◆ SpookStack

'· Approved For Release 2008/11/06: CIA-RDP04M01816R000502010009-4 13 In 1958 the FBI was advised of the existence and extent of the CIA's East Coast mail project, and the CIA offered to share the project's "take" with the FBI. FBI Director Hoover gave his approval. and the FBI provided the CIA with the names and categories of persons or organizations in which it had an espionage or counterespionage interest. Such lists were used as additional guides by the CIA in making selections from the United States-Soviet mail that passed through the CIA checkpoint. On February 15. 1961, following the election of President Kennedy, DCI Allen Dulles, Deputy Director of Plans Richard Helms. and another CIA officer met with newly appointed Postmaster General J. Edward Day. According to Mr. Day's recollection, Dulles said he came to tell him of "something secret" regarding the CIA and the mails. Exactly what Day was told is not clear. A contemporaneous CIA memorandum of the 1961 meeting strongly suggests that Day was told by Dulles of mail openings being made by the CIA. On the other hand, in 1975 Day averred that,while his memory of the 1961 meeting might be faulty, he recalled that Dulles offered to tell him of a secret CIA mail operation but that he (Day) declined the invitation to be briefed. Day, however, remains uncertain. Three months later DCI Dulles approved continuation of the project on the basis of its value to the intelligence opera- tions of the CIA. A roved For Release 2008/11/06: CIA-RDP04M01816R000502010009-4