Bill Simpich

Here's a little more about the use of Lee Henry Oswald as a "marked card". The website below is the hyperlinked version: http://www.opednews.com/Diary/THE-JFK-CASE-THE-TWELVE-W-by-Bill-Simpich-100918-692.html THE JFK CASE: THE TWELVE WHO BUILT THE OSWALD LEGEND (Part 3: Counterintelligence goes molehunting with Oswald's file) Third in the series. This chapter focuses on how Lee Harvey Oswald threatened to reveal military secrets to the Soviets about the U-2, and how US counterintelligence used his file as a "marked card" to capture supposed Communist spies who were trying to infiltrate the CIA. Oswald threatened to reveal military secrets to the Soviets The Warren Commission wrote many pages on Lee Harvey Oswald's visit to the American embassy in Moscow shortly after his defection to the USSR. However, the Warren Report says nothing about the U-2, much less about Oswald's work for the U-2 project as an aviation electronics operator. The Commissioners were informed by CIA deputy director Richard Helms that Oswald only worked near the U-2 hangar in Japan, tap-danced around Oswald's access to the U-2 in the Philippines, and concluded that Oswald had no "information regarding the U-2 or its mission." The Warren Report does mention that Oswald told legend maker #4 consul Richard Snyder that he had "already offered to tell a Soviet official what he had learned as a radar operator in the Marines" (p. 693). However, the Commission concluded that since neither the FBI or the Navy prosecuted Oswald, the State Department had no basis to conclude that Oswald's statement was "anything more than rash talk". (p. 775) The CIA knew about Oswald's treasonous offer. In a memo written shortly after JFK's death, CIA officer John Whitten states that a list of "American defectors to the USSR list" was put together in November 1960. "From then on, we received a number of FBI and State Department reports on Oswald, detailing "his defiant threat to reveal to the Soviets all he knew about Navy radar installations in the Pacific." Whitten makes it sound like the CIA heard about these threats after the U-2 went down on May 1, 1960. In fact, Snyder's report and Navy reports in early November 1959 describe Oswald's threat to provide radar secrets to the Soviets, and the CIA had copies of these reports in their files right after Oswald left the American embassy on October 31. The CIA's position was that "Since Oswald was a former Marine and a U.S. citizen, his defection was of primary interest to the State Department, the FBI, and the Navy Department. CIA does not investigate U.S. citizens abroad unless we are specifically requested to do so by some other Government security agency. No such request was made in this case." One CIA officer, however, shows extraordinary interest in Oswald. This CIA officer is Ann Egerter, an analyst at the small, super-secret Counterintelligence Special Investigations Group (CI/SIG). Egerter called CI/SIG "the office that spied on spies". Her boss, legend maker #1 CI chief James Angleton, admitted that one of CI/SIG's purposes was to monitor defectors. An FBI officer is also playing close attention - Marvin Gheesling, a supervisor at FBI Headquarters. Oswald and the Moles The October 31 and November 2 memos prepared by Snyder and his colleague Ed Freers about Oswald's defection are used by Ann Egerter, legend maker #5, to fill Oswald's file with items of false information known as "marked cards". "Marked cards" are designed to capture a mole who spreads the information to unauthorized individuals. The "marked card" technique has been around for a long time. Peter Wright in Spycatcher refers to this method as a "barium meal". Tom Clancy in Patriot Games calls this trick a "canary trap". Author Peter Dale Scott mentions that the "marked card" was one of the methods used to try to catch the infamous CIA mole Aldrich Ames during the 1990s. The marked card didn't work because Ames himself was the chief of the CIA's Soviet Russia counterintelligence staff. Freers and Snyder mentioned in their initial October 31 note about Oswald's visit that Oswald's mother's last address was at 4936 "Collinwood St.". Not only had Mrs. Oswald not lived on Collingwood since May 1957, but her address on September 4, 1959 was 3124 West Fifth Street, the very address Oswald had used on his passport application. Keep in mind that when Snyder prepared his reports, he was a trained observer and reporter of minutiae that the average person would not notice. This "Collinwood St." entry was just one of several misspellings and errors that were purposeful and not accidental. This deliberate error was a "marked card" to see if a mole leaked this information elsewhere. Two days later, the November 2 dispatch prepared by Freers and Snyder adds three more marked cards to the deck. One was that Oswald was "discharged" from the service. Another was that Oswald's highest grade was corporal. The third was that Oswald applied for his passport in San Francisco. Peter Dale Scott, the author of the highly revealing essay "Oswald and the Search for Popov's Mole", carefully examined each of these marked cards. Oswald was not discharged, but received a dependency release and placed in the reserves with duties to perform until 1962. Oswald's highest grade was not corporal, but private first class. Finally, Oswald's passport states that it was issued in Los Angeles, not in San Francisco, as can be seen here: Scott focuses on the importance of these anomalies that fill Oswald's CIA file, stating that they are evidence of "a significant, sophisticated multi-agency counterintelligence operation." Scott advances the thesis that "Oswald himself was a low-level part of a CI search for a leak or mole", and that Oswald's unexplained talk of espionage right in front of the KGB microphones (the KGB had the US embassy thoroughly bugged) is a very poor way to convince the KGB of his bona fides but "makes perfect sense as a test for leaks in response to Popov's arrest fifteen days earlier". The American and Soviet embassies have long and famous histories for placing bugs in each other's embassies, tapping each other's phones, and reading each other's mail. The KGB confirmed in 1959 that Freers was not CIA, and that the KGB maintained a microphone in Freers' office. In "Popov's Mole", Scott points out that the errors detailed above, and others that we will soon discuss, was repeatedly circulated in the documentary history of Oswald's files by Jim Angleton's colleague Ann Egerter and other CI/SIG officials. By embedding these false statements within Oswald's file, and tracking who had access to the file information, Egerter could determine if this information had surfaced elsewhere, and that would be evidence of unauthorized access. Angleton told the Church Committee that the role of CI/SIG was to prevent the penetration of spies into the CIA and the government, and that the "historical penetration cases are recruitment of U.S. officials in positions (of) code clerks." Angleton's search for a mole turned the CIA upside down by the time he was fired in 1974. Dozens of CIA officers were fired. By 1980, Congress was forced to pass a "Mole Relief Act" to compensate the unfairly accused victims. Egerter used Oswald himself in what is called a "dangle". Angleton's biographer Tom Mangold wrote that the execution of Popov accelerated Angleton's belief that "Popov could only have been betrayed by a mole buried deep within Soviet Division.". Mangold found Angleton misguided, stating that "Popov was actually lost to the Soviets because of a slipshod CIA operation; there was no treachery." David Robarge, in a very thoughtful piece that should be read in its entirety, agrees that Popov's capture marked the time when Angleton became "fixed on the mole". Oswald's arrival was on the same date as Popov's arrest. Nonetheless, if Angleton was convinced that there was a mole in the Soviet Division, it's a good bet that he believed that radar operator Oswald's sudden entry into the Soviet Union on the same day was no accident. What is curious is that Egerter opened no 201 file for Oswald at this point. A 201 file is a CIA file that is created to profile any person "of active operational interest". For whatever reason, she did not want to admit that the CIA had any operational interest in Oswald. The FBI had operational interest in Oswald, and let everybody know it. Headquarters supervisor Marvin Gheesling is described as having "considerable experience in espionage, intelligence and counterintelligence operations." Gheesling, legend maker #6, promptly opened a "watch list" file on Oswald within a week of his visit to the Embassy in late 1959 by creating what is called a FLASH card. As John Newman muses, "This combination of being on the Watch List without a 201 file makes Oswald special. Perhaps not unique, but certainly peculiar. It was as if someone wanted Oswald watched quietly." At the same time, Oswald was added to the HT LINGUAL list, Angleton was effectively in charge of HT LINGUAL, a joint project of the CIA, FBI and US Postal Service in which Angleton was the titular head. Oswald was now one of the 300 Americans whose letters would be secretly opened as part of HT LINGUAL project monitoring mail coming from the USSR. A quick glance at what happened three years later: Gheesling's role turned ominous when he took Oswald off the watch list in the month before the assassination. Gheesling's action took place just hours before Egerter helped write two separate messages that provided two different descriptions of Oswald. One message sent to third party agencies referred to him specifically as "Lee Henry Oswald", with an inaccurate physical description, apparently designed to mislead the national leadership of these agencies. The in-house message provided a more accurate description of Oswald - as we'll see later, still containing subtle mistakes - going only to the local agencies. These are further indications of the molehunt. Gheesling's decision to take Oswald off the watch list effectively dimmed the lights around Oswald. It meant that Oswald would not be watched in Dallas with close scrutiny in situations involving national security, such as when JFK came to town in a motorcade. If Gheesling had waited another day, Oswald would have been in the spotlight. Dallas agents would have been on him like white on rice. After Egerter passes Oswald's marked cards to FBI's John Fain, Fain joins the molehunt Going back to 1960...the marked cards begin to multiply a few months later. In February 1960, Oswald's mother is worrying about him. Marguerite told the Secret Service that SA John Fain recommends that she write Secretary of State Christian Herter and Congressmen Sam Rayburn and Jim Wright. Curiously, the FBI has no public paper trail of meeting with Fain at this early date. FBI files in 1959-60 and Oswald's Marine records remain classified and should be released. Mrs. Oswald then sends one letter to Congressman Wright telling him that "according to the UPI Moscow press, he appeared at the US embassy renouncing his citizenship". The next day, she wrote Secretary Herter a letter saying that Oswald had not renounced his citizenship and "is still a U.S. citizen". Why Mrs. Oswald would say two different things in two different letters one day apart is a longer discussion. Nonetheless, these two totally contradictory documents are a central part of this case. The inaccurate statement that Oswald had "renounced his citizenship" was central to SA Fain's report of May 12, 1960. This report also had the marked card of "Edward Lee Oswald" for the name of Oswald's deceased father, rather than his correct name of Robert Edward Lee Oswald. Fain's inaccurate report about renunciation was the direct cause of Oswald's dishonorable discharge by the Marines on August 17, 1960. Oswald wrote the Secretary of the Navy trying to get this dishonorable discharge changed, not realizing that John Connally had resigned as navy secretary to run for Governor of Texas in 1962. Connally wrote back and said that he had forwarded Oswald's letter to the new secretary. John Fain is legend maker #7. At a minimum, Ann Egerter's use of the Lee Oswald's file enabled CI to engage in some very clever molehunting, particularly when she decided to name his 201 file "Lee Henry Oswald". She claimed years later that "Henry" wasn't in her handwriting. Take a look for yourself. The name of the file itself was a "marked card". If anyone else referred to Lee Henry Oswald, a bright trail would be left behind. Egerter's form includes the terms "defected to the USSR" and "radar operator", but says nothing about Oswald's threat to pass "classified things" to the Soviets. Next week, the