CIA Expands Secret and Illegal Mail Opening Program
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) maintained a secret and illegal mail “cover” program, and on this day decided to expand what had begun as a small program earlier in the year.
Over the next 20 years — from 1953 to 1973 — the CIA reviewed 28,322,796 pieces of mail entering the U.S. The external covers of more than 2,000,000 were photographed (thereby recording information about the sender and the recipient), and 215,820 letters were opened and read. At various points, the CIA cooperated with the FBI in joint mail cover operation. James J. Angleton, head of counterintelligence in the CIA is generally regarded as the moving force behind mail cover operations. (See the biography of Angleton, Ghost, below.)
The mail cover program was secret and unauthorized by anyone outside the CIA, but the agency required the covert cooperation by Post Office officials. The program began in February 1953, and consisted of four separate components that operated in four cities: New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Honolulu for different periods of time in each site over the 20-year period.
Read the Senate Church Committee report on CIA and FBI mail cover programs (pp. 559–677): http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/contents/church/contents_church_reports_book3.htm
Learn more: Hugh Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (2008)
Read about the CIA’s James Angleton’s role in mail cover programs: Jefferson Morley, The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton (2017)
Learn about the history of the CIA: Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (2007)