</s>104-10151-10144 OLC. 76-55:19 ACT FR F 76-11:13 APPROVED FOR RELEASE 1993 APPROVEO FOR RELEASE1993 CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM RELEA Honorable Thomas H. Downing, Chairman Select Committee on Assessinations House of Representatives HSCA Washington, D.C. 2515 77-0012 Dear Mr. Chairman: Mr. Lytle Miller, of my staff, has relayed to me the interest. of your Chief Counsel, Mr. Richard Sprague, that records related to the investigation of the deaths of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr ., not be destroyed once the "moratorator" on the destruction of Agency records is lifted. Let the assure you that there is no cause for concern. "The "moratorium" was imposed on the Destruction of CIA records in 1975 during the investigation by the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities and will expire on 11 December 1976. At that time regular document destruction: will begin in accordance with Respect for Intelligence Activities approved by the Architecture in United States. At all subjects to review by the Senator Select Architectural Institutions, and subject to the application of records by the lifting of the Constitution Interaboration and the application for records of theifting schedules the ordery disposition of Agency records was published in the Federal Register, a copy of which is enclosed. It is CIA's policy to fully support investigative bodies of the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial Branch, and we will continue to do so. Once the "Incorporator" is lifted,, we will destroy no materials which would appear to relate to your investigations or or of interest to your Committee, Further, we've made available for your review the lists for disposition of records prepared for the Archivist or of the same time these Misterial submitted to the Senate Selected Committee on Intelligence. Misterical Committee has been submitted to its Senate Committee on Intelligence, until your Committee notices the Agency that it has completed its review, and has no objection. It date, 15 years, have been furnished to the Senator Select Committee and they will be made available to your review inmediately. 218/18

Summary  
The document is a letter dated 7 December 1976 from George Bush to Thomas H. Downing, Chairman of the Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), regarding the preservation of CIA records related to the investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The letter confirms that no documents connected to these inquiries will be destroyed after the expiration of a moratorium on CIA record destruction, which was imposed in 1975 during the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities investigation and set to end on 11 December 1976. It states that regular document destruction procedures will resume post-moratorium but assures the committee that materials relevant to their investigations will remain intact. The letter also mentions the availability of records disposition lists and references a Federal Register publication outlining agency record management policies.  

Key People  
- Thomas H. Downing: Chairman of the Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA)  
- George Bush: Signatory of the letter, representing the CIA  
- Richard Sprague: Chief Counsel to the HSCA  
- Members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence  

Key Locations  
- Washington, D.C.: Headquarters of the HSCA and CIA  
- CIA headquarters: Implied as the origin of record management policies  

Key Events  
- Expiration of the moratorium on CIA record destruction (11 December 1976)  
- Resumption of regular document destruction procedures post-moratorium  
- Assurance of preservation of records related to JFK and MLK assassination investigations  
- Distribution of records disposition lists to relevant committees  

Key Organizations  
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)  
- Select Committee on Assassinations (HSC, House of Representatives)  
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence  
- National Archives and Records Administration (via Federal Register publication)

MLK Declassified Files

00507387_lettermr_lyle_miller_of_104-10151-10144.pdf

Document Summary

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