May 16 1973 4 57 p m J Fred Buzhardt and Robert Mardian White House Telephone 046-086 Audio http nixontapeaudio org chron5 046-086 mp3 00 03 24 3 Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Hello Hello Fred How are you Bob how the hell are you Fine thanks It’s been a long time It has What’s your new job I am Special Counsel to the President Good laughs On guess what laughs Bob there were some documents that were released by the court today— Yeah —which consisted of a certain domestic intelligence plan— A what A certain domestic intelligence plan That’s dated the summer of 1970 Are you reading me Yeah Ok Now this was handled here by a fellow named Huston until about August of ’70 At which time Dean came aboard and took over the responsibility Right Some time along about that time you came aboard and formed a committee – interagency Yes Now we—you know the committee has the documents incidentally— Yeah Now there are certain things we need to know quite urgently Yeah On the committee you ran Bob was it an analysis group solely and simply or were there any activities No activities whatsoever No collections What No collections No The only activities was an attempt to — I understood this was at the direction of Ehrlichman — the president actually that’s what they told me — and the only Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt purpose was to — originally it was set up in the White House then it was moved over to Department of Justice internal security because everybody — the various members of the intelligence group were concerned about everybody seeing them coming in and going out together when they had meetings Right The sole purpose was to attempt to bring the intelligence to coordinate the activities the various law enforcement intelligence agencies within the government Alright now— Now what they were doing — see I had as I say it started as a — it was a White House operation— Under my shop— —and what they would do would be to respond to requests There’s a charter — there was a — I don’t want to call it a charter but an agreement as to what they would do What their scope would be When did this come into being Bob Oh I would guess January or February of 1971 and it was a friend of — a judge a former justice of the Washington Supreme Court was supposed to be the working director of it Did he ever show up Oh yeah and he was just there on a — served as a special assistant to the Attorney General We put him on the payroll there That was Ehrlichman’s idea He was Ehrlichman’s neighbor and subsequently when he got appointed back on the court — he went back on the — I think the Federal District Court Bernie Wells who was in my shop— Yeah —was put in charge of it and he is still in charge of it Yeah But there is nothing — all it is is an attempt — all it was was an attempt to get the various agencies to work together It included National Security Agency— Yeah Your shop — Defense Intelligence Agency although I guess they never admitted they had anybody working on it over there But as I recall— I know the guy that was liaison Yeah Well that is all they had was liaison Ok let me ask you— It was a problem If the White House wanted it staffed out they would—if CIA had input on it had a foreign aspect it would contribute what information it had If the FBI had an input on it they would give it input— Alright Let me ask you this Bob Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Yeah I have got to know some specifics here To your knowledge and I need to know this on the square were any surreptitious entries made specifically for this purpose Absolutely not Hell no Ok Well if it were—that’s uh no it couldn’t have been Bernie Wells was running it for Christ’s sake It was all they were doing were making assessments Ok To my knowledge that’s all they ever did Only assessments That’s all There would be a request for information concerning whatever it was the White House wanted And an assessment was made and copies went to the constituent liaison agencies— Right —as well as the White House and that’s all Ok But that’s all they did was to make assessments Right They were not op- laughs — they weren’t operating anything Alright Who was your point of contact over here Did you work with Dean at all on it Actually I didn’t really have much to do with it— Yeah —except to put — to help put the group together Yeah The contact was direct from — from Dean’s office as I recall to Bernie Wells Yeah And copies of the work product as I say went to each of the constituent departments and agencies But look I forget what the hell assessment they made but there was nothing of any consequence and there certainly wasn’t any covert operations that I was aware of and I am sure there weren’t Bernie Wells wouldn’t have gone into anything like that— At this time— In fact they never did work together to well Fred because well you can imagine trying to get a bunch of people like that all — they are all holding their own information This was simply an attempt to establish liaison between them with respect to particular problems the White House had Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Mardian Buzhardt Ok To the best of your knowledge I know the problem while Hoover was there — I am sure there weren’t any But thereafter you know of no entries made by the Bureau Hell no No siree Here again not as a result of that operation What the hell did they come up with as far as in these papers to indicate what this group were doing Well I don’t want to get too specific over the phone But— I would suggest you get in touch with Bernie Wells You know Bernie Yeah I will talk to Bernie I’d get Bernie and Jesus Christ — Fred if there is anything amiss over there I would sure appreciate you calling me and let me know I don’t believe there is Bob I am just trying to verify that there isn’t I am sure there wasn’t I am trying to verify a negative and you know how hard that is Well you talk to Bernie and he will level with you But I have got to know You know We can’t say no if— Is there some inference that there was I suspect there is going to be a claim there was Well that’s a lot of crap Ok Well to my knowledge Unless — I am never surprised by anything like that— Ok —but I just can’t imagine Bernie In fact you know after the Watergate thing came out and Liddy was arrested— Yeah —Bernie Wells told — I heard from Bernie Wells or Jim McGraff that worked over there that this asshole was over there that said hell there’s only way to break — this was during the Time and Post case or the Pentagon Papers case — there is only one way to do that and that was to bug the New York Times Oh God They thought he was joking and never reported it to me Yeah Ok Thanks a lot Bob I’ve got to run I am just telling you that Bernie can unclear on that basis He’s— I’ll go back Will you call me back and let me know Yeah I will I would appreciate it Ok Thank you Good Bob Mardian Buzhardt 00 12 06 3 Bye Bye This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu