CIA'S ILLEGAL SPYING BARED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100170048-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 48
• Publication Date: June 11, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/02 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100170048-3
1.1 JU E 1915
By Harry Kelly
Cyicao Triburr Press Servl ,
c~z r
involved present or former
employes that defectors had
fingered' as double agents.
In summary, the commis-
WASHINGTON - The CIA sign said it found most of the
created a secret operation CIA's domestic operations
ailed CHAOS to collect a were lawful and reported no
sass of information on United evidence to the charge of
:aces dissidents, put newsmen "massive" domestic spying. It
rider surveillance, conducted also concluded, "There is no
legal wiretaps and break-ins, evidence indicating the CIA ei-
rd carried on a drug testing ther had -advance knowledge
rogram that led to an Army or participated in the break-
... cial's LSD suicide, a s Pe- -ups at Dr. Lewis Fielding s.
ial Presidential commission [Daniel Ellsberg's psychia-
;ported Tuesday.
These and other domestic
ctivities--includip,g the open-
er of thousands of letters and
-:.chinsr local policemen how
p:ck `locks and to take se-
-et photographs-were brand-,
as illegal or in,
'proper by
Rockefeller Coralaission. it
_coin:r,endecl inor_ than 30
_-s to curb abtuses.
T'` e ei ilt tl:er.:i er col,.mis-
?_n said it found "no credible
-dence" that the CIA was in-
i': ed in the assassination of
esidcnt Kennedy.
T1IE COtilMlss40ti found
:a many of the CIA's domes-
- "special coverngc" investi-
-':r s-meaning v;~-etappi.'lg,
.. e:llr:nce, err.,! ~?.~_~.~-i;ls-
trist) office or the Democratic
National Committee at the
Watergate."
BUT TIIE commission, in its
fascinating account of the.
CIA's domestic cloak and com-
puter activities, noted with,
gentlemanly tartness that de-
spite its generally Clean re-
cord the agencyy had in its 7.8
years "engaged in some activ-
ities that should be criticized
and not permitted to happen
again."-Among them:
Operation Chaos-Respond-
ing to President Johnson'.,; de-
mands for ]hitter intelligence
in tell face of domestic vin-
]once and demonstrations, the
CIA established a special oper-
ations *roup-later to bear lba
cryptom,-m CHAOS-"to Col-
lect, coordinate, evaluate, and
report.on the extent of foreign
influence on domestic dissi-
dence." Most of the informa-
tion was collected from the
FBI an CLA field stations.. The
report noted:
"During six years, the oper-
ation compiled some 13,000 dif-
ferent files, including files on
7,200 American citizens. The
documents in these files and
related materials included the
names of more than 300,000
p e r s o n s and organizations
which were entered into a
computerized index."
IN RESPONSE to repeated
Presidential requests for intel-
ligence the CHAOS staff was
s t e a d i l y enlarged until it
reached a'ma~dmum of 52 in
1972. Some of the agents used
to collect information abroad
were recruited from dissident
groups and others were or-
dered to infiltrate such groups.
The commission found evi-
dence that the CIA's CHAOS
agents made use of mail cov-
ers and check-cd rocerds of
overseas p::o^' cal: _:, a d
sought the help of foreign in-
telligence and pa'ice agencies
in investigating American dis-
sidents' foreign connections.
An intelligence source ex-
plained that these foreign po-
lice agencies, may have used
break-ins and . wiretaps, as
well as surveillance in aiding
the CIA.
Altho during the first two
years CHAOS gathered most
of its information from its own
field offices' or other agencies'
reports, it had begun under
pressure from the Nixon White
House to recruit and run its
own agents.
The commission noted, how-
ever, that "No evidence was
found that any Operation
CHAOS agent was used or was
directed by the agency to. use
electronic surveillance, . wire-'
taps, or break-ins in the Unit-.
ed States against any dissident
individual or group."
DRUG TESTLNG-Interested
in reports that the Soviet Un-
ion
was 'experimenting with
behavior-influencing drugs
(such as LSD), the CIA began
its own experiments beginning
in the late 19'=0s and continu-
ing them into the 1950..
Altho records concerning the
program were ordered de-
str oyed in 1973, including a to-
ta1 of 152 separate files, the
coma ',: Sion found part of the
testing program was conduct-
ed on "unsuspecting subjects"
in normal social situations.
Because of the de:t 'ucct:on of
the records, the. commission
noted the difficu'ties of investi-
gating the dnig prig, am but it
did learn of this case in 1953,
early in the prograir.:
LSD was administered
to an employe of the depart-
ment of the army without his
knowledge while he was at-
tending a meeting with CIA
personnel working on the drug
proj:'ct-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/02 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100170048-3