Airtel: FBI Director to SAC WFO, SAC Los Angeles re: SITOL (May 3, 1978)

NOTE: Assistant U. S. Attorney Raymond Banoun, U. S. Attorney’s Office Washington D. C., telephonically advised SA [x] General Government Crimes Unit, CID, on 5/2/78 before U. S. District Judge Malcolm Lucas, Los Angeles, regarding three articles by Washington Post Writer Ron Shaffer, which contain information that may have come from documents seized during the search of the Church of Scientology offices in Los Angeles in July, 1977. These documents are presently being reviewed by FBI Agents in Washington, D. C. Banoun stated that he was not requesting a full-scale investigation;  however, he did want to be in a position to advise Judge Lucas tha the FBI was making an internal inquiry to determine how Shaffer may have obtained his information. He requested tha the inquiry be limited to the Los Angeles and Washington Field Offices.