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Title: Richard Ober papers
Date (inclusive): 1942-2001
Collection Number: 2019C20
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
28 manuscript boxes
(11.2 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, writings, notes, personnel records, memoranda, reports, legal records, and printed matter, relating to the
Central Intelligence Agency and its Operation CHAOS. Consists mainly of reportage of post-Watergate debate on intelligence
agency oversight and of documentation of related litigation.
Creator:
Ober, Richard, 1921-2001
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2018.
[Identification of item], Richard Ober papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives
| 1921 | Born, New York City |
| 1943 | A.B., Harvard University |
| 1943-1946 | U.S. Army service |
| 1948 | Joined Central Intelligence Agency |
| M.A., Columbia University | |
| 1964 | Graduate, National War College |
| 1967-1972 | Chief, Central Intelligence Agency Counterintelligence Special Operations Group |
| 1972-1974 | Chief, Central Intelligence Agency Counterintelligence International Terrorism Group |
| 1974-1976 | Director for Intelligence Coordination, National Security Council |
| 1980 | Retired from Central Intelligence Agency |
| 2001 | Died, Fairfax Station, Virginia |
Scope and Content of Collection
The Richard Ober papers are narrowly focused on Operation CHAOS, a program conducted by the United States Central Intelligence
Agency from 1967 to 1972 for the purpose of surveillance and infiltration of dissident and radical movements in the United
States, including antiwar, black power and left-wing organizations. The program complemented the United States Federal Bureau
of Investigation's older counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO. The Central Intelligence Agency's rationale for entering
into domestic activities was to investigate the possibility of foreign influence in the target organizations. The programs
became publicly known in consequence of revelations following upon and associated with the Watergate scandal. Beginning in
1974 they occasioned intense publicity and investigation by multiple Congressional and other government bodies.
Richard Ober, a career Central Intelligence Agency official, directed Operation CHAOS throughout its five-year existence.
Subsequently he was seconded to the United States National Security Council as its senior staff member for intelligence matters.
The publicity he received following revelation of the existence of Operation CHAOS prompted the Agency to seek severance of
his employment. He resisted this, but was retired in 1980.
Key series in the collection are those formed around the numerous investigations of intelligence community activities: the
Central Intelligence Agency Domestic Intelligence Report File (the Agency's report on itself); the Commission on CIA Activities
within the United States File (the so-called Rockefeller Commission after its chairman, Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller);
the Commission on the Reorganization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy File (the so-called Murphy Commission
after its chairman, Ambassador Robert D. Murphy); the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect
to Intelligence Activities File (the so-called Church Committee after its chairman, Senator Frank Church); the House Committees
File (especially the so-called Pike Committee, after its chairman, Congressman Otis G. Pike); and the Department of Justice
Report File (regarding the mail-opening component of Operation CHAOS).
The Legal Cases File is concerned with the numerous subsequent civil lawsuits brought by individuals and organizations against
government agencies and officials. Typically these cases involved both numerous plaintiffs and numerous defendants. Ober figured
as a defendant in all but one--a potential legal case revolving around the unauthorized biography of Washington Post publisher
Katharine Graham by Deborah Davis. Davis mistakenly named Ober as Deep Throat and Ober figured here as a potential plaintiff.
There is also a specifically titled Operation CHAOS File. This consists of redacted internal documents from Operation CHAOS
that were made public in the course of the various legal cases. They shed light on the program's general guidelines as well
as on some specific operations.
The large General Intelligence File consists primarily of press coverage of the intense debate over the proper role and oversight
of the intelligence community that ensued during the latter half of the 1970s.
There are a few additional small series not specifically connected with Operation CHAOS issues. These include Ober's Army
Personnel File, Central Intelligence Agency Personnel File, and National Security Council Personnel File. In 1963-1964 Ober
was a student at the National War College. His National War College File is mainly concerned with his participation in a group
student visit to Africa, as is the associated Audiovisual File.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Secret service -- United States
United States. Central Intelligence Agency