Where's the CIA's Missing Jewel?

What's the missing jewel?

Today, the CIA released its infamous "Family Jewels" file. This is a set of internal memos compiled in the mid-1970s after press reports revealed numerous CIA dirty tricks. In 1973, CIA director James Schlessinger, having learned that Watergate burglars E. Howard Hunt and James McCord (each a CIA veteran) had been in contact with the Agency while carrying out illegal activities for President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, ordered divisions within the CIA to report any activities they had engaged in since 1959 that might be outside the CIA's authority. Deputy Director William Colby then assembled a loose-leaf notebook of the memos that poured in. The whole package totaled 700 pages. And though its existence has been known for years--congressional investigators of the 1970s had access to these documents--this secret file has never before been made public. It was considered to hold the agency's darkest secrets.

Many of these secrets did emerge during the congressional investigations of the 1970s: the joint CIA-Mafia attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro; CIA surveillance of American reporters and political dissidents; the CIA's secret jailing for three years of a suspected Soviet agent (who was not a Soviet agent). The newly-released documents are full of fresh details about some of these notorious episodes. But at least one of the "Family Jewels" seems to be missing.

The first document in the packet is a 1973 memo from Howard Osborn, then the CIA's director of security, to the CIA top management, and it summarizes the "jewels" compiled by his office. It lists eight problems--including the recruitment of mobster Johnny Roselli for the Castro hit. But blacked out from this document is the first item on Osborn's list. And a two-and-a-half page description of this operation is also redacted from the "Family Jewels" file.

In a recent speech, General Michael Hayden, the CIA's director, hailed the declassification of the "Family Jewels." He remarked, "The documents provide a glimpse of a very different time and very different Agency." Yet the very first secret in these papers has been deleted.

"The No. 1 jewel of the CIA's Office of Security is probably a pretty good one--especially since the second jewel in this list is the Roselli/Castro assassination program," says Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a public interest outfit that filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the "Family Jewels" fifteen years ago. There are many other deletions in the "Family Jewels" file, and in most instances there's no telling exactly what has been excised. But much of the censored material seems to be related to how the CIA has created cover and fake documents. "This is probably justifiable," says Blanton, because such operational secrets may still be relevant today. But the missing jewel? Assassination? Domestic spying? Something unimaginable? "We just don't know," says Blanton.

All in all, Blanton notes, the file is not as explosive as CIA-watchers might have anticipated. "These are the 'Family Jewels'?" he asks sarcastically. "Much of this came out years ago. So how could the CIA justify keeping this stuff secret for 30 years? This is not really as informative as the [previously released] inspector general's report on the Castro assassination plots."

There are, however, intriguing tidbits scattered throughout these hundreds of pages. Here are a few:

* In a June 1, 1973 memo written to Colby, Walter Elder, who had been executive assistant for John McCone, the CIA director in the early 1960s, outlined "activities which to hostile observers or to someone without complete knowledge...could be interpreted as examples of activities exceeding CIA's charters." One such activity, he noted, "involved chemical warfare operations against...." The target is redacted. This operation, according to Elder, never went beyond the planning stage.

* In the same memo, Elder reports that discussions within the CIA chief's offices were recorded and transcribed: "I know that 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 tenure, there were microphones in his regular office, his inner office, his dining room, his office in East Building, and his study at his residence on White Haven Street. I do not know who would be willing to raise such an issue, but knowledge of such operations tends to spread, and certainly the Agency is vulnerable on this score." Secret transcripts of conversations involving CIA directors? According to Blanton, there's never been any public indication that McCone or other CIA directors bugged themselves. Transcripts of such discussions could contain plenty of jewels. The National Security Archive is already filing a Freedom of Information Act request.

* One memo notes that CIA had a Project OFTEN that collected "data on dangerous drugs from U.S. firms" until the program was terminated in the fall of 1972. Another memo reports that commercial drug manufacturers "passed on" to the CIA drugs "rejected because of unfavorable side effects" These drugs were then tested using volunteers from the U.S. military.

* During the internal review that led to the creation of the "Family Jewels" file, a top CIA official suggested that the CIA director keep himself in the dark about MKULTRA--the Agency's mind control program run by Sidney Gottlieb, a psychiatrist and chemist. As part of this program, the CIA slipped LSD and other psychoactive drugs to unwitting subjects. (Gottlieb, according to another document in the file, was supposed to have provided poison in for an assassination attempt against Patrice Lumumba, the anti-colonial prime minister of the Republic of Congo. After being deposed in a 1960 coup, Lumumba was shot and killed by Kantangan forces.)

* CIA employees assigned to MHCHAOS--the operation that conducted surveillance against American opponents of the Vietnam war and other political dissidents--expressed a "high degree of resentment" about being given such a mission.

