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2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992
6.i cru
1 June 1973
MEMORANDUM FOR : Mr William E . Colby
SUBJECT : Spccia [ Activities
1 Following our recent conversation I have
searched my memory and Mr _ McCone 's files for examples
of actfvties whlch to host1le observers or to someone
without complete knowledge and with a specia kind of
motivation cou ld be interpreted as examples of activfties
exceeding CIA 's charter
2 : First as we discussed on 7 March 1962 _
DCI McCone under pressure from A ttorney Genera 1 Robert
F Kennedy agreed to tap the telephones of columnists
Robert S _ Allen and Pau) Scott In an effort to identify
their sources for classified information hich was aPpear
ing In their columns Because the primary source appeared
to be In the Department of Defense McCone ordered me
persona Ily to brief Genera 1 Joe Carroll, Director of DIA
ora ]ly whicb I did. I understand more complete inforda t ion
on this operation_ 1s ava [lable from the Director of Security_
I persona [ly managed to avofd ga [nfng any knowledge of
what precise actions were taken
9
what informa tion was ga ined
what was done with it, and when the operation was termina ted .
3 As a result of a developing relattonship witb
Pht Hppe de_Rosjoli the SDECE representattve In Mashington ,
and a Iso as a result 0f certain inforea t Ion conveyed by
Ana tole Golitsen -
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James Angleton with tbe approval of
Dick He lms agreed to mount a counterespionage opera t ion
aga inst the Frencb. Embassy In" Rashington _ This Involved
breaking and entering and tbe remova ] of documents from
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the French Consulate On 18 June 1962 DCI McCone and
He lms brieled Secretary of State Rusk genera on the
operation without going into operationa 1 details Later
on the same day Pres ident John F Kennedy was briefed .
Actual breaking and entering occurred somewhat Jater and
on 15 April 1963 DCI McCone met with Prcs ident Kennedy
a lone and briefed the President on the detai ls of this
new phase of the Operation: On the same day , the Attorney
Genera ! was briefed and he agreed that he would not
mention it to the FBI unless the FBI themselves ra ised
it with him On 3 February 1964 _ DI McCone met a lone
with Pres ident Lyndon B. Johnson and briefed him on tbe
operation On 4 February McGeorge Bundy was briefed_
On 6 February 1964 In a brfefing of Secretary of State
Rusk on the results of the operatIon _ Rusk expressed
reservations a bout the propriety of such an operation_
He raised this same concern In subsequent conversations
with McCone on 17 April 1964 28 May 1964_ and 14 June
1964 On 12 September 1964 Rusk continued to express
grave reserva tions and repeatedly suggested that the
French be informed dlrectly that we knew about their
espionage operations in the Unfted States and ask then
to desist_ In a meeting on 28 May 1964 Rusk expressed
these reservations In the of DCI McCone and
President John-F_ KSecretary of Defense McNamara
was also present and there Is no record that he had
previously been ma de aware of this opera tion
4 _ Although certain activities never got beyond
the planning stage there are I be lieve three examples
of such plann Ine which could be subject to misinterpretation .
One involved chenica ) wa rfare Operat Lons aga [nst the rIce
crops in both Cuba and North Vietnam A second involved
a Paramilitary strike aga Inst the Chi-Com nuc lear Instal-
lations Outside the United States Government Genera ]
Eisenhower was briefed on such plann ing A third
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whicb
assumes a new significance today =
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involved a proposa ] by
Angleton and Helns for a greatly increased intelilgence
collection effort agaInst foreign insta ] lations In this
country _ This PlannIng also involved a scheme for selected
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exposure of KGB activities and counteractions aga Inst the
Soviet intelligence service The reasons are still unc lear
to me as to the FBI chose to brief the PFIAB to the
effect that CIA was planning to wiretap ex tensively and
indiscriminately in this country to greatly increase
the Agency representation in the Moscow Embassy and
genera ]ly to use KGB-type tactics a Iso extens ively and
indiscriminately - Th is led to a hea ted : exchange be tween
DCI McCone and Mr _ Be Imont of the FBI One such meet 1ng
taking Place in the presence of the Attorney General _
It is clear that the FBI was opposed to any such proposa ]
then , as now , and the plan never went forward _
5 . During the period when Des PitzGera }d was 10
charge of the Cuban Task Force = DCI McCone '6 office
learned quite by accident that FitzGerald had secured
the cooperation of severa l prominent US business fIras
in denying economic items to Cuba There was no questIon
but that the businessmen were to cooperate but know-
ledge of this opera t ion had to be rather widespread_
6 _ On 17 April 1964 Mr Robert B Anderson cane
to DCI HcCone on beha ] f of American bus Iness interests ,
offering to. Insert some S300 , 000 to try to secure
favorable result in the elections in Pa nama Sbortly
after thfs approach Mr Clyde Weed of Anaconda Copper
Compa ny @a de 8
Si01iar proposal
to McCone in connectIon
witb elect Ions In 'Chi le On 12 May 1964 at a meetIng of
the 303 Committee , it was decided that tbe offers of
American bus Iness cou Id not be accepted it beIng nelther
a secure way nor an honorable way of doing sucb bus _ness
Thls dec laration of Policy at this tfoe beare On the recent
ITT hearings but I am not surprised tha t McCone has
forgotten that he helped to set the precedent of refusing
to accept such Collaboration be tween the Agency 's operat ions
and private business
7 _ At the direction of Attorney Genera 1 Robert
