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fEditor’s nole—Jfuch there * may be that Times Editorial © * Writer Gene Roberts cannot say : in the column below. However, ° he does say @ considerable _ amount while bringing fo bear .. . “ his 334 years of csperience as an * i FBI special agent in various ¢ " parts of the country.) EDGAR HOOVER and Rob.‘ - ext Kennedy disagree over e whether Sen. Kennedy had’ “Jnowledge of wiretaps or micro-: * phoac. surveillances which were | used in investigations of top-level - ‘ organized crime during the sena-' _ tor's. service as Attorney General, A U.S. congressman complains’ : wiretapping is so widespread that - 7 ; 7 ‘no one in Washington can be sure. his tefephone is private. "National columnists examine the : _ threats to individual privacy in- “ty ibs STW YG - ~Y-¢ 9 . : Sarr onary America, starting usually from the * _ unquestioned assumption that the | _ congressman was correct in his. ‘1 t } 4a * fear of the prevalence of electronic” snoaoing. Onc columnist notes that the. President has ordered the FBI to * use clectronic eavesdropping only ' in cases involving “national sceir-- ity,"" but says the Bureau has so | liberally interpreted “national se- « curily" as to allow it to bug any- . one it chooses. “The “case against Bobby Baker and sonic of his business associates |. is called inte question in federal . court aficr the government volun- *: the - teers the information that private quarters of one of Baker's confidantes had been wired. A U.S. senator expresses the be licf that the FBI, because of its. wiretapping activitics, principally, *- is a major threat te American oe mocracy. ” re © a GENZ ROBERTS a e Furor Over Wiretaps A LL OF the afore-mentioned : * happenings have been much in the news of Jate and the effect ; has been to create a general at: mosphere of unrest concerning the | goverament’s respect for the cil | -zen’s right to privacy. Unfortunately, the discussion has” necessarily becn one-sided and has * proceeded on the assumption that” undertaken ‘ ” wiretapping is indeed « Inciscriminately. The talk has been one-sided be-? cause the FBI, against whom most . of the criticism has been dirccted, . cannot discuss the issues in spe-. cific terms wilhout possibly cn-' -_dangering lives and/or the national , 7 : -_ employed by the Cosa Nostra, or encurity. It has steadfastly min tained it ‘used electronic snooping equipment only in cases involving - the “national security’ and these directed against organized crime such as the sophisticated rarity _ as some call it, the Black Hand or’: - Mafia. Now the Presidential direcs - . tive has forbidden its use against the big-time gangsters. Additionale . ly, the FBI claims it has not pre; ; sented for prosecution use any in + formation obtained cither directly - ENCLOSUBE * or indirectly from wiretaps. » e * ° yo PRETENSE is made here of - N expert knowledge of a complex .: organization that is charged with “conducting investigations in almost: : 200 soparate categories in areas so diverse as espionage, sabotage, bank robbery, kidnaping, applicant - _ backgrounds and unlawful attacks , upon migratory waterfowl. My . strong inciination, however, is to + believe decply that: “The risht of the people to be secure In -- thelr persona, houses, papers, and ef. — | fects agsinat unreasonable searches and = seizures, shall not de violated, and no - Warraats shall issue. bub upon probable .~ epuse, supported hy oalh or affirmation, and pariiculerly i parses the of ites i te - bs searched, and the vt acize . Hi Te ‘The Chattanooga Times" Chattanooga, Tennessee December 28, 1966 pecs he ae #* . al Mees ar So arm we ca oe Fy OT toy ee eee 1 TAREE Ly rl pa HAE bye ahi tobirnraied ay ova