Register of the Richard Ober papers
Finding aid prepared by Dale Reed
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2019
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
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
Access
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.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2018.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Richard Ober papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Biographical Note
Biographical Note
| 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
box 1, folder 1
Army Personnel File
1942-1952
Scope and Contents
Military personnel file of Richard Ober. Includes Reserve Officers Training Corps and Army Reserve materials, orders, and
memoranda.
Central Intelligence Agency Personnel File
1948-1980
Scope and Contents
Personnel file of Richard Ober as a Central Intelligence Agency employee.
box 1, folder 2
Questionnaires and personnel action notifications
1948-1979
General
Scope and Contents
Contains correspondence, memoranda, lists and notes.
box 1, folder 8
Request for documents
1978
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence together with redacted document copies.
box 1, folder 9
Appeal of proposed separation
1978
Scope and Contents
Contains correspondence and memoranda. Includes redacted copies of earlier personnel file documents.
box 1, folder 10
Retirement
1980
Scope and Contents
Contains memoranda and drafts.
box 1, folder 11
Travel authorizations and miscellany
1974-1979
box 2, folder 1
"Recommendations on Intelligence from the Murphy and Rockefeller Commission Reports" (internal memorandum by Ober)
1975
Scope and Contents
Typescript
"The U.S. Intelligence Community Today" (internal study by Ober)
1978
National War College File
1963-1964
Scope and Contents
Papers of Richard Ober as a National War College student.
box 2, folder 8
General
1963-1964
Scope and Contents
Contains correspondence, memoranda, lists, and handbooks.
box 2, folder 9
Research paper
1963-1964
Scope and Contents
Contains memoranda, guidelines, and a letter.
Trip to Africa
1964
Scope and Contents
Contains memoranda, itineraries, travel documents, briefing materials, and printed matter. See also Audiovisual File.
box 4, folder 5
National Security Council Personnel File
1974-1976
Scope and Contents
Personnel file of Richard Ober as a National Security Council employee. Contains correspondence, memoranda, lists, and notes.
Central Intelligence Agency Domestic Intelligence Report File
1974-1975
Scope and Contents
File on a report by Central Intelligence Agency Director William E. Colby to President Gerald R. Ford on domestic intelligence
activities of the Central Intelligence Agency.
box 4, folder 6
Text of report, 1974, with publicly released redacted appendices, 1975
Commission on CIA Activities within the United States File
1974-1977
Scope and Contents
File on a report by commission established by President Gerald R. Ford and chaired by Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller
(Rockefeller Commission).
box 5, folder 2
Text of report
1975
Scope and Contents
Printed copy
box 5, folder 3
Excerpts of report leaked to press prior to public release
box 5, folder 4
Executive orders and White House press conference transcripts subsequent to Commission report
1976-1978
Scope and Contents
Includes 1976 Executive Order on United States Foreign Intelligence Activities by President Gerald R. Ford and 1978 Executive
Order on United States Intelligence Activities by President Jimmy Carter.
box 5, folder 6
Memoranda
1975
Scope and Contents
Includes comments on the report by William E. Colby and by Ober.
Commission on the Reorganization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy File
1975
Scope and Contents
File on a commission jointly established by President Richard M. Nixon and Congress and chaired by Ambassador Robert D. Murphy
(Murphy Commission).
box 6, folder 4
General
Scope and Contents
Contains selected recommendations affecting the intelligence community, memoranda, and press coverage.
box 6, folder 5
Senate response
Scope and Contents
Contains memoranda and bills introduced.
box 7, folder 1
House response
Scope and Contents
Contains memoranda and bills introduced.
Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities File
1974-1980
Scope and Contents
File on investigations by Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church (Church Committee)
box 7, folder 2
Final Report, Book III: Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans
1976
Scope and Contents
Printed copy
box 7, folder 3
Report excerpts and Committee rules of procedure
1975-1977
box 7, folder 4
Hearing transcripts
1975
Scope and Contents
Includes testimony by James Angleton and Richard Helms.
box 8, folder 6
Memoranda and notes
1975-1980
House Committees File
1975-1976
Scope and Contents
File on investigations by the House Select Committee on Intelligence chaired by Congressman Otis G. Pike (Pike Committee),
and by the House Committee on Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights, chaired
by Congresswoman Bella Abzug.
box 9, folder 5
General
1975
Scope and Contents
Contains correspondence, memoranda, and notes. Includes draft statement to Abzug Subcommittee.
box 10, folder 1
Hearing transcript of Abzug Subcommittee
1975
Scope and Contents
Includes testimony of William E. Colby.
box 10, folder 2
Statement by William E. Colby before Abzug Subcommittee
1975
box 10, folder 4-7
Press coverage, mainly regarding Pike Committee
1975-1976
box 11, folder 1
Department of Justice Report File
1975-1977
Scope and Contents
File on the Department of Justice report regarding Central Intelligence Agency mail opening activities. Contains text of the
report, notes, and press coverage.
