WEATHER UNDERGROUND OPENS A DOOR FOR THE CIA . . .

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180045-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: October 29, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180045-0
ARTICLE APPEARED
O11 PAGE Z) I - A.
PHTL.J::,LPHI'A Iii UIRER
29 October 1981
Domestic surveillance
By Maxwell Glen
and Cody Shearer..- ',-.-
WASHINGTON - iI.Ihink that
what we've seen in Nyack. N.Y.. is the
tip of the iceberg. The plans go much
deeper. than that:- The plans are for
terrorists to upset the government of
the United States,!"-,' -- %- :?- - -. -
That was the warning t'e received
last week in an interview -with: forw
mer FBI official. W. Mark- Felt, fotr
lowing the tragic murder-Df two po=-
lice officers and. an armed` guard
during a 51.6 million, bank robbery
involving fugitive members of the
radical Weather. Underground organ-
ization. . ,.
"I believe : the. .WeatheticUnder-
ground has ties with other. terrorist
organizations," declared the-former
acting- associate director of-the FBI;
who . was. found- guilty last: year of
conspiring to violate the constitu-
tional rights of Weather Under-
ground members and their relatives
during the early 1970s: He was later
pardoned by President Reagan.
While our own-.anxieties about
American-bred terrorism have been
heightened by the appalling homi-
cides in Rockland County, N.Y., we're
watching the official- reaction to the
incident with interest Federal inves-
tigators have already pounced on
evidence of possible Links between
Weather Underground members, the
Black Liberation Army, FALN (Puer-
to Rican nationalists) and the Irish
Republican Army.
Sometime soon, the Reagan admin-
istration and certain - members of
Congress are likely.to-u" the Nyack
massacre in argnment3 fbr?bringin
the CIA back into the surveillance-of
domestic radical; _otg3niZati0n3-
Under a proposed: executive order,
the White House would allowthe CIA
to exchange information with-ceder,
al, state and local agencies.
Yet, before reopening. the door to
domestic spying. both: the White
House and Congress should place the.
Nyack revelations in an historical.
'context
In 1968, the 100-plus member
Weatherman organization was born
on the narrowly held conviction that
only violent acts against the Amerie
can establishment couldstop the
..Vietnam War. The ensuing campaign
to "Bring the War Home" resulted in
bombing attacks on bank buildings
and-. other public places" Although.
American citizens were allegedly not.
targets, the violence inevitably in-
jured fnnocentpeople,
Former. Weatherman Bo- Burling.
ham explained the fringe-nature of
the group in the-book The Sixties:: + {-
"We felt like miners. trapped isr a
terrible : poisonous.' shaft:. with no,
light to guide us out We resolved to a
destroy the tunnel.even if we risked
destroying ourselves in the process.
"It all seemed simple and frighten-
ing. We organized into tight, closed
collectives, which enabled us to sus-
tain our courage and commitment,
but which shut us off from the woria
outside." -
Before. ' long, Burlingham and: 'a
majority of his. comrades realized
that, whatever their despair over the
war. perpetrating violence at home
was no way to bring about positive
changek..They dropped out. But a
small.. faction would. continue their
self-destructive= ways under a n
name, the Weather- Underground,
and be linked to bombings as late asI
197S:?(including an''explosion. In-
bathroonin the U.S. Capitol).-. While anti-war leaders took pains
Ito distanc&-theireffo its from those
.of-the-Weather: Underground, -the
had..troublee convincing-federal -an
thorities:of the distinction. Intelligence agents used the pretext of anti-'
terrorism&.and??suspected--. foreign
sponsorship tor.-- Investigate- large.
numbers of Americans who dis-
agreed with the government's -.Vie
nam policy. --
As any may remember, this far
reaching campaign involved infiltra-
tion-of! domestic dissident groups;
Illegal. wiretapping and interferenc
:with the USmails. -:
Try as they may. U.S.-intelligence-
for the C
agencies could find no hard links
between the anti-war movement and
unfriendly foreign powers, Yet, they
sacrificed the rights-of a few in the
name of . safeguarding the interests of
the nation, ' Wit,
-Though the hystericaNdays~of thet
Vietnam protests are long over para=
noia about a possible-resurgence; of
dissent- -and violence may,.. well'
prompt., the :Reagan:administration
and Congress. to= take-the Weathe
Underground out of its logical histor-
ical context: Its reappearance on the
front page -is- likely to spark claims
among CIA and FBI backers of "I told
,you so" and result in a return to the
intelligence-gathering attitudes of
old. - . .
Of course, anyone familiar with the
anti-war movement and current dis-
sident groups knows that the Weath-
er Underground is at most a lunatic
cell group that has no support on the
left or anywhere else.
We should avoid buckling under,
the grisly shock of terrorist-linked I
murders In Rockland County and:
'carefully evaluate pending- nationalI
security plans. After all, the com-1
biped efforts of state-and federal
lawmen landed a bounty of suspected !
terrorists without the help of pro-1
posed changes In federal law.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180045-0