Thinking about collections 6
People coming out of my CI class should already be familiar with the National Security Archive, the independent research institute and library at George Washington University, but here’s a link that I don’t think I ever mentioned in class. This one allows you to browse and search the so-called CIA “family jewels” up through 1973 and to read PDFs of the actual documents. Note the subject headings in the sample below and take a moment to consider which of these might well still be in active use by the agency for similar documents 35 years later….
Potentially Embarrassing Agency Activities
Secret, Memorandum, May 08, 1973, 3 pp.
Collection: The CIA Family Jewels Indexed
Item Number: FJ00034
Origin: United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Inspector General
To: Colby, William E.
Individuals/Organizations Named: American Telephone and Telegraph; Anderson, Jack; Carmichael, Stokely; Castro Ruz, Fidel; Pearson, Drew; Rostow, Walt W.; Students for a Democratic Society; Tofte, Hans; United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Director; United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Directorate of Intelligence. Office of Current Intelligence; United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Directorate of Operations. Technical Services Division; United States. Central Intelligence Agency. General Counsel; United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Management Committee. Executive Secretary; United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Subjects: Assassinations | Black power movement | Caribbean Region | Castro Ruz, Fidel Assassination Plots | China | Civil unrest | Communications interception | Covert operations | Domestic intelligence | Electronic surveillance | Government corruption | Human behavior experiments | Illegal activities | John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York, New York) | Latin America | Mail opening | Miami (Florida) | Narcotics | News media | Ngo Dinh Diem Assassination (1963) | Political activists | Public diplomacy | Soviet Union | Students | Trujillo, Rafael Assassination (1961) | Vietnam (South)
Abstract: Outlines Central Intelligence Agency involvement in activities that could embarrass the agency, including covert operations, assassination plots, human experimentation, domestic spying, and interception of telephone and mail communications.
