J. Edgar Hoover No Fan of U.N.C.L.E.

2000-08-31 09:04

http://www.apbnews.com/media/gfiles/uncle/index.html Aug. 24, 2000 By Kenneth Pringle NEW YORK (APBnews.com) -- The requests came in by the thousands, from men, women and children around the country wanting to join the top-secret government spy agency. They landed on FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's desk -- and promptly received tersely worded rejection letters. "For your information," came the response, "the television series entitled The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is fictitious. There is no government agency which performs the functions portrayed in this program." So it went from 1964, when the hit TV program first aired on NBC, until the early 1970s. It seemed everyone wanted to be the suave secret agent Napoleon Solo -- played by Robert Vaughn -- and they felt the best place to start was the FBI. Hoover was not amused, according to FBI files obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. Agency sent booklets "I am 12 years old," wrote one boy from Whittier, Calif. -- his name, like those of all correspondents, has been redacted -- "and very much interested in becoming an espionage agent with U.N.C.L.E. Please tell me about where I can write to find out all about this work. I want to start preparing myself now." This young spy-to-be received the usual negative response in Hoover's name, as well as "two booklets pertaining to the activities of this Bureau." Among the titles sent out by the FBI were "What It's Like to Be an FBI Agent" and "Should You Go Into Law Enforcement?" It is not known if these booklets inspired the young letter-writer to a career in the FBI, but it's certain he never worked for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, or U.N.C.L.E. [...] *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ================================================================ C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org *==============================================================* ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".

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