76-13-A1

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FBI

Transcript Legislation is now before the Congress which would end all -- QUOTE -- "political surveillance" and shut down the intelligence-gathering functions of the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. This legislation will prevent all covert gathering of foreign intelligence in peace time and keep the F.B.I. from collecting information on any person unless there is evidence that person has already committed a crime, or is about to commit one. If such a law had existed in the years preceding World War II, the F.B.I. would have been prevented from infiltrating the German-American Bund. The record will show that the F.B.I. deserves most of the credit for the fact that not one major act of sabotage interrupted our war effort during the years from Pearl Harbor to V.J. Day. As for the second point, how do we propose to halt the increasing wave of terrorist activities if we have to wait until the crime is committed? Or, how will we know someone is about to commit the crime? Our police intelligence forces - the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. - have for 40 years used tactics of surveillance, phone taps and, yes, mail openings when they had reason to believe there was a threat to the safety of our country and our people. Using these techniques, an F.B.I. agent infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, and found the murderers of three young civil rights workers a few years ago. I know of no government agency that can match the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its record of more than 40 years of dedication, effectiveness and freedom from scandal. Now the Attorney General of the United States, evidently carrying out Department of Justice policy, will try to convict a 25 year veteran of the Bureau -- former agent and supervisor John Kearney, who retired in 1972. He will be charged with illegal phone taps and opening mail several years ago when these were normal operating procedures. The Attorney General admits that even if he is found Not Guilty, he will be ruined because the cost of defending himself will wipe out his life savings. And, who was the object of Agent Kearney's attention when he did these things? The "Weathermen", one of the groups that surfaced in the anti-war demonstrations several years ago. Members of the Weathermen traveled to communist countries, boasted of bombings they were responsible for and 26 of them were, at one time, on law enforcement's "most wanted" list. There is no other way to protect against terrorism than to try to learn in advance what the terrorists are planning. I wish we could have known beforehand about the bomb that would arrive in a California college office, packaged as mail. A young bride of three weeks was blinded and had her hands mangled as she opened that package. A janitor, on another campus, was blown to eternity when he tried to remove a bomb in the faculty dining room. I'm glad for the intelligence report, and I, frankly, don't care how it was obtained, that warned me -- when I was Governor of California -- of a plot to kidnap my wife and kill her if I wouldn't agree to free some imprisoned members of a terrorist group. John Kearney is being prosecuted and persecuted for protecting his fellow citizens; for doing what the Congress, several Presidents and Attorney Generals had approved over a period of several decades. If the Department of Justice, yielding to the hysteria of the moment, carries through with its announced plan, I hope there will be a fund we can contribute to for John Kearney's defense. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 76-13-A1 Production Date 05/04/1977 Book/Page N/A Audio Youtube? No
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