series will continue with Part 4: When the U-2 Goes Down, Oswald is Ready to Return Endnotes: The Commissioners were informed by CIA deputy director Richard Helms... Richard Helms memo to Director, FBI; Warren Commission Document 931, 5/13/64. The Warren Report does mention that Oswald told legend maker #4 consul Richard Snyder that he had "already offered to tell a Soviet official what he had learned as a radar operator in the Marines". Warren Report, p. 693. However, the Commission concluded that since neither the FBI or the Navy prosecuted Oswald, the State Department had no basis to conclude that Oswald's statement was "anything more than rash talk". Warren Report, p. 775. CIA officer John Whitten states in a memo written shortly after JFK's death that after an American defectors to the USSR list was put together in November 1960 "from then on, we received a number of FBI and State Department reports on Oswald, detailing"his defiant threat to reveal to the Soviets all he knew about Navy radar installations in the Pacific." memo by CIA officer John Whitten, "CIA Work on Lee Oswald and the Assassination of President Kennedy", p. 3, 12/20/63, Oswald 201 File, Vol 10B, NARA Record Number: 1993.06.14.15:56:02:000000 Angleton's search for a mole turned the CIA upside down by the time he was fired in 1974: See generally David C. Martin, Wilderness of Mirrors, (Guilford, CT, Lyons Press: revised edition, 2003). Angleton admitted that one of CI/SIG's purposes was to monitor defectors: HSCA Security Classified Testimony, Angleton deposition, 10/5/78, p. 150. The October 31 and November 2 memos of Snyder and Freers are used by Ann Egerter, Legend maker #5, to fill Oswald's file with items of false information known as "marked cards": Ed Freers memo to State Dept., 10/31/59; Warren Commission Exhibit 908, Snyder's report to State Department of 11/2/59, p. 2 (see fourth paragraph) Author Peter Dale Scott mentions that the "marked card" was one of the methods used to catch the infamous CIA mole Aldrich Ames during the 1990s. The marked card trick didn't work because Ames himself was the chief of the Soviet Russia counterintelligence staff: Peter Dale Scott, "The Hunt for Popov's Mole", Fourth Decade, March 1996, p. 4. Oswald's mother had not lived on Collinwood since May 1957: "Collingwood since May 1957", see Warren Commission Exhibit 822, SA John Fain's report of 7/3/61, p. 2. Also see Peter Dale Scott, The Hunt for Popov's Mole, p. 6. The passport application: See Warren Commission Hearings, Volume 22, p. 77: Freers' dispatch states that Oswald was "discharged" from the service, that the highest grade achieved was that of a corporal, and that he applied for his passport in San Francisco: Warren Commission Exhibit 908, Vol. 18, p. 97, Foreign Service dispatch from the American Embassy in Moscow to the Department of State, 11/2/59. Freers signs document, Snyder signs first page as the reporter: Oswald received a "dependency release", with obligated service up until 1962, not a discharge. See Warren Commission Document 1, 12/6/63, p. 23, Oswald was not discharged, but released from active duty: Warren Commission Document 1114, Navy message 22257, From: CNO To: ALUSNA, Moscow, 11/4/59. His highest grade was not corporal, but private first class: Warren Report 687, 688; Warren Commission Exhibit 3099, Certificate of True Copies of Original Pay Records from 10/24/96 to 9/11/59 for PFC Oswald, dated 9/15/64, prepared by Major E.J. Rowe. Also see: Warren Commission Document 1114, Navy message 22257, From: CNO To: ALUSNA, Moscow, 11/4/59. The passport, which was not only examined by Snyder but retained by him: Oswald had given his passport to Snyder at the Embassy when he said he wanted to renounce his American citizenship: Testimony of Richard Snyder, Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 5, p. 269. The passport indicates clearly that it was issued not in San Francisco, but in Los Angeles: Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 18, p. 162, Warren Commission Exhibit 946, passport of Lee Harvey Oswald, issued September 10, 1959. The KGB confirmed in 1959 that Freers was not CIA, and that the KGB had a microphone in his office: Diplomatic List, Moscow, 1 January 1959 (information obtained from defector Yuri Nosenko), HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 14/NARA Record Number: 104-10070-10150 Historical penetration cases are recruitment of U.S. officials in positions code clerks:Deposition of James Angleton, 9/17/75, Church Committee, p. 17. Angleton's search for a mole is well-known for having turned the CIA upside down by the time he was fired in 1974: See generally David C. Martin, Wilderness of Mirrors, (Guilford, CT, Lyons Press: revised edition, 2003). By the time Angleton was fired in the midst of the Watergate era, he was accused of being a Soviet mole himself. By 1980, Congress was forced to pass a bill to compensate the unfairly accused officers in what became known as the Mole Relief Act: David Wise, Molehunt, Chapter 18 Popov was actually lost due to a slipshod CIA operation there was no treachery. John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, pp. 87-88 David Robarge, in a very thoughtful piece that should be read in its entirety, agrees that Popov's capture marked the time when Angleton became "fixed on the mole": David Robarge, Moles, Defectors and Deceptions: James Angleton and CIA Counterintelligence, p. 36. A 201 file is a CIA file on any person "of active operational interest": Clandestine Services Handbook, 43-1-1, February 15, 1960, Chapter III, Annex B, "Personalities - 201 and IDN Numbers", RIF# 104-10213-10202. Cited by John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1995) at p. 47 and 537, note 2. Headquarters supervisor Marvin Gheesling is described as having "considerable experience in espionage, intelligence and counterintelligence operations": HSCA Report, Volume XII, p. 566. "This combination of being on the Watch List without a 201 file makes Oswald special. Perhaps not unique, but certainly peculiar. It was as if someone wanted Oswald watched quietly." John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, p. 422. At the same time, Oswald was added to the HT LINGUAL list": John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, p. 56. Egerter helped prepare two totally conflicting documents. One was a teletype to third party agencies such as the FBI, State Department and the Navy inaccurately describing Oswald as "approximately 35 years old, with an athletic build, about six feet tall, with receding hairline...believed that Oswald was identical to Lee Henry Oswald": CIA teletype 74673 to FBI, State Department, and Navy, October 10, 1963; NARA, JFK files, CIA 201 file on Oswald. The in-house version with the more accurate description went only to the local agencies: CIA headquarters teletype 74830 to Mexico City CIA station, p. 3, October 10, 1963; NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10048 SA John Fain recommends that she write Secretary of State Christian Herter and Congressmen Sam Rayburn and Jim Wright: "Popov's Mole", p. 8: 16 Warren Commission Hearings, p. 729. Mrs. Oswald then sends one letter to Congressman Rayburn telling him that "according to the UPI Moscow press, he appeared at the US embassy renouncing his citizenship": Marguerite Oswald letter to Congressman Jim Wright, 3/6/60, Warren Commission Document 1115, p. 51 The next day, she wrote Secretary Herter a letter saying that Oswald had not renounced his citizenship: "All I know is what I read in the newspapers. He went to the U.S. Ambassy (sic) there and wanted to turn in his U.S. citizenship and had applied for Soviet citizenship. However the Russians refused his request but said he could remain in their country as a Resident Alien. As far as I know he is still a U.S. citizen." Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 16, pp. 594-595; Commission Exhibit 206. The statement that Oswald had renounced his citizenship was picked up in SA Fain's report of May 12, 1960: FBI report of 5/12/60 by SA John Fain; 17 Warren Commission Hearings 700, 702; Exhibit 821, p. 3. Because Fain printed this inaccurate information about renunciation in his report, the result was Oswald's dishonorable discharge by the Marines on August 17, 1960: John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, pp. 212-213. Oswald even wrote John Connally from the USSR, not realizing that Connally had quit his job as Secretary of the Navy to run for governor of Texas in 1962: Memo by FBI SA James Hosty, 11/25/63, p. 2, Commission Document 75 - FBI DeBrueys Report of 02 Dec 1963 re: Oswald/Russia, p. 701. "Edward Lee Oswald": John Fain's report, 6/12/60, p. 3, 17 Warren Commission Hearings 700, 702, Exhibit 821. "Robert Edward Lee Oswald": FBI report of Donald C. Steinmeyer, 4/1/64, re marriage records for Robert Edward Lee Oswald; 11/27/63 report by SA Joseph G. Engelhardt re sister of Robert Edward Lee Oswald. The 201 opening form filled out by Egerter includes the terms "defected to the USSR" and "radar operator" but says nothing about Oswald's threat to pass "classified things" about his work to the Soviets: 201 file request by Ann Egerter, 12/9/60, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 7/NARA Record Number: 104-10054-10204 Bill Simpich is a civil rights attorney and an antiwar activist in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I don't see how the Soviets, even if they took 7 days to check a visa applicant, would easily discover Lee Oswald's status in the armed forces. Even if they could check, what would they discover? He had in fact been honorably discharged from active duty, with some follow-up commitments to be sure, but nothing that would necessarily conflict with a 6-day visit to Russia. Next the Kudo: Helms was promoting the World War III deception. Helms knew that it was easy to get a tourist visa in Helsinki in 1959. Helms also knew it was easy to get get an indirect commercial flight from London to Helsinki, yet he left suspicions lingering until Chris Mills -- who had none of the resources available to Helms --looked into the matter. That is what Helms wanted us to believe, and as I stated on the linked thread, there is no evidence to support it so I've got fifty bucks that says it isn't true. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=16104 This is from the Guardian newspaper in 1959: http://books.google.com/books?ei=f3ojTJL4C8P38Abip6G_BQ&ct=result&id=NWcrAQAAIAAJ&dq=khrushchev+1959+tourist+visa&q=+tourist+visa#search_anchor I have no doubt that Helms also knew that tourist visas could easily be had in London in 1959. So much for the uniqueness of Helsinki, and yes I will accept payment in Canadian dollars. Finally, a question: What was Nosenko's response, and are the records of this available online? _____________________________________________________________________________________ Good question, and here's what I've found out about Nosenko's response so far: Nosenko says that there is no requirement to clear tourists thru Moscow, because they need the money. He says that if a tourist in "Italy, Sweden, Finland..." wants to visit the USSR, they may be able to get in within 3-5 days. So Helsinki, according to Nosenko, is not unique. But 3-5 days is the norm, because the request has to be run by the Ambassador for approval. When Nosenko is asked if the time can be shorter, he says "I have seen the allowance that was given to the Ambassadors. It was said three to five days. This was for tourists only." He also said that the issuing agent (such as Golub) need not be KGB. Nosenko says "this was in the form of a directive...the KGB answer was provided by the SCD and signed by the Chairman or one of his Deputies. The 7th Department prepared the original answer." When asked what year this was, Nosenko responded, "Maybe 1960". http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=55330&relPageId=11 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=55330&relPageId=12 Let's assume that Nosenko is correct, and let's also assume that the directive in place by 1959. It's still very unusual. Oswald did not apply for his visa until the 13th. http://www.russianbooks.org/oswald/journey.htm "On 13 October Golub called Costille to invite him to lunch. (This is the first overture Golub has made toward Costille since the beginning of September.)" They agree to a quick lunch that very day. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=18377&relPageId=3 On the 14th, Oswald gets his visa. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=10673&relPageId=369 Nosenko said that 3-5 days was the procedure, not one day. Let me know what more you find! Thanks.

