Bill Simpich's State Secret

[Paul Trejo]

I am starting to take a look at State Secret today, and right off the bat I can say that I am grateful to anyone willing to step up to the plate and tackle all the gobbledygook about LHO and MC, so Simpich has my attention.

Good move, Pamela. Simpich (2014) is the best work on LHO in MC to date, in the opinion of many. Recent CIA FOIA releases make it excellent.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

[Pamela Brown]

I am starting to take a look at State Secret today, and right off the bat I can say that I am grateful to anyone willing to step up to the plate and tackle all the gobbledygook about LHO and MC, so Simpich has my attention.

Good move, Pamela. Simpich (2014) is the best work on LHO in MC to date, in the opinion of many. Recent CIA FOIA releases make it excellent.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

I find it really annoying when researchers 'assume' and try to push the concept that LHO was part of a CIA defector program suposedly started by JJA. The information available makes it far more likely that JJA was indeed monitoring the defectors and trying to use them to his advantage, but without direct involvement with them. Bill Simpich seems to have started from the axiom that LHO was not automatically 'a spy', and that seems to me to be a better-grounded position.

[Paul Trejo]

I am starting to take a look at State Secret today, and right off the bat I can say that I am grateful to anyone willing to step up to the plate and tackle all the gobbledygook about LHO and MC, so Simpich has my attention.

I find it really annoying when researchers 'assume' and try to push the concept that LHO was part of a CIA defector program supposedly started by JJA.

The information available makes it far more likely that JJA was indeed monitoring the defectors and trying to use them to his advantage, but without direct involvement with them.

Bill Simpich seems to have started from the axiom that LHO was not automatically 'a spy', and that seems to me to be a better-grounded position.

Yes! Good to hear from you again, Pamela. It's refreshing when we can hear alternatives to the all-too-easy claims that James Jesus Angleton was the micro-manager of LHO.

I agree with the perception that James Jesus Angleton was operating at a high-level, and not at the street level.

Bill Simpich's work is a game-changer, IMHO, because his careful scholarship reviews newly released CIA documents, and finally takes an objective approach to the CIA's information about LHO.

IMHO, it seems that LHO was "playing" spy, and probably wanted to be a spy very badly -- yet the closest he could come to that -- with his mediocre education and background -- was to hang out with the folks at 544 Camp Street in NOLA.

It was because LHO put so much confidence in these pseudo-CIA Agents, that LHO got himself into a world of trouble. That's how I see it.

Anyway, Pamela, regarding Bill Simpich's eBook, State Secret: Wiretapping in Mexico City (2014) when you get to the part about the "Mole Hunt" that Bill proves with virtual scientific rigor, please share with us what you think about this Mole Hunt.

Is it viable? Is it certain? And more importantly, if it is credible -- what does it imply about setting up LHO as the Patsy?

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited January 24, 2016 by Paul Trejo

[James DiEugenio]

Then why when Otto Otepka forwarded his request to the CIA about who was a real and who was a false defector, did Bissell send it to Angleton's office?

And why did Angleton then not reply about Oswald?

And why when, Otepka persisted, was he then harassed, surveilled, and then persecuted and finally drummed out of the State Department?

And why, once he was drummed out of his office, did they break into his safe to steal his file on Oswald?

And why did that happen just two and half weeks before Kennedy was killed? Coincidence?

But further, why did Oswald have no 201 file--as a military defector to Russia at the height of the Cold War-until Otepka made his request?

Do you know how bad this made the CIA look? Dick Helms said he did not believe it. Yep, that DIck Helms. HIs words were "I am amazed." Sure you were Dick.

But don't worry Pam, Paul will soon be selling you on the idea that all this CIA stuff is hogwash and Oswald was really working for Leander Perez in his Louisiana anti-integration plans--while Oswald was in the service in the Far East! I mean that is what Caufield says. Oswald learned Russian for this assignment.

How did we miss that for all those years? It was so obvious.

