[1]14-0000
[3]104-10105-10293 [2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 |
[4]. ye “ . x . sot \ :
[6]no a -
[8]) ™ OGC 74-1755
[10]SECRET
[12]30 September 1974
[14]MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
[16]SUBJECT: Meeting with E, Howard Hunt Re His Memoirs, "Undercover"
[18]1.. On 28 September 1974 Ray Rocca, Deputy Chief/CI Staff, '
[19]and I met in the DCD Washington Field Office with E. Howard Hunt,
[20]his attorney William A. Snyder, Jr., and Snyder's associate
[21]Thomas W. Coons. As the meeting began, Hunt asked if it was |
[22]being tape-recorded; I assured him that it was not. He said he did
[23]not care; but that, if it were to be recorded, he would like to know.
[24]We then embarked upon the review according to the plan under which
[25]we would demand the deletion of three items as classified and then
[26]proceed to the remaining 29 items, only if Hunt was cooperative on
[27]the first three. He and his lawyers appeared very cooperative, and
[28]accordingly, the meeting continued to cover all 32 items.
[30]2. Changes were agreed to in the items set forth in paragraphs
[32]12, 14, and 25 of the CI Staff memorandum of 19 September 1974.
[33]These appear at pages 73, 80-83, and 115 of the galley proof and
[34]concern the fabrication of the Shanghai post for a Mexican operation,
[35]the entry into the Guatemalan:Embassy in Mexico City, and the joint)
[37]_CIA-Urugtayan telephone monitoring: operation. The wording of the
[38]agreed changes is as shown on the attached copies of the pertinent _
[39]pages of the galley proof. Essentially, these changes disguise the
[40]identity of the fabricated newspaper and remove a reference to
[41]journalists as agents; delete the word "Guatemalan" to make the
[42]entered embassy non-specific; and delete the reference to listening
[43]posts and telephone monitoring to make that paragraph refer in more
[44]general terms to our ability to cover targets without referring to the
[45]use of electronic surveillance.
[47]. E-2 IMPDET
[48]re CL BY 058473
[50]SEGRET
[52]14-0000
[54]| SECRET
[56]3. We then proceeded to the 29 items which we would like to
[57]see modified but which we could not consider classified. We made
[58]this clear to Hunt and went through them one by one, discussing our
[59]concern with each. Hunt contended that most of these items should .
[60]not be considered sensitive since they had been publicized extensively; :
[61]in some cases confirmed in testimony; and,in the case of other :
[62]items, the principals involved were dead. However, he agreed to
[63]changes in the items referred to in paragraphs 1, 3, 17, and 32 of
[64]the CI Staff memorandum of 19 September. These involve the deletions
[65]of the names of Henry Pléasants) and Frank Holcomb, both now
[66]retired under cover; a direct reference to joint operations with the
[67]‘British in Hong Kong: against China; and the wording of his reference
[68]to CIA alias documentation used by the Watergate burglars. The
[69]language of this last item will be changed so that it no longer leaves
[70]the impression that the documentation was prepared by the Agency
[71]for this operation.
[73]4. When we had finished, Hunt and his lawyers emphasized
[74]as they had mentioned earlier in the meeting that it might be very
[75]difficult to get the publisher to agree to changes in the unclassified
[76]items. Mr. Snyder offered to present all of the items to the publisher
[77]for change without distinguishing between the classified and unclassi-
[78]fied items. He said he would do this without implying they were all
[79]classified. I felt it necessary to turn down his offer because of the
[80]risk of the publisher being unwilling to accept that many changes
[81]with the result that we would have to go back to him on the three
[82]classified items, thus presenting a situation similar to our retraction
[83]of previously demanded deletions in the Marchetti book. I think
[84]there would be some danger of the publisher using this in his adver-
[86]‘tising and through reviewers for publicity purposes.
[88]5. As we were leaving, Hunt showed me what was described
[89]as a "comfort letter.'' This was a letter written by him to the.
[90]publishers on 17 May 1974 at the publisher's request which said
[91]that in his opinion nothing in the manuscript violated any agreement
[92]between himself and the CIA, nor would subject him to prosecution
[93]under the espionage laws. As the meeting was ending, Hunt expressed
[94]his hope that no publicity would be given to it and that the Agency
[95]would not issue any kind of a press release. In view of the Director's
[96]decision that we shail issue a press release, I took pains to persuade
[97]Hunt that public acknowledgment of the fact that we had reviewed his
[99]SECRET ts 2
[101]14-0000
[103]SECRET
[105]' manuscript would be in his interest as well as ours. He had referred
[106]more than once during the meeting to the need to avoid the appearance
[107]of "a bear hug"; in other words, collusion or cooperation between him
[108]and the Agency, leaving an inference that the book was designed to be
[109]a whitewash of CIA. In view of this, it was easy to convince Hunt
[110]that an Agency press release would be in his interest. I would note
[111]here, however, that both Mr. Rocca and I felt that Hunt and his
[112]lawyers were genuinely cooperative and that a press release which
[113]is too harsh or denigrates the book or Hunt's motives might be unfair
[114]and considered by him to be in bad faith. Hunt appears to retain
[115]admiration and respect for the Agency and seems convinced that
[116]nothing in his book will harm our operations or personnel,
[119]ve |
[121]| .
[122]j
[123]tani CHHAUY at
[124]HIN D> RRISON, JR. (
[125]Acting General Counsel
[127]Attachments
[129]ce: Acting DDO
[131]SAB/DDO
[133]DC/CI Staff
[135]O/Security
[137]Asst. to DCI
[139]Mr. Walter Pforzheime
[142]OGC:JDM:sin
[143]Original - OGC Subj: PUBLICATIONS
[145]1 - Chrono ;
[147]‘ SECRET
[149]“