DRAFT LETTER TO WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00777R000302000002-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/06/12 : CIA-RDP99-00777R000302000002-8
DRAFT LETTER TO,WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
As a loyal St. Louisian, I read the ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
regularly. I came across your letter in the February 9th issue and
read it very carefully. Because your letter seems to reflect a
genuine concern rather than mere visceral reaction, I think I owe
you a response.
First, as Judge Sessions has already publicly stated, the CISPES
investigation was not politically motivated. It was based upon
credible information indicating criminal activity which required
investigation. The investigation was conducted in coordination with
the Department of Justice and in accordance with the Attorney
General's foreign counterintelligence guidelines (promulgated)
during the administration of Attorney General Griffin Bell. The
investigation was closed in 1985 because it failed to produce
sufficient evidence to justify further investigation.
The United States has the best track record for dealing with
terrorism of any nation in the world. During the past decade, the
FBI dealt quietly and efficiently with numerous terrorist groups,
both domestic and international. Terrorist groups are inherently
political. But unlike other groups with political objectives,
terrorists are willing to use violent and criminal means to advance
their aims.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/06/12: CIA-RDP99-00777R000302000002-8
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Organizations--whether left or right--have been investigated
without any political predisposition on the part of the FBI. At the
same time that the CISPES investigation was taking place, the FBI
was investigating allegations of criminal misconduct by members of
organizations supported by the Administration. Politics did not
enter into consideration, and no document yet produced supports the
conclusion that it did.
I am sure that legitimate criticisms of the overall
investigation can be made. I have yet to see an investigation that
could, not be second-guessed and better handled the second time
around. But I believe it is important for you to have some sense of
the dimensions of this investigation, which were vastly overstated
and distorted--in my view for political reasons.
First, CISPES was not a massive investigation. I am advised
that the time spent on this investigation was the functional
equivalent of five agents working full time on the case during each
of the two years. To put this in context, there were over 8,500
special agents working during that period.
Second, there was no broad investigation of groups or
individuals; the investigation focused on certain individuals within
the CISPES organization. Because CISPES was an umbrella
organization involving many individuals affiliated with other
groups, some data with respect to these affiliations did appear in
the internal reporting records. These organizations were not under
investigation and files were not opened on them.
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Third, the investigation proceeded at minimal levels of
intrusion. There were no wiretaps, no searches, no special agents
acting under cover. None of the sensitive techniques which would
have required my knowledge or approval were employed. So far as I
can determine, no improper use was made of the investigative
techniques or any information derived from them.
It would be very wrong for the FBI to use investigative
techniques for the purpose of embarrassing or harassing any American
citizen in the exercise of his First Amendment rights. In fact,
specific instructions to that effect were given from FBI
Headquarters at the time the investigation was authorized. These
instructions were repeated at various times throughout the
investigation. I invite you to review the 1,200 pages of published
documents to determine for yourself whether this is not the case.
Finally, I am proud of my own record on academic freedom during
my years as a lawyer, as a Federal Judge, and as Director of the
FBI. Indeed this was alluded to in the citation when I received an
honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1981. I have
served Washington University in many capacities for 40 years, as a
member of the Visiting Committee of two other law schools, and as a
member of the National Advisory Board of American University. I
represented the Washington University Board of Trustees in
negotiating with the faculty the first written statement of policy
on academic freedom and tenure.
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I deeply believe what _I wrote in my concurring opinion
in , "the solution to tough problems is not found
in the regression of ideas." During the Washington University Board
of Trustees meeting last December, a number of supporters of
divestment appeared and I urged the board to invite the group back
to speak at its next meeting.
The law enforcement community often finds itself caught in the
tensions between two important and deeply held values: the right
for citizens to be let alone and the societal demands to keep all
members of society safe and free. How that balance is struck has
much to do with whether we can preserve America, in Edmund Burke's
terms, as a land of "ordered liberty."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/06/12 : CIA-RDP99-00777R000302000002-8