Alpha 66

[David Boylan]

11 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

Thanks for posting that source David; much better than my general memory of it.  

In reading that we should remember that Shackley himself later testified that his station, JM/WAVE had conducted no JFK assassination inquiries since that work had been assigned to the Warren Commission and the FBI.   Yeah, right.

Larry, here's another account of Wave's "investigation." 

http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/jfk/NARA-Oct2017/2018/104-10118-10155.pdf

The Mary Ferrell Crypt listing has this for AMWEE-1 Bohumil Jirkal, chauffeur at Czech Embassy, Mexico City, in 1963. [status: Speculative]

[Larry Hancock]

Wow, that is a great find David, especially with the suggestion that the station inquiry was a major priority (not something limited strictly to a tasking by Sforza) and went on well into 1964; it certainly gives lie to Shackley's later remarks...

I find it hard to think that a COS could order an inquiry of that nature without HQ authorization nor that it could be conducted without a report to HQ...and as far as I know no sign of any such report, specifically including a detailed inquiry into the exile community, has ever surfaced in any form.  That should certainly be a high priority item for future document searches but I would have to think its either something that never went into the files.  If Shackley did it strictly on his own authority, and lied about it later, it would suggest that something really serious turned up in the station inquiry.

 

[Steve Thomas]

27 minutes ago, Larry Hancock said:

Wow, that is a great find David, especially with the suggestion that the station inquiry was a major priority (not something limited strictly to a tasking by Sforza) and went on well into 1964; it certainly gives lie to Shackley's later remarks...

I find it hard to think that a COS could order an inquiry of that nature without HQ authorization nor that it could be conducted without a report to HQ...and as far as I know no sign of any such report, specifically including a detailed inquiry into the exile community, has ever surfaced in any form.  That should certainly be a high priority item for future document searches but I would have to think its either something that never went into the files.  If Shackley did it strictly on his own authority, and lied about it later, it would suggest that something really serious turned up in the station inquiry.

 

Larry,

 

The reason I asked about Philiips' "chain of command" is because it seems to me that over time, the Intelligence function of the CIA gave way to the Counter-Intelligence function.

More time seems to have been spent trying to counter what the Russians (and others) were doing to us instead of what we were doing to them. I read once that the greatest harm that Joe Macarthy and his ilk did was to bring the "communist menace" home. The threat was no longer "out there", but was here among us, and caused a whole lot of paranoia.

Joe Macarthy's "the commies are in the State Department; Vosjoli's and the OAS's  "the KGB has infiltrated the French Secret Service;  Angleton's "mole hunt", all seem to illustrate this.

 

When you said,

" By the fall of 63 he had his fingers in a great many pies and so did James Angleton who was waging a turf war at HQ claiming he should be in charge of CIA both in Mexico City and Saigon. There is some reason, Bill Simpich pursues this line of thought and I address it in NEXUS, to think that Angleton and Phillips might have been working certain special projects that fall, perhaps without the full knowledge of the COS. Its interesting that both Phillips and Angleton's person in MC both got relatively poor reviews from the COS that year, possibly because of unhappiness over Phillips divided loyalties.",

that may be an example of what I was trying to get at. Phillips and Angleton are out running their Counter-Intelligence side deals.

 

Your comment that, "That should certainly be a high priority item for future document searches but I would have to think its either something that never went into the files." sounds like a topic for the Wishlist for Researchers thread. *grin*

 

Steve Thomas

 

[Larry Hancock]

Steve, I think that CI did indeed increasingly become a driver, the word has always been that both Security and CI had to vet all operations personnel and missions. A good example is the fact that Angleton was called in post BOP and worked with the Cuban exiles as part of a project to deal with Cuban intel penetration of the overall Cuba project...which had leaked like a sieve.  That put him into contact with both Morales and the AMOTS at that point.   Angleton had his fingers all over the place and was an intrusive force..greatly complicating individual station operations at points. 

I certainly suspect there were some side deals going on in MC and around Lee Oswald in the fall of 63 and Simpich has done a great job opening  up those possibilities.  Its good odds that some of the apparent confusion we see in MC relates to such side deals as well as in Phillips own trip back to DC while Oswald was in MC.