Edited January 24, 2016 by James DiEugenio

[Paul Brancato]

Jim - how much light could you shed on Otepka's relationship with the Senate Internal Security Committee?

I am sure you know that Otepka blamed RFK for driving him out of the state department, and he claimed it was because of the questions he was asking about Oswald the defector. Does that make any sense to you? It is a very short distance between committee chair Senator Dodd and committee attorney Sourwine, and guys like William Pawley and Robert Morris. So the committee, originally Joe McCarthy's, had pretty obvious connections to the far right. What I have read about this implies that it was Otepka's connection to this group, specifically leaking classified information to them, that drew RFK''s wrath. But I have had a hell of a time digging any further, and every time I bring it up here it disappears quickly. So when you mentioned Otepka I had to try again.

P D Scott postulated many years ago (I am not sure where he stands on this now) that LHO purchased his weapons as part of this committee's investigation of mail order firearm sales.

[James DiEugenio]

That is a really interesting question Paul.

I have read Lisa Pease's article on Otepka, and I have read Jim Hougan's writing on Otepka. John Newman and Armstrong mention him also, but their writing is largely derivative of these first two sources.

I do not think it was RFK who drummed Otepka out of the State Department. That sounds like the Frank Capell nuttiness that RFK knew it was Oswald who shot at Walker and covered it up. So I would not be surprised if someone like Sourwine or Dodd himself--who hated JFK-- dreamed that up.

I also do not buy the whole Oswald purchased weapons for the Dodd Committee either, since as you know, I do not think Oswald ordered either one of the weapons the WC attributed to him.

I have not read the book on Otepka, which I probably should have. But I imagine, if that is an objective biography, it should be interesting. But I will say this, Otepka was a kind of eccentric guy, from what I know. And he may have been impacted by his connections to Dodd later on. But man its a fascinating story that really should have been thoroughly investigated by the WC and the HSCA. To me it goes to the heart of the matter about Oswald.

Edited January 25, 2016 by James DiEugenio

[Paul Trejo]

Then why when Otto Otepka forwarded his request to the CIA about who was a real and who was a false defector, did Bissell send it to Angleton's office?

And why did Angleton then not reply about Oswald?

And why when, Otepka persisted, was he then harassed, surveilled, and then persecuted and finally drummed out of the State Department?

And why, once he was drummed out of his office, did they break into his safe to steal his file on Oswald?

And why did that happen just two and half weeks before Kennedy was killed? Coincidence?

But further, why did Oswald have no 201 file--as a military defector to Russia at the height of the Cold War-until Otepka made his request?

Do you know how bad this made the CIA look? Dick Helms said he did not believe it. Yep, that DIck Helms. HIs words were "I am amazed." Sure you were Dick.

But don't worry Pam, Paul will soon be selling you on the idea that all this CIA stuff is hogwash and Oswald was really working for Leander Perez in his Louisiana anti-integration plans--while Oswald was in the service in the Far East! I mean that is what Caufield says. Oswald learned Russian for this assignment.

How did we miss that for all those years? It was so obvious.

No, James, but what I will say about Otepka and LHO's CIA 201 file is that you're jumping to conclusions based on a little bit of data.

The fact is that LHO was in the USSR, and therefore he was going to have a CIA 201 File. No big mystery there.

The fact is that LHO *could have been* part of what CIA Agent Victor Marchetti called a "dangle operation" which involved dozens of Fake Defectors. If so, then this would have been far more Top Secret than a mere "Defector List".

The dynamics of squeezing Otepka out of the State Department were likely far more personal and complex than LHO's 201 File.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

[James DiEugenio]

Well, Paul finally said it. Like I knew he would.

He knows more about how the CIA operates than Dick Helms.

Bravo Paul!

[Paul Trejo]

Hey, I'm just stating an opinion. It makes sense me.

