ash ngton
om m
to indicate that Riha ever worked for the CIA, mon answer to inquiring parties interested in "The local Czechs, as our source puts it, be-
although his nephew and Fischer-Galati are Riha," Todorovich said.
convinced he was involved with one or more By now. Smiley, who had moved from the tlieve o Riha's ntellig nce funma have become ctions and used that
intelligence agencies. But they have no proof., presidency of the University of Colorado to the knowledge in an attempt to control Riha's rela-
The day after his first memo to Washington, . University of Texas at El Paso, had been given tions with her."
Todorovich sent another one indicating that a assurances that Riha was "alive and well" and Todorovich said the source reasoned that
CIA contact in the Boulder area had called with Smiley had visited the Houston office of the "Riha became fearful of that control, realizing
word that Joseph B. Smiley, then president of CIA to say that despite considerable pressure he that Mrs. Tannenbaum was a threat, and that in
the university, was "somewhat perturbed" over was refusing to reveal the source of his infor- essepce he was directed to leave via Canada for
Riha's strange disappearance. mation to the press:
Todorovich said he had advised the cont t to ?~ Czechoslovakia, entering Canada on a visitor's
tell Smilev ovi 'ghat we certadviy had c know]- He added, however, that if Riha was indeed visa with a subsequent commercial flight to
edge of Thomas Riha, ert had ha in any w] alive and well he could see no advantage in hid- Prague."
Y ing the facts from an "inquisitive press." Despite considerable local . speculation that
been involved with the gentleman." He also As-information from the memos and other the disappearance was a simple case of murder
said he had called the FBI and had been told ' sources indicates, the origin of the "alive and following a domestic quarrel, the source told
that in its opinion "Riha was in a safe haven." well: information to Smiley was the CIA in Todorovich the likelihood of Riha being dead
The CIA field chief said he had advised the Denver, which got its infor ation fro the FBI
Boulder contact to "soft-pedal it with Smiley rp was less than one in a hundred.
and in no way involve the agency." which, in turn, apparently got its information
BY the end o Aprth 19gen Todoovich a from another mysterious character in the bi- Subsequent memos from Todorovich accused
parently h was bof April, t1 wonder r if he vi knew zarre drama, Galya Tannenbaum. - ' a Denver Post reporter of trying "to embellish
all there was b inns about Ride and any Mrs. Tannenbaum reportedly was the last his reputation by Continued cancen ratiorLon-
Y in- person to have seen Riha, and a Todorovich Mrs. Gloria (Galya) Tannenbaum and Thomas
volvement he might have with the agency. He memo dated Jan. 20, 1970, advised his superiors Andrew Charles Riha" and assured his sapvri-
noted in a memo that the Riha disappearance that "the grapevine haq it that she has u::due ors he was continuing to stick to "no comment"
"seems to have evolved from a domestic scrap" influence over Thomas Riha, whatever that on "this' unfortunate affair."
and, if c.` any official interest at all, "probably may mean."
falls into the realm of the local police or the She suse9uently was arrested on charges of the case on file now is a recent "fact sheet" prepared by the CIA which summa-
FBI." forging iha s name to. a check and other doc
But he added, a bit wistfully: "Certainly, un- uments but was declared legally insane and razes:
less there is a great deal more to the story than committed to the Colorado State Hospital in "This ndtoth ea is
co m com onen very sensitive we know, it is not of concern to the CIA." Pueblo, where she later committed suicide by ears that of lponents disruption the agency. -
After the student newspaper at the university swallowing cyanide. Y appears that et cy lead to a the FBI in 1970. liaison be-
published an article on Riha in which an agency twee- the agency and the FBI in official in Washington was quoted as saying
Riha was safe, Todorovich wrote to his By mid February, 1970, Todorovich had ad- "Although he have considerable information
superi- vised Washington that it "would not surprise on Riha's background and from time to time
ors: have considered contacting him for intel-
"1'he Denver field chief would like to think me if our country cousins (the FBI) had not re- ligence-gathering purposes vis-a-vis Czecho-
thather responses to cmedia kept the shiny ceived their information (on Riha) from the slovakia, Soviet Union, there has never been
that our o . s local this edix, I would dry same source all others apparently accepted- any agency contact with subject. The file does
to feel we did our best to protect (CIA) inter- the statements of Galya Tannenbaum." reflect that the agency had intercepted some
ests. As word leaked out that an FBI agent had letters to and from Riha through the HT Lin-
"The scandal sheet at the University gual a HTcLi
meet to the CIA, which had passed it on the The HT Lin ~
record erepl over the peso few yepor ogee university president, FBI officials, including the ~~ Project was to a a long-standing from the
record potshots at one a panther of ere ars, often director himself, the late J. Edgar Hoover, tried program of monitoring letters to and from the
agencies. Few, if any, responsible citizens die- m vain to persuade the CIA to reveal the "dent"- vial Union.
play interest in it. 1v nr "' Vol WA have nn ri~ofii~n l knowlerlen of ftiha'c
Approved For Release 2009/05/29: CIA-RDP89B00236R000500090012-7
by the Retail ler
information le din
old Jose Luis ]?'
