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Pe aL ae ee te My aie ” Mr. Avaxs. Well, the program as such, as I can reconstruct from the files, was indicated as concern over conspiratorial efforts of certain Pe and a decision made that perhaps more affirmative action Shot id be taken to neutralize violence which was becoming of more concern to the FBI in that regard. I believe these are some of the basic considerations that went into the launching of the COINTELPRO. Now, as far as the first one, which was the Communist Party, of course, there was the concern here to neutralize the effectiveness of the Communist Party in the United States. In fact, out of all of the COINTELPRO operations that were approved, 59 percent of them were directed at the Communist Party. bulk of the concern ini- tially was with the Communist Party, and it was a desire to create fac- tionalism within the Communist Party and try to neutralize its efforts. The Communist Party—Congress itself still has a determination on the record as to the threat of the Communist Party in a statute. The Supreme Court has held that the Communist Party is an instrument of the Soviet Union, The Soviet Union certainly has not relinquished its interést in the United States as a target. All of these considerations went into should we do something not only to follow the activities of the Communist Party, but should we destroy its effectiveness in the United States. That was the first program, I believe, that was initiated. Senator Tower. Now, did the Bureau ever seek direction and counsel from the Attorney General on any of its COINTELPRO efforts or specific programs Mr. Apaws. As best as I can reconstruct, Senator, there was no direct authority requested from any Attorney General for the initiation of these programs, and it is only a question, as your staff presented yester- day, that the Attorneys General, Presidents, Congress, had been made aware of certain aspects of programs after the fact and those were primarily concerned with the Communist Party, and ot one other organization but not the New Left and these other types. So I cannot find any evidence, and I have no reason to believe, that there would be any evidence that the Bureau initiated these programs other than as an internal decision. Senator Towrr. Were reports on these programs made to the Attor- ney General? Was he informed of them! Was he kept informed on a continuing basis? Mr. Anams. He was kept informed by letters, which again the staff has alluded to, letters reporting certain developments. For instance, one of them that went to one Attorney General, reading of that letter outlined almost in complete detail Klan activities, activities taken to disrupt the Kian. It used terms of neutralize, disrupt. There were a clear explanation of what we were doing against the Kian in that regard. Senator Tower. How is it that you came to believe that you had the authority to neutralize or disrupt these organizations rnther than pro- ceed against them frontally through prosecuting them for violations of the law? Mr. Avasss. I_ guess you would have to say, in a position like this, that it is just the Smith Act of 1940, which is designed to prevent revolutionary groups from advocating the overthrow of the Govern- ment, and then subsequent interpretations as to the constitutionality eee . eet, TH, - Te Ba : vee ae - a : eee 2 ee Lak aT BT yp ba ES , . fe taetaaan ata Mil ge eo Ae Lot Get, ee ese aa oe ee aM oor ee Qo en