--- alias: - Lawrence R. Houston - Larry Houston born: 1913 category: Intelligence & Government created: 2026-09-21 died: 1995-08-15 location: Washington, D.C. summary: General counsel of the CIA from 1947 to 1973, who briefed Robert Kennedy on the Mafia plots in 1962 and in whose tenure the Justice Department let the agency decide which crimes to report. tags: - Person - LawrenceHouston - CIA - GeneralCounsel - AssassinationPlots - RobertKennedy - GarrisonInvestigation updated: 2026-09-21 --- Lawrence Houston (1913 to August 15, 1995) "helped draft legislation that created and shaped the CIA, then served as the spy agency's general counsel from its founding in 1947 until his retirement in 1973." Director John Deutch said he had served "longer than the combined tenures of his eight successors" and "played a central role in virtually every significant Agency undertaking." He supervised the legal work of the exchange of Rudolf Abel for Francis Gary Powers and of the ransom of the Bay of Pigs prisoners. He held the National Security Medal. He died at Westport, Massachusetts.[^1] ### The Agreement of 1954 "In 1954, the CIA pointed out to the [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/) that, in many cases involving CIA, prosecution would require public disclosure of sensitive Agency operations and procedures." The department answered that the agency should investigate such allegations itself. "If, after investigation, it appeared that prosecution would be precluded by the need to reveal sensitive information, then the Agency should so indicate in its files and not refer the case to the Department of Justice." The presidential commission of 1975 found that the department had "abdicated its statutory duties and placed on the Director of Central Intelligence the responsibility for investigating criminal conduct and making the prosecutorial decision." The arrangement lasted until January 1975.[^2] ### Kennedy On May 7, 1962, Houston and the director of security, [Sheffield Edwards](/people/sheffield-edwards/), briefed Attorney General Robert Kennedy on the agency's use of [Johnny Roselli](/people/johnny-roselli/) and [Sam Giancana](/people/sam-giancana/) against [Fidel Castro](/people/fidel-castro/). The occasion was the prosecution of [Robert Maheu](/people/robert-maheu/)'s wiretappers in Las Vegas, which the agency wished dropped. "If you have seen Mr. Kennedy's eyes get steely and his jaw set and his voice get low and precise you get a definite feeling of unhappiness," Houston testified. He recalled the instruction: "If we were going to get involved with Mafia personnel again he wanted to be informed first." [J. Edgar Hoover](/people/j-edgar-hoover/) recorded Kennedy's "great astonishment" two days later. The inspector general concluded in 1967 that "the Attorney General was not told that the gambling syndicate operation had already been reactivated." Houston sent Edwards's memorandum of record to Kennedy on May 15. On the agency's copy of his covering note [Richard Helms](/people/richard-helms/) wrote: "Sen. Kennedy read this on 8 March '67." Helms told Director [John McCone](/people/john-mccone/) on August 16, 1963, that Edwards's memorandum was the only written record of the agency's relationship with Giancana.[^3][^4] ### Nosenko and Garrison The agency's own account of the confinement of [Yuri Nosenko](/people/yuri-nosenko/) states that the [Office of Security](/organizations/cia-office-of-security/) "together with the Office of General Counsel became increasingly concerned with the illegality of the Agency's position," and that their representations to Helms ended it in October 1967.[^5] On March 3, 1967, two days after [Jim Garrison](/people/jim-garrison/) arrested [Clay Shaw](/people/clay-shaw/), the chief of the [Domestic Contact Service](/organizations/domestic-contact-service/) in [New Orleans](/places/new-orleans/), Lloyd Ray, recommended that Houston be briefed on Shaw's past reporting "to be on the safe side." On May 1 Jack Miller, a former assistant attorney general, telephoned Houston with information "from within Garrison's office" supplied by [Walter Sheridan](/people/walter-sheridan/) of NBC. His memorandum of October 2, written as the agency's Garrison Group considered its response, recommended doing nothing beyond resisting subpoenas.[^6] At the first meeting of the [Garrison Group](/programs/garrison-group/) on September 20, 1967, Houston "discussed his dealings with Justice and the desire of Shaw's lawyers to make contact with the Agency." His paper for the director of September 29 found that Garrison, needing an overt act with Oswald and Ferrie dead, "may well be able to involve CIA in the Shaw trial," set out what the agency knew of each Cuban Garrison had questioned, and concluded: "At the present time, therefore, there is no action we can recommend for the Director or the Agency to take. If during the trial it appears that Shaw may be convicted on information that could be refuted by CIA, we may be in for some difficult decisions."[^7] [^1]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Statement by the Director on the Death of CIA's First General Counsel Lawrence R. Houston," August 16, 1995; "Lawrence Houston, helped create CIA," *Baltimore Sun,* August 18, 1995. [^2]: Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States. *Report to the President*. Government Printing Office, June 1975, pp. 15-16, 76-77. [^3]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. *Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders: An Interim Report*. S. Rept. 94-465, 1975, pp. 133-134. [^4]: *Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963,* vol. X, Cuba, document 337, memorandum for the record by Sheffield Edwards, May 14, 1962, with source note. [^5]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Family Jewels," memorandum of Howard J. Osborn, Director of Security, to the Executive Secretary, CIA Management Committee, May 16, 1973, with attachments, p. 00023. [^6]: Holland, Max. "The Lie That Linked CIA to the Kennedy Assassination," *Studies in Intelligence,* vol. 45, no. 5, 2001. [^7]: Janney, F.W.M. Memorandum for the record, "Garrison Group Meeting No. 1 - 20 September 1967," JFK record 104-10428-10023. Houston, Lawrence R. Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, "Clay L. Shaw's Trial and the Central Intelligence Agency," OGC 67-1877, September 29, 1967, forwarded to the Director October 2, 1967, JFK record 104-10104-10280.