The “Family Jewels:” CIA Director Orders Full Report on CIA Misdeeds
The “Family Jewels” was an internal report on CIA misdeeds that was ordered by CIA Director James R. Schlesinger on this day.
The report eventually totaled 693 pages. The abuses included break-ins, illegal opening of mail, wiretapping of reporters, assassination plots against foreign leaders (notably Fidel Castro of Cuba), surveillance of lawful political protests, and maintaining files on thousands of Americans.
Rumors of the report began to leak out, and some of the material in it was used by reporter Seymour Hersh in his exposé of CIA spying in The New York Times on December 22, 1974. The CIA finally released the report to the public on June 26, 2007.
The National Security Act of September 18, 1947 created the CIA, and on December 17, 1947 the National Security Council authorized the CIA to conduct covert actions in other countries.
Read the National Security Archive Guide to the Family Jewels Report:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htmLearn more about the history of CIA misdeeds: Hugh Wilford, A Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (2008)
Read about the history of the CIA: Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (2008)
Read the Senate Church Committee report on abuses by the CIA: http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/contents/church/contents_church_reports_book3.htm
And the Church Committee report on CIA assassination plots: http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/contents/church/contents_church_reports_ir.htm