Webster study, FBI correspondence, 1992-07-10

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Content LEGALLYPRMLEGED ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT TO: FROM: DATE: RE: KIRKLAND & ELLIS MEMORANDUM Richard J. Stone Jan L. Handzlik.Jl." July 10, 1992 Webster Study/FBI Correspondence For your information, attached are copies of correspondence with FBI personnel: A. June 11, 1992: Handzlik to Special Agent Tom Ginter, Principal Legal Advisor, L.A. B. June 14 (received June 23): SA Ginter to Handzlik C. July 8: Handzlik to Supervising SA Lucy Hoover, Legal Coun$el Division, D.C. D. July 9: Joseph R. Davis, Assistant Director - Legal Counsel, D.C. to Handzlik E. July 9: Handzlik to SSA Hoover F. July 9: Revised version of July 8 letter from Handzlik to SSA Hoover Mark Beck and I have had numerous telephone conferences with SA Ginter and SSA Hoover. I also attempted unsuccessfully to reach Charlie Parsons, SAC LA, in May. In addition, on June 17, I received a call from Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Terree Bowers about my June 11 letter to SA Ginter. Terree told me that the FBI would need more time to respond and that the matter was under consideration at FBI headquarters in Washington. I called SSA Hoover this afternoon to determine the status. She returned my call and informed me that my letters were being reviewed by her superiors (the matter was "going way up" above her). After asking some clarifying questions concerning my July 9 letter, Hoover stated that she would have a response by Monday (July 13). I will call you on Monday in this regard. JLH:ct Enclosures ' .. . -. • n \ , . JU0GE WILLIAM H . WEBSTER SPECIAL ADVISOR CHIEF" HUBERT WILLIAMS OEPUlY SPECIAL ADVISOR RICHARD J . STONE GENERAL COUNSEL ANO STAFF DIRECTOR JERRY S. BATHKE EJIECIJTIVE DIRECTOR DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSE:L TERRY W . BIRO PAUL G . BOWER WAYNE S . BRAVEMAN JOHN H . BRINSLEY GERALD L. CHALEF", JAMES P . CLARK AUDREY B . COLLINS JAN LAWRENCE HANDZLIK t<ENNETH R . HEITZ THEODORE WARREN JACKSON DIANN H . KIM VINCENT J . MARELLA MARYLIN J . MILNER BRIAN O'NEILL CHARLES PEREYRA- SUAREZ LINDA S. PETERSON CORNELL J . PRICE t<AREN RANDALL BARBARA A . REEVES ANA I. SEGURA SALLY SUCHIL SENIOR CONSULTANTS PETER B . F'RANK ROGER S. YOUNG OF ..... cE OF THE SPECIAL Anv.l JR TO THE BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS CITY OF Los .ANGELES June 11, 1992 BY MESSENGER Tom Ginter, Special Agent-· Principal Legal Advisor Federal Bureau of Investigation 11000 Wilshire Boulevard, suite 1700 Los Angeles, California 90024 Dear Mr. Ginter: I am one of the Deputy General Counsel to the Special Advisor to the Los Angeles Police Commission (the "Webster study.") My assignment, and that of several other members of the staff, is to obtain information from the FBI Field Office in Los Angeles concerning its involvement in activities relating to the recent Los Angeles civil disturbance. Specifically, we seek information concerning the following topics, broadly stated: 1. The existence of a general civil disturbance contingency plan, with a focus upon the interface between the FBI and the LAPD in that plan; 2. Specific contingency plans relating to the progress of the King trial; 3. The nature and extent of inter-agency communications between the FBI and the LAPD separate and apart from civil disturbance contingency plans (with a focus upon the sharing of intelligence and resources); 4. The existence and scope of any mutual assistance agreement between the FBI and the LAPD; and 5. Issues relating to the response of the FBI to the civil disturbance in April and May, 1992 and the effect upon your agency of -the Presidential Order to commit additional federal resources to the disturbance. In this regard, we will inquire into the way your agency interfaced with LAPD. We would like to conduct interviews of special agents knowledgeable about the subjects addressed above and to receive any documents relating SUITE 342~ 601 SO'CTH FIGUEROA STREET LOS ANGBLBS, CALIFORNIA 90017 TELEPHONE (213) 362·76~0 FACSIMILE (213) 362•7699 •-n. ' . I , June 11, 1992 Page Two to those topics. We also would like to obtain any incident chronologies prepared by the FBI relating to your agency's response to the civil disturbance. As Mark Beck indicated when you spoke with him last week, we are working on a tight deadline and would like to begin our interviews no later than next week. