NCJ Number
126554
Journal
Public Historian Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1984) Pages: 67-76
Date Published
1984
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses problems encountered by historians researching the covert activities of U.S. intelligence agencies, with particular focus on examples of the FBI's and CIA's recordkeeping procedures and restrictive practices.
Abstract
Congressional investigations of covert activities uncovered separate filing procedures developed by intelligence agency officials to preclude discovery of their agency's illegal practices. The CIA maintained soft files through a number of record systems for various components of agency and clients. In contrast, FBI sensitive files were not compartmentalized, but were separated from the central record system in a "Do Not File" procedure, June procedure, or in a blind memoranda that masks questionable political activities. McDermotts memorandum is presented as an example of the problem confronting historians when important documents are purposely destroyed while other documents are selectively retained. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provisions partially serve to resolve access restrictions for the historian researching covert activities, particularly information on the CIA's drug-testing programs of the 1950's and 1960's or on Hoover and Nichol's files about operations of the FBI during the second World War and Cold War years. 15 notes and references