was found tW4..,
his home in, east-
child had been suf
Hartco
PREFINISH
Unfinished
TEAK PAR
 noted in a memo that the suNruui imurew enaries tuna'' auu assured his sapcri-
t2iha riiennnu~r~nrn
seems to have evolved fry Approved For Release 2009/05/29 CIA-RDP89B00236R000500090012-7 k to no comment"
----?--??-- ---- -?._..._.. -....... ... w.. .... ...~? Vu uuJ YulVl~W l4K arlall.
and, if of any official interest at all, "probably may mean." Also on file now is a recent "fact sheet" on
falls into the realm of the local police or the She subbsequently was arrested on charges of the case re prepared b the CIA which summa-
FBI." r... i- d.i t . a -.L-- a-- P P Y
less there is a great deal more to the story than
we know, it is not of concern to the CIA."
After the student newspaper at the university
published an article on Riha in which an agency
official in Washington was quoted as saying
Riha was safe, Todorovich wrote to his superi-
ors:
"The Denver field chief would like to think
that our responses to local media kept the story
from spreading . . . In this context, I would like
to feel we did our best to protect (CIA) inter-
ests.
"The scandal sheet at the University of Col-
orado is replete with sensationalist reporting, -a -
record earned over the past few years, often
taking potshots at one or another of the federal
agencies. Few, if any, responsible. citizens dis-
play interest in it.
"This does not, however, alter the fact that a
story did appear which might have been sup-
pressed had headquarters duty personnel coor-
dinated with your local representative In
any event, the remains appear to have been laid
to rest."
As other reporters began to dig into the Riha
story, Todorovich's memos assured Washington
he was sticking to the CIA story that "we have
no knowledge of Thomas Riha, would not know
him if we bumped into him on the streets and
that an active expression of CIA interest in Riha
would he presumptuous since it is entirely out
of our jurisdiction .. .
"We find it necessary on various but frequent
occasions to repeat such statement to journa-
lists, university administrators and the inquir-
ing John Q. Public."
In mid January, 1970, Todorovich got a tele-
phone call from John M. Maury, an agency offi-
cial in Washington, who said he was getting
committed to the Colorado State Hospital in
Pueblo, where she later committed suicide by
swallowing cyanide.
"This matter is considered very sensitive by
Cl staff and other components of the agency. It
appears that it lead to a disruption of liaison be-
tween the agency and the FBI in 1970.
"Although he have considerable i
f
ti
n
orma
on
By mid February, 1970, Todorovich had ad- on Riha's background and from time to time
vised Washington that it "would not surprise have considered contacting him for intel-
me if our country cousins (the FBI) had not re- ligence-gathering purposes vis-a-vis Czecho-
ceived their information (on Riha) from the slovakia, Soviet Union, there has never been
same source all others apparently accepted- any agency contact with subject. The file does
the statements of Galya Tannenbaum." reflect that the agency had intercepted some
As word leaked out that an FBI agent had letters to and from Riha through the HT Lin-
been the source of the "alive and well" state-- gual Project." -
ment to the CIA, which had passed it on the The HT Lingual Project was a long-standing
university president, FBI officials, including the program of monitoring letters to and from the
director himself, the late J. Edgar Hoover, tried Soviet Union.
in vain to persuade the CIA to reveal the identi - "We have no firsthand knowledge of Riha's
ty of the FBI agent. disappearance," the fact sheet notes. "Our first
Hoover became so angry over the incident knowledge came when (the Denver CIA office)
that he broke off liaison m ith the CIA. was asked by two of their contacts at the Uni-
Another internal CIA memo that has been versity of Colorado, shortly after Riha's disap-
made public details the animosity between the pearance, for help in determining Riha's where-
two agencies, including the fact that an FBI of- abouts.
ficial in Denver called a CIA official a liar and "(Denver CIA) called the FBI and was told
renewed his intent "to deny that the FBI had that in the opinion of the FBI, Riha was safe,
made any statement concerning Riha."- that i& disappearknce was due to a family
The same memo, prepared for then CIA Di- squabble, and the FBI was staying clear of the
rector Richard M. Helms, charged that Hoover matter. This information was passed to the two
"is unnecessarily pressuring CIA for the identi- University of Colorado contacts without reveal -
ty of the agent who talked to Todorovich" and ing the FBI as a source, , ,
that to reveal the FBI source "would most cer- "Subsequent to the disappearance, (CIA) re-
tainly damage his (presumably Todorovich's) ceived an unconfirmed report that Riha had
standing in the community and hence the CIA been sighted in Czechoslovakia late in 1973 by a
image and mission in the Denver area." person who knew Riha. This information was
By early June, 1970, the story took another passed on to the FBI in early 1974 without
twist when Todorovich met with ah informant source names.
who told him that Riha had been involved in an "In addition, (CIA) had received allegations
espionage network in Colorado. from a member of the Denver Czech community
"The local Czech colony insists that Riha is that Riha had been involved with either the
not only in Czechoslovakia but is working for KGB (Russian intelligence) or the Czech STB,
the Czechoslovak intelligence and has an im- or both."
Approved For Release 2009/05/29: CIA-RDP89B00236R000500090012-7