As a lawyer, did the proposed violation of Dr. Fielding’s rights raise red flags for you?
EK: If you get into that mindset that national security is the only real consideration, the other things that are really critical—the legality of it, the effect on these people, the privileges that people enjoy—are never considered. If a psychiatrist’s office is harmed in some way, it’s unavoidable he’ll be hurt, but that’s what happens in a military-national security operation. L&P: And they ransacked Fielding’s office? EK: They’d trashed the office. They wanted it to look as if someone [was] trying to steal drugs, to deflect the police. That’s what the police accepted as the reason for the break-in. They closed the investigation because they’d arrested another person in Beverly Hills, and he admitted to this crime, which he had not done. L&P: How did your boss, John Ehrlichman, respond? EK: I showed him the pictures. He said, “This is far beyond anything I approved. Shut it down.” Which I did. To my knowledge, that group did nothing else. But [Hunt and Liddy] went on to work for the
