◆ SpookStack

1 ‘' Py Pee mee «ft x 4 JE Memorandum C, D. Brennan to Mr. ¥. c. Sullivan me. Oe Xe RE: ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCES ee, a ae at ra ay, ‘ { Bur of lance 4nstallations, On the same © | lee the Director gent a confirming memorandum to the Attorney | eau of mic crophone sg rveil 7 : a i on General which contained the following comments concerning = ° wiretapping: ; ee With reference to the proper controls over wire- ~~ tapping and the installation of microphones, you __ . will recall that I advised you that back under the .** administration of Attorney General (Tom) Clark I —_ recommended that _all Government agencies refrain, o rom wiretapping unless ere Was spec) approval fn gach nstance by the Attorney General who is WO cer of the Government. I repeated the Sane Yecommendation to each successive Attorney General following the administration of Attorney General Clark, "y have always felt that there was a very lax con- trol in the handling of wiretapping by Government agencies. I am the only head of a Government investi~ e gative agency who does not have the authority to authorize a wiretap, but under the system which I personally set up. Therefore, requests for wiretaps are sent by me to the Attorney General for his pproval or disapproval. I know that no such system s followed in other branches of the Government = nd, in fact, in many instances subordinates quite ar down the line of authority tap telephones ithout the specific approval of the head of the gency and certainly without specific approval of _ the cabinet officer in charge of the department. — "I still feel quite strongly that no Government 7 agency Should tap @ telephone utiless it is sSpecif- ically approved in each instance by the Attorney eneral, This would certainly circumscribe promiscuous wiretapping onthe part of Government agencies and | would centralize in one place, the Attorney General's . office, a record of any phone taps which have been _ placed by a Government agency... ... ee