Kathy, Did you or anyone else at the Forum figure out where this blond Oswald photo came from? It doesn't look like the one in Armstrong's book. Thanks. Bill Simpich

Nice work Terry, the funny thing about William Morehouse Jr., is when he was hospitalized in Russia, he was visited by Leonard Bernstein, and not someone happened to be named Leonard Bernstein, but the conductor of orchestras, himself. Is that not slightly strange? See http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=11770&relPageId=2 Robert, that is really something. Leonard Bernstein may have been the reason Oswald got into the Soviet Union at all... Helsinki vice consul and CIA agent "William Costille" crucial October 9 memo to Maury and Timm with the subject line of “REDCAP, Costille-Pawnee/5-Golub Contact”. Costille reports that during early September, “(t)wo Americans were in the Soviet Consulate at the time and were applying for Soviet visas through Golub…Golub phoned Costille to state that he would give them their visas as soon as they made advance Intourist reservations. When they did this, Golub immediately gave them the visas.” See 10/9/59 memo from Costille to Maury (Chief SR) and Timm (Chief, WE), 10/9/59, http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=27337&relPageId=3 This memo followed months of interactions between Costille and Golub. A Ukranian diplomat, Golub made it clear that he enjoyed American company, and Costille was gently trying to encourage Golub to defect. Oswald immediately made good use of Costille’s tip about coming through Helsinki. Oswald arrived in Helsinki late Saturday night on October 10 and submitted his visa request on Tuesday the 13th. See Peter Wronski, http://www.russianbooks.org/oswald/journey.htm After traveling to Europe by freighter, the normally tight-fisted Marine distinguished himself by staying in extremely expensive hotels and booking a private guided tour of Moscow. See John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee (Quasar, Ltd., Arlington, Texas, 2003), p. 255 I should add that much of the memo discusses a quick lunch requested by Golub with Costille on the morning of the 13th, and the two men managed to swing it that same day. This memo’s subject line is REDWOOD/REDSKIN/REDCAP/LCIMPROVE, which indicates that the CIA felt the memo was relevant to three different programs as well as what I call the LCIMPROVE technique. Golub expresses how grateful he was to Costille for the two tickets he gave him to see Leonard Bernstein on the 4th. Leonard Bernstein may be the reason that Oswald got into the Soviet Union at all. See 11/27/59 memo by William Costille, REDWOOD/REDSKIN/REDCAP/LCIMPROVE re Gregory Golub, 11/27/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/ NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10291 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=18377&relPageId=3 ...One last thing. I have a couple sources indicating the vice consul at the American embassy in Helsinki referred to in the documents as "William Costille" was actually a CIA officer named Robert Fulton. Does anyone else know this man, or how to reach Jerry Ennis, who has apparently studied Fulton? Jerry is active with MFF, maybe he is active here as well.

Hi Bill: Interesting article. Let me say that I do not subscribe to the theory that Lee Oswald was ever a spy for anyone. Nor do I believe that "Helsinki became the only place in the Soviet borderlands where a foreigner could get a visa in a matter of minutes" Greg Parker and I have argued this issue before, and as far as I can gather, Richard Helms is the ONLY source for this claim that Helsinki was unique. Richard Helms is a convicted perjurer.... So my question is: Do you have any other source-- besides the perjurer Helms -- for the proposition that Helsinki was the only embassy where a foreign tourist like Lee Oswald could quickly get a tourist visa? Raymond, your question is a really important one, and at this time I can only answer it by implication. Let me approach it carefully. On 11/25, there is an incorrect and very curious story in the Stockholm press saying that Oswald was turned away at Helsinki, that he went back to Stockholm, and traveled directly to Moscow two days later. This was reported this to the new President on 11/29, with the proviso that a "very reliable but extremely sensitive source" gives them the right information. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=107002&relPageId=6 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=107002&relPageId=7 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=107002&relPageId=8 They eventually figure out that he did enter through Helsinki. There's the HSCA Final Report, at p. 212 which quotes State Department legal adviser Abraham Chayes telling Rankin of the Warren Commission that it's normally a week to get a visa from Helsinki. Helms' 7/31/64 statement was triggered by the SR/CI's 7/28 report saying that it's a 5 day minimum for Helsinki and Stockholm, and 2-3 days appears to be impossible, they'll write a report on this. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=957&relPageId=243 Then here's the Deposition of Ray Rocca, Angleton's right hand man, where Rocca testifies that the CIA was never able to figure out how Oswald got his USSR visa so expeditiously. That's hard to believe, because it's no mystery. The 1959 memos spell out how Golub got it done, but they weren't declassified until the 1990s. When asked if the expeditious visa indicates some relationship between Oswald and intelligence, even Rocca had to admit: "Indeed." He then hedges, but not by much. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=249&relPageId=265 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=249&relPageId=266 So I'll keep digging, it's a good question. For now, besides the admittedly unreliable Helms, we have Chayes and Rocca saying this is an unusually fast visa, and not suggesting any other cities besides Stockholm where such a thing might be possible.

John and friends, Here's my chrono on Gerry Droller that goes up to 1966, plus a Watergate tie-in: Howard Hunt referred to him as “Frank Drecher” in Give Us this Day - see Last Investigation, p. 134. Also known as Frank Bender He was WH/4 political action chief, but Hunt had the forward assignment, Droller was stuck in HQ, 1960, John Prados, Safe for Democracy, p. 225 Louise Valentiner heard a lot of details during a 7/19/60 meeting http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=31020&relPageId=8 Her husband Clark Valentiner got OA to be a field agent in Cuba in 57 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=31020&relPageId=12 Artime was at the 7/19 meeting http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=31020&relPageId=4 After Louise Valentiner’s call, Albaugh phoned Bernie Reichhardt to inform him of her call. Bernie said to tell her to keep quiet about what she heard. She heard Frank Bender say “I was hired by the United States to do away with Castro”.http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=442533 “Gerard Droller, alias Frank Bender” was interviewed on 26 July 1960 by Reporting Agent and by Joseph Langan, Director of Security, of Project JMARC. Droller has a German accent. John Simkin says he was born in Germany in 1905. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=31020&relPageId=11 Bender, a political liberal, interviewed Castro (in New York?), convinced that “Castro is not only not a Communist - he is a strong anti-Communist fighter.” P. 30, Deadly Secrets. Dr. Jose Miro Cardona is AMBUD-1, trying to unite exiles under his banner of PGCC http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?absPageId=392424 He was first PM of Cuba under Castro, then he left and formed CRC (cryptonym AMBUD)in 3/61 to unite the exiles and he was head of it as well http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/CIA_Cryptonyms CRC was a shotgun wedding of FRD and MRP performed by insistence of Frank Bender http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=649369 Covert action staff of four - headed by Jerry Droller - famous Mr. Bender of bay of pigs - Philip Agee, inside the company: cia diary, p. 498 Bender was the CIA director of Bay of Pigs invasion plans, Haynes Johnson says he was ready to defy any Admin. Plans to halt the invasion. HSCA Vol X, p. 15 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=156019 After Frank Bender briefed the provisional government for Cuba on April 13, they were placed under CIA guard. (P. 93, Bender put them under house arrest) Then, on eve of invasion, they were hustled aboard an agency C-46 with taped-over windows and flown to the Opa-Locka airfiedl outside Miami. When the brigade waded ashore at the Bay of Pigs, the provisional government was being held under house arrest in a clapboard house on the airfield’s border. Meanwhile, Tony Varona paced back and forth. Deadly Secrets, pp. 80-81. Phillips met Bender in 61 around repair of plane with Hunt - Bender and Hunt weren’t getting along too well then http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=526313 In May 62, Somoza is working with CIA on plans with Cuban exiles, and Ydigoas is presenting JFK with similar plans for Cuban exiles in Guatemala http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=17021&relPageId=3 7/9/62, Shackley to Harvey, re Eduardo and Mr. B. (Frank Bender) meeting AMBUD-1 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=643824 7/9/62 AMBUD-1 wants REDACTED as his Prime Minister in new government http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=643821 Late 1963 - Droller and Venezuelan arms cache: Joseph B. Smith, in Portrait of a Cold Warrior (Putnam, 1976), p. 373: Between the Argentine elections in 1963 and the Chilean election of 1964, my attention was once again focused on Cuba. Gerry Droller had become branch chief of the countries of the "Cono Sur," the southern cone of Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, and Chile. He came down to Buenos Aires to remind us Cuba was more important than any of them. "Listen, this guy Des is a genius and he's got the inside track to the Whit House," Gerry explained. "I also think J.C.'s going to retire soon and Des will run the whole division in name as well as in fact. Already we get dozens of old FE hands in the division and more guys from Germany too. WH Division is now all chopstick users and umlaut speakers. And we're all supposed to concentrate on Cuba." The matter we all concentrated on from December, 1963, until the summer of 1964 was making the discovery of a small arms cache on the coast of Venezuela seem important enough proof of Castro's interventionist intentions that the OAS would declare Cuba an outlaw nation and refuse to allow OAS members to have political or economic relations with her. I initially paid little attention to the news of the discovery of these arms that came from Caracas just after John Kennedy's assassination. I still hadn't gotten over the terrible shock of the President's death when I received a cable saying headquarters wanted maximum press coverage given to the announcement on December 3, 1963, that the OAS had agreed to investigate Venezuelan charges the arms had been secretly delivered by Castro's forces for the use of Venezuelan leftist guerrillas.... ....The new chief of covert action operations for WH came down to Buenos Aires just before Christmas to explain how important the Venezuelan arms cache discovery was considered. Dramatically, he related how much the discovery had meant to John Kennedy. "The President had been pressuring us for months before he was killed to come up with some solid proof that Castro was exporting his revolution. He wanted to make his anti-Castro crusade a Latin American cause not just a U.S. mission. He wanted to have some really convincing evidence of Castro's interference in the affairs of Latin countries so that we could get the OAS to take collective action against Castro. This discovery is what he was looking for." Herb (Ray Herbert, J.C. King's deputy as chief of Western Hemisphere WH division CIA) explained that the news of the discovery had come in from Caracas just the day before President Kennedy left for Texas. He and another officer rushed over to see Bobby Kennedy with the cable. Bobby called the President and he ordered them to come immediately to the Oval Office. "President Kennedy was extremely pleased and excited about the prospects," Herb said. "It was very late in the evening when we left the White House. I think this was the last piece of business he took up before he left Washington. We all like to think we're running this operation for him." http://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2009/04/venezuelan-arms-cache-northwoods.html Droller was chief of covert action in 1966 - Safe for Democracy, p. 331, John Prados Frank Bender mentioned by Woodward and Bernstein in 6/19/72 Watergate article: In Miami, Washington Post Staff Writer Kirk Schartenberg reported that two of the other suspects -- Sturgis and Barker -- are well known among Cuban exiles there. Both are known to have had extensive contracts with the Central Intelligence Agency, exile sources reported, and Barker was closely associated with Frank Bender, the CIA operative who recruited many members of Brigade 2506, the Bay of Pigs invasion force. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2002/05/31/AR2005111001228_4.html

