◆ SpookStack

with the responsibility of looking into this then within a few months retired. The next stimulation of this situation arose after a statement appeared in the paper mentioning these files and we immediately talked about this, Still I did not look at the files. 1 then instructed that our Inspection Division go over them a make a listing of them, categorizing them. Some of them, of course, were purely administrative, gome included information as outlined by Mr. Levi. Such a listing was made and was turned _over to the Department. Thereafter Mr. Silberman looked them over and thereafter Mr Levi looked them over and I made a rather cursory check of them myself. Why did I not look these files over in the first place ? I did not construe them as being with- in the realm of the so-called dossiers that had been mentioned before and during, certainly, my confirmation. I said I did not subscribe to the preparation or retention of dossiers on Congress- ‘men nor members of the Senate. I still persist in that and we have not. My references were about those which were declared improper during Mr. Gray's administration and they were at that time stopped. These were dossiers that were prepared on candidates - for Members of Congress and those who failed in their venture were destroyed. Those which were successful were put into the general files, We no longer do that and frankly, in my opinion, . this is what was referred to. I feel that these files should be ~ 27 -