◆ SpookStack

72 Nos. 77-1698, 77-1210 & 77-1370 percent before Mitchell’s inadvertent reference to the O’Neal document. On April 16, 1976 the FBI revealed to the court and plaintiffs’ counsel the existence of 45 additional files in its possession pertaining to the case. On May 6 the Government furnished two volumes of documents relating to plaintiffs. Among these documents were in- structions from the FBI’s headquarters in Washington “to destroy what the BPP stood for,” to engage infor- mants in thefts of BPP records and documents, to es- ealate actions against the Panther Breakfast Program for Children and other similar activities, and to combat the adverse publicity of the December 4 raid. Many of hae instructions had Piper’s and Johnson’s initials on them. On May 11, 1976, four months into the trial, the court ordered the production of other FBI files, including the balance of its counterintelligence program file. In response the Government furnished thirteen additional files. These included three volumes of counterintelli- gence, three volumes relating to federal grand jury proceedings, two volumes relating to the Breakfast Program, and one volume concerning the June 4, 1969 search of the BPP headquarters. In these files were counterintelligence documents which called for the destruction of the Breakfast Program and for the use of local police to harass the BPP for possession of guns. Many of these documents were approved by John- son, Piper, and Mitchell. On June 14, 1976 the Govern- ment furnished the plaintiffs two more volumes of documents; these related to wiretaps on the BPP. On June 30, 1976 the court finally denied plaintiffs’ motion to reconsider its February 26 order which quash- ed the second Held trial subpoena duces tecum. The court also denied plaintiffs’ request for production of other files relating to the case, finding that their produc- tion would be duplicative of the files already produced. The court also found that the Government’s deletions and withholdings were proper. It is clear that federal defendants, Johnson, Piper, and Mitchell, and their counsel, rather than promptly fur-