Long fight reveals truth about CIA wiretapping of my father

It is very likely that most Americans have never heard of Sunshine Week to be observed this year through Saturday.

This is an annual event to educate the public on the excesses of government secrecy. One year ago, I penned a guest column in The Capital to shine a personal spotlight on this issue. It seems to have paid off, at least in part.

My letter was directed to former CIA directors, legal counsel and historians requesting their assistance to help me secure the release of historic documents in the agencies archives. This material pertains to my now deceased father Paul Scott, a nationally syndicated columnist, illegally wiretapped by the CIA in 1963.

My search for documents began in 2007 with the release of the infamous Family Jewels, whose disclosure shook the CIA to its core. The Jewels listed decades of illegal activities conducted by the CIA including the wiretap officially known as Project Mockingbird.

Since then, I have battled the CIA through the freedom of information act for the release of all material pertinent to my father’s case. Remarkably, in May 2020, the CIA released 350 pages of documents. This disclosure is positive news but, unfortunately, it raised more questions than answers.

My father and his news partner Robert Allen were wiretapped around the clock for 90 days at their homes in the Washington, D.C., area and joint office space at the National Press Building. Most important, the recently released information included transcripts and phone logs but for only 29 days of the wiretap.

There was no explanation about the remaining missing transcripts or where the documents were found.

Nonetheless, the transcripts were revealing and read like a spy novel. My father was given the code name Sam; his partner Bob Allen was Adam; my mother was Sara; and my sisters and I were known as “teenage male or female.”

The CIA considered this wiretap productive because it revealed my father’s sources for his news column. The agency learned what stories he was working on such as continued U.S. overflights of Cuba in the search for soviet radar installations, unrest in Europe, and CIA missteps, to name a few.

I am not sure what overall impact my guest column had on the eventual release of documents in 2020. But I believe this year’s effort will help me close a chapter in my father’s journalistic career that spanned nearly 40 years.

That is also why I immediately submitted a freedom of information act appeal urging the CIA to find the elusive remaining documents. I provided the names of all security officials who had access to Project Mockingbird files to expedite the process. I also prodded the CIA to allow its Historian’s Office with its intimate knowledge of clandestine activities and resources to assist in the search.

Above all, I informed the CIA that these documents are nearly 60 years old and should be immediately released. I also recall the words of Tom Blanton, director of the non-profit National Security Archives whose organization pressed the CIA to release the Family Jewels. He encouraged me to challenge any remaining classification of wiretap documents because nothing can remain secret forever.

I nearly gave up on my search after encountering years-long delays at the hands of the CIA. But instead I resolved to persevere and continue my search to ensure all the details of my father’s case see the sunshine and light of day.