Watergate Hearings, June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean
Watergate Hearings, June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean
Watergate Hearings: Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean. Concern about Leaks.
Watergate Hearings, June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean
John Dean. The committee has asked me about concern over leaks. I believe that most anyone who worked at the White House during the past 4 years can attest to the concern that prevailed regarding leaks, any and all leaks. This was a matter of frequent discussions among staff members and in some instances leaks were investigated by Haldeman s office or Mr. Ehrlichman. I have submitted to the committee, exhibit no. 2, some documents evidencing the types of investigations that were made. I began to understand the high degree of concern after I got to know Mr. Jack Caulfield who had been assigned to my staff. I would guess that I had been at the White House almost I year before Mr. Caulfield told me that he had been directed by Mr. Ehrlichman to wiretap a newsman's telephone in pursuit of a leak. Mr. Caulfield told me that the wiretap was on for only a short period of time because he believed the FBI had subsequently taken over. He told me that he had been directed to perform the wiretap when Mr. Hoover was unwilling, but Mr. Ehrlichman wished to proceed. The wiretap was undertaken, as I recall, in late 1969 or early 1970. Caulfield told me that it was performed by Mr. Ulasewicz, Mr. John Regan, and himself. He later repeated the story to me telling me that it had been a rather harrowing experience when he was holding the ladder in a back alley of Georgetown while also trying to keep a look out as another member of the group was working at the top of the ladder. He also told me that he received what he referred to as the "pair numbers" from Mr. John Davies, who was then on the White House staff, but who had previously been employed or had an association with the telephone company before joining the White House staff. I do not know what information, if any, they obtained. Nor do I know any other details other than what I have related above. I have no idea if the reason for the wiretap was related to national security but I believe that Mr. Caulfield told me it was indeed Joseph Kraft's telephone phone that was tapped.
Watergate Hearings, June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean
John Dean. While there was an always a present concern about leaks, that Concern took a quantum jump when the New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers in June of 1971. After the initial legal skirmish to enjoin publication of the papers had died down, the White House concern about the problem of leaks had heightened. To the best of my recollection, and I have been unable to confirm this through the White House records, it was late June or early July that Jack Caulfield came to me to tell me that Mr. Colson had called him in at Ehrlichman's direction, and instructed him to burglarize The Brookings Institution in an effort to determine if they had certain leaked documents. What prompted Mr. Caulfield to come to me was that he thought the matter was most unwise and that his instructions from Mr. Colson were insane. He informed me that Mr. Ulasewicz had "cased" The Brookings Institute and that Mr. Ulasewicz had made a friendly contact with one of the security men in the building, but that the security system at the Brookings building was extremely tight and it would be very difficult to break-in. Caulfield told me that he had so informed Colson, but that Colson had instructed him to pursue the matter and if necessary he should plant a firebomb in the building and retrieve the documents during the commotion that would ensue. Caulfield said Colson's entire argument for burglarizing the Brookings was based on a publication he had obtained indicating that the Brookings was planning for the, fall of 1971 a study of Vietnam based on documents of a current nature. And the fact that a consultant who had formerly been with the National Security Council worked there. Caulfield convinced me that Colson was intent on proceeding by one means or another. So I advised Caulfield that he should do nothing further and that I would immediately fly to California and tell Ehrlichman that this entire thing was insane.
Watergate Hearings, June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean
John Dean. I flew to California on a military aircraft courier flight that was going to San Clemente. I sat with Mr. Robert Mardian on the flight who told me he was going to the President about a highly important matter that he could not discuss with me, a matter which I will refer to later. When I arrived in California I arranged to see Ehrlichman and told him that the burglary of Brookings Institute was insane and to persuade him, probably impossible. He said okay and he called Mr. Colson to call it off and I called Mr. Caulfield to tell him it was called off. It was not until almost a year or more later that I learned the reason for Mardian's trip to see the President. Mr. Mardian later told me in a social conversation that he had gone to see the President to get instructions regarding the disposition of wiretap logs that related to newsmen and White House staffers who were suspected of leaking. These logs had been in possession of Mr. William Sullivan, an Assistant Director of the FBI, and were, per Mr. Mardian's instructions from the President, given to Ehrlichman.
