THE FBI OVERSEAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100110015-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: June 1, 1974
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 CIA-RDP90
THE NATION
1 June 1974
(r xcERP i )
Meanwhile, the Director fought to retain and expand
jurisdiction over intelligence. To begin with, the bureau's
domestic counterintelligence jurisdiction rests on a foun-
dation every bit as infirm as its intelligence mandate.
During World War II Hoover acquired a foreign assign-
ment (Latin America) which was implemented by a
bureau unit, Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). In the fail
of 1944 Gen. William J. Donovan submitted a ' secret
memorandum proposing a permanent American foreign
intelligence -service based on the' OSSand-reporting di-
code which Hoover routed directly to the White House
without coordinating with-~ either the CIA or the State :
Department. According to insiders,. the intelligence that
was sent was worthless, but Hoover was eager to expand'
the bureau's foreign intelligence jurisdiction, and at the
same time curry favor with the Administration by ascrib
ing domestic unrest to a foreign-based plot, and to up-
stage the CIA with which the FBI had ended its liaison
in May of 1970.
On can. only wonder what dreams of power, what
drives for dominance, and what fears of rival authority
led the aged Director (then 76) to claim a grossly ex-
rectly ' to the- President. This memorandum became the ~ , aggerated importance in the foreign intelligence field and
center of a : political storm when it was leaked to the then seek to usurp the operational jurisdiction of other
press by the Director. The Chicago Tribune, one of Hoo-- agencies b$r expanding his, 'already useless andunproduc-
ver's favorite press outlets, acquired a', copy of the top- tive network of agents abroad..
secret document and printed a series of articles by Hoo-
ver's ally, Walter Trohan, denouncing Donovan's plan
as a "superspy- system." This -maneuver ver succeeded _ in
killing the proposal only, temporarily but Hoover'con-
tinued to- fight incursions on his jurisdiction in Latin-
America for as long as he could. According to a recent
account, when the. transition came, "in some American
embassies south of the border, FBI men destroyed their
intelligence files rather than bequeath them to their CIA
rivals. The.first.years of CIA's existence also saw Hoover
busily promoting charges that'a sinister. Communist spy
network had subverted OSS."
But these rebuffs never discouraged Hoover's campaign
to expand his intelligence empire. Initially a small corps
of agents operated through foreign em assies as "legal
attaches" and concentrated on law enforcement--prin-
cipally the apprehension of fugitives. In 1970 Hoover
demanded and received authorization to put the FBI
in more than twenty-five foreign capitals. In.addition to
their formal assignment to apprehend fugitives, they were
authorized to collect intelligence and to transmit reports
back to Hoover for the ultimate use of the White House.
In 1971 Hoover proposed expanding his network into.
another dozen capitals. President Nixon agreed, despite
the fact that-the post-World War II Delimitations Agree-
ment of government agencies involved in intelligence work
forbade the step. This enlarged network, strongly op-
posed by both the State Department and the CIA, was
wholly intelligence-oriented and transmitted reports in
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100110015-5