My article below recently got a good review in Lobster. Here's the review and the article. I would really appreciate feedback from Education Forum members, so I can build on this work further. This was written just before some of us went to lobby in DC in March. The endnotes provide the sources. There's a hyperlinked version at http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/THE-JFK-CASE--THE-OFFICE-by-Bill-Simpich-100310-266.html I'd appreciate it if you can give me your best take. -- Bill Simpich Lee Harvey Oswald and the CIA ‘The JFK Case; the Office that Spied on its Own Spies’ by Bill Simpich is a very interesting and important article based on recent documents, which shows conclusively, from official paper, that LHO was working for the CIA. With some modest extensions, Simpich shows that LHO was part of operations which were trying (a) get defectors into the USSR and ( detect ‘moles’ within the CIA. In other words, LHO was working for Angleton’s counter intelligence end of the Agency. This explains why so much effort was made to cover-up the CIA’s links with Oswald – for example the hanky-panky in Mexico City involving the Soviet embassy. It presumably also explains why Angleton was made the Agency’s official liaison with the Warren Commission: he could make sure that none of his section’s operations were exposed. THE OFFICE THAT SPIED ON ITS OWN SPIES Memos released in full show that Lee Harvey Oswald was used in espionage aimed at the Soviets during 1959 and 1963. On both occasions, Oswald was seeking an instant visa in order to enter a Communist country. Documents recently released in full reveal that alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was wittingly or unwittingly used in CIA spying activities referred to as LCIMPROVE during the two months before John F. Kennedy was killed. Until the last few years, these documents only existed in less-than-complete form. LCIMPROVE is defined in two separate CIA documents as "Counter-espionage involving Soviet intelligence services worldwide". The request for the definition of LCIMPROVE by government staffers to the CIA is here (see item #2) The CIA's response is here. Counter-espionage involves actions taken to detect and counteract espionage. Several CIA memos with the subject line "LCIMPROVE" were written during the two periods of Oswald's life when he was trying to instantly obtain a visa to enter a communist nation. The LCIMPROVE memos in 1959 dramatically describe the time when Oswald was seeking to defect to the Soviet Union. These memos are also linked to the REDCAP program to induce Soviets and Eastern Europeans to defect to the West. These REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memos are filled with wild yarns about sex-and-alcohol parties involving Americans and Soviets together in Helsinki. It was days of wine and roses, with each side testing the other. American vice consul William Costille was enticing the Soviet consul Gregory Golub to defect. By all appearances, Soviet consul Golub just wanted to let the good times roll. Soviet consul Golub was warmed by the camaraderie. Helsinki became the only place in the Soviet borderlands where a foreigner could get a visa in a matter of minutes if you "looked all right". This change in policy came down shortly before Oswald needed to cross the Soviet border from Helsinki. Oswald was still a Marine when he came to Helsinki. Oswald would probably never have received permission from Soviet authorities in Moscow to enter the USSR. The instant visa from Golub is what made it possible for Oswald to successfully defect to the Soviet Union during October 1959. He married a Soviet woman and returned with his new family to the United States in 1962. LCIMPROVE documents from late 1963 report on Oswald's quest to get instant visas to visit Cuba and the USSR. A great deal of evidence indicates that Oswald was impersonated in Mexico City. All references to Oswald in Mexico City are based on what is contained in the CIA reports. I am not assuming that these stories about Oswald are true. The CIA reports on Oswald's visits to the Soviet and Cuban consulates in Mexico City to obtain these visas less than two months before the JFK assassination. Oswald showed up with his visa application at the Cuban consulate on a Friday all fired up to leave for Cuba the following Monday. This was during a time when Mexico City was an "intelligence battlefield" for both sides in the Cold War. On the lighter side, Oswald was behaving like a clown. He was demanding an instant travel visa to go to Cuba. The American government ban on Cuban travel had begun two years earlier in 1961. Mexico City was the only place in Mexico that an American had any chance to get into Cuba at all. The Cubans were only providing travel visas during time to American travelers when a way station was needed while en route to one's ultimate destination. In this case, Oswald hadn't even applied for a Soviet visa. Obtaining a visa from the Soviets was going to take four months. Oswald was doing one of the things he was known at being best at - being an impossible person. Oswald had succeeded in making himself the talk of the town on Embassy Row in Mexico City. Tongues were wagging inside the Cuban consulate at Oswald's rash and rude manners as he tried to convince the employees into giving him a visa to leave for Cuba the following Monday. His flat-out lie to them about having a Soviet visa added more fuel to the fire. The buzzing of the consulate employees was picked up by CIA wiretaps throughout the building and on every telephone. As a bonus, such an event inevitably worsened relations between Cuba and Oswald's Fair Play for Cuba Committee during a time when a documented CIA-FBI plan to discredit the FPCC was nearing fruition. The more hidden aspects involved the shadowboxing between the Americans and the Soviets. For years, there was a practice in intelligence circles of slightly altering items in Oswald's biography and using these items as "marked cards" as they passed information back and forth with each other. If an unauthorized person had access to a particular spelling of a name, for example, that "marked card" indicated that there had been a leak. A leaker might be a defector. The "marked card" technique has been around for a long time. Peter Wright in Spycatcher refers to this method as a "barium meal". Tom Clancy in Patriot Games calls this trick a "canary trap". Scott mentions that the "marked card" was one of the methods used to catch the infamous CIA mole Aldrich Ames during the 1990s. The marked card trick didn't work because Ames himself was the chief of the Soviet Russia counterintelligence staff. Thus, Oswald was wittingly or unwittingly involved in a molehunt aimed at American intelligence officers. Ann Egerter was the main mover in this effort. Egerter was with the Counter-Intelligence Special Investigations Group, or CI/SIG. For years, the CIA and other agencies had been using "marked cards" as a method to see if the CIA itself was being infiltrated by Soviet or Cuban agents. Egerter referred to her group as the "office that spied on spies". At the same time, REDCAP memos surfaced during the summer of 1963 directed at Kostikov and other Soviet Embassy employees. As mentioned above, REDCAP was a CIA program that encouraged Soviet defections. Soviet vice consul Valeriy Kostikov was the subject of a REDCAP memo written the same day that Oswald first visited the Soviet embassy. The CIA may have wanted to see if Oswald could effectively test the emotional makeup of Soviet vice consul Valeriy Kostikov or another embassy employee. Oswald was known to be a provocateur, in the classical sense of the word. He knew how to get an argument going, as well as how to spur a discussion that might reveal a vulnerability that Kostikov or another embassy employee. The story is that Oswald came to the Soviet Embassy in late September, buttonholed Kostikov, threw a loaded revolver down on the table, and burst into tears. The purpose of this drama may have simply been to get Kostikov and the other consuls to let down their guard and talk. My colleagues and I intend to bring this evidence to the House Oversight Committee between March 14-20, as part of the nationwide "Sunshine Week" to build dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Congressman Ed Towns of Brooklyn is the chair of this committee. On Tuesday, March 16, we will take it to the halls of Congress to release the many documents still in the vaults and for other documents to be released in full. Aging witnesses and informants can be interviewed while it's still possible to get their statements. We also have strong evidence of twelve different "handlers" directing Oswald for the four years prior to the assassination that will be provided in a series of forthcoming articles. We ask you to sign our petition and take action to call on Cong. Ed Towns and the House Oversight Committee during Sunshine Week to get them to do the right thing. Critical documents about American history and contemporary issues should be declassified and released to the American people. Here's our petition. Just about all the sources can be viewed in the endnotes, below. Paper trails were created in Mexico City to discredit Oswald by linking him with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the KGB Oswald had already obtained a new passport back in June of 1963, stating in his application that he planned to go to the Soviet Union and elsewhere by December. Oswald had one child and his wife Marina was due to have another in October. There were marital difficulties, but Oswald was devoted to his young child and looking forward to the next one. The family depended on his income for their day-to-day needs. All indications indicate that he was not truly serious in his attempt to return to the Soviet Union. Two goals were set for Oswald to meet and a third goal for his handlers. There is much evidence that Oswald was impersonated some or all of the time in Mexico City, and I'm not going to try to resolve that discussion here. When I discuss Oswald here, I'm talking about Oswald and anyone else who may have impersonated him. The first goal was for Oswald to leave a paper trail expanding his legend as a pro-Castro activist with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC). There was a CIA-FBI plan to use deception to discredit the FPCC, and the odds were good that Oswald would be used in some way. Oswald knew how to empty a room, and he did that to good effect at the Cuban embassy when he didn't get his instant visa. The reactions of the annoyed employees was just what the wiretappers wanted. Oswald had posed as an FPCC organizer in New Orleans that summer, although he never recruited any followers or did anything effective other than reveal himself over public airwaves as a defector returned from the Soviet Union. Direct travel from the United States to Cuba had been banned since 1961. He had to enter Cuba through a third country. The only place that could be done in 1963 was through Mexico City. The second goal was to put Oswald and Soviet vice consul Valeriy Kostikov in the same room in Mexico City and test Kostikov in some way, or at least to make a paper trail showing that the two men had spent as much time together as possible. The FBI had floated a rumor to CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton that the consular officer was not only KGB, but also a member of Department 13 (the bureau of assassination and sabotage), which Angleton had determined in June 1963 to be still unproven. Although the REDCAP program was most successful among Eastern Europeans, REDCAP was a worldwide program designed to induce Soviet defections. There were a number of REDCAP memos discussing the Mexico City Soviet station during this era. It's clear that there was a plan to see if any Soviet consuls were vulnerable to recruitment for defection, or to at least divide and conquer within their ranks by making it look like someone was toying with the idea. These REDCAP memos continued to float around well after the JFK assassination. The handlers Ann Egerter and David Phillips had the responsibility to meet the third goal, which was the other side of the REDCAP equation. Was everyone reliable inside the CIA itself? Get different items of information about Oswald spread out between four different intelligence agencies. Give the better dope to the locals so they'll work with you again. Give the bad dope to the drones at headquarters, which is where the mole might be lurking. Then sit back and see if anything leaks. This was all part of the eternal search for possible enemy penetrators of the CIA. During the autumn of 1963, the CIA and FBI were working on psychological operations against the Fair Play for Cuba Committee that would plant "deceptive information" to "embarrass" the FPCC The FBI's liaison to the CIA, Sam Papich, contacted FBI HQ on September 18, 1963, a week before Oswald's arrival in Mexico City. Papich let FBI headquarters know that John Tilton, a mid-level CIA officer with a background in psychological operations, was considering planting "deceptive information" which might "embarrass" the FPCC in areas where it has some support. A perceived relationship between Oswald and Kostikov could be used to discredit the FPCC, or any other activities that could be plausibly linked with Oswald. Another suggestion of Tilton's was for the FBI and CIA to work together to obtain the FPCC foreign mailing list and FPCC stationery "to produce large quantities of propaganda in the name of the (FPCC)". Tilton specifically says this is designed "to counter their activities in foreign countries". In other words, fake or misleading FPCC literature would be created that would make the FPCC look bad. How would this faux FPCC literature be circulated? "This would be done by distributing propaganda through appropriate cut-outs." A cut-out is an intermediary in a clandestine operation. A "cut-out" does not know the source or destination, the information being transmitted, or the identities of any persons involved in the espionage process. Was Oswald an appropriate example of such a cut-out? We know that part of Tilton's plan got past the talking stage. On October 27, New York informant NY 3245-S* (who may have been FPCC worker Victor Vicente) got inside the New York FPCC national office and gave to the FBI a couple hundred documents, the foreign mailing list, and a sample of FPCC stationery. One of those documents was a letter from Oswald to the office reporting on the publicity caused by his FPCC efforts on behalf of his one-person New Orleans chapter. In the swirl of the assassination, these two chiefs took careful note that the letter from Oswald to FPCC head "Vincent Lee" somehow got addressed to "Henry Lee". These gentlemen always wanted more dirt on the FPCC, but I think there was another reason