Special Investigations Unit

E169147

The Special Investigations Unit, better known as the White House Plumbers, was a covert Nixon administration team created to stop and retaliate against leaks, whose illegal activities helped spark the Watergate scandal.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Special Investigations Unit canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Nixon administration organization
covert government unit
intelligence-gathering unit
activity burglary
covert operations
intelligence gathering on perceived political enemies
surveillance
alsoKnownAs White House Plumbers
associatedWith White House
surface form: Nixon White House

presidential political espionage
authorizedBy Richard Nixon
connectedTo Committee to Re-elect the President
consequence criminal prosecutions of members
increased congressional oversight of intelligence activities
contributedTo cover-up efforts related to Watergate
country United States of America
surface form: United States
createdBy Richard Nixon
disbandedAfter exposure of Watergate-related activities
dissolved 1973
governmentBranch executive branch of the United States
surface form: executive branch of the United States government
historicalPeriod Cold War
inception 1971
involvedIn attempts to discredit administration critics
political intelligence operations
legacy symbol of abuse of executive power in the United States
legalStatusOfActivities illegal
locatedIn Washington, D.C.
mediaNickname White House Plumbers
member David Young
E. Howard Hunt
Egil Krogh
G. Gordon Liddy
John Ehrlichman
motive response to the leak of the Pentagon Papers
notableFor role in the Watergate scandal
notableOperation break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist
operatedBy Nixon administration
operationalStyle secret and deniable operations
oversight minimal formal oversight
partOf Executive Office of the President of the United States
purpose to identify and retaliate against sources of leaks
to prevent leaks of classified information
reasonForNickname claimed mission to fix leaks
relatedTo Pentagon Papers leak
Watergate scandal
reportedTo White House Counsel
target Daniel Ellsberg

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

White House Plumbers hasAlias Special Investigations Unit