UCI PROF ASKS CIA FOR FILES ON LENNON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303620002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: June 25, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R
COSTA MESA DAILY PILOT (CA)
25 June 1984
IUCI i*bf asks CIA"
bri!iles on Lennon
By ANDREA ADELSON
Laa>aa~ryP Mso.R
FAA UG Zinc professor asked. the
previously secret memo revealed the
agen monitored the late rock star's
anti-Vietnam war activities in 1972:
According : to Jon Weiner, the
'heavily censored memo, among
documents he obtained under the
.Freedom of Information Act, shows
the agency asked the FBI to gather
information on whether the British
`superstar would participate in anti-
:Vietnam war protests at the 1972
tRepublican National Convention.
The documents were turned over
in mid-May to Wiener, who made
them public Friday and filed the
request the next day.
"The government has consistently
claimed that Lennon's activities were
somehow relevant to national secur-
ity considerations," Wiener, 39, said.
"We maintain that nothing Lennon
adid, planned to do or talked about
doing, in any way threatened the
national security of the United States.
"At most, it threatened the,reelec-
Lion of President Nixon," he said.
"But there's no legal _reason, for the
CIA to &e' involved in protecting
Nixon from threats to his reelec-
tion.... I don't see why the CIA should
have anything to do with political
protests in this country."
A political researcher, Weiner is the
author of "Come Together. John
Lennon in His Time," a Random
House book that should be released
today. He said the publishing house
has agreed to a second edition with
inserts about . the newly released
documents.
-?' National security, justified main-
taining the confidentiality of material
that was blacked out, Dube wrote.
"The affidavit is 'a. much more
satisfactory explanation of why" onl
censored documents were release
Weiner said. But because it's unclear
=whether the CIA is . withholding
..further information,.--the history
professor said he filed a request udder
the Freedom of Information Act-for
all CIA documents related to Lennon.
Lennon's song "Give Peace a
:'Chance" gave the anti-war move- .
ment its anthem. He "is an important
figure to a whole generation and his
:battle with the Nixon administration
is sort of a forgotton chapter," Weiner
said.
The professor obtained copies of
five documents from FBI files,,in-
cluding one that originated with the
CIA. The FBI referred the documents
to the CIA for review before releasing
them.
Weiner is awaiting word this week
on a court ordered explanation from
the FBI on why they too censored
Lennon documents. The FBI sub-
mitted, its reasons for withholding
two-thirds of a 281-page file in a brief
to a,federal court last week.
Mis attorneys hope to schedule a
conference with the federal judge and
Justice Department attorneys this
week, Weiner said.
CIA spokeswoman Patti Volz de-
clined specific comment on the
4ocuments, but noted that in the
mid- 1970s the Senate Select Commit-
tee on Intelligence Activities reported
that the CIA had been "involved in
some domestic activities at the behest
of the President."
"It was inappropriate, and from
that came several rules and regu-
lations curtailing the agency's ac-
`. tivities," she said Friday.
An accompanying affidavit to the
documents, -.signed by CIA Infor-
mation Review Officer Louis J.
-Dube, acknowledged that the agency
obtained information appearing in
the documents, all ofwhich have been
censored.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303620002-7