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Black Panther Party — Part 14
Page 53
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family five times in the past 10 years.
His previous assitnment was in Denver, Colo.
“You cither become adjusted to moving or resign," he
said.
Giovanctti became an agent during the J. Edgar Hoover
regime, learning the ropes under [foover men and teaching
those ropes to others.
He followed bureau pelicy to the letter and when the
policy was not to talk tu newsmen, he didn't talk.
But when Hoover dicd and poliey changed under new
leaders, he followed that bureau policy.
“Th cnt-made a ‘no comment’ to a reporter in three
years
The policy now is for openness. even on sensitive topics.
So he leaned his forehsad against his hand and talked.
_ On the Patty Hearst case. for example:
“E's embarrassing We baven't
vesligative organization.
, Or on recent charg
the personal lives of 7 ie figures:
? “Ours is an inteliizence-gathering function. Hf they
(agents) receive information they think might be useful
later on, it is their responsibility to index it."
~ But, he said, agents don't ro after possip.
Giovanett said stories about the FBI compiling dossiers
on Americans, and stories about the Central Intelligence
Agency's activities here and abroad, have hurt the bureau.
But he said the FEI has never lacked for qualified
applicants, and the bureau is stiil able to get “the cream of
our young people, both men and women.”
Turnover among the 8,600 agents is next to nothing, he
said, and t dards for agents (a law or accounting
degree) have not droped.
{ ‘We start new agents at $47,000 a year, and F think that's
{ the FBI has compiled files on
comparable to what they could be making in business."*”
But Giovanetti harbors another worry about allegations
against (he FBE and the public hearusgs~uiat will Look into,
the bureau's operations.
Ne fears the hearings might provide too much informa-
tion for spies. :
Not subversives, or “forcign intclligence gathcrers,””
but plain old spies, the kind the bureau has been after for
years.
Here the hand came down from the forehead and he Tean-
ed forward"
“YT can assure you that our adversaries in this world have
not changed their goals.”
The adversaries, he said, are still the Communist
countries. And the tactic of planting spies in the United
States is still a reality, he said.
“['m rot divesting snvthirg whan Teay we kraw thie is
planned years al rat in advauce.
Bat here in North Carglina, the FET is kept busy in-
vestigating the state's bakk robberies: 67 last year and
already 19 this year.
“We handle the cases from investigation through court,”
Giovanetti said.
He still has enough of a Boston accent to have agents
. following the case into ‘‘cot.”*
Most of Giovanetti’s duties keep him effice-bound, but he
tries to get into action as often as possible.
Although he was not wearing his pistel when he was
here, it was in his luggage: just in case .
“T've often tried to think of what I would have wanted to
do if 1 hadn't been an agent,” he said.
“I've never come up with an angwen
A laugh started somewhere behind that FBI tie tack, and
worked ils way up. Lob
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