why the chiefs took a second look. Oswald was trying to obtain his visas in the most difficult way possible While CIA officials mulled over who should be the cut-out to "distribute propaganda" that would backlash against the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Oswald was busy trying to get to the Soviet Union in the most difficult manner possible. Instead of mailing off an application for a visa to get to the USSR, a travel visa application in Oswald's name was prepared for personal delivery to the Cuban consulate in Mexico City. The application stated that Oswald wanted to visit Cuba by himself for two weeks on his way to the USSR. It was already complicated enough to try to visit two Communist countries at once. It would have been much simpler to visit them in separate visits. Given that Oswald was determined to visit both nations in one trip, the smarter and easier way would have been to mail visa applications to the Cuban embassy and the Soviet embassy in Mexico City as soon as possible after obtaining the passport in June. The story is that Oswald chose the bone-headed way, going to the Cuban consulate in person on a Friday afternoon on 9/27/63. Once at the consulate, he handed them an application to obtain a Cuban visa right there on the spot for a Monday departure on 9/30/63, even though he had no Soviet visa. The Cubans called the Soviet consulate, and were told it would take four months to get one. When asked about Oswald's wife, the story goes that Oswald said that Marina was in New York City and she would follow him from there. When the Cuban consulate workers told him the bad news, Oswald acted out and caused an unforgettably boisterous scene. Despite American claims, none of the consulate employees who were present could positively identify Oswald as the person at the Cuban consulate that day. Cuban consul Eusebio Azcue was emphatic in testifying that Oswald was not the "dark blond" man angrily demanding an instant visa. Because of the number of potential witnesses to this impersonation at the Cuban consulate, there is no paper trail of documents prior to the assassination showing that someone calling himself Oswald was seen at the Cuban consulate. Helms admitted to the Warren Commission that the CIA was told that Oswald was at the Cuban consulate before JFK was assassinated. When CIA director Richard Helms was asked about this near the end of his life, he claimed that the CIA "didn't want to blow their source". I believe we will discover that the "source" was the impersonator himself. Look at the end of this article at the CIA's records for suspect RIS officers. RIS stands for Russian Intelligence Services - a generic term for the civilian KGB and the military GRU. These records show that Oswald or someone like him spoke to Kostikov at the Soviet embassy on 9/27/63 and his colleague attaché Paul Yatskov on 9/28/63. One way to read this list is that the CIA is listing Oswald as a suspect Russian spy. Another and even more fascinating way to read these documents is to flip the script and look at the string of REDCAP cases in the summer of 1963 involving Kostikov and other Soviets that tests their potential as possible defectors. If you read from the bottom of the page of the previous hyperlinked item to the top of this one, you'll see a meeting between Oswald and Kostikov and a string of REDCAP cases both before and after. As discussed in greater depth below, REDCAP not only induced defections, but encouraged possible candidates to "stayed in place" and burrow against the Communist enemy from within without coming to the West. See the REDCAP cases throughout this list and by the names of Soviet embassy officials Kotsikov, Yatskov, and Nechiporenko. Also see a REDCAP memo focused on Kostikov during 9/27/63 itself. Particularly intriguing is a meeting between Kostikov and a David Paton, with the notation "Kostikov had legitimate contact with Paton on visas". There is certainly no such statement after the visa discussions with Oswald. With or without his knowledge, it looks like Oswald was used for counter-espionage purposes as part of a CIA molehunt for Soviet spies within the agency The names of both Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife Marina Prusakova were repeatedly misspelled as "Lee Henry Oswald" and "Marina Pusakova" in CIA messages during the time that Oswald was reported to have visited the Cuban and Soviet consulates in Mexico City. It wasn't just a typographical error. This error and others like it had been made repeatedly by the same person. The CIA's Ann Egerter (also known as Egeter) told Congressional investigators that she worked at the office that spied on their own spies, known as the Counter-Intelligence/Special Investigations Group, or CI/SIG. Egerter assisted in the preparation of two separate CIA messages on 10/10/63, both referring to him as Lee Henry Oswald. One message inaccurately referred to Oswald as "approximately 35 years old, with an athletic build" and the other message more accurately described him as "born 18 Oct 1939, five foot ten inches, light brown wavy hair". In fact, Oswald's central CIA file was wrongly entitled by Egerter as "Lee Henry Oswald" several years earlier when he had defected from the Marines to the Soviet Union. By the time of the weekend of the assassination, even Walter Cronkite was calling him "Lee Henry Oswald". There was another common practice among the agencies to invert Oswald's name as "Harvey Lee Oswald". Like most people, Lee Oswald never used his middle name except for official purposes. This practice of transposing his names emanated from CIA and military sources, and the FBI eventually picked up on it as well. The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) knew about this practice and looked for Oswald files under these various names during their investigation of this case during the 70s. Just a few of many examples: 1. A remarkable 1972 handwritten memo entitled "Harvey Lee Oswald" states: "Today the DC/CI (Deputy Chief, Counter-intelligence) advised me that the Director had relayed via the DDP (Deputy Director of Plans) the injunction that the Agency was not, under any circumstances, to make inquiries or ask questions of any source or defector about Oswald." 2. Thomas Casasin, chief of CIA's Soviet Russia Division 6, wrote that at one point he had "operational interest in the Harvey story" that involved the theme of defection. 3. The Warren Commission documented someone named "Harvey Oswald" appeared at the Selective Service office in Austin to complain about his military discharge at the same time that another Oswald was heading to Mexico City. 4. Lt. Harvey Oswald was reported to be seen in a well-known bar in Havana with leading FPCC leader Robert Taber right after the Bay of Pigs invasion. 5. "Harvey Lee Oswald" has a list of approximately a hundred documents attributed to him. Many of them have been destroyed or cannot be found, including an entire FBI file under that name. In the intelligence practice of having two or more files on a subject, the regular name is used for material that is meant for the public domain, while the transposed or misspelled name is for covert information. In that manner, an agency can tell the "truth" about the contents of their overt file, and hide its covert information in the covert file with the transposed or misspelled name. Author and professor Peter Dale Scott cites many of the errors discussed above (and more) in his groundbreaking essay Oswald and the Hunt for Popov's Mole. Most of these errors were committed by highly educated agents like Egerter, whose careers depend on getting names right and accurately spelling the names of relevant parties. Scott suggests that these errors are wholly deliberate, and that this pattern is one of the essential methods used by the CIA in a "molehunt" looking for Soviet spies that might be trying to penetrate the CIA itself. If a spy without proper clearances to the document were to repeat the misspelled name to another party, this "marked card" would point to the errant spy. Scott has written: "In the game of molehunting, of course, the distinction between targeter and targeted is not a secure one. The situation is something like the parlor game of Murder, in which the culprit is"likely to be one of the investigators." Egerter's boss James Angleton was the head of CIA counterintelligence. Angleton used CI/SIG in a ruthless manner, destroying the lives of innocent officers and anyone else who stood in the way of his hunt for Soviet agents supposedly penetrating the CIA. By the time Angleton was fired in the midst of the Watergate era, he was accused of being a Soviet mole himself. By 1980, Congress was forced to pass a bill to compensate the unfairly accused officers in what became known as the "Mole Relief Act". LCIMPROVE documents focus on when Oswald was trying to get a Cuban visa prior to the 1963 JFK assassination The first document, dated October 8, 1963 from LADILLINGER, mentions a phone tap on the Soviet embassy in Mexico City that supposedly picked up a call from Lee Oswald on October 1 in "broken Russian". It also states that Oswald's photo was taken by a hidden camera outside the embassy on the same day and described him as "apparent age 35, athletic build". This 10/8/63 message can be seen here. For many years, the controversy around this 10/8/63 document has been that it is not a description of Lee Harvey Oswald. Peter Gregory, a Russian translator, told the FBI that Oswald was skilled enough at Russian to be a translator himself. Oswald was 24 years old with a slender build, not 35 with an athletic build. FBI documents state that Dallas FBI agents who knew Oswald's voice described the voice as not Oswald's after listening to the October 1 tape of the phone tap and described the voice as not Oswald's. The CIA subsequently denied that this tape existed after the assassination and convinced the Dallas agents to cover up the tape's existence. Warren Commissioner David Slawson has admitted listening to the tape after the assassination, and is curiously vague and closed-mouthed about it. Slawson, a law professor, is recently retired and lives in the West Coast. He should be asked to tell the full story before Congress. CIA agent Anne Goodpasture admitted in 1995 that her boss Win Scott may have had a copy of the tape and "squirreled it away in his safe". Goodpasture said that the tape technician Arnold Arehart would know if a copy was made, as he was in the tape center "all the time". The photo turned out to have been taken on October 2, not October 1, and it was not Oswald. The House committee found Goodpasture's story of the photo "highly implausible". Hoover himself told LBJ that "we have up here the tape and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet Embassy, using Oswald's name. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy." In other words, this October 8 message from LADILLINGER has been cited for many years as the strongest proof that Oswald was impersonated when he was in Mexico City. The LCIMPROVE subject line on LADILLINGER's memo is telling evidence that this impersonation was part of a counter-espionage program aimed at the Soviets. I haven't seen LCIMPROVE in any of the earlier Mexico City memos. The second document, dated October 15, 1963 from GFGESTETNER, is very short. The Mexico City CIA station asks CIA headquarters to "pls pouch photo Oswald", or "please send a photo of Oswald". It may be that the Mexico City station itself was aware that there are problems with any would-be Oswald photos at the station. The message refers to "Lee Henry Oswald", not "Lee Harvey Oswald". This 10/15/63 message can be seen here. The 10/15 document also refers to "DIR 74830" this was the 10/10/63 message to Mexico City discussed above that provides a far more accurate description for "Lee Henry Oswald" "born 18 Oct 1939, five foot ten inches, one hundred sixty five pounds, light brown wavy hair, blue eyes". Except for his name and his weight (which varied between 130-150 pounds during his short life as an adult), this message got it right. In Popov's Mole, Scott brings home how the repeated use of the name "Lee Henry Oswald" and the error regarding his weight was part and parcel of the molehunt being led by CI/SIG's Egerter while Oswald was in the Soviet Union. With great determination, Egerter had succeeded in getting these details wrong for three years. The 10/10/63 message also told the Mexico City CIA station to provide the 5'10"/165 description to their local FBI, Navy, INS, and State Department contacts. However, CIA headquarters sent a second and contradictory message on the same day to the headquarters of these agencies providing totally wrong information for Oswald: "approximately 35 years old, with an athletic build", and falsely assuring them that their local contacts were being provided the same information. Ann Egerter helped prepare both of these contradictory messages. Remember that for Egerter, counter-intelligence meant that her group CI/SIG had to run an "office that spied on spies". During the 1970s, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) analyzed these two 10/10/63 messages from CIA headquarters and verified that they were drafted at the same time and sent within a few hours of each other. Given these contradictory messages, and the lack of an operational name accompanying LCIMPROVE, it indicates that Oswald may have been part of what the CIA refers to as a "hip pocket group" or a "vest pocket group" known to only a few persons. We have every reason to believe that Ann Egerter in Washington at CI/SIG teamed up with "Gerald F. Gestetner" (a pseudonym for chief of Soviet affairs Herbert Manell) and his wife "L.A. Dillinger" (a pseudonym for Barbara Murphy Manell) and others at the Mexico City CIA station to run this espionage operation using Oswald and aimed at the Soviets. We know that Egerter's boss was James Jesus Angleton, the legendary head of CIA counterintelligence that presided over Egerter's molehunting unit. Angleton is legendary for almost tearing the agency apart in the paranoid manner that he hunted for Soviet moles. We also