NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Title screen appears: "Senate Hearings on Intelligence Activities". NPACT logo appears, National Public Affairs Center for Television. Opens with testimony of JAMES ADAMS, Associate Deputy FBI Director, saying that men acted under responsibility to the country because they felt the country might be in danger. NPACT intro animation of Capital spinning into sphere. NPACT correspondent PAUL DUKE introduces and summarizes the day's testimony, it is of Associate Deputy FBI Director James Adams, and introduces his panel NICHOLAS HORAC, New York Times reporter and SANDFORD UNGAR, Washington Editor for the Atlantic Monthly.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Duke segues to day's testimony about the FBI's harassment of MARTIN LUTHER KING
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Shot opens to Senator FRANK CHURCH reading a letter the FBI sent to King suggesting that he commit suicide or else "you are done, there is but one way out for you", Church then asks for Adam's interpretation of the letter - he says he does not know what it's purpose was but he does not agree with the committee's conclusion that it is a suicide urging - Church presses him to interpret a couple of lines which obviously suggest suicide and Adams weakly shuffles around them - Adams says there is no justification for the FBI having sent that letter. Senator WALTER MONDALE asks what the legal basis was for FBI investigation of King for communist influences - Adams has a really hard time with this one, realizing he has no ground to stand on, and tries to scuttle around the question by giving FBI history of investigating the labor movement, finally he takes the easy exit and concedes that it falls under the presidential directive to investigate subversive activities and this then places the blame on the White House - Mondale points out other grounds on which the FBI was investigating King also do not hold up
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Senator PHILIP HART gives a long statement about the need not only to protect Nobel Prize winners but your average Janes and Joes too, he then mentions the FBI tactic of sending letters to people with intent of disrupting their lives, marriages, activities and goes on to mention a couple such letters he received, finally he asks Adams if this is still a practice - Adams responds no and describes what the conditions were to merit such a letter in the past, he says letters were not supposed be sent that were just straight harassment and were only supposed to be sent to persons who were in opposition to the FBI - Hart then gives Adams a good and poignant reprimanding saying that FBI tactics were in direct violation of 1st amendment rights
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Duke segues to footage about CoIntel (Counter-Intelligence) tactics used by the FBI against what it considered subversive groups
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Senator JOHN TOWER asks for the history of the CoIntel program why it was developed and what were its intentions - Adams answers that it formed out of concern over the actions of conspirator groups and operated to neutralize violence by these groups, then he says the bulk of the concern of this program was to disrupt the communist party, to "destroy its effectiveness in the United States"
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Towers asks if the bureau asked for the assistance or guidance of the Attorney General in CoIntel activities - Adams responds no, it was strictly internal - Tower asks if the attorney general was reported to as far as CoIntel activities
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Tower asks why the FBI went through with neutralization or disruption attempts as opposed to prosecuting them on legal violations - Church interjects into Adams response to say that what Adams is beating around the bush about is that there was no legal grounds for the FBI to mess with these organizations like they did - Adams finally concedes that there was no legal grounds for their operations but he says that the men conducting them felt a responsibility towards their country which they felt was potentially in immediate danger because of these groups
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Adams tries to blame elected government officials for FBI mistakes because they weren't telling the FBI what to do while the country was in the hands of violent subversives, he goes on to site report that the FBI released to government committees which discussed parts of their investigations and still no one advised them on how to deal these groups - Adams then pleads to the committee, almost like a little child asking for a spanking, for them to give the FBI guidelines to follow in their operations
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Church tells Adams the FBI shouldn't need guidelines for activities that are against the law
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Mondale asks Adams if the FBI's notion of investigating potentially violent subversives isn't a very general one and that it is something that needs to be legally defined - Adams enthusiastically agrees and he is ready to work with the Attorney General to set this up, however he says there will always be a need for flexibility within this, and goes on to illustrate the reason for this need by making up a story about a Weatherman working for a city water works and threatening to poison the city's water supplies, the FBI needs the power of disruption in that situation
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Shot returns to TV studio where Duke and the panel discuss how guidelines or a check system could be developed and work where the government supervises the FBI, they also discuss Adam's testimony in general, why he appeared as opposed to FBI Director KELLY, what Adams had to say about Hoover and particularly his grievances with Martin Luther King.
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
The panel continues the discussion with how the FBI works with the press, the constitutional questionability of the FBI's CoIntel program
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Duke segues to more testimony
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Church asks if after an investigation is closed or comes up empty if people's files are then thrown out - Adams answers no, they have to keep a record of their operations - Church asks how many files they have - Adams answers in total the FBI has 6 million files but not all of them are criminal files, Adams says there is a need for guidelines to be set up so as to protect this information from misuse
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Back to the TV studio, Duke says that tomorrow the committee will turn its attention to the CIA and release its assassination report (WPA #3611), he mentions that the release of this report has been opposed by CIA Director WILLIAM COLBY and now President FORD because it is believed to contain information, people's names, that could jeopardize national security, Church promises to release the report anyway, Duke then closes out the program
NPACT coverage of Church Committee Hearings - Associate Deputy FBI Director Jame
Shot returns to that of senate committee over which the credits role purposes. NPACT logo appears. PBS funding credits. PBS logo