I deeply appreciate your government's reaffirmed pledge of full cooperation with the Committee on Foreign Affairs investigation into the death of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the resulting events at Jonestown on November 18, 1978. Also to be commended is your government's decision to begin a judicial inquiry of this tragedy. As you know, however, our own investigation has been underway since November 21, 1978 and the investigative group's visit to Guyana is the last phase of that effort.

Given the enormity of the events of November 18, 1978, which you so aptly describe as "the greatest single tragedy which has ever occurred in the history of Guyana," it is urgent that the investigation be concluded in a timely and complete fashion. Surely, the prospect of delay or incompleteness is one which the U.S. Congress and the American people would find difficult to understand.

The suggestion to exchange our respective investigative reports is certainly acceptable. At the same time. I am compelled to respectfully reiterate my firm belief that a thorough investigation still requires that our investigators talk with officials in Guyana who can help the Committee complete its investigation. While I understand the legal import of the fact that those officials may be required to testify before your own inquiry I am deeply concerned that the lack of information that they should be able to provide to this Committee would leave a conspicuous void in the report of the Committee's investigation.

Accordingly, I have directed the Staff Investigative Group of this Committee to visit Guyana the week of March 18 for the purpose of interviewing U.S. embassy personnel and others. Your kind cooperation in making it possible for the group to come to Guyana is deeply appreciated.

Ultimately, in a response dated March 28, 1979, the Guyanese Government cited protocol reasons for their inability to comply with Chairman Zablocki's request to allow the Staff Investigative Group to talk with Guyanese officials. (See Appendix II-E-1.)

The Staff Investigative Group arrived in Guyana at 11:30 p.m. on March 17, 1979. Prior to its departure on March 23, the Group interviewed the following officials of the U.S. Embassy (see Appendix II-E-2 for transcript summaries, in classified version only):

Hon. John Burke, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana.

Mr. Richard Dwyer, Deputy Chief of Mission who first visited Jonestown on May 10, 1978 together with Richard McCoy. Mr. Dwyer also accompanied Mr. Ryan to Jonestown on November 17-18, 1978 and was wounded at the Port Kaituma shooting.

Mr. Douglas V. Ellice, Jr., Consular Officer who had visited Jonestown on November 7, 1978.

Mr. T. Dennis Reece. Third Secretary/Vice Consul who had visited Jonestown on November 7, 1978.

Mr. Stepney C. Kibble, Public Affairs Officer.

Mr. Joseph W. Hartman, Vice Consul.

Ms. Nancy M. Mason, Vice Consul.

Mr. Leonard K. Barrett, Political Officer.

The Staff Investigative Group's desire to interview private Guyanese citizens was unfulfilled in view or the fact that the permission of the Guyanese Government would have been required to do so. The Government of Guyana's position was that such interviews would be contrary to "questions of protocol" and their "own judicial inquiry of senior government officials." Consequently, Ambassador Burke's judgment was that it was highly unlikely the Guyanese Government would agree to such a request, and therefore permission was not sought.

On Tuesday, March 20, 1979, the Staff Investigative Group went to Port Kaituma and Jonestown on a visit that was facilitated by the Guyanese Government. They were accompanied by DCM Dwyer and a Mr. Simon, the Government-appointed Conservator of Jonestown. The visit included extensive and detailed explanations from Mr.

III. FINDINGS

On the basis of the factual evidence obtained by the Staff Investigative Group, we render the following findings. In doing so we recognize that we are the beneficiaries of retrospect on the events which preceded November 18, 1978. In this respect, we have striven to utilize these advantages without falling victim to the pitfalls accompanying them. We have sought to be objective and balanced but not frozen from judgment. In attempting to be fair and understanding, we have not been timid. (Appendix references confirm and/or elaborate on the findings made and are to be found in the interview transcripts in the classified version only.)

A. Jim Jones and People's Temple

BACKGROUND

Whatever Jim Jones ultimately became and whatever can be said of him now, there is little clear insight into what motivated him to begin his ministry in Indianapolis in the mid 1950's. Some contend he was always a committed Socialist who used religion as a vehicle to further his political beliefs and objectives. Others hold that Jones began as a genuine believer in Christianity but eventually became a nonbeliever or an agnostic. His own often-expressed claim that he was the dual reincarnation of Christ and Marx reflects the dichotomy. Wherever the truth may lie on his religious beliefs, at the outset, he was seemingly genuine in his ardent support for such social causes as the welfare of older people, racial integration, and rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts. His advocacy of such causes singled him out, and partially in response to the resistance he encountered in established churches where he had accepted pastorates, he began his own church, the People's Temple. By 1965 he had generated enough notoriety and displeasure in Indiana to cause him to decide to move his activities to California accompanied by a small band of Indiana followers. One reason he chose Ukiah, Calif. and its Redwood Valley area was because he had once read that its unique geographical assets made it one of three locations in the world thought to be safe from a possible nuclear holocaust.

By 1972 he decided to once again relocate People's Temple to the richer and more active political pastures of San Francisco and bought an old church building on the edge of the black ghetto area. A second People's Temple church was established in Los Angeles. In 1974 he

began creating in the jungles of Guyana the agricultural community known as Jonestown. What finally drove him there together with the majority of his flock in mid-1977 was the publication of a New West magazine article which exposed many of his operations, a fact which he saw as part of the alleged mounting conspiracy against him.

TACTICS OF JIM JONES

The mental deviations and distortions and the psychological tactics which culminated and were most manifest in the holocaust of Jonestown on November 18 were rooted in Indiana and perfected in California. Who and what was Jim Jones? We believe it is accurate to say he was charismatic in some respects; in fact, he was especially adroit in the area of human psychology.

As we have studied him and interviewed those who knew him well and had come under his influence, we have concluded that he was first and foremost a master of mind control. Among the tactics he practiced with engineered precision are the following recognized strategies of brainwashing (for further elaboration, see Appendix III-A-1 in classified version only):

-Isolation from all vestiges of former life, including and especially all sources of information, and substituting himself as the single source of all knowledge, wisdom, and information;

-An exacting daily regimen requiring absolute obedience and humility extracted by deception, intimidation, threats, and harassment;

-Physical pressure, ranging from deprivation of food and sleep to the possibility and reality of severe beatings. As a complement to the physical pressures, he exerted mental pressures on his followers which he subsequently relieved in an effort to demonstrate and establish his omnipotent "powers." For example, he inculcated fictional fears which he would eventually counterpoint and dispel and thereby establish himself as a "savior." One of his favorite tactics was to generate and then exploit a sense of guilt for clinging to life's luxuries, for wanting special privileges, and for seeking recognition and reward;

-So-called "struggle meetings" or catharsis sessions in which recalcitrant members were interrogated, required to confess their "wrongdoing," and then punished with alternate harshness and leniency. Interrogation could be gentle and polite, but more often it involved harassment, humiliation, revilement, and degradation. Vital to this strategy were two of Jones' favorite techniques. The first involved an exhaustive and detailed record for each member kept on file cards and generated by his vast intelligence network. A member would suddenly be confronted by Jones with knowledge of some action he was unaware had been observed. Jones would stage his "mystic" awareness of that action and then direct the outcome to his desired end. The second technique was to establish in each of his followers a mistrust of everyone else. Consequently, no one dared voice a negative view-even to the closest family member or friend-for fear of being turned in. Often as not, trusted aides were directed to test individuals by expressing

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some comment critical of Jones or the lifestyle in Jonestown to see if that person would report the incident. The end result was that no one person could trust another. As a result everyone feared expressing even the slightest negative comment. The system was so effective that children turned in their own parents, brothers informed on sisters, and husbands and wives reported on spouses. Inherent in these principles which Mr. Jones masterfully and regularly employed was his central strategy of "divide and conquer" through which he consolidated his power over people.

