:" . Theirs., Nov. 24, 1977 THE WASHINGTON POST FBI's Field Office Felt Hoover's Prodding, Wrath in Late '60s

By John Jacobs office in the late 1960s. There was so FBI office cabled its San Francisco Washington Post start writer much to keep track of: the Black Pan- counterpart that Yippie leader Jerry It couldn't have been easy being an ther Party, headquartered across the Rubin would be flying from FBI agent in the an Francisco field bay in Oakland; the volatile student to San Francisco and using a reduced movement at Berkeley, Stanford, San airfare, card that did not belong to Francisco State and San Jose State, him. The Washington headquarters and assorted leftists drawn to the Bay expected Rubin to be arrested imme- Area as Moslems are to Mecca. diately for "following deceptive -prac- On top of that, the San Francisco tices." When he . wasn't arrested, agents weren't very diligent about Hoover was incensed. keeping their Washington FBI bosses "In the face of a situation pregnant happy. Documents released this week with possibilities for neutralizing one from the FBI's enormous counterintel- of the most reprehensible of the New ligence program (Cointelpro), de- Left leaders," the director wrote in an - . signed to. disrupt the activities of Oct. 10, 1968, memo, "it appears your light- and left-wing groups and indi- office did nothing more than make a viduals, reveal that Director J. Edgar perfunctory contact with . United Air- Hoover was upset because San Fran- lines ... . cisco agents were not pursuing sus- "The above circumstances indicate pected subversives with a full meas- clearly that the agents of your office . ure of enthusiasm. have not yet grasped the significance One aspect of the Cointelpro pro- of the counterintelligence program, gram was to dig up dirt on the sexual are not alert to opportunities. that activities of radical leaders and leak may arise to counteract the the information to friendly news me- and its adheients, and are not suffi- dia contacts. But the permissive San ciently motivated to aggressive ac- Francisco atmosphere. rendered that tion." approach somewhat useless. Chastened the San Francisco office When the San Francisco office in- wrote •back that agents tried to have formed Washington of that fact, Rubin arrested, in fact they "did ev- Hoover replied in a June 17, 1968, erything •pcissible under the—circum- memo: "You are reminded that the stances in order to cause trouble for program requires enthusiasm and im- Rubin upon his arrival." The problem agination. Inasmuch as your office is was, it was against United Airlines A center for the New Left, you are ex- policy to have someone arrested on pected to pursue this matter aggres- the spot simply for using someone sively." else's youth card. The airline prefer. San Francisco got the hint, but red, through civil means, to try to get stuck to its guns. "Extreme perverse back the difference between the youth immorality might be of possible use to fare and the regular fare. depict and embarrass New Left lead- Rubin apparently had the last word ers," an agent wrote back a 'month According to an Oct. 15; 1968, FBI later. "However, it is not felt- just .niemo from San Francisco to Wash. plain ordinary immorality means any- ington, United Airlines approached J. EDGAR HOOVER thing to them. him, but he "uttered some obsceni- J urged "enthusiasm, imagination" On another Odcasioil, the Chicago ties and walked away."