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. My telephone number is (213) 680-8480. Thank you in advance for your assistance. JLH/eh cc: Vince Marella, Esq. Mark Beck, Esq. Teresa Barrera, Esq. Raul Ayala, Esq. Very truly yours, ✓L Jan Lawrence . . ' • f. ! . In Reply• Pleue Refer to File No. BY FACSIMILE AND MAIL Jan Lawrence Handzlik Deputy General Counsel Office of the Special Advisor U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation 11000 Wilshire Boulevard #1700 Los Angeles, CA 90024 June 14, 1992 l . . { l: C:~ r~~ f \t [ i! f) ,, . . .. · · : · : ' - .- ! ... ~ t .. : to the Board of Police Commissioners, City of Los Angeles 601 South Figueroa Street Los Angeles, California 90017 Dear Mr. Handzlik: Thank you for your letter dated June 11, 1992, broadly stating the scope of the Special Advisor Inquiry into the involvement in activities relating to the recent Los Angeles civil disturbance by the Los Angeles Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Our office is currently assembling the information which w e .believe would be responsive to your request. To this end, we are coordinating o. ur activities with FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C. to ensure compliance with disclosure requirements and prohibitions governed by internal policy and provisions of the Privacy Act (Title 5, United States Code, Section 552a). Although the above process is being handled most expeditiously, a reasonable delay may be encountered before actual release of information and conducting of interviews with appropriate officials can commence. This may necessarily inhibit your plans to begin interviews during the week of June 15, 1992. Once the disclosure considerations have been finalized, however, I will be in immediate contact with you for the purpose of providing the names of appropriate FBI officials involved in the civil disturbance response, as well as arranging for their availability. . .r (~ I Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation. cc: Lourdes G. Baird (Enc.1) United States Attorney 1200 United States Courthouse 312 North Spring Street Los Angeles, California 90012 Office of the Special Advisor Vince Marella, Esq. Mark Beck, Esq. Teresa Barrera, Esq. Raul Ayala, Esq. Sincerely yours, Charlie J. Parsons Special Agent in Charge ~✓-~ by Thomas s. Ginter Principal Legal Advisor Liaison Officer · 2 i , ) ., ' \ . • .. JUDGE WILLIAM H . WEBSTER SPECIAL ADVISOR CHIEF' HUBERT WILLIAMS DEPUTY SPECIAL ADVISOR RICHARD J . STONE GENERAL COUNSEL ANO STA,-,- DIRECTOR JERRY 5 . BATHKE £XECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL TERRY W. BIRO PAUL G . BOWER WAYNE S . BRAVEMAN JOHN H . BRINSLEY GERALD L. CHALEF'F JAMES P . CLARK AUDREY B . COLLINS JAN LAWRENCE HANDZLIK KENNETH R . HEITZ THEO0ORE WARREN JACKSON D IANN H . KIM VINCENT J . MARELLA MARYLIN J . M ILNER BRIAN O ' NE •LL CHARLES PEl-iEYRA- SUAREZ LINDA 5 . PETERSON COR.NELL J . PRICE KAREN RANDALL BARBARA A . REEVES ANA I. SEGURA SALLY SUCHIL SENIOR CONSULTANTS PETER B . FRANK ROGER 5 . YOUNG \ 01 TO THE -CE OF THE SPECIAL Anv ...__JR BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS CITY OF Los ANGELES July 8, 1992 VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS Ms. Lucy Hoover Supervising Special Agent Legal Counsel Division Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover Building 10th and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D. c. 20535 Dear Ms. Hoover: This will follow on to my letter of June 11, 1992 to PLA Tom Ginter, a copy of which is enclosed. In connection with Judge Webster's study of LAPD's response to the recent civil disburbance, we would like to interview some or all of the following individuals whose names were provided to me by Mr. Ginter: Los Angeles Office 1. SAC Charlie Parsons 2. ASAC Gary Lisotto 3. ASAC Tom Parker 4. ASAC Ed Curran 5. ASAC Jerry Thornton 6. SSA Corey Hart 7. All agents stationed at the Emergency Operations Centers for the Los Angeles county Sheriff's Office and the Los Angeles