The “Family Jewels” Collection (CIA)

Cold Open: This is the "Family Jewels" Collection, a compilation of documents from the Central Intelligence Agency, released to the public on May 29, 2024. The collection exposes a series of controversial activities conducted by the agency from the 1950s to the 1970s. Vault.fbi.gov and documents2.theblackvault.com provide access to the full document. Provenance: The document was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by The Black Vault in 2018. The CIA completed a thorough search of their records and determined that the document may be released in sanitized form. The document was approved for release on August 7, 2019, by the CIA's Information and Privacy Coordinator, Mark Lilly. The Document: Memorandum for the Executive Secretary, CIA Management Committee, dated March 1, 1973. The purpose of this memorandum is to forward for your personal review summaries of activities conducted either by or under the sponsorship of the Office of Security in the past, which in my opinion conflict with the provisions of the National Security Act of 1947. These activities cover the period from March 1959 to date and represent as accurate a record as is available in our files. Those activities which took place prior to the date of my appointment as Director of Security on July 1, 1964, have been developed to a certain extent through the recollection of the senior people in this Office who were involved or who had knowledge of the activities at the time they occurred. I have gone back to March 1959 because I believe that the activities occurring since that time still have a viable "flap potential" in that many of the people involved, both Agency and non-Agency, are still alive and through their knowledge of the activity represent a possible potential threat or embarrassment to the Agency. Unless otherwise stated, each of these activities was approved by higher authority: the Director of Central Intelligence, the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, the Executive Director-Comptroller, or the Deputy Director for Support. The activities listed include: 1. The use of a member of the Mafia in an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro. 2. Project MOCKINGBIRD, which involved installing telephone taps on two Washington-based newsmen suspected of disclosing classified information. 3. Yuriy Ivanovich Nosenko, a KGB defector who was confined in a specially constructed "cell" at the CIA's headquarters from August 1965 to October 1967. 4. Various surveillance and support activities, including the surveillance of newsmen and the provision of specialized support to local police officials in the Metropolitan area. 5. Equipment support to local police, including the provision of equipment to the Fairfax and Arlington County Police Departments. 6. Audio countermeasures support to the United States Secret Service. 7. Test of specialized equipment in Miami immediately prior to the political convention. Context: The CIA's "Family Jewels" collection reveals a series of controversial activities conducted by the agency from the 1950s to the 1970s, including assassination plots, illegal surveillance, and experiments on unwitting subjects. The collection was first released to the public in 2007 and has been the subject of ongoing Freedom of Information Act requests. Outro: This is what the public record looks like at its most ordinary. The "Family Jewels" Collection is a testament to the complexities and controversies of the CIA's past. You can find the full document at storyflo.com and documents2.theblackvault.com.