[Editor’s note: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 withheld several names from this cable. They are denoted below in red type.
[The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978STATE006183_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 01
STATE 006183
ORIGIN SCS-06
INFO OCT-01 ARA-14 ISO-00 H-02 HA-05 /028 R
DRAFTED BY CA/SCS/FLHENNEKE/MRER
APPROVED BY CA/SCS/SADOBRENCHUK
CA/SCS/EAPOWERS
CA/SCS/RLRIVERA
DESIRED DISTRIBUTION
ARA/CAR-FTUMMINIA
——————108803 102105Z /64
O 102034Z JAN 78
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN IMMEDIATE
UNCLAS STATE 006183
E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: CASC
SUBJECT: W/W PEOPLE’S TEMPLE
1. DEPARTMENT HAS RECEIVED LETTER FROM MS. GWEN COLE OF CARSON, CALIFORNIA, IN WHICH MS. COLE ALLEGES THAT A “LOVED ONE” IS BEING HELD IN BONDAGE AT THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE. UNFORTUNATELY, MS. COLE DOES NOT PROVIDE THE NAME OF THIS PERSON AND DEPARTMENT UNABLE TO CONTACT HER IN TIME TO OBTAIN NAME. EMBOFF WHO TRAVELS TO PEOPLE’S TEMPLE SHOULD ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE IF ANY OF OCCUPANTS KNOW MS. COLE AND THAT PERSON’S HEALTH, ETC.
2. DURING VISIT TO THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE, EMBOFF SHOULD ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN WRITTEN CONSENT FOR THE RELEASE OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED BY PERSONS INTERVIEWED. IF POSSIBLE CONSENT SHOULD EXTEND TO CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRIES IN ADDITION TO MEMBERS OF INDIVIDUAL’S IMMEDIATE FAMILY.
VANCE [Secretary of State Cyrus Vance]
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 02 STATE 006183
UNCLASSIFIED