And yes, I would surely put that on the wish list although the odds are slightly less than seeing Santa when leaving cookies out at Christmas.

[Michael Clark]

Yes guys, I would sort this out for the wish list and post it, but I don’t have time right now and I’ll probably forget. Please post to the WL and I’ll be sure to refresh from there when I sit down to read again

[Michael Clark]

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2018/157-10011-10037.pdf

I posted this in the document release thread. Larry replied to my post. I’ll post it here  again as it seems quite relavant and quite extraordinarily rich. I was scanning it while looking for code names, so I don’t have anything specific to bring to your attention at this time. 

Regarding the recent posts and items for which we should be on the look out, I am not summing it up welll for an item in the wish list. I did come away with the guidance to look out for actions of JJA and DAP. I guess that kind of goes without saying. Also, the Office of Security should be noted.

In the doc for which I posted a link, I did see mention of KUSODA (OOS) and a “Mr. Davis”. Being an undisciplined neophyte researcher, I though I was reading about James McCord Jr, for a few reasons.

Anyway, I hope that someone who knows what they are doing will take a close look at  that doc and tell me if I am justified in thinking it is a trove, to some degree.

 

Cheers,

Michael

[B. A. Copeland]

1 hour ago, Michael Clark said:

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2018/157-10011-10037.pdf

I posted this in the document release thread. Larry replied to my post. I’ll post it here  again as it seems quite relavant and quite extraordinarily rich. I was scanning it while looking for code names, so I don’t have anything specific to bring to your attention at this time. 

Regarding the recent posts and items for which we should be on the look out, I am not summing it up welll for an item in the wish list. I did come away with the guidance to look out for actions of JJA and DAP. I guess that kind of goes without saying. Also, the Office of Security should be noted.

In the doc for which I posted a link, I did see mention of KUSODA (OOS) and a “Mr. Davis”. Being an undisciplined neophyte researcher, I though I was reading about James McCord Jr, for a few reasons.

Anyway, I hope that someone who knows what they are doing will take a close look at  that doc and tell me if I am justified in thinking it is a trove, to some degree.

 

Cheers,

Michael

Really appreciate your work in that thread Mike. Thank you.

Edited July 5, 2018 by B. A. Copeland

[Michael Clark]

2 hours ago, B. A. Copeland said:

Really appreciate your work in that thread Mike. Thank you.

My pleasure, B.A. Your thanks goes a long way towards encouraging me to keep doing it.

[B. A. Copeland]

20 hours ago, Michael Clark said:

My pleasure, B.A. Your thanks goes a long way towards encouraging me to keep doing it.

That’s just great to know. As Simpich also related, I think it’s a true spirit of research. You’re very welcome!

[Ron Bulman]

I found a little more info on A-66 I'd read and forgotten in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Dick Russell.

pg. 184, Inside Alpha 66.  "In the summer of 1976, New Times magazine sent me to Miami to do an article about a series of murders plaguing the Little Havana community.  In a story in the Saturday Evening Post, I had also come across the name of Antonio Veciana, identified as one of Alpha 66's founders.  To my surprise I found his name listed in the Miami phone book. … agreed to meet me outside the Trailways bus station... informed me he was meeting with an investigator for the House Assassinations Committee (HSCA - Fonzi) … asked to see my government card... when I succeeded in convincing him I was a legitimate journalist... in 1960 , he received a visit from a man he used the name Maurice Bishop... first of more than one hundred meetings...over thirteen years...  forced to flee Cuba by boat. A month later in Miami, Bishop contacted Veciana again.  Together they laid the plans to form the group known as Alpha 66... 

