January20,1969 Richard M. Nixon elected the thirty-seventh president of the United States 1969 Ehrlichman suggests to Caulfield that he leave the White House and set up aprivate security business that would provide security to the 1972 Nixoncampaign. This project, Sandwedge, would be similar to the Kennedy securityfirm, Intertel. June 5, 1970With the goal of increasing cooperation between various intelligence agencieswithin the government, a meeting was called in the Oval Office. Those inAttendance: Richard Nixon, J.
Edgar Hoover, Richard Helms, and chiefs of theNSA and the DIA. Nixon aide Tom Charles Huston was assigned to work withthe heads of these agencies to facilitate increased cooperation. early July,1970The Huston Plan sent to the President. This plan was an addition made byHuston to a plan endorsed by Hoover and Helms (NSA and DIA as well?).
Huston’s addition called for electronic surveillance, monitoring activities,surreptitious entries, recruitment of more campus informants, et al. July 14, 1970Nixon endorses the Huston PlanJuly 27, 1970Hoover visits John Mitchell. Mitchell hears about the Huston plan for the firsttime. Mitchell later goes to Nixon and urges the President to Stop the plan. Nixon later cancelled the plan.
September17, 1970Mitchell met with John Dean. Mitchell discussed the poor job that the FBI wasdoing in the area domestic intelligence. This followed a conversation betweenMitchell, Helms and others from the CIA on a similar topic. September18, 1970John Dean sends a memo to John Mitchell in which he offers a plan forintelligence gathering.
“The most appropriate procedure would be to decide on the type ofintelligence we need, based on an assessment of the recommendations ofthis unit, and then to proceed to remove the restraints as neccessary toobtain such intelligence. ” May 3, 1971Following Nixon’s decision concerning Laos, Anti-Vietnam activists attempt toshutdown Washington by blocking roads with stalled cars, human blockades,garbage cans, and other materials. The protests result in over 12,000 arrests. John Dean headed up the White House intelligence gathering during this protest. June 13,1971The New York Times begins publication of excerpts from “The PentagonPapers”. The Pentagon Papers was a 7,000 page document that was first commissionedby Robert McNamara in June of 1967 for future scholars to use.
The Paperswere leaked to the Times by Daniel Ellsberg. Although there were many crucialdocuments that were not included, the Papers did include documents from theDefense Department, the State Department, the CIA, and the White House. June 14,1971John Mitchell sends a telegram to the New York Times. Arthur Ochs SulzbergerPresident and PublisherThe New York TimesNew York New YorkI have been advised by the Secretary of Defense that the material published inThe New York Times on June 13, 14, 1971 captioned ”Key Texts FromPentagon’s Vietnam Study” contains information relating to the national defenseof the United States and bears a top secret classification. As such, publication of this information is directly prohibited by the provisionsof the Espionage law, Title 18, United States Code, Section 793.
Moreover further publication of information of this character will causeirreparable injury to the defense interests of the United States. Accordingly, I respectfully request that you publish no further information of thischaracter and advise me that you have made arrangements for the return ofthese documents to the Department of Defense. John W. MitchellAttorney GeneralThe New York Times declined Mitchell’s request.
July, 1971 Ehrlichman appoints Young and Egil “Bud” Krogh, Jr. to direct a SpecialInvestigations Unit to investigate the leak of the Pentagon Papers. Young andKrogh’s group become known as the “plumbers”. August 16,1971John Dean writes the memorandum “Dealing with our Political Enemies” wherehe describes “how we can use the available federal machinery to screw ourpolitical enemies.
“Sept. 3, 1971Break in of the office of Lewis Fielding, Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, in LosAngeles led by Hunt and Liddy. The goal was to seek information that wouldbe damaging to Ellsberg.October,1971 Colson asks Dean to investigate the “Happy Hooker” ring in New York tosee if
