CIA ACCUSED OF SPYING ON MEANY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100250061-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 61
• Publication Date: January 10, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100250061-9
iceuset o
Washington-The Central Intelligence Agency se-
cretly read the mail of AFL-CIO President George i'~
Meariy and two of the labor leaders top aides during
the 1950s, according to a.high-ranking former CIA
official.
And, in ,response to charges that the agency re-
ceived 9,000 to 10,000 names of American dissidents
from;the Justice Department in 1970, an administra-
tion Pource said last night that the CIA has told the
Justice Department that it made no use-of the list
nd ci;estroyed it in March.-
,
These were the two latest developments concern-.
ing tine shadowy foreign intelligence agency, which is
under fire for allegedly exceeding its authority by en-
gaging inwidespread domesttu spying.
e offi
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f
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cial who
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ormer
At high-rank
ng
personally took part `sin. the program to monitor
avail of
lso. read the
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id
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e agency a
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s -mail sa
Meaay
p?,rtation systems being developed by some of Ameri:
Jay Lovestone, the AFL-CIO's now retired director of
s major NATO allies as well as the Soviet Union.
ca
The former official, who asked to remain anony-
mous. said the operation was begun because the CIA I
was not able to get sufficient information .from Ameri-
can unions which served as conduits for agency' funds
to anticommunist European trade unions. The CIA j
declined to make any official comment, either on mon-
itoring of the union leaders mail or the statement that
the agency funneled money through the American I
tradeunion?movement to foreign unions.
In Farmington, Conn., a former CIA official last'
night recalled another operation in which the CIA,
working with the FBI, opened the mail of other U.S.
citizens. Richard.M_ Bissell Jr., a former deputy di-
rector of the CIA's office of plans, said the operation
was aimed at identifying Russians who might be abla,
to supply information to the CIA, and not at "moni-:
toring American citizens."
Former GIN director Richard Helms has denied
allegations that the CIA engaged in illegal do ieeb.
spying during his tenure.-Helms, now ambassador to l
Iran, has agreed to testify Jan. 22 at a closed hearing
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. on the I
allegations.
'
said the CIA had
The administration source who
.destroyed the agency's list of American radicals, gave
no explanation for its destruction. However, accord-
ing to one report, CIA officials may have feared that l
new provisions in the Freedom of Information Act
could be. used to force the agency to turn over its. files
to citizens. - I
In a related development, a 'confidential letter dis-
closed yesterday ftt the CIA began soliciting U.S..
corm. anies last fall to conduct a secret study of trans-
the letter's existence, said he would push for a Water
;ate-style Senate investigation. to determine whether
the CIA has exceeded its foreign intelligence charter.
STAT
ding
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,,,,, Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 : CIA-RDP90-01208R000100250061-9