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FBI Probe of Actress Jean Seberg Found More Extensive Than Reported by Ronald J

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FBI Probe of Actress Jean Seberg Found More Extensive Than Reported by Ronald J THE WASHINGTON POST Wednesday, January 9,1980 A3 FBI Probe of Actress Jean Seberg Found More Extensive Than Reported By Ronald J. Ostrow On April 29, 1970, G. C. Moore, a name to the list. Two years later, she - to Angela Times former FBI official who headed the was considered less of a threat and The FBI conducted a much more headquarters section responsible for was downgraded to the so-called "ad- ministrative index." ' pervasive investigation of the late following extremist groups, compiled a list of Black Panther Party contrib- The file disclosed that, in wire- actress Jan Seberg than just attempt- utors, including entertainment figures,' tapped telephone conversations with ing to plant rumors that a member who had given a total of $92,000. Se- Black Panther offices, Seberg used of the Black Panther Party had made berg's contribution was put at $10,500. the aliases of Aretha or Arisa. "ter pregnant, her FBI file reveals. On Feb. 23, 1970, an informant—pre- Seberg's FBI file was replete with The investigation, detailed in the sumably in the Black Panthers and judgments by bureau officials on the described only as the FBI's "Source file that the Los Angeles Times ob- actress' morality, with few facts to Three"—reported that a Panther support the assessments. tained under the Freedom of Infor- member had told Seberg that the Los For example, in communications mation Act, included monitoring her Angeles chapter "was broke and need- from Moore to C. D. Brennan, ah bank dealings, keeping close tabs on ed money." assistant FBI director, Seberg . was travel and disseminating logs of her According to the source, Seberg repeatedly characterized as "the al- promiscuous arid 'sex-perverted conversations with Black Panther then gave $2,500. leged Earlier, the FBI reported, Seberg white actress." headquarters, which had been wire- paid the overdue union dues of Jamal The log of a 1970 wiretapped tele- tapped. and helped him to open an account at phone conversation between an un- Conducted from 1969 through 1972, the City National Bank in Los Angeles identified Black Panther member, whp the "discreet investigation," as an FBI by giving him a personal check for was the target of the' wiretap, and memo describes it, established that $5,000. Seberg, then in Switzerland, indicated she was aware that authorities were Seberg gave thousands of dollars to The file showed that the FBI fun- the Panthers, a prime target on the neled information on Seberg to the monitoring her activities. Bureau's list of extremist organiza- Instructing her caller to send some- Central Intelligence Agency, FBI "le- thing to her in Switzerland, Seberg tions. gal attaches" at U.S. embassies in The file disclosed that the then-FBI Paris and Rome, military intelligence said: ". Everybody knows I'm here director, J. Edgar Hoover, advised units an dthe Secret Service. anyway so it doesn't matter, you John D. Ehrlichman, then-President know, I've got Bala friends who A photograph of Seberg was given follow .. ." Nixon's domestic affairs chief, of find- the Secret Service under the FBI's ings on Seberg. Then-attorney general agreement to keep the agency better John J. Mitchell and his deputy, Rich- informed about potential presidential ard G. Kleindienst also were given security threats in the wake of the FBI reports on the actress, according 1963 assassination of President Ken- to the file. nedy. There was no indication, however, An accompanying form letter from that the former officials had been Hoover said the FBI was providing told of the FBI's attempt to smear the photograph either because Se- Seberg by linking her romantically berg's background "is potentially dan- Hahim Abdullah Jamal, identified as gerous," or because she was a member with a Black Panther official and with of ,a "group or organization inimical a black nationalist. to U.S." The FBI released documents limited In 1969, the FBI concluded that to the 1970 smear attempt last Sep- listing Seberg as one of those that the tember, after Seberg had committed FBI would round up in case of a pres- suicide in Paris. In doing so, FBI Di- gency was not warranted. On Dec. 29, rector William H. Webster said such 1970, however, the FBI added her FBI tactics were a thing of the past. "We are out of that business for- ever," he said. The more voluminous investigative file traces the probe to June 5, 1969, when the Los Angeles FBI field office was instructed to initiate an "active discreet investigation" to determine the extent of Seberg's association with black nationalist groups. .
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