Watergate Hearings, June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean
John Dean. I had occasion to raise a question about these logs with Ehrlichman during the fall of 1972 and he flatly denied to me that he had the logs. I did not tell him that I had been told by Mardian that he had them. And it was about February excuse me, let me go back here. After I had told Mr. Ehrlichman or asked the question about the logs he had flatly denied to me that he had the logs at that time. And it was about February 22 or 23 of this year, when Time magazine notified the White House, it was going to print a story that the White House had undertaken wiretaps of newsmen and White House staff and a request was being asked for and I further got into the matter. The White House press office notified me of this inquiry. I called Mr. Mark Felt at the FBI to ask him first, what the facts were and secondly, how such a story could leak. Mr. Felt told me that it was true, that Mr. Sullivan knew all the facts and that he had no idea how it leaked. I then called Mr. Sullivan and requested that be drop by my office which he did. He explained that after much haggling that the wiretaps were installed, but as I recall, Mr. Sullivan said they did not have the blessing of the Director. Mr. Sullivan explained to me that all but one set of the logs had been destroyed and all the internal FBI records relating to the wiretaps except one set had been destroyed and all the material had been delivered to Mr. Mardian. After Mr. Sullivan departed, I called Mr. Mitchell who told me he also had an inquiry from Time magazine and denied to Time magazine any knowledge of the matter. I did not press him further as to what he did know. I then called Mr. Ehrlichman and told him about the forthcoming story in Time magazine. I told him of my conversations with Felt, Sullivan, and Mitchell. I also told him I knew he had the logs because Mr. Mardian had told me. This time he admitted they were in his safe. I asked him how Mr. Ziegler should handle it. He said I should flatly deny it, period. I thanked him, I called Mr. Ziegler and so advised him.
Watergate Hearings, June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean
John Dean. Turning now to the so-called "plumbers" unit that was created to deal with leaks. I first heard of the plumbers unit in late July 1971. I do not recall ever being actually advised in advance that such a unit was being created in the White House, but I stumbled into it unknowingly when Mr. Egil Krogh happened to mention it to me. I was not involved in its establishment. I only know that Mr. Krogh and Mr. David Young were running it under Ehrlichman's direction. Shortly after Mr. Krogh told me about his unit, he told me that they were operating out of a super secured location in the basement of the Executive Office Building. He invited me down to see the unit, which I did, and he showed me the sensor security system and scrambler phone. I never discussed with Mr. Krogh or Mr. Young what they were doing or how they were doing it. It was through Jack Caulfield that I learned that Mr. Gordon Liddy was working with Mr. Krogh. I did not know Liddy personally although I may have met him. All I knew about Mr. Liddy was what Mr. Caulfield had told me and was to the effect that Mr. Gene Rossides of the Treasury Department and Mr. Liddy had a falling out and Krogh waded into the middle of the dispute by hiring Liddy and bringing him into the White House. I did not realize that Mr. Howard Hunt worked, most of the time while he was at the White House, in the plumbers unit until after June 17, 1972. I had seen Hunt on many occasions in Colson's office and finally asked Mr. Colson who he was. He told me he was doing some consultant work for him and introduced me. That was the only time I ever talked with Mr. Hunt. I am not aware of what success the plumbers unit had in its dealings with leaks. I recall on one occasion after Jack Anderson printed the documents from National Security Council meeting asking Bud Krogh if they had figured out who leaked the information to Mr. Anderson. He told me yes, but that he couldn't disclose the name of the individual.
Watergate Hearings, June 25, 1973 - Testimony of John Dean
John Dean. As I have indicated the June 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers caused general consternation at the White House over the leak problem. On June 29, 1971, the President brought the subject of leaks up in a Cabinet meeting as, a part of a White House orchestrated effort to curtail leaks. As a part of that effort, Mr. Haldeman instructed Mr. Fred Malek, Mr. Larry Higby, Mr. Gordon Strachan, and myself to develop a follow-up strategy for dealing with leaks. Malek and I never took the project very seriously but Strachan and Higby continued to push. I have submitted to the committee, exhibit no. 3, memorandums outlining the project that finally developed in which Mr. Malek was to take charge and Mr. Haldeman was to be brought in as the Lord High Executioner when a leak was uncovered. The committee will note from the documents which I have submitted that the project was to complement and not compete with the plumbers unit. To the best of my knowledge this project never uncovered the source of a single leak.