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Photo of the Watergate Complex security incident log by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration 

Security History: The Watergate Break-in Incident Report

Security officers write incident reports to document events or activities that occur during a company’s operations that are unsafe, a violation of policy or procedure, or a violation of the law.

Incident reports may be used for internal tracking purposes, such as documenting when an elevator in a building is malfunctioning.

In other cases, however, incident reports may be passed on to law enforcement to conduct a criminal investigation.

This happened with one of the most important security officer incident reports of the 20th Century.

History's Most Impactful Security Incident Report

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Exterior view of the Watergate office-apartment-hotel complex, scene of what became known as the Watergate scandal, in Washington, DC, on 2 May 1973. The Watergate scandal saw five men arrested for breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), photographing documents and bugging the phones; the scandal led to the resignation of President Nixon. (Photo by Consolidated News Pictures, Keystone, Hulton Archive, Getty)


On 17 June 1972, security guard Frank Wills was working the midnight to 7 a.m. shift at the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C.

Wills was conducting his rounds when he saw doors stuffed with paper on two levels of the complex. He also discovered tape covering the latches on doors that led from the complex’s underground parking area to multiple offices. The tape allowed the doors to close but prevented them from being locked.

Wills assumed that the maintenance crew had taped over the door latches, so he removed it. He then turned off the lights in the hall at 12:30 a.m. When he returned to the same location around 2 a.m., though, the doors had been retaped.

Wills documented his findings in the security officer’s log for the Watergate Complex. He also called the police, who arrived at the complex and arrested five men inside the Democratic National Committee’s offices: Edward Martin, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio R. Martinez, Virgilio R. Gonzalez, and Bernard Baker.

The men were charged with attempted burglary, as well as telephone and other communications eavesdropping.

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The media interviews Frank Wills after he discovered the Watergate breakin. (Photo by Owen Franken, Corbis, Getty Images)


The Washington Post reported on the arrests, including that “Police found lock-picks and door jimmies, nearly $2,300 in cash, most of it in $100 bills with serial numbers in sequence… a short-wave receiver that could pick up police calls, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35-millimeter cameras, and three pen-sized tear gas guns.”

A day after the arrests, White House Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler called the break-in a “third-rate burglary,” and U.S. President Richard Nixon denied any involvement in the incident.

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UNITED STATES - 17 JUNE: AFTER BREAK IN: Police and telephone men check out the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC, after five men were arrested during a break-in attempt. Authorities called it an elaborate plot to bug the office and said the men had photographic equipment and electronic listening devices. (Photo by Ken Feil, The Washington Post, Getty)


In August 1972, however, The Washington Post reported that a check from the Nixon 1972 reelection campaign was deposited in one of the burglar’s bank accounts.

The FBI also began an investigation, determining in October 1972 that the Watergate break-in was part of a greater effort by Nixon’s campaign to spy on the Democratic Party.

In January 1973, former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord were convicted for their role in orchestrating the Watergate break-in.

The scandal ultimately reached the White House, and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee began impeachment proceedings against Nixon in May 1974. The committee passed three articles of impeachment against Nixon for obstruction of justice, misuse of power, and contempt of Congress. Nixon resigned from the presidency later that year.

Wills’ security log is stored in the U.S. National Archives as an integral piece of evidence in the Watergate scandal.  

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8 August 1974, Washington, DC: Newspaper headlines being read by tourists in front of the White House tell of history in the making. (Photo by Bettmann, Getty)


 

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