know that Gestetner and Dellinger answered to David Phillips, the number three man at the station and the one in charge of covert actions as well as the Cuban desk. Phillips had a history of running anti-FPCC operations. Phillips made a point of letting Cuban exile leader Antonio Veciana see him with Oswald just a few weeks earlier in Dallas. Phillips admitted under oath that "we covered this man (Oswald) all the time" in Mexico City right after he wrote a book called The Night Watch describing Oswald as a "blip". Gestetner testified that his duties as Soviet affairs chief were to monitor counterintelligence, to negate Soviet efforts to penetrate their station, and to recruit Soviets to their side. Dillinger testified that she was the assistant chief on Soviet affairs in Mexico City, and that their joint duties were counter-espionage and field investigations on the Soviets. Dellinger had taking care of children at home and was only working part-time. Her main job was to review the telephone tap transcripts every day. Gestetner and Dillinger were married and reviewed these transcripts as a team. These agents took the name game right to the halls of Congress. When interviewed at Capitol Hill, they changed their names just slightly from "Gerald F. Gestetner" to "Herbert Gestetner", and from "L.A. Dillinger" to "Barbara Dillenger" using their old counter-espionage trick to make it more difficult for ordinary people to keep track of them in the dawning era of public access to computers. LCIMPROVE documents also focus on when Oswald was trying to get a Soviet visa prior to his 1959 defection A second set of documents focus on Oswald's defection to the Soviet Union in October 1959. Several LCIMPROVE documents are dated near the time and place of Oswald's border crossing from Helsinki to the Soviet Union. The Soviet consul and the American vice consul had just confirmed an agreement where an American could get an instant visa to the USSR in minutes in Helsinki if he "looked all right". This was a sea change from having to wait indefinitely while the documents were mailed to Moscow for approval. Oswald was on leave from the US Marines at the time, and any such approval would have been virtually impossible to obtain. It's documented that counter-espionage LCIMPROVE activities go back at least as far back as at a memo written on June 7, 1956, looking at Soviet consul Gregory Golub as someone who "professes sympathy for the United States". LCIMPROVE may have originated in response to the West publishing Khrushchev's famous call for the "de-Stalinization" of the Soviet Union three days earlier. The subject line of the 6/7/56 memo was "REDCAP/LCIMPROVE". For several years, a program known as "REDSOX sought to parachute agents into the satellite countries to foment rebellion, while REDCAP was intended to handle the results of such efforts, including the expected deluge of defectors and refugees." Angleton obtained a copy of Khrushchev's secret anti-Stalin speech in April and planned on using isolated portions of it for propaganda purposes. After the copy of the speech was reviewed and declared to be authentic, CIA chief Allen Dulles decided to use this opportunity to intensify REDSOX and REDCAP. Although we don't know what the "LC" phrase in LCIMPROVE stands for, the term LCFLUTTER is well-known as a CIA cryptonym for a truth-finding technique, such as polygraphs and truth serum. In the counter-intelligence realm, LCIMPROVE appears to be a technique for improving counter-intelligence operations directed at the Soviets, and it seems to be focused on visas and other travel-oriented events such as REDCAP. After Allen Dulles provided the full text of Khrushchev's speech to his brother Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the New York Times picked it up and published the speech on June 4. Significant uprisings resulted in both Poland and Hungary in the next few months. On August 28, 1959, the Helsinki CIA chief of station wrote a REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memo to David Murphy (CIA chief for Soviet Russia) and Eric Timm (CIA chief for Western Europe), telling them that Soviet consul Gregory Golub would issue visas immediately and without Moscow approval. Murphy later wrote a book where he described REDCAP as a "worldwide defector inducement" program. "First priority went to efforts to recruit Soviets as sources or, as the Redcap sloganeers put it, to encourage them to "defect in place". Failing that, those who insisted on defecting outright would be brought to the West, where their intelligence knowledge could be tapped." The Helsinki CIA station had been working on Golub for awhile, hoping that he might be a possible defector. Soviet consul Golub was very attracted to two female students taking notes for the CIA in a "legal travelers" program known as REDSKIN. American vice consul William Costille was an officer specializing in REDSKIN-style operations. During July 1959, seemingly estranged from his wife, Golub turned on the charm towards two women known to us only as PAWNEE/3 and PAWNEE/5. An internal CIA memo shows that the station agents in Helsinki were fascinated, as well as concerned that the agency should help PAWNEE/5 "avoid any pitfalls or traps which she might walk into either wittingly or unwittingly. It is hard to decide from this whether G. just has a case of plain old hot pants or is entertaining more sinister plans or schemes." By August 14, "arrangements (were) made for a night on the town this Saturday with Costille and date and Golub and a trusted Finnish girl we are certain will give Golub a run for his money." It seems that providing Golub with female companionship during the summer sweetened him up. The focus of the August 28 REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memo was that "as long as the Americans had made travel arrangements through a local travel bureau (in Helsinki), as well as hotel reservations, (Golub) said he had no objections to giving them a visa in a matter of minutes." Take a look at the Helsinki CIA chief of station's October 9 memo to two other CIA division chiefs, Jack Maury of Soviet Russia and Eric Timm of Western Europe, written one day before Oswald came to Helsinki in hopes of a quick border crossing into the Soviet Union. As can be seen, the subject line was entitled REDCAP/(Redacted), the usual heading for much of their correspondence. As REDCAP was designed to stir up unrest among émigrés, it was far more successful in the Eastern European satellite states than in the USSR. An inspector general's report issued in June 1956 stated that "the Soviet division could not produce "an authoritative statement of its missions and functions". The report stated there were only twenty "controlled agents' in the USSR the list contained a low-ranking naval engineering officer, the wife of a guided missile research scientist, laborer, telephone repairman, garage manager, veterinarian, high school teacher, locksmith, restaurant worker, and unemployed. These were not the people that could tell you much what was going on in the Soviet Union except in their neck of the woods, much less the Kremlin. Given the low ebb of REDCAP in the USSR at this time, REDCAP would be the perfect spot to tuck in someone like Oswald whose apparent goal was to become a Russian citizen and yet might want to keep his option to re-defect to the West. It's not impossible that Oswald may not have even known that he was being used by the CIA. Future articles will show how the path was paved for his convenience by his handlers. REDCAP was originally designed in 1952 to deal with the results of uprisings in the Soviet satellites, with a special focus on defectors and refugees. This may have been another reason that REDCAP was slow to get off the ground in the Soviet Union itself. According to Angleton biographer Michael Holzman, "It is said that clandestine services chief Frank Wisner and James Angleton had dual responsibility for Red Cap." If this is accurate, this may indicate that Angleton and Wisner's successor Cord Meyer worked together with Murphy and the Western European chief to effortlessly guide Oswald into Moscow. The October 9 REDCAP memo provided immediate assurances that Golub had confirmed with Costille that Americans would receive Soviet visas as soon as they made Intourist advance reservations. How did this gem get by CIA deputy chief Richard Helms? Helms was in charge of investigating all issues related to the CIA for the Warren Commission. Helms had access to these REDCAP documents, but closed his eyes and touted that a 5-7 days was the absolute minimum to obtain any visa longer than a 24 hour transit visa. Helsinki was the exception during 1959. It took weeks or months to obtain a Soviet visa anywhere else, because the general rule was that the Soviet consul had to send the visa applications to Moscow. It appears that Oswald immediately made good use of Costille's tip about coming through Helsinki. Oswald arrived in Helsinki late Saturday night on October 10, requested his visa on the 12th, obtained a visa from Golub by the 14th, and was in the USSR by the 15th. On the 13th, right while Oswald's visa was hanging in the balance, Golub called up Costille and they had a quick lunch and get-together. This was the first time Costille had heard from Golub in more than a month. Golub thanked Costille "profusely" for buying him two tickets to see Leonard Bernstein on the 4th, and confided to him that he had given one of tickets to PAWNEE/5. Golub was surprised that PAWNEE/5 was not nervous about being seen with a Soviet, and "made a definite effort to impress Costille...that his relationship was strictly above board and he had nothing to hide." The next day, the 14th, Oswald got his visa. Was it thanks to Leonard Bernstein? When the CIA questioned Soviet defector Yuri Nosenko claim that Oswald was a KGB agent, the first question on one of the interrogation lists was about Oswald getting a visa within two to four days. After traveling to Europe by freighter, the normally tight-fisted Marine stayed in an extremely expensive Helsinki hotel and booked a private guided tour of Moscow. Eric Timm from the CIA's Western Europe division had already cautioned that any hope of the "jilted husband" Golub defecting to the West was becoming more remote, and thought that Golub might be on to Costille's game. Three weeks after Oswald entered Moscow, Golub's wife "returned to Helsinki on 7 November and surprised him after an absence of four months. (Redacted) states that the relationship appears to be the same as it was before Mrs. G left, and Golub was glad to have her back." This final LCIMPROVE memo of November 27, 1959 ends with Golub walking out on the "trusted Finnish" woman when she takes all her clothes off instead of wearing his wife's nightgown, making it clear that the days of wine and roses were over. All of the above is part of a long-term pattern of LCIMPROVE in espionage affairs involving visas and travel involving the Soviets. Keep in mind that Lee Oswald was a US Marine that had not been formally discharged. There was little chance that Moscow was going to grant him a visa, unless a friendly consul gave him an instant visa. The days of wine and roses with Golub and Costille sheds new light on the vigorous steps that were taken several CIA officers to get the Red Marine inside the Soviet Union. Oswald's Soviet soujourn could have been part of the aforementioned REDSKIN program, which often used students and strictly legal methods such as travel itineraries to gather intelligence about facilities in main metropolitan areas and along main transportation lines. However, given the general lack of knowledge among CIA officials about Oswald's activities in the Soviet Union, it appears that he may have been part of a vest-pocket operation run by a very high CIA official who did not answer in the ordinary channels. Someone like counterintelligence chief Jim Angleton could arrange the operation with the aid of the CIA chiefs that guided Oswald into Moscow. The USSR was not well understood in the postwar era, and US intelligence agencies were fired up to learn more about their new enemy. This was a time when the American people were extremely naïve about the role of intelligence agencies. Fear of the unknown was twisted into the drive to build and expand American supremacy. Mexico City is different. We see Dillinger describing the phone call of Oswald speaking "broken Russian" while trying to persuade the Soviet embassy to give him an instant visa. This time, Oswald's attempt was unsuccessful. Whoever was Oswald at the Soviet embassy on the 28th apparently dissolved in tears. This may have been part of a plan to test the vulnerability of the consulate staff of Kostikov, Yatskov, and Nechiporenko to see if there was any REDCAP potential. Later that month, Gestetner asked the Navy for a photo of "Lee Henry Oswald", continuing to work the counter-intelligence and Soviet sides of Oswald's new legend. The collection of FPCC evidence was continuing in New York. - Before events had run their course, they were interrupted by the events of November 22, 1963. Whenever new documents in the JFK assassination are released, the information obtained aids progressive social movements in their struggles. When we know what the intelligence agencies have done in the past, we are more effective in our work to fight for democracy here at home. When we fully understand what intelligence operations were going on in Mexico City, it will aid us in understanding what happened on November 22 and in subsequent events. We can learn, as a people, to resist manipulation by the specialists in public management. The next time that clever political forces create provocations in the Gulf of Tonkin or around weapons of mass destruction, we can refuse to blindly react and march into war as in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Even when presidents like LBJ decide to cover up the truth rather than risk being dragged into an attack on Cuba - which may have been the motivation for the JFK assassination - we can organize on the ground and bring the facts to light. Even now, there