I-Team

The FBI apparently had no clue the agency’s second in command during Watergate – Mark Felt – was the newspaper source nicknamed “Deep Throat” who helped bring down a president, newly released documents show.

Felt’s FBI file, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, is more than 2,000 pages long, and shows the agency maintained documents on him from 1960s to 1980s. However, the FBI withheld 900 pages, citing national security and privacy statutes.

The released files are perhaps most notable for what is not inside: There is no mention of Bob Woodward, the Washington Post reporter who relied on Felt as a key source in the newspaper’s Watergate investigations.

Briefed on Watergate

The files do contain Watergate-related documents, and underscore Felt’s role as the FBI’s No. 2 agent. Among the papers are handwritten notes by L. Patrick Gray III, the acting director of the FBI at the time. He wrote about how Felt, two days after the June 17, 1972 break-in into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, briefed him on the crime that ultimately would lead to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Most of the material obtained by the FBI’s Watergate investigators passed through Felt, the bureau’s associate director, before reaching Gray. This gave Felt unprecedented access to information about the Nixon White House’s illegal wiretapping, burglaries and money laundering.

Felt kept his tipster role secret for more than 30 years until he revealed he was Deep Throat in a 2005 Vanity Fair article. Many, including Nixon’s right-hand man Bob Haldeman, suspected Felt was behind the leaks because, as Felt later wrote, he was infuriated with the president. When J. Edgar Hoover died in 1972, Nixon skipped over Felt for the top job, and instead appointed Gray.

With Felt’s help, Woodward and Post colleague Carl Bernstein combined on a series of stories that shook the nation. The reporters’ efforts were chronicled in their book, “All the President’s Men,” later turned into an acclaimed movie that featured actor Hal Holbrook as the mysterious American icon “Deep Throat.”

Pursuit of Radicals

The bulk of the FBI’s dossier on Felt deals with radical groups of the 1960s and 1970s – including his role in the FBI’s own break-ins to gather intelligence about the Weather Underground, which advocated the overthrow of the government. Felt authorized those break-ins, later ruled illegal, the files show.

In the early 1970s, Felt approved surreptitious entry into its Weather Underground members’ homes, so-called “black bag jobs.” Felt later was prosecuted along with Gray and Edward S. Miller, the deputy director. In 1980, Felt and Miller were convicted for conspiring to violate the constitutional rights of Americans. Gray was found not guilty.

The FBI’s file on Felt shows that, during the trial, the U.S. Attorney General’s office wrote to FBI leaders requesting a “damage assessment” of evidence to be released. The FBI was concerned courtroom disclosures would reveal the identities of confidential informants, both domestic and overseas.

Some of these sources had infiltrated meetings of the Weather Underground and the Students for a Democratic Society. Felt’s file contains detailed intelligence reports on the groups’ leaders. In some cases, the FBI followed the groups’ young members around the world – including to a youth convention in Bulgaria and on college campuses around the United States. One memo alleged a student at the State University of New York traveled to Moscow as a guest of the KGB.

The Felt file also includes notations about the Black Panthers, Symbionese Liberation Army, and Veterans Against The War In Vietnam, whose ranks included John Kerry, who would later become a senator and the Democratic nominee for president.

One memo outlined how domestic terrorism was a top priority for the bureau. The memo, prepared for Senate hearings, revealed the FBI once maintained a list of 13,000 individuals who were under surveillance for being perceived to be possible threats to national security. In 1972, the director reduced the number to several thousand who posed an “immediate threat.” That included specifically expanding a program monitoring black extremist groups to encompass surveillance of the Klu Klux Klan.

Along with domestic groups, the file outlines the agency’s efforts to monitor threats overseas. Among them were “Arab terrorists,” including Al Fatah, the group responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes and coaches.

Wide-Ranging Concerns

The FBI file also reveals internal concerns, from the mundane to the deadly serious. The top brass wrote memos discussing matters such as grooming standards and body weight limits. The documents show they critiqued the agents’ response to terrorist threats, such as in Chicago, when field operatives lacked enough bulletproof vests to respond to a planned plane hijacking.

The documents were obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, which calls on the agency to release certain documents to the public once the person has died. Felt died Dec. 18, 2008, in California, at age 95. The file includes a wide range of materials, from notes prepared for Congressional hearings to internal memos.

Felt advanced to the No. 2 position in the agency and presided over much of the FBI’s operations while Gray traveled around the country visiting FBI offices.  Gray was forced to resign in April 1973 when it was revealed he had destroyed a document relating to Watergate. Felt again was passed over for advancement by Nixon. He retired from the FBI in June 1973, ending a 31-year career.

Felt’s FBI file picks up again in 1978, at the onset of his criminal prosecution. President Reagan pardoned Felt and Miller just seven months after their 1980 conviction.

Conservative standard-bearer William F. Buckley maintained ties with longtime FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover – and even earned a spot on a secret list of journalists given preferential treatment, documents show.