--Paul Trejo

[Thomas Graves]

On 11/15/2013 at 11:01 PM, Thomas Graves said:

Bill Simpich,

Do you think it was just a coincidence that the Mexico City dude Goodpasture chose from the photos to "mistake for" Lee "Henry" Oswald ... was ... KGB officer / agent, Yuri Moskalev, ... or do you think her choosing Moskalev to serve as the "Mexico City Mystery Man" was a deliberate decision?

Is it possible that a mole hunter wanted to fool somebody into thinking it was Moskalev who had impersonated Oswald ?

--Tommy

bumped

Edited March 29, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Paul Trejo]

On ‎3‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 2:09 AM, Thomas Graves said:

Bill,

Do you think it was just a coincidence that the almost-October-1 Mexico City dude Goodpasture chose from the photos to "mistake for" (or almost kinda suggest was, through carefully-chosen words and simple juxtaposition in the cable's text) Lee "Henry" Oswald ... was ... KGB officer / agent, Yuri Moskalev, ... or do you think her choosing Moskalev to serve as the "Mexico City Mystery Man" was a deliberate decision?

Is it possible that someone wanted, as part of an elaborate Mole Hunt or act of disinformation, somebody else to think that it was Moskalev who was impersonating Oswald over the telephone and/or in-person there?

Thanks,

--Tommy

Tommy,

If Bill Simpich is correct in is famous, State Secret (2014), Lee Harvey Oswald was in Mexico City during the final week of September 1963, and bounced between the Cuban Consulate and the USSR Embassy, so the CIA was definitely aware of him.

Then, on October 1, 1963, when somebody impersonated Oswald over the Cuban Consulate telephone calling the USSR Embassy and asking for KGB assassin Kostikov, the CIA translators knew IMMEDIATELY that the voice on the transcript of that phone call was NOT OSWALD. 

They reported this to the CIA high-command in Mexico City within the hour.  They talked about it.  It was absolutely, definitely, NOT OSWALD.

Then who was it?   This is what James Jesus Angleton wanted to know.  This is what David Atlee Phillips wanted to know.  This is what Anne Goodpasture wanted to know.

But whoever it was, it was surely an INSIDER, because they knew that the Cuba-to-USSR telephone in Mexico City was the most wire-tapped phone on earth at the time.  They knew that Lee Harvey Oswald was in Mexico City at the time.  And they knew who Valeriy Kostikov was.

So, it was an INSIDER.

According to Bill Simpich, James Jesus Angleton ordered Anne Goodpasture to start a MOLE HUNT right away.   Find the INSIDER.  Their chosen method was to change Oswald's CIA File (some have called it a 201 file).  They would replace the photographs, change the middle name, change his parents names, and so on. 

Then they would carefully track the chain of ownership of that CIA File.  Whoever got that File next would pass phony data.

From that scenario, I had gathered that the large Russian dude entered into Oswald's CIA file was chosen AT RANDOM.  The idea was to find out who was trying to Frame Lee Harvey Oswald -- and not to frame somebody else.

Regards,
--Pau Trejo

[Thomas Graves]

10 hours ago, Paul Trejo said:

Tommy,

If Bill Simpich is correct in is famous, State Secret (2014), Lee Harvey Oswald was in Mexico City during the final week of September 1963, and bounced between the Cuban Consulate and the USSR Embassy, so the CIA was definitely aware of him.

Then, on October 1, 1963, when somebody impersonated Oswald over the Cuban Consulate telephone calling the USSR Embassy and asking for KGB assassin Kostikov, the CIA translators knew IMMEDIATELY that the voice on the transcript of that phone call was NOT OSWALD. 

They reported this to the CIA high-command in Mexico City within the hour.  They talked about it.  It was absolutely, definitely, NOT OSWALD.

Then who was it?   This is what James Jesus Angleton wanted to know.  This is what David Atlee Phillips wanted to know.  This is what Anne Goodpasture wanted to know.

