[Editor’s note: The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1979STATE122160_e.html.]
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 01
STATE 122160
ORIGIN ARA-03
INFO OCT-01 ADS-00 /004 R 66011
DRAFTED BY ARA/CAR:RMCCOY
APPROVED BY ARA/CAR:RMCCOY
——————023009 131530Z /12
R 131451Z MAY 79
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN 5192
UNCLAS E F T O STATE 122160
EO 12065: NA
TAGS: CGEN
SUBJ: FBI REQUEST FOR EVIDENCE
FOLLOWING REPEAT FBI 081802Z MAY 79 ACTION SECSTATE: QUOTE UNCLAS E F T O PEOPLE’S TEMPLE.
BY TELETYPE DATED MAY 8, 1979, TO THE BUREAU SAN FRANCISCO ADVISED THAT INVESTIGATION AT GEORGETOWN, GUYANA, DETERMINED THAT ORIGINAL “LAST HOUR” TAPE CURRENTLY IN POSSESSION OF U. S. AMBASSADOR, AMERICAN EMBASSY, GEORGETOWN, GUYANA. THROUGH TELEPHONIC CONVERSATIONS, FBI LAB, RADIO ENGINEERING SECTION, IT IS BELIEVED THAT FBI LAB COULD AMPLIFY AND CLARIFY AND CLEAN “LAST HOUR” TAPE IF THEY WERE IN POSSESSION OF ORIGINAL. USA, SAN FRANCISCO ADVISED “LAST HOUR” TAPE IS PRIMARY EVIDENCE IN ANTICIPATED PROSECUTION, SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION AND POSSESSION OF ORIGINAL BY FBI IS PROPER. THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE IS REQUESTED TO OBTAIN ORIGINAL FROM AMBASSADOR, U. S. EMBASSY, GEORGETOWN, INSURE PROPER CHAIN OF EVIDENCE, AND FORWARD TO FBIHQ, ATTENTION D. E. SHAFFER, PERSONAL CRIMES UNIT.
“ARMED AND DANGEROUS. SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.”
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UNQUOTE
VANCE [Secretary of State Cyrus Vance]
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