are witnesses waiting to be found and informants waiting to be released from their oaths so they are allowed to speak without fear of prosecution or loss of honor. Don't believe the drumbeat from the mass media. Although many years have gone by, many of the key facts in this case are now known. More remain to be known. At a time that FOIA procedure is moving in a more positive direction, this is the moment to demand more information from the hidden vaults and into the hands of the American people. We can sum up what we have, demand the rest, and ask the right questions to those still alive. When summing up what we have, the Mary Ferrell Foundation (maryferrell.org) is an incredible resource that made it possible to research this story without leaving my desk. The technology available for researchers enables us to accomplish investigations that could not even be considered a few years ago. We can get some great work done with more people joining in to summarize documents and help put together some of the puzzles in our nation's recent history. During Sunshine Week in Washington DC (March 14-20), a number of researchers and concerned citizens will call on the House Oversight Committee for hearings that will bring more documents and the living witnesses into the daylight. A new MLK Act, based on the JFK Act, is also under discussion for immediate release of the King case documents that are currently locked up until 2029. Sign our petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/JFKACT/petition.html Join us on Tuesday, March 16 in Washington DC to get more of our history into the hands of the American people. Ask Ed Towns and the committee to free the files. - Bill Simpich is a civil rights attorney and antiwar activist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thanks go to William Kelly and Greg Parker for their assistance in reviewing this article. Bill Simpich can be contacted at bsimpich@gmail.com. ENDNOTES: Here's the request by government staffers asking the CIA to define LCIMPROVE, (see item #2): (Note: HSCA are the initials for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which investigated the case between 1976-1979). HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 9/ LIST OF NAMES RE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION INVESTIGATION, p. 22. RIF#: 104-10061-10115 (02/15/78) Here's the CIA's response: "Counter-Espionage Involving Soviet Intelligence Services, Worldwide": HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 9/ LIST OF NAMES RE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION INVESTIGATION, p. 23 RIF#: 104-10061-10115 (02/15/78) Here's another version of the responses, from a "small black notebook" in CIA custody: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 18, page 3, NARA Record Number: 1993.07.17.08:10:45:620630 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=73010&relPageId=3; This next part you can skip, unless the reader has any doubt about the accuracy of the CIA's admissions. The names in the notebook were used to aid the staffers in determining the true identities of various witnesses. See how the numbers in the notebook correspond with the names in the left margin of those working the CIA's Cuban desk. HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 9, pp. 16, 17, 18, 19, NARA Record Number: 104-10061-10115. My colleagues and I intend to bring this evidence to the House Oversight Committee between March 14-20, as part of the nationwide "Sunshine Week": Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan initiative led by the American Society of News Editors. Here is more on Sunshine Week. On Tuesday, March 16, we will lobby in the halls of Congress in a call for the last of the millions of JFK documents still under lock and key to be released to the American people: The Mary Ferrell Foundation has an excellent backgrounder on the history of the fight to free the JFK files. See Freeing the JFK Files. You can still sign our petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/JFKACT/petition.html Oswald had already obtained a new passport back in June of 1963, stating in his application that he planned to go to the Soviet Union and elsewhere by December: Oswald's passport application, 6/24/63, Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 24, p. 509. Oswald was not a good speller, but to spell your own mother's name "Marguerite Claverie" as "Margret Clavier" and your wife's maiden name of "Prusakova" as "Prossakava" is rather beyond the pale. The only place that could be done in 1963 was through Mexico City: See the Mary Ferrell Foundation for more background on the still-unfolding story of Oswald in Mexico City. Hoover went to great lengths to point out that the CIA itself wrote a memo in June 1963 saying there was no proof to support the claim that Kostikov was part of Department 13: Memo from J. Edgar Hoover to CIA Director John McCone, 9/1/64, ADMIN FOLDER-X6: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, CIA REPORTS LHO, p. 51, RIF#: 124-10369-10063. John Tilton was a mid-level CIA officer with maritime operations and psychological operations: Tilton was no Boy Scout. He reported to Edward Lansdale in 1962-63 as part of the Psychological Operations Group, a psy-op team designed to destabilize Cuba. Later in the decade, Tilton was the CIA La Paz station chief involved in the capture and assassination of Che Guevara. Tilton was the last chief of the Phoenix Program in Vietnam, a US program estimated to have killed 20,000 alleged Viet Cong and tortured untold thousands. Tilton was considering planting "deceptive information" which might "embarrass" the FPCC in areas where it has some support: MEMORANDUM: Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Found in: DDP (Deputy Director of Plans) Files, RIF#: 104-10310-10151 (09/18/63) CIA#: CIA-DDP-FILES (9/18/63); see also Church Committee, Book V, Final Report (1976), pp. 65-66; see also Newman, p. 394. How would this faux FPCC literature be circulated? "This would be done by distributing propaganda through appropriate cut-outs": MEMORANDUM: Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Found in: DDP (Deputy Director of Plans) Files, RIF#: 104-10310-10151 (09/18/63) CIA#: CIA-DDP-FILES (9/18/63); see also Church Committee, Book V, Final Report (1976), pp. 65-66; see also John Newman, Oswald and the CIA (New York, Carroll & Graf: 1995) p. 394. On October 27, New York informant NY 3245-S* (who may have been FPCC worker Victor Vicente) got inside the New York FPCC national office and gave to the FBI a couple hundred documents, the foreign mailing list, and a sample of FPCC stationery: Memorandum from SAC, New York, to Director, FBI, 11/27/63, re Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Miscellaneous CIA Series/NARA Record Number: 104-10310-10071 In the swirl of the assassination, these two chiefs took careful note that the letter from Oswald to FPCC head "Vincent Lee" somehow got addressed to "Henry Lee": Memo from FBI Nationalities Intelligence supervisor W. R. Wannall to Division 5 supervisor William Sullivan, 11/23/63, FBI - HSCA Subject File: FPCC/NARA Record Number: Oswald reportedly went to Mexico City and tried to obtain the Cuban visa right there on the spot, even though he had no Soviet visa: Oswald's Cuban visa application, Warren Commission Exhibits, Vol. 25, p. 815, Exhibit 2564, 9/27/63. When asked about Oswald's wife, Oswald reportedly said that she was in New York City and she would follow him from there: FBI report, 5/18/64, Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 24, p. 589; CE 2121, p. 39. statement made by Cuban consulate employee Sylvia Duran, 11/23/63 that Oswald's wife Marina was supposedly in New York City. None of the consulate employees who were present could positively identify Oswald as the person at the Cuban consulate that day. Azcue was emphatic in testifying that Oswald was not the "dark blond" man angrily demanding an instant visa: HSCA Report, Vol. III, 136. There is no paper trail of documents prior to the assassination showing that Oswald was seen at the Cuban consulate. When CIA director Richard Helms was asked about this near the end of his life, he claimed that the CIA "didn't want to blow their source": John Newman, Oswald and the CIA (New York, Carroll & Graf: 1995), p. 418. List of Records and Files on Suspect RIS Officers, 11/20/74. Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10414-10342. Every page of this document shouts out for more analysis. See, in particular: Oswald on 9/27/63: See bottom of page 26 of 29. See reference to Oswald and Kostikov: Top of page 28 of 29, somehow these pages were separated. "Y talked with O": At mid-page - a reference to Yatskov and Oswald meeting on 9/28/63. See a REDCAP memo focused on Kostikov during 9/27/63 itself: Memo from Mexico City Chief of Station Willard Curtis (Win Scott) to Chief, Western Hemisphere, DISPATCH: REDCAP/VALERIY VLADIMIROVICH KOSTIKOV, 9/27/63, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 9: Hernandez - Loganov)/NARA Record Number: 104-10173-10310. Particularly intriguing is a meeting between Kostikov and a David Paton, with the notation "Kostikov had legitimate contact with Paton on visas": You have to wonder about Paton as well. Well-known Political aide Frank Mankiewicz wrote a book with Fidel Castro and Kirby Jones in 1975, With Fidel. In the introduction (at vii.), the authors thank several members in the US Foreign Service for making "their travels a lot easier", including "David Paton in Mexico City". The CIA's Ann Egerter worked at the office that spied on their own spies: Preliminary HSCA Interview of Ann Egerter by Dan Hardway and Betsy Wolf, March 31, 1978, p. 3, 180-10142-10298. One message inaccurately referred to "Lee Henry Oswald" as "approximately 35 years old, with an athletic build": CIA teletype 74673 to FBI, State Department, and Navy, October 10, 1963; NARA, JFK files, CIA 201 file on Oswald. (Egerter's name is on this last page) Egerter signed this document as a coordinating officer, and was one of the people who reviewed it for accuracy, which described "Lee Henry Oswald". The other message more accurately described him as "born 18 Oct 1939, five foot ten inches, light brown wavy hair": CIA teletype 74830 to Mexico City CIA station, October 10, 1963, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 6/NARA Record Number: 104-10052-10057 (Egerter's name is on this last page) Egerter signed this document as a coordinating officer, and told Congressional investigators that she could not explain the errors in the description of Oswald in these two documents. Oswald's central CIA file was wrongly entitled by Egerter as "Lee Henry Oswald" several years earlier when he had defected from the Marines to the Soviet Union: Field Personality (201) File Request for Information on Lee Henry Oswald, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 60/(12/9/1960) NARA Record Number: 1993.07.26.19:17:44:150330. By the time of the weekend of the assassination, even Walter Cronkite was calling him "Lee Henry Oswald": Walter Goodman, "Reviews/Television; CBS Replays the Weekned of Nov.22:", New York Times, Nov. 17, 1988 The House Select Committee on Assassinations knew about this practice and looked for Oswald files under these various names during their investigation of this case during the 70s: List of Documents Requested From Blakey, p. 13, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 20/NARA Record Number: 104-10081-10025. "The Agency was not, under any circumstances, to make inquiries or ask questions of any source or defector about Oswald: Memorandum re Harvey Lee Oswald, 4/5/62, Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10440-10039 click here=8740&relPageId=2 click here=8740&relPageId=4 This note was apparently precipitated by the defection of Soviet agent Oleg Lyalin, best known for causing 105 Soviet agents to be expelled from Britain. See the notes of bemused CIA archivist Russ Holmes to Mrs. E___, probably Mrs. Ann Egerter, where Holmes confesses: "Interesting Oswald angle, DCS (Domestic Contact Services) source protection angle which cannot understand myself. However, we should note this re Oswald for the future Pete (probably Pete Bagley) has seen and I routed orig to Rocca"(Bagley and Rocca are counterintelligence supervisors) Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10440-10039 Domestic Contact Services has been described as a debriefing operation. Deposition of Victor Marchetti, 3/28/75, p. 66 Church Committee Boxed Files, NARA Record Number: 157-10011-10092. Thomas Casasin, chief of Soviet Russia. Division 6, wrote that at one point he had "operational interest in the Harvey story" that involved the theme of defection: Memo for the record, Thomas B. Casasin, 11/25/63, Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10429-10239. Lt. Harvey Oswald was reported to be seen in a well-known bar in Havana with leading FPCC leader Robert Taber right after the Bay of Pigs invasion: Report by Lambert L. Anderson at FBI HQ to SAC, New York (reporting tip from army intelligence), 1/28/64, FBI JFK Assassination File (62-109060), Section 43, pp. 88-89. click here=62297&relPageId=89 The Warren Commission documented someone named "Harvey Oswald" appearing at the Selective Service office in Austin to complain about his military discharge at the same time that another Oswald was heading to Mexico City: Memo by Mrs. Lee Dannelly, Asst. Chief for Administrative Services, State Selective Service HQ, 12/30/63; Warren Commission Exhibit 2137, Volume 24, page 734. There is a list of about 100 files that have his name inverted by the authorities: See Peter Dale Scott, Deep Politics II: The New Revelations in U.S. Government Files, 1994-1995, p. 142, Appendix II, "The Documentary Life of Harvey Lee Oswald". In the game of molehunting, of course, the distinction between targeter and targeted is not a secure one. The situation is something like the parlor game of Murder, in which the culprit is"likely to be one of the investigators: For more on this subject, see Peter Dale Scott, "Oswald and the Hunt for Popov's Mole", Fourth Decade, March 