Quarter-century of lawlessness: Declassified docs reveal CIA lawbreaking
 Newly declassified government documents reveal a 25-year campaign of CIA activity outside the law, including extensive wiretapping of journalists, surveillance of dissidents and assassination plots against foreign leaders.
The documents, which were published online Thursday by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, detail illegal CIA activities from the 1950s through the mid-1970s.
The so-called "family jewels" - as the 693 pages of documents are referred to - had been classified, aside from a few dozen pages, since they were first compiled beginning in 1973. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published the first account of the CIA's domestic operations outlined in the document in December 1974.
Hersh's New York Times report set off a furor in then-President Gerald Ford's administration. Then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger convened multiple meetings of White House aides to discuss how the administration would manage the story.
In a February 1975 White House meeting, CIA Director William Colby suggested to Kissinger requiring all those with access to the "family jewels" -- including Congressional investigators -- be required to sign secrecy agreements preventing them from publishing the information.
"You can't keep them from Sy Hersh," Kissinger lamented.
At the time, Democratic Sen. Frank Church was beginning investigations into US intelligence activities with a Senate committee he chaired.
Ford administration officials also discussed leaking information about the FBI to distract attention from the CIA.
"The FBI may be the sexiest part of this. [Former FBI Director J. Edgar] Hoover did things which won't stand scrutiny, especially under [former President Lyndon] Johnson," then-Deputy Attorney General Laurence Silberman suggested. "We will put these out in generic terms as quickly as possible."
The "family jewels" document wiretapping and physical surveillance campaigns against at least a half-dozen reporters, including famed investigative columnist Jack Anderson and his associates such as current Fox News anchor Britt Hume. The documents also reveal that the CIA compiled files on nearly 10,000 Americans active in the anti-Vietnam War effort.
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