[Ron Bulman]

14 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

I found a little more info on A-66 I'd read and forgotten in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Dick Russell.

pg. 184, Inside Alpha 66.  "In the summer of 1976, New Times magazine sent me to Miami to do an article about a series of murders plaguing the Little Havana community.  In a story in the Saturday Evening Post, I had also come across the name of Antonio Veciana, identified as one of Alpha 66's founders.  To my surprise I found his name listed in the Miami phone book. … agreed to meet me outside the Trailways bus station... informed me he was meeting with an investigator for the House Assassinations Committee (HSCA - Fonzi) … asked to see my government card... when I succeeded in convincing him I was a legitimate journalist... in 1960 , he received a visit from a man he used the name Maurice Bishop... first of more than one hundred meetings...over thirteen years...  forced to flee Cuba by boat. A month later in Miami, Bishop contacted Veciana again.  Together they laid the plans to form the group known as Alpha 66... 

pg. 186.  "According to ex-CIA official Barney Hildago, after the Cuban Missile Crisis "the word came down that Alpha 66 was not in the American best policies to work with.  Politically unstable, too many wildcats, hot heads, shoot-from-the hip types and they could get us in trouble by going out and committing assassinations.  Well, being an intelligence agent you should be able to go hog-wild , achieve your end by whatever means.  But unfortunately , the agency said no."

"Picking up his story, Veciana told me that Maurice Bishop organized a series of commando attacks against soviet merchant ships in Cuban harbors in early 1963.  As a result of the (Cuban) Missile Crisis, he believed that Kennedy and Khrushchev had made a secret pact to do nothing about Cuba.  Bishop kept saying Kennedy would have to be forced to make a decision.  The only way was to put him up against the wall.."

"Surveillance of the refugees intensified; certain Miami exiles, including Veciana, were forbidden to travel at all."  

[Michaleen Kilroy]

3 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

pg. 186.  "According to ex-CIA official Barney Hildago, after the Cuban Missile Crisis "the word came down that Alpha 66 was not in the American best policies to work with.  Politically unstable, too many wildcats, hot heads, shoot-from-the hip types and they could get us in trouble by going out and committing assassinations.  Well, being an intelligence agent you should be able to go hog-wild , achieve your end by whatever means.  But unfortunately , the agency said no."

"Picking up his story, Veciana told me that Maurice Bishop organized a series of commando attacks against soviet merchant ships in Cuban harbors in early 1963.  As a result of the (Cuban) Missile Crisis, he believed that Kennedy and Khrushchev had made a secret pact to do nothing about Cuba.  Bishop kept saying Kennedy would have to be forced to make a decision.  The only way was to put him up against the wall.."

"Surveillance of the refugees intensified; certain Miami exiles, including Veciana, were forbidden to travel at all."  

The most frustrating part of following developments in JFKA research through the years is the lack of any real focus, consensus or at least narrowing down of suspects. 

But to my mind, surely the rage of groups like Alpha 66 had to be a key reason for the JFKA.  Ironically, as an Irish ‘Troubles’ buff, I can relate to the feeling of being told you won’t be allowed to fight for your homeland from as a trusted and immense a partner as the US. I could also see someone like Phillips encouraging and abetting this rage into something that would benefit the goals of the CIA.

Veciana was a CIA agent and US Army Intel asset. He identifies his CIA handler as meeting with LHO weeks before the JFKA. Surely that is the nexus of the conspiracy.

Edited July 8, 2018 by Mike Kilroy

[Ron Bulman]

I started this thread to review what I'd read about Alpha 66  in the past in part to try to get it together in one place with hopes more would be added.  Larry had the most in SWHT but A-66 wasn't the focus of his book.  The info is spread throughout it in relation to his bigger picture.  Naturally, Veciana is a big part of A-66 but he has been focused on elsewhere.  In reading all this and what others have added I kept coming across another person of interest I don't think has been focused on enough.  Likely not part of planning the assassination operation itself or participating in it but, wittingly or not maybe involved in the set up of Oswald as the patsy.

[Paul Brancato]

30 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

I started this thread to review what I'd read about Alpha 66  in the past in part to try to get it together in one place with hopes more would be added.  Larry had the most in SWHT but A-66 wasn't the focus of his book.  The info is spread throughout it in relation to his bigger picture.  Naturally, Veciana is a big part of A-66 but he has been focused on elsewhere.  In reading all this and what others have added I kept coming across another person of interest I don't think has been focused on enough.  Likely not part of planning the assassination operation itself or participating in it but, wittingly or not maybe involved in the set up of Oswald as the patsy.

Name?

[Ron Bulman]

6 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Name?

Smith.