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MORI DocID: 1451843

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PROJECT MOCKINGBIRD

Project Mockingbird, a telephone intercept activity, was conducted
between 12 March 1963 and 15 June 1963, and targeted two Washington-
based newsmen who, at the time, had been publishing news articles
based on, and frequently quoting, classified materials of this Agency
and others, including Top Secret and Special Intelligence.

Telephone intercept connections were installed at the newmen's
offices and at each of their homes, for a total of 3. The connections
were established with the assistance of a telephone company official
who responded to a personal request by the Director of Security, Col.
Sheffield Edwards. Col. Edwards' authority for the activity was Mr.
John A. McCone, Director of Central Intelligence. The latter conducted
the activity in coordination with the Attorney General (Mr. Robert Kennedy),
the Secretary of Defense (Mr. Robert McNamara), and the Director of
the Defense Intelligence Agency (Gen. Joseph Carroll). In addition to
Office of Security personnel directly involved in the intercepts and
research of materials acquired therefrom, only 3 other Agency
officials are on record as witting of the activity: the Deputy Director
of Central Intelligence (General Marshall S. Carter), the Inspector
General (Lyman Kirkpatrick) and the General Counsel. (Mr. Lawrence
Houston).

The intercept activity was particularly productive in identifying con-
tacts of the newsmen, their method of operation and many of their sources
of information. For example, it was determined that during the period they
received data from 13 newsmen, 12 of whom were identified; 12 senators
and 6 members of Congress, all identified; 21 Congressional staff members,
of whom 11 were identified; 16 government employees, including a staff
member of the White House, members of the Vice President's office, an
Assistant Attorney General, and other well-placed individuals. A number
of other sources were partially or tentatively identified, but the short span
of the activity precluded positive identification. It was observed that through
these contacts the newsmen actually received more classified and official
data than they could use, and passed some of the stories to other newsmen
for release, establishing that many "leaks" appearing under other by-lines
were actually from the sources of the target newsmen.

Since the termination of Project Mockingbird, those materials related
to it which were retained, have been maintained under strict security access
of two Office of Security professionals.

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SECRET EYES ONLY

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