In addition to these tactics, however, Mr. Jones regularly used other devices and methods to achieve his ends:

-Requiring People's Temple members to contribute as much as 25 percent of their income and sign over to the People's Temple their properties and other assets;

-At times dictating marriage between unwilling partners and at other times not allowing cohabitation between married couples; -Undermining and breaking a child's ties with parents. In progressive degrees the child was led to mistrust the parents and become more and more secretive in his actions and evasive to his parent's questions;

---As a symbol of their trust in him, followers were required to sign statements admitting homosexuality, theft, and other selfincriminating acts; often as not People's Temple members would also sign blank pages which could be filled in later. Depending on Jones' need or objective, such documents were frequently used in attempts to defame defectors;

-Rumor spreading in an attempt to ruin reputations or generally implant disinformation, thereby making the true facts difficult if not impossible to establish;

-Infiltration of groups opposed to People's Temple and surveilance of suspected People's Temple enemies;

-Intense public relations efforts ranging from letter-writing campaigns to attempted control of news media in an effort to influence public opinion with a favorable image of People's Temple; likewise, an aggressive program of seeking out political leaders and other influential members of a community in order to cull their favor and establish identification with them.

In the process of manipulating the control board of this extraordinary system Jones suffered extreme paranoia. One can speculate that while it may have been initially staged, his paranoia ultimately became a self-created Frankenstein that led not only to his fall but the tragic death of more than 900 others, including Representative Leo J. Ryan. His paranoia ranged from "dark unnamed forces," to individuals such as Tim Stoen and other defectors from the People's Temple, to organizations such as the Concerned Relatives group, and ultimately to the U.S. Government in the form of the CIA and the FBI-all of which he ultimately believed were out to destroy him.

Further, in establishing this analysis of Jim Jones it is worth noting that he apparently had several bisexual perversions. Finally, there is some irony in the fact that although he controlled considerable wealth (estimated at $12 million) he sought out special privileges but none

of the usual trappings of wealth such as fancy cars or expensive houses. In short, Mr. Jones was more interested in ideas than in things. He was not driven by greed for money but for power and control over others. That control continues to be exerted even after his death on the minds of some of his followers. It is graphically illustrated by the suicide of Michael Prokes, one of Jones' closest associates, during a March 13, 1979, press conference in California in which he defended Jones and cited the achievements of People's Temple and Jonestown.

MOTIVATION OF PEOPLE'S TEMPLE MEMBERS

The tactics and techniques of Jim Jones outlined above found fertile ground and were greatly facilitated because of the background and motivation of those who joined People's Temple (for further elaboration, see Appendix III-A-2 in classified version only). Generalities, of course, are always difficult if not dangerous. However, on the basis of the information which has come to us in the course of this investigation one can draw the following general profile of many who became People's Temple members and followers of Jim Jones:

-Some of the young adults were college graduates out of uppermiddle-class backgrounds which provided privilege and even luxury. Their parents were often college-educated professionals or executives. Frequently, their families were active in demonstrations against the Vietnam war, campaigns for racial equality, and other social causes. In some cases, the young People's Temple member had been alienated by the "emptiness" of his family's wealth.

-A larger number, especially young blacks, had their roots in the other end of the American social and economic spectrum. The products of poor ghetto neighborhoods and limited education, some had been drug addicts, prostitutes, and street hustlers. -An even greater percentage were elderly, again predominately black, who had come out of the San Francisco ghetto. They found in Jim Jones an abiding and protective concern. Despite the harshness of life in Jonestown, they regarded it as preferable to the poor housing they had left behind. They also found a warm sense of family and acceptance within the People's Temple community that they did not have before joining.

-A goodly number of middle-class blacks and whites came out of strong fundamentalist religious family backgrounds and were attracted by what they saw as the evangelical nature of People's Temple.

-By contrast, many of the younger people had little if any religious motivation in ioining People's Temple. Rather, they tended to be compelled by humanitarian interests. Altruistic and idealistic, they were impressed by Jones' involvement in social causes and what they saw as the "political sophistication" of People's Temple. To the extent that a religious motivation was involved, it was seen chiefly in terms of Jones' seeming concrete application of JudeoChristian principles. Over time, the dimension of their motivation was not only nonsectarian but eventually became embodied in the Socialist-Marxist-agnostic philosophy which Jones espoused.