Office of the Historian

39. Memorandum From the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Hoover)1

Washington, May 9, 1969, 10:35 a.m.

MEMORANDUM FOR

  • Mr. Tolson
  • Mr. De Loach
  • Mr. Sullivan
  • Mr. Bishop

Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, National Security Adviser to the President, called from Key Biscayne, Florida. He advised that there is a story today on the front page of the New York Times by William Beecher which [Page 95] is extraordinarily damaging and uses secret information.2 Dr. Kissinger said they wondered whether I could make a major effort to find out where that came from. I said I would. Dr. Kissinger said the article is in the lower right hand corner of the front page and to put whatever resources I need to find who did this. I told him I would take care of it right away. Dr. Kissinger said to do it discreetly, of course, but they would like to know where it came from because it is very damaging and potentially very dangerous. I commented it is this kind of thing that gives us headaches of where they come from; that if we can find the source one time and make an example it would put a stop to it. Dr. Kissinger agreed and said that is what they propose to do.3

Very truly yours,

J.E.H.
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 460, Plumbers Task Force, Gray/Wiretap Investigation, Box 8, FBI Wiretap Correspondence with WH. No classification marking.↩
  2. A copy of the article, headlined “Raids in Cambodia by U.S. Unprotested,” is attached. The article stated that “American B–52 bombers in recent weeks have raided several Vietcong and North Vietnamese supply dumps and base camps in Cambodia for the first time, according to Nixon Administration sources, but Cambodia has not made any protest.”↩
  3. Hoover wrote beneath his signature: “What do you suggest?”↩