Buckley “is on the Special Correspondents List and is favorably disposed toward the FBI,” an agent noted in one internal document. The relationship included correspondence and meetings with Hoover, and personal tours of the FBI by top agents. The ties extended to Buckley seeking permission for an FBI informant to testify in his defense in a libel suit for accusing Yale students of being communists.

But the “Firing Line” host’s relationship with Hoover suffered a setback in 1967 when Buckley’s magazine, the National Review, published a parody claiming the FBI boss had been arrested on morals charges. Hoover removed Buckley from the special correspondents list and considered legal action, although the two later resumed a cordial relationship.

The extent of Buckley’s ties with the FBI are disclosed in nearly 400 pages of documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, which calls on the agency to release certain documents to the public once the person has died. Buckley died from a variety of ailments, including emphysema, at the age of 82 on February 27, 2008 at his home in Stamford, Conn.

A 1992 National Review article detailed some of the FBI file’s contents — the documents were obtained with Buckley’s permission by noted author and poet Natalie Robins, who also wrote about the file in her book, “Alien Ink: The FBI’s War on Freedom of Expression.”  But some details from the massive file weren’t included in the National Review story.

Young Gun

The first substantial entry in the file came in 1949 when, as a 23-year-old student at Yale University, Buckley organized a forum where he defended the FBI’s investigations for government loyalty programs, and invited a Bureau representative to explain its practices.

A year later, the FBI showed Buckley its appreciation for what it wrote in a memo as “his past interest in the Bureau and his future benefits” by giving him and his wife, Patricia, a private tour of Bureau headquarters in Washington. The tour included a brief meeting with Hoover, inspection of crime scene labs and each taking turns firing a Thompson machine gun at the bureau’s shooting range, documents show. (In the 1992 National Review article, Patricia Buckley denied firing the gun.)

“Mr. Buckley appeared extremely well-read, cognizant of the Bureau’s responsibilities and activities in a general way,” an FBI memo said of Buckley’s Oct. 25, 1950 visit. “He commented most favorably upon our role in the government loyalty program and expressed admiration for the Director’s ability to withstand political, subversive and academic attacks.”

Much of the 393 pages obtained by the NYCity News Service deal with two background checks the FBI made on Buckley for his appointments to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information in 1969 and as a delegate to the United Nations in 1973. He easily passed the investigations and served in both positions.

The files also document an investigation into threatening letters sent to Buckley, his support for Sen. Joe McCarthy’s anti-Communist platform and his public battles with liberals and Hoover critics.

A Special Correspondent

In 1953, Buckley wrote to the FBI telling the agency of his plans to write a book that would counteract critics of the Bureau’s security investigations. A year later he sent an autographed copy of “McCarthy and His Enemies” to Hoover, who responded with a note thanking Buckley for his generosity.

Throughout the next 15 years, Buckley sent Hoover his new books, met him at least once more at FBI headquarters and exchanged friendly letters. In one missive dated, April 1, 1958, Hoover described a Buckley article as “a source of much encouragement to me.” In another note from Oct. 19, 1964, he responded to a Buckley column by writing “my associates and I are indeed grateful for your support.” Buckley wrote back with a short letter that ended with “I am, as always, at your service.”

After Buckley’s second visit to FBI headquarters, Hoover sent him a copy of his book “A Study of Communism” and a picture they took together.

There is no mention in the disclosed documents about Buckley’s brief stint with the Central Intelligence Agency early in his life, something Buckley himself acknowledged later, including in the National Review. The Bureau redacted portions of Buckley’s FBI file, claiming privacy and other reasons, and at least 10 pages were withheld.

At some point, the FBI put Buckley on Hoover’s special correspondents list, which circulated information to allies who could be trusted to put the Bureau in good light. Buckley is first mentioned as being on the list in 1964.

Libel Help

In 1966, Buckley even approached the FBI to help the National Review, the conservative magazine he founded and edited, in a libel suit. The magazine printed a story that accused three Yale students of being communists. According to his published story, the source was an FBI informant’s testimony at a hearing for the House Committee on Un-American activities. In the FBI dossier, the unnamed informant apparently had not testified during the hearing about the three students, but did relay the information in a telephone conversation with Buckley.

Buckley asked the FBI for permission for the informant to testify in the defamation proceedings, but the FBI declined. The informant told the FBI he was prepared to confirm in court that he had relayed the information to Buckley.

The Bureau and Buckley had a falling out of sorts in 1967 after the National Review printed a parody, a facsimile of The New York Times that included a story that Hoover had been arrested on a morals charge. The FBI considered a defamation lawsuit, but didn’t pursue one.

Hoover removed Buckley from the Special Correspondents list. But Hoover didn’t stay upset for long as from then until his death in 1972, he wrote to Buckley on a few occasions thanking him for his work.

Chronicling Buckley’s Feuds

Within Buckley’s FBI files are numerous references to his public defense of conservatism and anti-communism.