Legal Cases File
1975-2001
Scope and Contents
File relating to legal cases resulting from revelations of intelligence community activities within the United States.
box 11, folder 6
Black Panther Party vs. Levi (re alleged disruption of Black Panther Party by FBI and CIA)
1975-1978
Scope and Contents
Contains legal complaint, notes, and press coverage.
Davis, Deborah and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Scope and Contents
Potential legal case regarding the book
Katharine the Great: Katharine Graham and The Washington Post written by Deborah Davis and published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. The book named Ober as Deep Throat and made other assertions
considered possibly libelous. Includes some material on other media contacts with Ober.
box 12, folder 1
Katharine the Great
1979
Scope and Contents
Printed copy
Driver vs. Helms (re CIA mail opening activities)
Legal documents
Scope and Contents
Contains legal complaint, briefs, petitions, motions, affidavits and decisions, and legal correspondence.
box 13, folder 2
Memoranda and notes
1975-1982
Grove Press vs. Central Intelligence Agency (regarding allegedly illegal CIA surveillance)
Legal documents
Scope and Contents
Contains legal complaint, affidavits, briefs, motions and decisions, and legal correspondence.
box 13, folder 9
Memoranda and notes
1975-1980
Halkin vs. Helms (originally Chandler vs. Helms; regarding Operation CHAOS surveillance)
Legal documents
Scope and Contents
Contains legal documents, affidavits, briefs, motions and decisions, and legal correspondence.
box 15, folder 8
Memoranda and notes
1975-1980
Hampton vs. Hanrahan (re shooting of Black Panther Party members)
1975
box 16, folder 1
Legal documents
Scope and Contents
Contains deposition by Ober and legal correspondence.
box 16, folder 3
Nunez vs. Central Intelligence Agency (regarding CIA break-in)
1975-1976
Scope and Contents
Contains legal complaint, White House press conference excerpts, and press coverage.
Socialist Workers Party vs. Attorney General (re surveillance of Socialist Workers Party)
Legal documents
Scope and Contents
Contains legal complaint, affidavits, testimony by Ober, and legal correspondence.
Operation CHAOS File
1967-1976
Scope and Contents
File of internal Operation CHAOS documents, reports, memoranda, and correspondence, made publicly available in redacted form
in connection with legal cases.
box 16, folder 9
1969
Scope and Contents
Includes "Special Report: Foreign Communist Support to Revolutionary Protest Movements in the United States."
General Intelligence File
1963-1991
Scope and Contents
Contains material, mainly printed matter, related to intelligence issues in general.
box 17, folder 10
Memoranda and notes
1974-1978
box 17, folder 11
American Enterprise Institute symposium on "Foreign Intelligence: Legal and Democratic Controls"
1979
Scope and Contents
Transcript
box 18, folder 1
Colby, William E.
1975
Scope and Contents
Speech and statement
box 18, folder 2
Hardy, Timothy, "The Intelligence Reorganization Crucible"
ca. 1976
Scope and Contents
Typescript
box 18, folder 3
Hughes, Thomas L., "The Fate of Facts in a World of Men: Some Reflections on the Human Side of Intelligence and Policy-Making"
1969
Scope and Contents
Typescript
box 18, folder 4
Turner, Stansfield
1978-1979
Scope and Contents
Speeches
box 18, folder 5-7
Central Intelligence Agency activities abroad
1974-1976
box 19, folder 1
Central Intelligence Agency activities abroad
1974-1976
box 19, folder 2-4
Central Intelligence Agency domestic activities
1975-1976
box 19, folder 5
Federal Bureau of Investigation activities
1975-1976
box 20, folder 1
Federal Bureau of Investigation activities
1975-1976
box 20, folder 2-4
National Security Council and Operation CHAOS
1975-1976
box 21, folder 1-3
Individuals (mainly intelligence officials; arranged alphabetically)
1974-1976
box 21, folder 4-5
Kissinger, Henry A.
1975
Scope and Contents
Contains speech transcripts.
box 22, folder 1-4
Congressional commentary
1975-1976
box 22, folder 5
"News and Comment" intelligence sections (news summary compilation for the President)
1975-1976
box 23, folder 1-5
"News and Comment" intelligence sections (news summary compilation for the President)
1975-1976
box 24, folder 3-5
Editorial commentary and letters to the editor
1974-1976
box 25, folder 1-2
Book reviews and book excerpts
1976-1991
box 28, folder 5
Miscellany
Scope and Contents
Contains notes and printed matter.
box 28, folder 6
Audiovisual File
circa 1964
Scope and Contents
Contains postcards and photographs of scenes in Africa.