* The CIA "performed image enhancement techniques" on video footage of the television show of columnist Jack Anderson, who had received leaks of top-secret CIA documents. "The purpose was to try to identify serial numbers of CIA documents in Anderson's possession"--presumably documents he held up or that were on his desk. The memo on this operation does not say if the effort succeeded.

Hayden, the CIA chief, deserves some credit for releasing the "Family Jewels," and he wants the public to believe that his CIA is not your father's CIA, which plotted assassinations, illegally opened mail, and spied on American political dissidents. But the CIA in recent days has run secret prisons and used interrogation methods that either involve torture or border on torture. (The details are sketchy.) And the National Security Agency has used warrantless wiretaps to eavesdrop on American citizens and residents. Moreover, as the release of the "Family Jewels" demonstrates, there still are secrets from the past the CIA will not disclose. Are these legitimate secrets that ought to be kept from the public to protect national security, or are they embarrassments the Agency is not willing to face? Only the secret-keepers of the CIA know which jewels remain buried.

The entire "Family Jewels" file and related documents can be found at the website of the National Security Archive.

******

JUST OUT IN PAPERBACK: HUBRIS: THE INSIDE STORY OF SPIN, SCANDAL, AND THE SELLING OF THE IRAQ WAR by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. The paperback edition of this New York Times bestseller contains a new afterword on George W. Bush's so-called surge in Iraq and the Scooter Libby trial. The Washington Post said of Hubris: "Indispensable....This [book] pulls together with unusually shocking clarity the multiple failures of process and statecraft." The New York Times called it, "The most comprehensive account of the White House's political machinations...fascinating reading." Tom Brokaw praised it as "a bold and provocative book." Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor of The New Yorker notes, "The selling of Bush's Iraq debacle is one of the most important--and appalling--stories of the last half-century, and Michael Isikoff and David Corn have reported the hell out of it." For highlights from Hubris, click here.

Comments (23)

1. i'd be more interested in the "family jewels" of that pentagon group headed by doug feith, at this point.

   Posted by pretzel at 06/26/2007 @ 6:40pm

2. Sounds like our fathers' CIA had a lot of fun....wonder if they were any `dirtier' than the KGB....or more `creative', an American trademark!

   Posted by Happy at 06/26/2007 @ 6:41pm

3. The Left has set themselves up for a little dichotomy with "The Commpany"...

   on one hand is the old "Burn it down. Close shop. We don't need it" or atleast Frank Church on over-drive...

   but on the other, Bush critics have praised Valerie Plame (who worked for said "evil organization"), praised the Duelfer Report (from same), and said we should use intelligence not warfare to fight terrorists.

   Can't have it both ways.

   Posted by Mask at 06/26/2007 @ 7:53pm

4. Looks like a script for a whole season of good movies..

   ....the real question should be, after Frank Church and the dems cut the nuts and brains out of the CIA and turned it into a buearocratic mess, is it any wonder Mohamed Atta and crew waltz in here and nothing happens..or they miss the entire Iraq weapons program issue?

   Posted by john maasch at 06/26/2007 @ 10:23pm

5. "but on the other, Bush critics have praised Valerie Plame (who worked for said "evil organization"), praised the Duelfer Report (from same), and said we should use intelligence not warfare to fight terrorists.

   Can't have it both ways."

   Posted by MASK 06/26/2007 @ 7:53pm

   There is a difference between intellegence gathering and covert criminal acts.

   Even you should be bright enough to figure that out.

   Eric

   Posted by Malcontent at 06/26/2007 @ 10:28pm

6. In the end, who are we that we want and bring death to others? Ann Coutler the bitch you die. Read this.

   Ms. Edwards Asks Coulter to Stop Attacks MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, June 26, 2007

   Elizabeth Edwards pleaded Tuesday with Ann Coulter to "stop the personal attacks," a day after the conservative commentator said she wished Edwards' husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, had been killed by terrorists.

   Posted by Helen DAO at 06/26/2007 @ 11:08pm

7. We Americans will find out which US Senators are patriotic and which are turncoats willing to sell out our country and surrender to illegal aliens and the multinational corporations that employ them.

   S.1348-S.1639 bills are nothing less than Corporate Welfare and AMNESTY.

   Posted by tucanofulano at 06/27/2007 @ 12:45am

8. The Left has set themselves up for a little dichotomy with "The Commpany"... on one hand is the old "Burn it down. Close shop. We don't need it" or atleast Frank Church on over-drive... - Mask

   burn it down? close shop? who says? Not the progressives of the post 9/11 world. We just don't want them using nerve gas to kill innocents by the 1000s or selling guns to Iran to fund the contras in contravention of two specific laws duly passed by Congress prohibiting the same.

