INTRODUCING: An Unacknowledged or Classified Association

A public chronicle of my investigation into Jay Herbert Reid, Jr. - Langley's man at the International Monetary Fund

Back in the summer of 2023, I had a hunch.

The FBI had just confirmed that it maintains a large file on Jay Herbert Reid, Jr., who was both my grandfather and the International Monetary Fund’s longtime Director of Information.

Two years prior I had found, among his professional papers, a brief note from 1954 informing Jay that he had been the subject of a full field FBI investigation regarding his loyalty to the United States. This was the McCarthy era, and the hunt was on for Communists, and Communist sympathizers, in Washington D.C.

Although the FBI cleared him of any wrong doing, due diligence into the executive order that precipitated the investigation revealed that it was the second step in the process, applied only to individuals who failed the new government-mandated background check for U.S. citizens employed by international organizations.

Under what circumstances might an innocent man, who never stood trial or even faced public accusation, have an FBI file comparable in size to that of Nazi, and later American, rocket scientist Wernher von Braun¹?

I knew of only one: if he had intelligence ties.

Confirmation came in December 2023 when I received the CIA’s denial of my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all Agency-held documents in Jay Reid’s file.

The Agency refused to confirm or deny whether it had any materials on Jay because doing so would reveal an “unacknowledged or classified association” with him.

The CIA cites the following for their determination:

1. Section 3.6(a) of Executive Order 13526²

   1. Processing Requests and Reviews. Notwithstanding section 4.1(i) of this order, in response to a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, the Presidential Records Act, the Privacy Act of 1974, or the mandatory review provisions of this order:

      (a) An agency may refuse to confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence of requested records whenever the fact of their existence or nonexistence is itself classified under this order or its predecessors.

2. FOIA exemption (b)(1)³

   1. Applies to material which is properly classified pursuant to an Executive Order in the interest of national defense or foreign policy.

3. FOIA exemption (b)(3) and the relevant statutes: Section 6 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, 50 U.S.C. § 3507, as amended, and Section 102A(i)(1) of the National Security Act of 1947, 50 U.S.C. § 3024 (i)(1), as amended

   1. FOIA exemption (b)(3)⁴ - Applies to the Director's statutory obligations to protect from disclosure intelligence sources and methods, as well as the organization, functions, names, official titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed by the Agency, in accord with the National Security Act of 1947 and the CIA Act of 1949, respectively.

   2. Section 6 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, 50 U.S.C. § 3507, as amended⁵ - In the interests of the security of the foreign intelligence activities of the United States and in order further to implement section 3024(i) of this title that the Director of National Intelligence shall be responsible for protecting intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure, the Agency shall be exempted from the provisions of sections 1 and 2 of the Act of August 28, 1935 (49 Stat. 956, 957; 5 U.S.C. 654), and the provisions of any other law which require the publication or disclosure of the organization or functions of the Agency, or of the,[1] names, official titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed by the Agency…

   3. National Security Act of 1947, 50 U.S.C. § 3024 (i)(1), as amended⁶ - The Director of National Intelligence shall protect, and shall establish and enforce policies to protect, intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure.

In plain English, Jay’s file is still classified, and disclosing the documents therein would reveal both that he was employed by the Agency as well as what he was doing on its behalf, which involved national defense or foreign policy.

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This investigation is aimed at uncovering what the government hopes to keep secret about its relationship with Jay Reid.

In particular, I seek to answer the following questions:

• Did Jay work in intelligence or plans (also known as covert operations)?

• Was the IMF his target or his cover?

• Who else was in his CIA-affiliated network?

• Who were the decision makers?

• What, precisely was he working on?

• What were the end results?

There is a reason why Jay’s relationship with the CIA remains classified more than four decades after he retired from the IMF, and nearly 20 years after his death.

As you will discover, Jay Reid was a node that connected numerous strands of highly sensitive activities, both foreign and domestic.

From Newark (where Jay was born) and Montclair, New Jersey (where he grew up) to Bethesda, Maryland (where he lived as an adult) and the District of Columbia (where he worked) - with international stops in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and Southeast Asia - this research journey is a truly global quest for answers.

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Within the Jay H. Reid Project there are two stories:

1. What actually happened between Jay, the CIA, and the IMF

2. The investigation that will uncover what actually happened

Since #1 remains unknown, this newsletter will tell the second story. It will take readers into the murky corners of dusty archives, down into the weeds of long forgotten government reports, and deep into the cat and mouse game with federal agencies that is playing out in the FOIA arena.

Along the way, I expect to uncover new revelations as well as encounter dead ends. It’s all part of the process.

I encourage readers to share their tips and recollections either in the Comments section that follows each post or via encrypted email at jayhreidproject@protonmail.com.

I maintain strict the confidentiality of all sources, so any information I obtain directly from individuals will receive an anonymous citation (e.g., a source with knowledge of the proceedings, etc.).

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If you are interested in Cold War history, international relations, or investigations into government malfeasance, then this is the newsletter for you.

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As a bonus, I will be sharing the articles Jay wrote during his journalism days (1944-1948) at The New York Herald Tribune and The Wall Street Journal, the entire archive of which is in my possession.

1. The declassified documents from von Braun’s FBI file are available for download on his page at The Vault, the FBI’s repository of major individuals and cases.

2. The President Executive Order 13526, Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), National Archives.

3. Exemptions (FOIA), CIA.

4. Ibid.

5. Section 6 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, 50 U.S. Code § 3507 - Protection of nature of Agency’s functions. Legal Information Institute, Cornell University.

6. National Security Act of 1947, 50 U.S.C. § 3024 (i)(1), as amended. Legal Information Institute, Cornell University.