Police Department Other Offices 8. SAC Oliver "Buck" Revell (Dallas) 9. SAC Richard Schwein (El Paso) 10. SAC William Gavin (Miami) 11. SAC William Baugh, Jr. (Knoxville) 12. SAC James Ahern (Phoenix) 13. ASAC Richard Rogers (Quantico) surT~ 342~ 601 SOUTH FIGUEROA STREET LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90017 TELEPHONE (213) 382·76~0 FACSIMILE (213) 362-769 9 I I ' \ Ms. Lucy Hoover July 8, 1992 Page Two Among other things, we ·are studying LAPD's coordination with Federal law enforcement agencies and the allocation of Federal law enforcement resources during the disturbance. Since some of the above individuals undoubtedly played a significant role in these areas, discussions with them may aid our understanding of events during the disturbance. · Our emphasis, of course, is on the LAPD and its preparation for and response to the disturbance. However, in order to fully understand what transpired and to gauge the effectiveness of LAPD's response, it is important that we obtain input with regard to communications with and involvement of the FBI and other law enforcement assets. I look forward to hearing from you with respect to these interviews. JLH:ct Enclosure Very truly yours, Jan Lawrence Handzlik cc: Torn Ginter, PLA (w/o enclosure) Mark E. Beck, Esq., Counsel to the Webster Study D . . - · ' ""' ,l':-)L 09 '92 flcf:03 OFFICE OF THE SPEC!AL ADVISOR ------- .. P.1/3 1 •• ~. ' . ... .. ....... , .. - .. -' i " . . : ; FBI FACSIMILE COVERSHEET . PRECEDENCE C lmmediatt . .. ~iority CLASSIFICATION 0 Top Se~ret � Secret � confiaential D Sensitive 0 Unclassified Time Transmitted: -- Stnd~r's lnitials:/'4- Number of Pages: 3 1W"l.,~ ao~ r · Routine To:,~Q Mv~~ 6c:ac& cf' _ Date: · ~ (Nemeofo,t;e9J~~ Comf\-'\.\Ut~e.r, .:::zfe /gi. f FaC$imile rtumber. : As( ¥ J3(o a..~ ?lo q 'i · Attn: ~ ~ L Q WNlMCIL ,!.{ tk?l,Q.J; k_ (Nam. ltr;om .,.,.;)hOM No.} From: LEGAL ax.iNSEL OIVISIW - FBI (N,,,.. of OK;oe) Special Handling Instructions: P{pa,,g..g,.• Jg,....,,,(} ~· ifaa&a.hk. • Originator's Name: I ( ~ Originator's Fa,similt Number._· ___ cn __ lS..,.> ___ 32 ..... 4 ...... -1 ...... 04 ..... 0 __ ecmerc~~ · .;;;;,;ia;;;;.l ~<c.20;.;;2.1..> ~32;:;..:4.....;:1.o_.;40~ Approved: ~ /t,f OJt ~ Pow4RDSO r=tza...l o~,c.e OF -rne g>E.C1AL AWi~ (u~) {Q2l.- 001 o I ,- ~ .. • I V · -·~ . ~ ---· - - . - .. . p. 2/3 '-'- U.S. Depertmeat of Jat1ke Federal Bureau of Iovestiption Wa,~ D.C. 20.SJS July 9, 1992 Mr. 3an Lawrence Handzlik Office of the Special ~dvisor to the Board ot Police Commissioners· City of Los Angeles Suite 3425 601 S. Figueroa Stre•t Los Angeles, Calitornia 90017 RE: SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFO!UtlA :REQUEST FOR INFORMATION AND INTERV!EWS near Mr~ Handzlik: Reference is made to your letter to Special Agent (SA) Thomas s. Ginter, Les Angeles, California Field Office ot the Federal Bureau of !nvastigation (FBI), dated June 11, 1992; and telephone conversations between Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Lucy Ann Hoover of this office, Mr. Mark Beck of your office, and you, on June 29, J~ly 2, and 3uly 6, 1992. In your ~une 11th letter to SA Ginter, you reques~ed information concerning, inter alia, the FBI's general civil disturbance contingency plan, Rodney King trial contingency plans, and "issues relating to the response of the FBI to the civil disturbance in April and May 1992." On 3une 29, 1992, SSA Hoover explained to you ~hat we believed your request to be ov~rly broad. Although we understand, without elaboration, your interest in information concerning any interaction or communication between the FBI and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), you have not explained the relevance of FBI plans and operations which did not involve the LAPD. . On July 2, 1992, you and Mr. Seek placed a telephone conference call to SSA Hoover and requested access to FBI documents and employ~•• during the week of July ,-10, 1992. Within an hour of your inquiry, SSA Hoover telephoned Mr. Beck and informed hirn, once again, that the request as set forth in your June 11th letter was overly broad and that it would be necessary to !urni$h a more narrowly fooused written reque$t. Mr. Seek then inquired whether the F8I would authorize