STATUS REPORT ON MHCHAOS ACTIVITIES (MHCHAOS RELATED MATTERS DRASTICALL Y REDUCED IN 1973 DUE TO END OF AMERICAN MILITARY ACTIVITIES IN SE ASIA AND DEC REASE IN FOREIGN TRAVEL BY MILITANTS)

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: MHCHAOS
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00016401
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2024
• Document Release Date: December 24, 2024
• Publication Date: August 20, 1973

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N7CIT,
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MEMORANDUM FOR:
SUBJECT
)
BEST COPY
AVAILABLE
2 Aue1973
� Status Report on HHCHAOS Activities
1. There has been a drastic reduction in traffic and
requirements concerned with MHCHAOS-related matters during .
1973, partially a reflection of the end of American military
activities in Southeast Asia--(resulting in the elimination
of the draft and the denise of massive domestic and inter-
national antiwar tctivities) and partially a result of "pre-
sent realities"--which has led to the cessation or the "with-
ering away" of requests and requirements by the White House
and the IEC for special studies as well as such routine monthly
efforts as the "Calendar of Foreiga Events" which focused on
upcoming international activities designed to support/encourage
and coordinate efforts in conjunction with domestic extremist/
militant plans and actions. �
� �
2. The breaking-up and the dissolution of major United
States' antiwar groups and organizations has, in turn, re-
sulted in o radical decrease of trips to Hanoi by American
militants and has very significantly affected the number of
visits ns cc.
tives
a
.3. .The_above developments in .the "radical/militant anti- ,a
'tar" sector were_preceeded by _a Similar.trend'in-the,extremist
youth/NevaLeft Circles, the ':deserter support and -inducement"�'
field, as Well as in the so-called "underground media/Libera- '
tion and Movement News" field.
- 4. Finally, the dissension among American black political !-
-enists and hijackers abrodi 1.the break up of the.: '
Black Panther Factionr7 and other similar -
racci nalizotions, to a great parf-The result of an inability
of the main protagonists to capitalize on their status as
"international revolutionaries," have reduced these activities
to a shadow of former dimensions.
5. The major effort in the MHCHAOS-related field has
been and remains directly responsive to requirements levied
upon the Agency by the FBI. These requests were separate
from the White House requirenehts although, in many cases,
they involved parallel matters or were interrelated. They
were and remain as follows:
AMMO fOk RELEASE1,4
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a. Requests for information concerning hostile con-
tacts and activities abroad of designated American groups,
organizations or individuals, especially with the Soviets,
Chinese Communists, Cubans, North Koreans, North Vietna-
mese, representatives of the Provisional ReVolutionary
Government of South Vietnam, or any foreign revolutionary
� organizations.
b. Requirements of a specific nature involving the
� contacts/activities of selected American citizens abroad,
the majority of them being the subject of active security
� investigatioris of a counterintelligence nature; or re-
quests for information on related targets.
6. Examination of the total MHCHAOS communications for
March and February 1973 (304 cables), establishes that 215
cables, or 70.7% of the total traffic, resulted directly from
the above FBI requests which, in the main, deal with obtain-
ing counterintelligence information on hostile linkages abroad
of designated Americans/group leaders who may or may not be
simultaneously involved in domestic dissident activities and
some of when could, by the nature of their past histories,
also be involved in terrorist activities/planning, certain
Weatherman fugitives being a case in point.
7. The analytical survey which covers both (a) MHCHAOS
operational cables and (b) reports to the FBI in the fdl-m of
special counterintelligence memoranda also reflects that the
volume of operational traffic, after reaching a high point
in 1971 (829 cables), diminished during 1.972 (817 cables),
and has dropped sharply for the see period in 1973 (304
cables); i.e., the operational�cable traffic for 1973 shows
a 62.7% decrease from the corresponding two months in 1972.
Similarly, the counterintelligence memoranda, after a high
point in February and March 1971 of. 131 submissions, dropped
to 61 for the same period in 1973
8. The overall picture in the continued reduction of
MHCHAOS-related traffic from Ju* and V-v-"elt of 1972 to
the corresponding period of 1973 is reflected in the follow- -
kng breadown:
a. Cable traffic for June 1972:
r
In
107.
