HTLINGUAL - The Surveillance of the American Communication

From 1940 to 1973 the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) conducted a series of 12 covert mail opening programs in the
United States. The programs lasted between 3 weeks and 23 years. The purposes of
these mail openings varied. The CIA sought to obtain foreign intelligence and counterintelligence
information. The FBI sought counterespionage information. Information
gathered through these mail openings was sanitized so that the source of the information
was not known to those who received it. Recipients included other members of
the intelligence community; the attorney general; and at least one president, Lyndon
Johnson.
All of these mail openings were initiated by the CIA without prior authorization by the
postmaster general, the attorney general, or the president. Proposals were put forward in
1954 and again in 1965 to brief the president about the existence of HTLINGUAL. No
action appears to have been taken at either time. In some cases programs were initiated
without the approval of senior officials within the CIA. The Hawaii program, for example,
was started on the authority of the CIA’s single representative there.
The CIA conducted domestic mail opening programs in four cities as part of these
12 operations, the longest of which lasted 20 years. The New York City program ran
from 1953 to 1973 and was known as HTLINGUAL. A second program, known as
KMSOURDOUGH, operated in San Francisco from 1969 to 1971 and consisted of
a series of mail intercepts ranging in length from one to three weeks. A third program,
identified as Project SETTER, took place in New Orleans and operated for three
weeks in 1957. The fourth operation took place in Hawaii from late 1954 to late
1955. Additionally, the CIA opened the mail of at least 12 targeted Americans within
the United States.

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