a request to interview FBI employees on July 2nd if he were to facsimile a .. Mr. -Jan Lawrence Handzlik renewed request on that day. SSA Hoover responded that a renewed, more narrowly focused written request would be favorably received but that no promises could be made concerning authority to interview FBI employees. When your facsimile was not received by 4:00 p.a. on July 2nd, SSA Hoover telephoned to inquire as to its status. · Neither you nor Mr. Beck were available. SSA Hoover's call was not _ returned until July 6th. At that time, SSA Hoover explained to Mr. Be~k that ~e were still awaiting the renewed request. Mr. Beck indicated that you would be preparing it. It has since come to our attention that you attempted to directly contact and interview a senior FBI ercployee, after being .informed· that your initial request was overly b~oad and, in effect, denied. Sc there can be no ~isunderstanding, we wish to make it clear that: 1. The request set forth in your June 11, 1992 letter is denied as overly broad. 2. Any further contact with the FBI concerning this matter should be made with FBI Headquarters, Legal Counsel Division, Rooro 7338, Ninth Street & Pennsylvania Av•nue, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20535, telephone (202) 324~4532 (SSA Lucy Ann Hoover}, Fax (202) 324-1040. 3. We remain ready to work ~ith you to formulate a more narrowly tailored request for information required for your study. We look forward to hearing from you and assistin; with_ your study. Legal counsel 2 JUDGE W I LLIAM H . WEBSTER SPECIAL ADVISOR CH IEF HUBERT W I LL IAMS DEPUTY SPECIAL ADVISOR RICHARD J . STONE GENERAL COUNSEL ANO STAFF DIRECTOR JERRY S . BATHKE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL TERRY W. BIRD PAUL G . BOWER WAYNE S . 8RAVEMAN JOHN H . 8RINSLEY GERALD L. CHALEFF JAMES P . CLARK AUDREY 8 . COLLINS JAN LAWRENCE HANDZLIK KENNETH R . HE ITZ THEODORE WARREN JACKSON DIANN H . KIM VINCENT J . MARELLA MARYLIN J . MILNER BRIAN O'NEILL CHARLES PEREYRA-SUAREZ LINDA S . PETERSON CORNELL J . PRICE KAREN RANDALL BARBARA A . REEVES ANA I. SEGURA SALLY SUCHIL SENIOR CONSULTANTS PETER 8 . FRANK ROGER S. YOUNG OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS CITY OF Los ANGELES July 9, 1992 VIA FACSIMILE Ms. Lucy Ann Hoover Supervising Special Agent Legal Counsel Division Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover Building 10th and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20535 Dear Ms. Hoover: This will address issues discussed in our telephone conversations today with respect to our request to interview certain FBI officials. This will also serve to clarify certain of the requests we have previously made. With respect to our request to obtain FBI documents concerning the Los Angeles civil disturbance, we would like to receive any documents which would assist us in our study. If you have documents which would aid us in our understanding of the interactions between the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department, and the response of these agencies to the civil disturbance, we would appreciate having access to them. We recognize, however, that disclosure of FBI documents is within the discretion of the FBI and Department of Justice, and we rely upon your judgment in this regard. I have indicated to you that we would find particularly useful any chronology of events prepared by the FBI which sets forth the FBI's interaction with LAPD and response to the disturbance. If such a chronology exists, it would help to insure that we accurately understand the facts. Once again, however, the disclosure of any such document is entirely within your discretion. With respect to our proposed interviews of FBI officials, my July 8, 1992 letter to you further defines our areas of inquiry. Our intention is to talk with FBI officials concerning their own knowledge of the response of LAPD and the FBI- to the disturbance, and interactions between the LAPD and the FBI in this regard. I expect that we would ask each of them to SUITE 3425 601 SOU TH FIGCEROA STREET LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90017 TELEPHONE (213) 362-7650 FACSIMILE (213 ) 362-769 9 ~ r . I • Ms. Lucy Ann Hoover July 9, 1992 Page 2 discuss