Out
119
Total
126.
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S.72,ft
b. Cable traffic for July 1972:
In 113 �
Our 99
Total
c. Cable Cable traffic for June 1973:
In 75
Out , 33
Total TIT6 �
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d. Cable traffi for:JUly 1973:
47
Out 27
Total.
�
Correspondence with the FBI ,June 1972:
(Responsive to their requirements)
iii7
Out 36
Total -- -TS
f. Correspondence with.the FBI, July 1972: -
' In '
� 51 Out
� ,
- Total
�
Correspondence with the 11Byune 197t:-
In 1
Out 23
Total 24 -
h. Correspondence with the FBI July 1973:
In 1
Out 12
Total. 13
� 9. The reduction in traffic as a whole has been accom-
panied by a general dismantling of our hwilan and our techni-
cal assets in the field. This was not done primarily because
.r
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we have thought it to be politic "et this period of tine,"
but, iore to the point, because we could not justify these
activities any longer in terms of the 1111CHAOS effott since
the targets and the activities of the target individuals and'.
groups have shifted in emphasis or have ceased activities of
previous priority concern altogether.
10. We have therefore tu
JO;
pending-a-deelsron-by
eventual resunntion under
have turned over assets
ier
,
We have tereetnatec
11. Having-prev' terninated an asset
uld another one because of (a) unsuitability
�in on case and e acc ss in the other
,
wAve-
12. This nay be the point to mention that our experience
gained during the last five years in the field of MHCHAOS has
enabled CIA to speak with increasing assurance and pertinence
on the problen, rather than simply furnishing desirable foot-
notes for "a preconceived hypothesis." We have often been
able to place ongoing developments in perspective, and that,
in sone cases, to very high level customers.
33. At this stage then, the !:::C!!AOS effort is reduced
to se-evicing a decreasing nue.ber of Fi;J requirerents on
specific individuals such ;lc foyeer1ckJntherPy
e:ftrenist/hijackers
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extremisA.s in such p.aces
yell as tr g to covey in ica:Ions o
extremists and others.
ilL to an PT
er militant
, as
... to
uban target,
'epee -er1v renort
as per ioUic reporting, again in
ie-FBI re uirement, of some individuals,
14. Therefore, more than ever at this stage, MEMOS
activities are the direct result of FBI requests which, in
the nain, concern themselves with obtaining counterintelli-
gence information on hostile linkages abroad of designated
domestic groups�end�leaders who are involved in domestic
dissident activities, either at present or who, by the nature
of their past activities, merit continued coverage, certain
violent Weatherman fugitives being a case in point.
15. A note night be nade that while the current standing
requirements levied on us by the FBI (copy attached) appear
fornidable, in many cases they have been overcome by events,
i.e., in the antiwar field the Peoples Coalition for Peace
and Justice is defunct, the deserter field is of no more
interest to us, the Puerto Rican target is no longer being
serviced.
�
16. In essence then, the residual HCHAOS task remains
the continuation of selective collection abroad of information
on hostile foreign efforts to exploit/encourage/manipulate/ _
support domestic/extremists/terrprists in the U.S., a reduced --
effort which reflects the changed circumstances. cencerned
prinarilv withCnban slaw ,ivf. ef.ferts
-ecause of
the .ency ... Li responsiol ,ies aroad, we remain
interested in any-evidence that the four other Communist
powers (the Soviets, the Chicoms, the North Koreans and the
' Torth Vietnamese/PRO) are persisting in their efforts in
seeking to exploit and exacerbate deenstic American problems
through direct or indirect links with selected American
activists/extremists.
17. Of equal importance to the above is the availability
of data i1 the nucmos holding on foreign groups or individuals
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who have cultivated contacts with American extremists/radicals
in joint efforts to exacerbate domestic dissidence. In some
cases this covers persons in the international terrorist
field as well; the holdings obviously represent a unique,
albeit also very sensitive, capability. ,
Attachment:
�
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�,74�"ree .4 � :7".. � � �
�. 6
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