   Posted by NeilSagan at 06/27/2007 @ 02:04am

9. We Americans will find out which US Senators are patriotic and which are turncoats willing to sell out our country and surrender to illegal aliens and the multinational corporations that employ them. Posted by TUCANOFULANO 06/27/2007 @ 12:45am

   First, speak for yourself. All Americans do not agree with you opinion immigration.

   Second, if patriotism is the last refuge of scoudrels, then what do we call Americans who threaten Republican Senators with the monkier "turncoat" for voting infavor of the immagration bill. The din from the right is deafening.

   Posted by NeilSagan at 06/27/2007 @ 02:12am

10. "Please pay no attention to the laws we're breaking and the rights we're trampling now. Here, be distracted by what we did 30+ years ago instead. Try and guess what we blacked out, theorize, blog, call talk shows about it, rant, rave, laugh and cry and have a great time.

    Do anything but focus on the dismantling of the Constitution, torture, extraordinary rendition, Cheney making himself a fourth branch of government etc. Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain."

    Psy-ops scores against the citizenry again.

    Thanks for playing, your consolation prize is at the door.

    Posted by Talthybius at 06/27/2007 @ 04:06am

11. Perhaps some of this is why we can, in fact, blame America. The neo-cons piss and moan about Iran mucking around in their neighbors business, but "we" have been doing it for decades and continue to do so.

    Can't have it both ways, right MASK? (your question is half assed logic, as usual)

    Posted by crabwalk at 06/27/2007 @ 09:02am

12. Is it too much to ask that federal employees follow laws? I guess it is. Laws are for the lesser peoples of the world, not the mighty.

    Posted by crabwalk at 06/27/2007 @ 09:15am

13. My guess is, CIA operations against Martin Luther King and other Black Americans.

    Posted by conshame at 06/27/2007 @ 11:00am

14. I am surprised that the Congo was mentioned, I never knew before that the CIA had overthrown a democratic government there.

    Posted by conshame at 06/27/2007 @ 11:07am

15. Posted by CONSHAME 06/27/2007 @ 11:07am | ignore this person

    you didn't? the name Patrice Lumumba ring a bell? this was well known at the time.

    Posted by johannesrolf at 06/27/2007 @ 11:11am

16. burn it down? close shop? who says? Not the progressives of the post 9/11 world. ----Posted by NEILSAGAN 06/27/2007 @ 02:04am

    NEIL, you need to get out more amongst the progressives....

    this from just a LITTLE bit of Googling

    Posted by Mask at 06/27/2007 @ 12:50pm

17. Posted by MASK 06/27/2007 @ 12:50pm

    Again, Mask... why the inability to distinguish between intellegence gathering and clandistine (and often illegal) military adventurism (in our name, as far as the rest of the world is concerned). And with a combination of our money and the unaccounted revenues of many fronts.

    Why do we need a shadow govt., accountable to ????. (no one?) that antagonizes the world (mostly for corporate benefit). And a fake government, that pretends it doesn't know why "they" hate us either. And then suggests, that maybe if we bomb them, they'll greet us as liberators, from the oppression we help create.

    I know of very few Americans, who would tolerate such behavior, in their name, if they were only in control of their government.

    The only thing that lefties and righties seem to agree on anymore, is our government is "out of control". And it is. Out of the peoples control.

    Eric

    Posted by Malcontent at 06/28/2007 @ 12:23am

18. the crown jewels get pitched into the sarcophagus...those secrets go to the grave...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 06/28/2007 @ 01:31am

19. There is a power struggle going on between the neocons and the CIA. In the light of that, who benefits from this release now?

    Posted by jvwalshmd1 at 06/28/2007 @ 11:28am

20. Reese;

    unless you are a house bound, parapalegic - you need to go out and get a life! You spend way too much time here! Have you ever been fishing? Have you ever kissed a girl?

    Posted by NO-NONSENSE at 06/28/2007 @ 4:54pm

21. One of the big missing family jewels is the CIA's assassination of Frank Olson [frankolsonproject.org] in 1953.

    Posted by kaml at 06/28/2007 @ 7:24pm

22. rese cant u just post links? or write short posts in your own words? you tend to take over threads.

    Posted by pretzel at 06/28/2007 @ 9:03pm

23. One missing jewel would be the relationship between Maurice Bishop and Lee Harvey Oswald. What was the extent of their relationship? We may never know and as a result may never unlock the mystery of what Oswald was doing in Mexico where another man was impersonating him trying to implicate Oswald with Castro in the death of JFK. When are you going to take on that story, Mr. Corn?

    Posted by neaguy at 06/29/2007 @ 12:12am