But whoever it was, it was surely an INSIDER, because they knew that the Cuba-to-USSR telephone in Mexico City was the most wire-tapped phone on earth at the time.  They knew that Lee Harvey Oswald was in Mexico City at the time.  And they knew who Valeriy Kostikov was.

So, it was an INSIDER.

According to Bill Simpich, James Jesus Angleton ordered Anne Goodpasture to start a MOLE HUNT right away.   Find the INSIDER.  Their chosen method was to change Oswald's CIA File (some have called it a 201 file).  They would replace the photographs, change the middle name, change his parents names, and so on. 

Then they would carefully track the chain of ownership of that CIA File.  Whoever got that File next would pass phony data.

From that scenario, I had gathered that the large Russian dude entered into Oswald's CIA file was chosen AT RANDOM.  The idea was to find out who was trying to Frame Lee Harvey Oswald -- and not to frame somebody else.

Regards,
--Pau Trejo

Dear Paul,

You really do need to keep your facts straight.  The October 1 impersonator did not  ask to speak with Kostikov.  He didn't even say that he had previously met with Kostikov.  He told the Russian guy on the other end of the line that he couldn't remember the name of the Soviet Embassy official he had met with a few days earlier, and the Russian guy on the other end of the line volunteered that it might have been Kostikov.

Oswald(?) : Hello, this is Lee Oswald speaking. I was at your place last Saturday and spoke to a Consul, and they said they'd send a telegram to Washington, so I wanted to find out if you have anything new? But I don't remember the name of that Consul.

Other Party:  Kostikov. He is dark hair or skin?

Oswald(?) :  Yes. My name is Oswald.

Other Party:  Just a minute, I'll find out . . . They say that they haven't received anything yet.

Oswald(?):  Have they done anything?

Other Party:  Yes, they say that a request has been sent out, but nothing has been received as yet.

Oswald(?):  And what . . . ?

(Other Party hangs up.)

 

--  Tommy

Edited March 29, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Paul Trejo]

12 hours ago, Thomas Graves said:

Dear Paul,

You really do need to keep your facts straight.  The October 1 impersonator did not  ask to speak with Kostikov.  He didn't even say that he had previously met with Kostikov.  He told the Russian guy on the other end of the line that he couldn't remember the name of the Soviet Embassy official he had met with a few days earlier, and the Russian guy on the other end of the line volunteered that it might have been Kostikov...

--  Tommy

Tommy,

I have often said, and I implied here, that the caller from the Cuban consulate spoke in such a way as to elicit the name of Kostikov from the callee.

I stand by that.  Obviously it worked.

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

Edited March 29, 2017 by Paul Trejo

[Thomas Graves]

3 hours ago, Paul Trejo said:

Tommy,

I have often said, and I implied here, that the caller from the Cuban consulate spoke in such a way as to elicit the name of Kostikov from the callee.

I stand by that.  Obviously it worked.

Regards 

--Paul Trejo 

Dear Paul,

How do you think the impersonator would have responded if the Russian guy on the other end of the line had said "Yatskov," or "Nechiporenko," or "Leonov," instead?

Do you think he would have said, "Nope, I think his name started with a 'K'"?

--  Tommy

Edited March 29, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Paul Trejo]

5 hours ago, Thomas Graves said:

Dear Paul,

How do you think the impersonator would have responded if the Russian guy on the other end of the line had said "Yatskov," or "Nechiporenko," or "Leonov," instead?

Do you think he would have said, "Nope, I think his name started with a 'K'"?

--  Tommy

Tommy,

I think that the Impersonator making the phone call fully expected the name of Kostikov to be presented -- based on knowledge that he had of the USSR Embassy Operations.

The Impersonator was a CIA agent fully aware of the Mexico City politics at the Embassies.

I want to emphasize here that when the callee promptly delivered the name of Kostikov, the Impersonator immediately repeated that his name was "Lee Harvey Oswald."

Bingo.

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

Edited March 29, 2017 by Paul Trejo