◆ SpookStack

Memorandum C. D. Brennan to Mr. Sullivan RE: ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCES 66-8160 Bureau of microphone surveillance installations. On the sam day, the Director sent a confirming memorandum to the Attorney General which contained the following comments concerning wiretapping: "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 from wiretapping unless there was specific approva] In each instance by the Attorney General who is the chiet Taw officer of the Government. I repeated the same recommendation to each successive Attorney General following the administration of Attorney General Clark. "I 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- 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 approval or disapproval.. I know that no such system Hs followed in other branches of the Government and, in fact, in many instances subordinates quite far down the line of authority tap telephones without the specific approval of the head of the agency and certainly without specific approval of Ithe cabinet officer in charge of the department. 'I still feel quite strongly that no Government agency should tap a telephone unIess It is specif 1cally approved in each instance by the Attorney General. This would certainly circumscribe promiscuous wiretapping onthe part of Government agencies and would centralize in one place, the Attorney General'. office, a record of any phone taps which have been I placed by a Government agency. CONTINUED - OVER