July 15 1970: Huston Plan – In a 43-page memo, White House official Tom Huston persuaded the heads of the CIA, DIA, and NSA to approve a plan for black bag jobs against “enemies” of the Nixon administration, anti-war dissidents and civil rights activists. (Only J. Edgar Hoover opposed the Huston Plan; Hoover convinced AG John Mitchell to scare Nixon by telling the already paranoid President that Hoover would blackmail him by leaking word of the plan if he didn’t drop it.)
July 23, 1970: Nixon approves a plan for greatly expanding domestic intelligence-gathering by the FBI, CIA and other agencies. After pressure from Mitchell, and despite rescinding his approval a few days later, several CIA alumni in the White House carried out many of the plan’s “Special Investigation” tactics anyway.