CIA Documents: Operation CHAOS

This is a copy of two collections of documents from Operation CHAOS (MHCHAOS) that were declassified by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The first collection was probably declassified in the 1980s, and was later released on Dec. 21, 2011 on CD-ROM in response to a FOIA request F-2011-00472. The second set is a collection drawn from the JFK Assassination Records Collection declassification project at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Also included with this collection is a spreadsheet of declassified documents in the CIA's database that contained the phrase "Operation CHAOS." This spreadsheet was released by the CIA in response to FOIA request F-2011-00366. According to a November 30, 2010 letter from the CIA to the historian Trevor Griffey, also included with this selection of documents, "The records of this operation, [Operation CHAOS, Project MERRIMACK, and Project RESISTANCE] including the indexes, were destroyed in 1990 pursuant to a recommendation of the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (commonly known as the Rockefeller Commission), the conclusion of certain litigation, and with the approval of the Archivist of the United States on 17 March 1978. With the exception of a few records contained in our database of 'previously released records' and any records which might relate to specific foreign intelligence or counter-intelligence matters, no CHAOS records or indexes survived." The file listed as "nc1263781.pdf" includes this supposed "approval" of the U.S. Archivist to destroy these files. For related Project RESISTANCE documents, see: https://archive.org/details/CIA-Project-Resistance For related Project MERRIMACK documents, see: https://archive.org/details/CIA-Project-MERRIMAC For the United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (or Rockefeller Commission) report, including Chap. 11 on Operation CHAOS, see: https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0005/1561495.pdf For more on the CIA's decision to destroy these and related records, see Emma Best 's writing here: https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/may/25/abzugs-distrust/ ; https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/mar/20/cia-waffled-promise-destroy-records/