CIA Office of Legislative Counsel Journal — Thursday, 2 March 1978
This CIA document is page 8 of the Office of Legislative Counsel Journal for Thursday, 2 March 1978, part of CIA record series JFK (record number 104-10146-10221, agency file 80T01357A). It logs numbered liaison entries between CIA legislative staff and congressional committees. Item 30 records a call from Elliott Brown of the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control regarding a Jack Anderson article on illicit drug trafficking in Ecuador and a requested Agency field report for Chairman Lester Wolff. Item 31 (Secret) concerns Bill Ashbaugh of OGC seeking guidance about a House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) interview of an individual who had been a Memphis City Police officer and eye-witness to the Dr. Martin Luther King assassination, and who was actually a covert CIA employee since October 1974 operating under DOD cover; the Agency coordinated with HSCA Deputy Staff Chief Gary Cornwell to keep the individual's Agency connection concealed during the interview. Item 32 references a House Judiciary Committee staffer's review of CIA documents on alleged Nazi war criminals residing in the U.S. Item 33 covers a House International Relations Subcommittee courier picking up material for public-release review. The document was released to the public with deletions; last reviewed 10 August 1993 and released by NARA on 18 March 2025.
Description
A page from the CIA Office of Legislative Counsel Journal dated Thursday, 2 March 1978, recording several liaison items with congressional committees. Released by the National Archives as part of the 2025 JFK Assassination Records disclosure. Classified SECRET, released in part with deletions.
Claims
The CIA and HSCA Deputy Staff Chief Gary Cornwell agreed the interviewer need not be aware of the individual's Agency connection and that no notation of his CIA connection would be made in Committee files.
80%CIA arranged for this employee to be interviewed by HSCA staff while staying within his Defense cover, and Deputy Staff Chief Gary Cornwell agreed no notation of the CIA connection would be made in Committee files.
80%A CIA employee who joined the Agency in October 1974 had been a Memphis City Police officer and eye-witness to the Dr. Martin Luther King assassination.
75%A CIA employee who entered on duty in October 1974 had previously been a Memphis City Police officer and was an eye-witness to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
75%CIA held documents on alleged Nazi war criminals residing in the U.S. that House Judiciary Committee staff sought to review.
75%CIA held documents on alleged Nazi war criminals residing in the U.S. that a House Judiciary Committee staffer reviewed.
70%A Jack Anderson article on illicit drug trafficking in Ecuador appeared in the Washington Post on 2 March 1978.
70%
Events
Mar 1, 1978
HSCA interview of covert CIA employee / MLK assassination witness
Coordination to keep the CIA affiliation of an HSCA interviewee (a former Memphis police officer and MLK assassination eye-witness, covertly a CIA employee since Oct 1974) concealed during a House Select Committee on Assassinations interview.
Mar 17, 2025
NARA public release
Document released by the National Archives as part of the 2025 JFK Assassination Records release.
Mar 1, 1978
CIA liaison journal entries logged
Office of Legislative Counsel records liaison contacts with multiple congressional committees.
Mar 1, 1978
HSCA interview of CIA employee/MLK assassination witness arranged
A CIA employee and former Memphis police officer who witnessed the MLK assassination was to be interviewed by HSCA staff while maintaining his DOD cover.
Mar 17, 2025
NARA release of document
Document released with deletions in the 2025 JFK Assassination Records disclosure.
Dates mentioned
Keywords
Entities
Organizations
People
Extracted text (OCR)
AGENCY RECORD NUMBER RECORD SERIES AGENCY FILE NUMBER AGENCY ORIGINATOR FROM TO TITLE DATE PAGES ,, SUBJECTS ‘ DOCUMENT TYPE CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTIONS CURRENT STATUS . . : ; RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION FORM AGENCY INFORMATION CIA 104-10146-10221 ‘ JFK , 80T01357A DOCUMENT INFORMATION CIA JOURNAL MARCH 1978 03/02/1978 SECURITY POLYGRAPH CIA PERSONNEL ' QUWIN CIA DOCUMENTS HSCA INQUIRY HSCA VISIT COVER EQUITIES PAPER SECRET 1B - OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL, THURSDAY, 2 DATE OF LAST REVIEW 08/10/93 COMMENTS JFK59 Fé : 1993 .08.10.13:57:52:500006 , lease under the resident John F. Kennedy ssassination Records [R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED 104-10146-10221 NW 89804 Docld:323609939 Page 1 INTERNAL USE ONLY Journal - Office of Legislative Counsel . oo Page 8 Thursday - 2 March 1978 . a y me 30, (Secret - PLC) LIAISON Elliott Brown, staff of the House Select . Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, called to alert me to the article _ by Jack Anderson on illicit drug trafficking in Ecuador in today's : Washington Post. He said the article may focus broad congressional attention to the problem. Brown will get back to me to arrange the meeting with Chairman Lester Wolff (D., N.Y.) to discuss the Agency's field report on 1 the subject ' which Chairman Wolff had requested earlier, ; 31, (Secret - PLC) LIAISON. Bill Ashbaugh, OGC, called seeking _ guidance to respond to a call received from an investigator with the Office of . Security operating under DOD credentials. The individual entered on duty with the Agency in October 1974 and had been a police officer with the Memphis City Police Department, during which time he was an eye-witness to the Dr. | Martin Luther King assassination. A staff member of the House Select Committee on Assassinations had contacted the individual through DOD and _ was to interview him in the Committeé offices within the hour. I told Ashbaugh - . that Gary Cornwell, Deputy Staff Chief of the Committee, was in my office . SAS and I would discuss the matter with Cornwell and call him back. I explained to Cornwell that the individual is actually an Agency employee and came on board in 1974, Cornwell agreed that the interviewer need not be aware of the - Agency connection and I explained that we would instruct the individual to -respond fully to the questions asked by the staffer, but to stay strictly within © his Defense cover. Cornwell fully agreed and said no notation will be made in the Committee files on his present CLA connection, Ashbaugh was notified and L requested that he instruct the individual to maintain his cover during the . interview. 32, (Unclassified - PLC) LIAISON Peter Regis, House Judiciary Committee staff, called and asked that a meeting be arranged sometime next week for him to go over the notes he made from his review of CIA documents on alleged Nazi war criminals residing in the U.S. which we have been holding due to their classification. He will call me to set up a definite time. 33, (Unclassified - GMc) LIAISON Took a call from Beverly Lumpkin, staff of the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Organizations, regarding the sending of a courier to pick up a narrative summary of material which the Subcommittee would like to have reviewed for - public release under procedures established in the Memorandum of Understanding. ‘A courier was arranged and picked up the summary. RIB SS NW 89804 Docld:32369939 Page2 hn ee Be
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