CIA 'CHAOS' FILES DETAIL SPYING WITHIN U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100170018-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: September 10, 1979
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 CIA-RDP90-01208R000100170018-6
THE. WASHINGTON STAR (GREEN, LINE)
10 September 1979 . .
` . By . Robert Pear
Newly released documents sug-
gest that the CIA counterintelli
;ence program known as Operation
Chaos involved surveillance of.;
American citizens on a scale much
larger than-previously realized.
.infiltrated -political.-groupsin the
United States in order to collect
purely domestic information .unre
lated to foreign intelligence pur-
boses. But CIA operations of this type
repeatedly encountered resistance _
from agency employees who consid-
ered the program illegal.
These and other details of domes-
tic spying by. the CIA are contained
in documents obtained in a civil suit
against the agency-by- a:-woman
claiming damages for illegal surveil
lance of her political activities.
Operation Chaos was'the govern-
ment's counterintelligence-program
against anti-war activists and others
it considered "radicals" in.the 1960s ``
and early'70s. A commission headed
by former Vice President Nelson A..
Rockefeller concluded that "some
domestic activities of Operation
Chaos unlawfully exceeded the.CIA's
statutory authority."
CIA files show that.in the course
of the Operation Chaos, the agency
.collected information on the Rev.
'Martin Luther King Jr.; his widow,
Coretta King; former Rep.. Bella
Abzug, D-N.Y.; and Rep. Ronald Del-
lums, D-Calif.. The information,. in
t ost cases, concerned their foreign
policy views, especially opposition to
the Vietnam War.
At the request of the FBI, the CIA
~
because "I do not think it is the sort
STAT
of thing that we should be involved I.
in." After receiving an interesting
report,-he said, there is a "natural
tendency" to request additional
..information, leading to an active
CIA role in this country. : ; II
';The Management Advisory Group,
a :training-: and policy group fort young CIA executives,-complained to
Helms that domestic intelligence ' ac-
ti 'ities "exceed'. the. scope of the CIA
charter" and "could cause great
embarrassment to the agency."..-
'In the face of such misgivings, and
similar concerns. reported by the
CIA's inspector general, Williamll V.
Broe, Helms insisted that Operation
Chaos was a."legitimate counterin-
telligence function of the agency." Helms said, in December 1972. that it
"cannot be. stopped simply because
some members of the organization {
do not like this activity."
concerned about the possible reac- :, -
tion of black' employees "whose-
loyalty was. not impugned in the
slightest."
-I!The documents were-all disclosed
in a case known as Halkin v: Helms,
pending herein federal court.'The
plaintiff, Adele Halkin of Chicago,
was a leader of the Women's Strike
for Peace, an anti-war group- 'S'h'e
says her mail was opened by the CIA 1
and she was kept under surveillance
.,by U.S.,agents when she traveled to
conferences overseas. - .
STAT
also apparently collected informa-l 'Passive' Domestic Role
tion about the overseas movements, 'A secondary purpose, according to
-of three Indian activists associated the CIS, was "the passive collection
with' the American Indian, Move- i of 'material- relating solely to U.S.
ment. The names of the three were; domestic radical activities, pinpoint-
deleted from the released files. i . ' ? in' leaders, fundiag (and) weapons
acquisition..,
'In the Highest Category : ,CIA agents .repeatedly expressed.!
Distinctions between the CIA's concern that this passive domestic
domestic and foreign targets were i role tended to become an acttve,
blurred following a 1968 instruction operational role. Indeed, the CIA
from then-director Richard Helms, wanted to. maintain a "residual
who said, "Operational priority of counteraction
One. CIA field officer aid'he was
(Chaos) activities in the field is in
.
ranking with "disturbed" about domestic spying
the highest category
,
Soviet and Chicom (Chinese Com-
munist)" activities.
In the course of.Operation Chaos,
which ran from Aug...15,_1967, to
March 15, 1974, the CIA.compiled 13.-
000. files including files on 7,200
American citizens,, and developed a
computerized index containing the?
names of more than 300,000 persons:
and organizations.
Although several years old, then
CIA files are relevant today for at;
.least three reasons:,
v The Carter administration and
Congress are drafting a charter to
govern U.S. intelligence activities.
Standards for spying on U.S. citizens,
-especially abroad, remain a contro-
versial, unsettled issue.
e The Justice Department-- is ac-
tively defending past practices of
U.S. intelligence agents in. a number
.-.of, civil suits by persons alleging
violations of their constitutional
rights.
and FBI Director William H. Webster
have proposed cutbacks in the Free-
dom of Information Act that might
hinder future disclosure of activi-
ties like Operation Chaos.
The: operation's primary purpose
was to learn. of any foreign support,
guidance or inspiration for five cate-
gories of U.S. "radicals".- black
: militants, radical. students,: anti-war.
groups, underground newspapers
and groups supporting draft evaders
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100170018-6
CIA officials were particularly