◆ SpookStack

- ee me ae microphones on its own authority*®--without any authorization from the Department--and must assume responsibility for them if the issue the other hand, it was pointed out that the Bureau, in countenancing illegal activities by authorizing some micro- phones which involved trespass, was influenced by its overriding obligations to gather intelligence information in the security field and to safeguard the welfare of the country. In this situation the Bureau faced a dilemma. As noted previously, the Attorney General had authority by Presidential Directive to approve wire taps, but no such authority was given to him in regard to microphone instal- lations. The Executive Conference of June 9, 1950, observed that if the FBI asked the Attorney General for authorit, to install microphones it would, in most instances, amount to a request for authority to engage in an illegal activity (trespass). Obviously, it was extremely doubtful that the Attorney General, as the principal Federal law enforcement official, would grant such authority, The Bureau could not ' expect him to grant such authority even though the Department was on notice that the Bureau used microphones and *Underlining added for emphasis Sel