the events as they saw them in a chronological fashion, with particular emphasis on communications with LAPD and other county and local agencies, and the allocation of FBI resources during the disturbance. We discussed my description of the scope of the Webster Study as set forth in my July 8, 1992 letter to you. So as to clarify the scope of our request, we agreed that the last five words of the second paragraph on the second page would ne stricken. Accordingly, I am enclosing a revised copy of my July 8th letter reflecting this change. I regret that we were unable to speqk to you on the afternoon of July 2nd, before the start of a three-day holiday weekend. Although Mark Beck and I had spoken with you that morning as a follow-up to my earlier letter, our efforts to reach you that afternoon were unsuccessful due to the difference in times between the Coasts. Mr. Beck did contact you on the morning of Monday, July 6th, to continue our discussions and our renewed request was sent to you on July 8th. I appreciate the cooperation you and others in the FBI have shown with respect to our requests and look forward to hearing from you in this regard. JLH:rmo Enclosure cc: Special Agent Tom Ginter Principal Legal Assistant Mark E. Beck, Esq. Counsel to the Webster Study Very truly yours, ;dbe~~ '. ' JUDGE WILLIAM H. WEBSTER SPECIAL ADVISOR CHIEF HUBERT WILLIAMS DEPUTY SPECIAL ADVISOR RICHARD J . STONE GENERAL COUNSEL ANO STAFF DIRECTOR JERRY S . BATHKE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL TERRY W . BIRD PAUL G . BOWER WAYNE S . BRAVEMAN JOHN H . BRINSLEY GERALD L. CHALEFF JAMES P. CLARK AUDREY B. COLLINS JAN LAWRENCE HANDZLIK KENNETH R . HEITZ THEODORE WARREN JACKSON DIANN H . KIM VINCENT J . MARELLA MARYLIN J. MILNER BRIAN O ' NEILL CHARLES PEREYRA-SUAREZ LINDA S . PETERSON CORNELL J . PRICE KAREN RANDALL BARBARA A. REEVES ANA I. SEGURA SALLY 5UCHIL SENIOR CONSULTANTS PETER B . FRANK ROGER 5 . YOUNG OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS CITY OF Los ANGELES July 8, 1992 VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS Ms. Lucy Hoover Supervising Special Agent Legal Counsel Division Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover Building 10th and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20535 Dear Ms. Hoover: This will follow on to my letter of June 11, 1992 to PLA Tom Ginter, a copy of which is enclosed. In connection . with Judge Webster's study of LAPD's response to the recent civil disburbance, we would like to interview some or all of the following individuals whose names were provided to me by Mr. Ginter: Los ·Angeles Office 1. SAC Charlie Parsons 2. ASAC Gary Lisotto 3 . ASAC Tom Parker 4. ASAC Ed Curran 5. ASAC Jerry Thornton 6. SSA Corey Hart 7. All agents stationed at the Emergency Operations Centers for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office and the Los Angeles Police Department Other Offices 8. SAC Oliver "Buck" Revell (Dallas) 9. SAC Richard Schwein (El Paso) 10. SAC William Gavin (Miami) 11. SAC William Baugh, Jr. (Knoxville) 12. SAC James Ahern (Phoenix) 13. ASAC Richard Rogers (Quantico) SUITE 3425 601 SOUTH FIGUEROA STREET LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90017 TELEPHONE (213) 362·7650 FACSIMILE (213) 362·7699 - I r I .. Ms. Lucy Hoover July 8, 1992 Page Two Among other things, we are studying LAPD's coordination with Federal law enforcement agencies and the allocation of Federal law enforcement resources during the disturbance. Since some of the above individuals undoubtedly played a significant role in these areas , discussions with them may aid our understanding of events during the disturbance. Our emphasis, of course, is on the LAPD and its preparation for and response to the disturbance. However, in order to fully understand what transpired and to gauge the effectiveness of LAPD's response, it is important that we obtain input with regard to communications with and involvement of the FBI. I look forward to hearing from you with respect to these interviews. JLH:ct Enclosure Very truly -yours, JL Jan Lawrence Handzlik cc: Tom Ginter, PLA (w/o enclosure) Mark E. Beck, Esq., Counsel to the Webster Study Revised 7/9/92

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