Kennedy and with the explicit approva] of President Kennedy ,
McCone injected the Agency , and particularly Cord Meyer ,
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into the US labor situation and particularly to try
to ameliorate the quarre l be tween George Meany and
Ka lter Reuther_ Cord Meyer steered a very skillful
course in this connection but the Agency could be
vulnerable to charges that we went behind Meany s back
or were somehow consorting with Reuther against Meany 's
wishes
8 There are three examples of uS ing Agency
funds which I know to be controversial One was the
expenditure of money under Project MOSES in securing
the release of Cuban Brigade prisoners _ Deta1 1s of
this tion are best known to Larry Houston Mlke Hhskoepeja
Geores NacHanu8 and James Smfth _ Second _
as
you weil
know w hen Lou Conein recefved hfs summons
to report to the Joint Genera 1 Staff Beadquarters on
1 November 1963 a large amount of casb went wIth him_
My lmpressIon is that the accounting for this and its
use has never been very frank or complete Tbrd at
one of the early Specia 1 Group meetings attended by
McCone he took strong exception to proposa Is to epend
Agency funds to improve the economic viabflity of Kest
Berlin and for an investment prograa in Ma 11 - His
genera ] position was that such expendItures were not
within the Agency 's charter and that be vould a10w
such spending only on the direct persona _ request of
the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense Or
the Rhite House
9 , I rase these issues of fundIng because I
remember tbe Agency 's befng severely criticIzed by the
House AppropriatIons Subcommittee for bavIng spent $3 , 000
for stamps in connectIon with a program to tractors
to secure the release- of prisoners from Cuba
10 _ Under the heading of old business I know tha t
any one who has worked in the Director's
Office
has worried
about the fact that conversations within the offices and
over the telephones were transcribed _ During McCone 's
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tenure there were microphones in his regular office
his inner office his dining room his office in East
Bui lding = and his study at his residence on white Haven
Street . I do not know who wou ld_ be willing to_ ra [se such
an issue but knowledge of such operat ions tends to
spread , and certainly the Agency is vulnerable on this
score
11 Also under the heading of old business , I
we11 remember the hue and cry ra ised espec ially by Car]
Kaysen in the Khite House when the Agency injected a
contanina ting agent in Cuban sugar bound for the Soviet
Union _ Shortly after the Cuban @Issfle crisis there vas
a dIsposition in Rashington to reexa@lne the Bay of Plgs
and the fact that severa 1 Alabana Na t1ona l Air Guard
officers lost their lives in the Bay of Pigs was surfaced
with surprisingly little excitement at tbe tlme
12 During my stint on the 7tb floor there was
a specla 1 arrangement witb the Office of Communications
whereby the Director S offfce ga ined access_ to non-CIA
traffic This surfaced briefly at one point shortly after
Admiral Rayborn becane DCI . Ae had visited the S1gna1
Center and removed a copy of a
telegraa from the Embassy
in the Dominican Republic for Under Secretary George Ba1l ,
Eyes Only He returned to hfs office and proceeded to
discuss this telegran wfth George Ba 11 wbo was na turally
quite curious as to how Rayborn knew a bout it, and a Ls0 as
to how 'Rayborn had It 1n bls possess Ion before Ba 11 d1.
Ben Read in the Secretary of State 's office and I spent
severa 1 weeks putting this one to rest
13 Fina )ly DCI McCone as you and I we 11 knon _
opera ted on a very
iofty piane
and I think certain of
his activities could be misunderstood One example was
his decision in July of 1964 to have Aristotle Onassis and
Maria Ca 1 las flown from Rome to Athens On Air Force KC 135 _
Their arrival in Athens in thfs airplane attracted the
attention of the loca l press and 1n due course Mr John
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Hightower Chlef of the Associated Press Bureau for
Washington came to see me to ask about the propriety
of this action ._
14 The use of Fa irways Corporation a ircraft
has been remarkably secure but DI McCone himself
forgot about the cover arrangement and became quite
exercised when he saw Candidate Go ldwa ter land In the
San Francisco a irport for the Republican Nationa] Con -
vention in 1964 aboard the Grumma n Gulf Stream with
the highly visible tail number N 8 E: This was I
explaned to him carefully , a perfectly legItIma te
charter , but he didn t like It _
15 _ McCone dealt quite extensively wIth newsmen
in #ashington In fact, they gave hie a g1ft and 8
luncheon when he' left Washington , which Is perhaps
indicative of the press S relations with hie_ However ,
in the case of the Ross' and Rise book Te Inv-slble
Government he did try to bring pressure on tbe pubTisher
and the authors to change things They did not change
a comma and I doubt that this old saw willever sing
again .
16.. Fina ]ly and this mill reflect @y Middle
Hestern Protestant upbrIngLng, McCone '8 dealings VItb
the Va tIcan including Pope John_ XX III and Pope Paul
V I, would and could ralse eyebrows In certaln quarters
17 . Tbe above IIsting is uneven , but I have a
sinking 'feeling that dlscipline has broken down and that
allegatIons from any quarter which cast these things in
the wrong IIght would recefve great publicity and attention ,
and no amount of denial would ever set the record straight _
If I may be of any assistance In tracking down further
details, I a0 of course at your disposa l but I would point
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out that I was very much in the positIon of the
enlisted man who knew that the commissioned officers
were aware 0f these activities and better able to
judge their propriety and possible impact or misinter-
pretation _
6Eds_
RALTER ELDER
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