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Approved For Release 2008/11/06: CIA-RDP04M01816R000502010009-4 44 Problems of proof are difficult whenever the prose- .cution seeks to prove a crime that took place long ago. Statutes of limitations -- which for most federal crimes are 1~,\,t five years -- are designed to alleviate these problems by creating a policy of repose for offenses not prosecuted within c1.. iew years of their cormnission.J]/ Although the statute of limitations applicable to 18 U.S.C.§§1702 and 371 would allow a conspiracy prosecution for the entire East Coast Project '· soi long as any overt act of the conspiracy (such as the opening ~tf any envelope) were comnitted within five years of the date f,·ip/ the filing of the indictment, the technical permissibility e·of: a prosecution could not overcome the enormous problems of iprbof entailed in establishing, beyond a reasonable doubt, b¥lmirial culpability for events that took place as long ago 1953. The clearest illustration of the difficulty in .mounting t;· .,~·: a.,.successful prosecution is the deaths of persons who were major 'p~rticipants in the events. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and '::lBhnson are dead; they cannot disclose what they knew of the ~last Coast Pro1 ect or what they may have authorized. Allen D.il.les, J. · Jtcrg~r Hoover, Postmasters-Geiteral, several directors ·of the operating divisions er£ the CIA -- all of them persons who may have given, sought, or obtained authorization, or controlled the scope or duration :6f the mail openings -- are dead. • .... , .,i,;.,·~ :3:g, See generally the Brief for the United States in United $tates v. Lovasco, certiorari granted October 12, 1976, • . • I. I. A roved For Release 2008/11/06: CIA-RDP04M01816R000502010009-4