AIRLIE FOUNDER DENIES U.S. SUBSIDY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000400030022-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 10, 1998
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: September 15, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

Sanitized - Approved For Release 9 1 j @ FOIAb3b
iz,
The follnler of : it is Hou rs
has deified a charge that the
sprawlin Virginia conference
center has been covertly sup-
by the Peihta"on, State
Denartr ent uad Central Intelli-
j gen ee :_gency.
? "`got a sin doll -r of support
bb ) b . c. YI
a press conference earlier in the
day.
Riggs said that "an elaborate
system of electronic bugging"
had been installed in r irlie's
main conference building and
cculd secretly monitor' the
conversations of conference
participants. Bead denied such
use.
from the C_A c' any other
similar org''a izedd.". has been
offered or z:ecc ed by this
institution," said Dr. I urdock
Head, director of Founda-
tion.
"I can categorically state that
this alleged support by the CIA
can only 'rc attributed to an
overly fertile imagination or, for
some reason unknown to us, a
deliberate attempt to falsify the
facts," he maintained yester-
day.
The CIA declined comment,
but government sources denied
charges leveled by William
Flin~s 1xT-hip-- atto-ne at
Fou;:d No Fund Sdurce
Higgs contended also that the
alleged government involvement
with the conference center
violated a White I-Iouse policy
approved earlier this year that
no federal agency should "pro-
vide covert financial assistance
or support, direct or indirect, to
any of the nation's educational
or private voluntary organize-ifound,atlon with former inte i-;which could have influence in
tions." genco officer's convinced him of the direction of the center."
Riggs, 31, long associated with tho CL -State-Defense links. Frequently used by the State
the civil rights movement and Head said, on the other , hand, Department and other govern-
ail active supporter of a
that ' Airlie "has been, from its. llaent agencies, the center also
of radcauses, saki he scant inception, supported in the main j has housed meetings in recent
_eur months doing, research on by myself and nay family. years of organizations including
the subject, checking F it ie the House Republican leaders,
Foundation's tax returns, land Alliances Avoided the International Association of
records and other documents. "1W1e have been extremely Chiefs of Police, the D.C. School
He
~? said a failure to find any careful to avoid alliances not Board, George 1Vashingtori
source of substantial income for only with groups of this nature,) University and the NAACP
Airlie and extensive ties of the, but with any organizations; Legal and Defense Fund.
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Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000400030022-4
 CPYR ' 'a UANGTON 51W-2
"a hitize - Approved For Release ~ 1`3
i House ils
I
By ROBERT WALTERS
Star Staff Wrifcr
Washington attorney William
Higgs today charged that Airlie
House, the area's most pres-
tigous conference center, i
secretly supported by the Penta-
gon, State Department and Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency.
The charge was immediate)
denied by Dr. Murdock Head
founder and director of the Air
lie Foundation, and by a govern
ment source. Head said tha
"not a single dollar of supper
from the CIA or any other sim?i
lar organization has bee
offered or accepted by this in
stitution."
Higgs told a press cjonfercnc
that "an elaborate system o
electronic bugging" equipmen
has been installed in Airlie'
main conference building and i
capable of secretly monitoi-in
the conversations of conference
participants,
A government source , said
anyone taking part in a'confer
ence at Airlie House was show
the system and told it was use
for legitimate purposes.
Higgs is a supporter of radi-
cal political causes and ha
long been associated with the
civil rights movement. ? He di.
not say why he had made the
charges about Airlie House, bu
i indicated that his political lib
,eralism was at least a major
reason.
In charging government in
volvement with the conferenc
center, Higgs added that thi
CPYRGHT
cke
er Ulm
violates a White House directive
ssued earlier this year which
tates that: "No federal agency
hall provide any covert finan-
ial assistance or support, di-
'ect or indirect, to any of the
ation's educational or private;
oluntary organizations."
Higgs also said Airlie House
maintains a large medical clinic,
and has two physicians special
zing in plastic surgery on its'!
staff, "I don't know what is
going on in the clinic," he said.
Airlie House is located on a
1,200-acre estate just east of
Washington, in F a u q u I e r 1 was created, and it currently is
County, Va. ' Its literature de- the ostensible owner and oper-
scribes the facility as being, ator of the property, Higgs said.
"operated by Airlie Foundation. He said the current foundation
as an educational and research I! directors include Joseph J. Sis-
Used by Private Groups
Although frequently serving
.as the center for conferences
sponsored by a wide variety of
government agencies, Airlie
House also has been the site of
a number of meetings organized
by. private groups.
Among groups which have
held meetings there in recent
years are House Republican
leaders, the International As-
sociation of Chiefs of Police,
the D.C. school board, George
Washington University and the
NAACP Legal and Defense
Fund, Inc.
Higgs said four months of rc-
!state for international organiza-
"tion affairs. Sisco is Head's
is vice president of the founda-
tion, the directors now include
FOIAb3b
CPYRGHT
ig nee officers and federal em-
to es convinced, him of the
I -State-Defense links.
cad, in denying the charges,
ai the conference center, now
in Is sixth year of operation,
"h s been. from its inception
su ported in the main by my-
sel and my family. We have
e extremely careful to avoid,
all nces not only. with groups
of his nature (CIA), but with
an organization which could
ha e influence in the direction
of he center."
Sc eduled by private groups
"a e in turn supported by rep-
ut ble foundations, professional
organizations, voluntary groups
an civic and community asso-
ci lions who are themselves, by
an large, nonprofit."
e added: "I can cantegori-
ca ly state that his alleged sup-
po-t by the, CIA can only be
at ributed to an overly fertile
i agination or, for some rea-
so unknown to us, a deliberate
at empt to falsify the facts."
brother of Nicholas deB. Katzen-
bath, under secretary of state,
and Mortimer M. Caplin, former!
director of the Internal Revenue
Service, currently president of
the foundation.
Fund Source Probed
Higgs said the public has been
led to believe that the funds to
purchase and' maintain the vast
estate and the numerous build-i
ings on the grounds have come
from the parents of Head's wife,
Jane.
But Higgs said an investiga-
tion of Mrs. Head's parents,:
Lillian and Robert Gibson,
showed they had few aseets.
He said a credit report showed
1 Gibson worked as a washing
machine salesman and his wife
was employed by a beauty par-
lor.
Despite that, Higgs said, rec-
1 ords showed that' in October
search had traced the foundingI
of Airlie House to a 1957 memo
written by Kenneth T. Young,
then director of the State De-
partment's Southeast Asia of-',
fairs desk, who proposed the 1.
creation of a private conference l
center in the Washington area
to cultivate and train "the rul-
ing elite" of Asian nations.
Higgs said Young, in a pri-
vately circulated State Depart-
i ment memo, called for:
"The establishment of an in-
Sanitized
! 11960 the Gibson's purchased 355 1
L W YY ct L1 ll5W11 -V-. - - f,"
house in the country near the ,$100,000, then transferred the
city where key officials' could !property to Head for "love and
spend a few days of concen- affection" but no money.
trated attention on this problem Higgs said the failure to find
with specialists and officers in j any source of substantial in-
cx?.,..h;.,+., mnillrl facilitate -this come for the sprawling estate,
problem." , now valued. at more than
I,
. ion and the foundation's
044 -
400030022-4
Bought Land u 1
Higgs said . that)' on purchased
11956, Dr. Head p
first tract of land for what was'
later to become the conference
center. That purchase was fol-
lowed by a July 10, 1959 pur-
chase of 352 acres, Higgs added.
He estimated total cost at about
$200,000.
Four months later, a nonprofit
Virginia foundation called the
Airlie House Foundation was
created, but it ceased existence
in September 1960, he said. In