In April of 1959, the Bureau sent agents to discreetly cover Buckley’s debate on “Should we Repudiate Liberalism” with New York Post editor James Wechlser at Hunter College. The agents reported the central theme of the debate was battling communism and such details as the price of tickets, which sold for $1. In a memo from 1962, an agent described Buckley at this event by writing, “he has made James Wecshler look rather silly during debates.”

There are also several references to Buckley’s infamous battles with writer Gore Vidal and his $500,000 1969 lawsuit against Vidal for defamation.

In 1972, the FBI also reported on journalist Jack Anderson’s appearance on Buckley’s television show, “Firing Line,” in which they debated government secrecy. According to the memo, Anderson argued for the right to inspect government files as long as national security wasn’t endangered.

Buckley disagreed and said Americans have no more right to inspect government files as the government has to inspect Anderson’s files. The FBI made no mention that it had been tracking Anderson and later sought to inspect the documents he had amassed as a journalist.

Background Checks

In 1969, President Richard Nixon named Buckley to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information, a non-partisan diplomacy group. The White House requested a customary background investigation into Buckley. The FBI obtained information from Buckley’s peers and friends, including Republican Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, and reported such mundane details as a parking ticket he received at Yale.

In 1973, Nixon appointed Buckley as a delegate to the United Nations and the FBI performed another background investigation. Nearly every person the Bureau interviewed recommended Buckley with the exception of historian and Kennedy Administration adviser Arthur Schlesinger. According to the report, Schlesinger voiced concern over Buckley’s connection to E. Howard Hunt, who was Buckley’s case officer in the CIA, and later would become a key Watergate figure.

Threatening Letters

Buckley’s communication with the FBI did not end with Hoover’s death in 1972.

In 1987, Buckley turned over four threatening letters he received from a person, whose name is redacted in the files. One of the letters read: “After that stunt you better think twice before you publicly criticize anti-intellectualism elsewhere in this country…I would be delighted to kick the [crap] out of you personally. In the meantime, nasty letters are the cheapest and most effective form of communication.”

The FBI interviewed the author of the letters and sent the letters to its psycho linguistic expert for analysis. But according to the files, the Bureau didn’t take further action.

To read William F. Buckley’s FBI file, click below:
Buckley FBI File, Part 1

Buckley FBI File, Part 2

Buckley FBI File, Part 3

Buckley FBI File, Part 4

Buckley FBI File, Part 5

Buckley FBI File, Part 6

Buckley FBI File, Part 7

Buckley FBI File, Part 8

Amid talk that Caroline Kennedy might be named as a U.S. senator, newly disclosed documents offer a glimpse into the life of another First Daughter with New York ties: Margaret Truman Daniel.

FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and his top aides became irate in 1952 when Swedish officials publicly – and incorrectly – chastised FBI agents for aggressively protecting then-President Truman’s daughter during a visit to the Scandinavian nation, the documents show.

Swedish newspapers called the Secret Service agents accompanying Margaret Truman “gorillas” and “three tough guys with their left armpits bulging with artillery” who roughly treated journalists and ordinary citizens, according to a Time magazine account.

Even though the agents belonged to the Secret Service, Swedish government officials attributed the actions to the FBI – gaining Hoover’s notice.

Hoover Kept Tabs

Documents show that behind closed doors, top FBI officials closely monitored the accounts, and asked U.S. officials and the Associated Press to clarify FBI agents were not involved.

Hoover was pleased with the agency’s response. In a handwritten note, the long-time FBI director — sometimes criticized for being overly publicity conscious — commented, “Well handled. We should be alert to promptly nail such misstatements.”

The memos are part of a 15-page FBI dossier obtained under the Freedom of Information Act request, which calls on the agency to release certain documents to the public once the person has died. Margaret Truman Daniel, a singer and actress who later became a best-selling mystery writer, died January 29, 2008, at 83.

She gave up her performing career a few years after her father left the presidency, deciding not to run for reelection in 1952. In April 1956, she married Clifton Daniel, who became a top editor at the New York Times. She staked out a life as a society figure in New York, and later Washington, while becoming a best-selling writer.

She authored biographies of her parents, a look into first ladies, and White House pets. The former First Daughter is perhaps best remembered for a series of murder mysteries set in the nation’s Capitol.

Psychic Babble

Not all the documents in her FBI file were released. The agency withheld one page, citing concerns about medical-related privacy, and redacted portions of other documents.

Among other documents in the file is a 1951 letter postmarked from Germany, and written in German, in which a self-professed psychic offered Margaret Truman a warning.

“In the afternoon of May 26 I saw Miss Truman in a great danger; that a disaster was threatening her,” a translation of the letter read. The would-be psychic claimed his abilities let him know about “the attempt on Hitler’s life several weeks before it happened,” as well as the attempt on President Truman by Puerto Rican nationalists in 1950. The FBI withheld the letter writer’s name.

There was no assassination attempt on Margaret Truman.