MORI DocID 14Sl843 - _ l _o 1 r May MEMORANDUM FOR FROM 1973 Deputy DiTector for Operations Chief Division D SUBJECT Potentially Embarrassing Activities Conducted by Division D · RSFBRBNCE Your staff meeting 7 May 1973 There is one instance of an activity by Division D with which you are already familiaT which the Agency General Counsel thisinternational Agency by statute the collection of commercial radio telb n o e a o Leen several Latin American cities and New York ai ed at the inteTception · of drug-related commu ication s The background on this is briefly as follows_ 1 hal • d · ·ere ore on vs woul take over the coverage and on 12 October 1972 we agreed to do so On 14 October a team of intercept operators from the j f Jbegan the coverage exp r1wenta11y on xa um aa 11 x a ' ' 1 te to say that the test results-were good and that it was hoped this coverage could continue 1 Because a question had arisen within Division Das to the legality of th s activity a query was addressed to the General Counsel on this score Attachment A hereto With the receipt of his reply Attachment B the intercept activity was i Jlunediately terminated There has been a subsequent series of exchanges between Division D and the General Counsel as to the legality of radio intercepts aade outside the U S but · with one terminal being in the U S and the General Counsel · 0053 -----1 l MORI DocID 1451843 • ·has ruled that such intercept is also in violation of CIA's· statutory responsibilities 2 We are carrying out at present one intercept activity which falls within this technical limitation--i e of having one teTminal in the U S her of totally unre ated conversations the oper• ators do intercept other traffic frequently involving U S citizens--for example BNDD staffers talking to their agents I have described this situation to the General Counsel and his informal judgment was that as long as the primary purpose of the coverage is a foreign target this is acceptable He suggests however that it might be desirable to inform the Attorney General of the occasional incidental intercept of the conversations of u s citizens and thu legalize this activity We will pursue this with Mr Houston 4 An incident which was entirely innocent but is certainly subject to misinterpretation has to do with an equipment test run by CIAI echnicians in Miami in August 1971 At that time we were working jointly to develop shortrange Jent DF equipment for use against a Soviet agent in South Vietnam I · 1and a field test was agree4 upon 1ne7d1am1 area was chosen and a team consisting of Division D Commo ersonnel went to Miami during the second week of August Contact was made with a Detective SergeantJ Of the Miami Beach Police Department and tests wer maae xrom four different hotels one a block away from the Miami Beach Auditarium nd Convention Hall A desk clerk in this hotel volunteered- the co1111ent that the team was part of the official security checking process of all hotels prior to the convention The Secret Service had already been checking for possible sniper sites As the team's report notes The cover for the use of the hotel is a nat ral 00535 MORI DocID 1451843 • Another subject worthy of mention is the following In February 1 n 1n o s te1eco1u1 un1cano11s coin- or copies o e e ep on ca s 1ps per a 1n n g - -o ---• 1na calls These were then obtained regularly by Domestic Contact Service in New York pouched to DCS Washington and turned over to Division D for passage to PE China Operations The DDP was apprised of this activity by Division Din March 1972 and on 28 April 1972 Division D told DCS to forward the call slips to CI Staff Mr Richard Ober Soon thereafter the source of these slips dried up• and they have ceased to coMe to Mr Ober In an advisory opinion the Office of General Counsel stated its belief that the collection of these slips did not violate the CoJ11JRunications Act inasmuch as ther are a part of a nor• al recordkeeping function of the teJephone company which does not in any way involve eavesdropping Atts A DfvD memp to 00 _26 Jan 73 B Oct meao to D£vn1 29 Jan 73 I I l 3 00536