1996, at p. 14. If Scott offers many ways that the "marked card" was used. By 1980, Congress was forced to pass a bill to compensate the unfairly accused officers in what became known as the "Mole Relief Act": David Wise, Molehunt (Random House, 1992), see footnote 5. The first document, dated October 8, 1963 from LADILLINGER, mentions a phone tap on the Soviet embassy in Mexico City that supposedly picked up a call from Lee Oswald on October 1 in "broken Russian": Memo from "LADILLINGER" in the Mexico City CIA station to CIA Headquarters, 10/8/63, Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10422-10205. LIENVOY refers to the phone tap program. LIEMPTY refers to the hidden camera program. Peter Gregory, a Russian translator, told the FBI that Oswald was skilled enough at Russian to be a translator himself: 11/29/63 FBI interview by SA Earle Haley with Peter Gregory; Warren Commission Document 5, p. 290. FBI documents state that Dallas FBI agents who knew Oswald's voice listened to the tape of the phone tap and described the voice as not Oswald's: FBI HQ supervisor Alan Belmont to FBI supervisor Clyde Tolson, 11/23/63, see Lopez Report, Addendum to Footnote 614. The CIA subsequently denied that this tape existed after the assassination...: Report of the HSCA on the CIA's Handling of the Assassination, p. 7. HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (staff notes)/NARA Record Number: 180-10140-10044. ...and convinced the Dallas agents to cover up the tape's existence: Id., at p. 6. Warren Commissioner David Slawson has admitted listening to the tape after the assassination, and is curiously vague and closed-mouthed about it: Joseph N. Riley, Listening to Lee, Fair Play Magazine. CIA agent Anne Goodpasture admitted in 1995 that her boss Win Scott may have had a copy of the tape and "squirreled it away in his safe": Deposition of Anne Goodpasture, AARB, Dec. 15, 1995, p. 147. Goodpasture said that the tape technician Arnold Arehart would know if a copy was made, as he was in the tape center "all the time". Deposition of Anne Goodpasture, AARB, Dec. 15, 1995, pp. 147-148. The House committee found the story of the photo "highly implausible": Lopez Report, id., pp. 153-154. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy: LBJ phone call with Hoover, 11/23/63. The Mexico City station asks CIA headquarters to send a photo of Oswald, apparently aware that there are problems with the Oswald photo. Curiously, the message refers to "Lee Henry Oswald", rather than "Lee Harvey Oswald": Memo originating from "G. F. Gestetner", Mexico City station, to Director, MEXI 6534, 10/15/63, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 30: Mexico City Station File)/NARA Record Number: 104-10195-10409. The 10/10/63 message also told the Mexico City CIA station to provide this description to their local FBI, Navy, INS, and State Department contacts: October 10 message from CIA HQ to Mexico City station, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 3/NARA Record Number: 104-10050-10010 The final page has the reference to "ODENVY, ODACID, ODOATH, and ODURGE", cryptonyms for "FBI, State Department, Navy, and INS". CIA headquarters sent a second and contradictory message on the same day to the headquarters of these agencies providing totally wrong information for Oswald: October 10 message from CIA HQ to FBI, Navy and State Department: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 56/NARA Record Number: 104-10125-10339. CI/SIG was "the office that spied on spies": Preliminary HSCA Interview of Ann Egerter by Dan Hardway and Betsy Wolf, March 31, 1978, p. 3, 180-10142-10298. During the 1970s, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) analyzed these two 10/10/63 messages from CIA headquarters and verified that they were drafted at the same time and sent within a few hours of each other: Oswald, the CIA, and Mexico City (aka "Lopez Report") p. 144 (1978) Oswald may have been part of what the CIA refers to as a "hip pocket group" or a "vest pocket group" known to only a few persons: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 26/NARA Record Number: 104-10086-10396, from copy of a duplicate file entitled "Goodpasture", p. p. 14 of 106. Also see p. 21 of 106, which offers a little more. "Gerald F. Gestetner" (a pseudonym for chief of Soviet affairs Herbert Manell): Deposition of (Redacted), 4/28/78, p. 2, NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10023. "Herbert Manell" typed at top of this page. Gestetner has also been identified elsewhere as "Paul Dillon", see Philip Agee, Inside the Company, p. 528. "L.A. Dillinger" was a pseudonym for Barbara Murphy Manell: Memo for the Record by Russ Holmes, p. 5, NARA Record Number: 104-10419-10215. Barbara Manell Murphy and husband Herbert Manell are also identified on this slip as "Cynthia Hausman" and her husband as "Paul Dillon": NARA Record Number: 104-10096-10232. Also see Philip Agee, id., re "Cynthia Hausman". We know that Egerter's boss was James Jesus Angleton, the legendary head of CIA counterintelligence that presided over Egerter's molehunting unit: HSCA Security Classified Testimony/HSCA Interview of James Angleton, 5 Oct 1978, p. 150. Angleton is legendary for almost tearing the agency apart in his paranoid hunt for Soviet moles: See generally David C. Martin, Wilderness of Mirrors, (Guilford, CT, Lyons Press: revised edition, 2003). We also know that Gestetner and Dellinger answered to David Phillips on covert actions matters, the number three man at the station and the one in charge of both covert actions and the Cuban desk: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 26/Copy 3 of a Duplicate File Entitled "Goodpasture", p. 21, NARA Record Number: 104-10086-10395 click here=796203 See John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, pp. 236-243; Jim Powell, "Lies, Damned Lies, and Elena Garro", Dealey Plaza Echo, January 2008, p. 14. All too common in the files are mostly-illegible documents, like this file about Phillips' source FPCC member Court Foster Wood. Someone on the inside with the public's interest in mind retyped this opening page. 10/7/61, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 41/NARA Record Number: 104-10114-10162 Phillips made a point of letting Cuban exile leader Antonio Veciana see him with Oswald just a few weeks earlier in Dallas: Lamar Waldron/Thom Hartmann interview with Antonio Veciana, leader of Cuban exile group Alpha-66, 6/2/93; see pages 172-173 and 529-30 of their book Ultimate Sacrifice (New York, Carroll & Graf: 2005). Phillips admitted under oath that "we covered this man (Oswald) all the time" in Mexico City: HSCA Deposition of David Phillips, 11/27/76, p. 97. HSCA Security Classified Testimony. Phillips wrote a book describing Oswald as a "blip": David Atlee Phillips, The Night Watch (New York: Atheneum, 1977) p. 139. Gestetner testified that his duties were counterintelligence monitoring, to negate Soviet efforts to penetrate their station, and to recruit Soviets to their side: Deposition of (Redacted), pp. 3-4, HSCA Security Classified Testimony/NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10023. Dillinger testified that she was the assistant chief on Soviet affairs, and their joint duties were counter-espionage and field investigations on the Soviets: Deposition of (REDACTED), p. 5, HSCA Security Classified Testimony/NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10022. The deponent is identified on the record as "Dillinger" at pages 91-92. When interviewed at Capitol Hill, they changed their names just slightly from "Gerald F. Gestetner" to "Herbert Gestetner", and from "L.A. Dillinger" to "Barbara Dillenger": Preliminary Interviews with Herbert Gestetner and Barbara Dillenger, 3/20/78, NARA Record Number: 180-10141-10228. The names of this husband-wife team are mostly redacted in the depositions. At one point, Gestetner's deposition is identified as that of Herbert Mannell. In any case, their testimony makes it simple to match up with the interviews: Gestetner: "Head of the Soviet section of the station in Mexico City" Dillinger: "Assistant chief of Soviet affairs in Mexico City" It's documented that counter-espionage LCIMPROVE activities go back at least as far back as at a memo written on June 7 1956, looking at Soviet consul Gregory Golub as someone who "professes sympathy for the United States": HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10342 REDSOX sought to parachute agents into the satellite countries to foment rebellion, while REDCAP was intended to handle the results of such efforts, including the expected deluge of defectors and refugees: Ronald R. Krebs, Dueling Visions: U.S. Strategy in Eastern Europe Under Eisenhower, p. 64. The term LCFLUTTER is well-known as a cryptonym for a truth-finding technique, such as polygraphs and truth serum: See, for example, OPERATIONAL SECURITY/LCFLUTTER RIF#: 104-10102-10259 (10/18/63) After Dulles provided the full text of Khrushchev's speech to his brother Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the New York Times picked it up and published the speech on June 4: Id., at p. 64. During late August 1959, the Helsinki CIA chief of station wrote a REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memo to Jack Maury (CIA chief for Soviet Russia) and Eric Timm (CIA chief for Western Europe), telling them that Soviet consul Gregory Golub would issue visas immediately and without Moscow approval: Dispatch REDCAP/LCIMPROVE Procuring of Female Companionship for Gregoriy T. Golub, Memo from Helsinki CIA Chief of Station to Chief, SR (Jack Maury) and Chief, WE (Eric Timm), 8/28/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10294. David Murphy, a later SR chief, wrote a book where he described REDCAP as a "worldwide defector inducement" program: David E. Murphy, Sergei Kondrashev, and George Bailey, Battleground: Berlin (New Haven, Yale University Press: 1997), p. 238. (available on google) "First priority went to efforts to recruit Soviets as sources or, as the Redcap sloganeers put it, to encourage them to "defect in place": Id., at 238. American vice consul William Costille was an officer specializing in REDSKIN-type operations: Memo by chief Eric Timm, Western Europe, to chief of Helsinki CIA station, 9/21/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 5/NARA Record Number: 104-10051-10196 click here=27338&relPageId=3 Costille and Golub met when Costille was installed as vice consul in December 1958. Memo from Chief, Helsinki CIA station to Chief, Soviet Russia (Jack Maury) and Chief, Western Europe (Eric Timm), 12/30/58, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10313. During July 1959, seemingly estranged from his wife, Golub turned on the charm towards two women known to us only as PAWNEE/3 and PAWNEE/5: Memo from Chief, Helsinki CIA station to Chief SR (Jack Maury) and Chief WE (Eric Timm), 7/10/59. It is hard to decide from this whether G. just has a case of plain old hot pants or is entertaining more sinister plans or schemes: July 1956 CIA routing slip, NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10302. Arrangements have been made for a night on the town this Saturday with Costille and date and Golub and a trusted Finnish girl we are certain will give Golub a run for his money: Memo from Chief of Station, 8/14/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10297. It seems that providing Golub with female companionship during the summer sweetened him up. The focus of the August 28 REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memo was that "Golub said he had no objections to giving them a visa in a matter of minutes: Memo from Helsinki CIA chief of station to Murphy and Timm, re REDCAP/LCIMPROVE Procuring of Female Companionship for Gregoriy T. Golub, 8/28/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10294. An inspector general's report issued in June 1956 stated that "the Soviet division could not produce "an authoritative statement of its missions and functions". The report stated there were only twenty "controlled agents' in the USSR: Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, (New York, Doubleday: 2007) pp. 124-125. REDCAP was originally designed in 1952 to deal with the results of uprisings in the Soviet satellites, including defectors and refugees: Ronald R. Krebs, Dueling visions: U.S. strategy toward Eastern Europe under Eisenhower, p. 64. It is said that clandestine services chief Frank Wisner and James Angleton had dual responsibility for Red Cap: Michael Holzman, James Jesus Angleton, The CIA & the Craft of Counterintelligence (Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press, 2008) p. 158. The CIA chief of station in Helsinki sent a memo to Murphy and Timm with immediate assurances that Golub had confirmed with Costille that Americans would receive Soviet visas as soon as they made Intourist advance reservations: Memo from Chief, SR to Chief, WE, 10/9/59 Richard Helms told Warren Commission counsel Lee Rankin on 7/31/64 that in Helsinki 5-7 days was the absolute minimum to obtain any visa longer than a 24 hour transit visa: Memo from Richard Helms to J. Lee Rankin, 7/31/64. CIA 104-10009-10053 It was weeks or months to try to obtain the visa anywhere but Helsinki - elsewhere, the rule was that the Soviet consul had to send the visa applications to Moscow: John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee (Quasar, Ltd., Arlington, Texas, 2003), p. 255. Oswald arrived in Helsinki late Saturday night on October 10, requested a visa on the 12th, got a visa by the 14th, and was in the USSR by the 15th: Mary Ferrell's chronology, October 1959. On the 13th, right while Oswald's visa was hanging in the balance, Golub called up Costille and they had a quick lunch and get-together. This was the first time Costille had heard from Golub in more than a month. Golub thanked Costille "profusely" for buying him two tickets to see Leonard Bernstein on the 4th: Dispatch: REDWOOD/REDSKIN/REDCAP re Gregory Golub, 11/27/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/ NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10291 Here's a document showing departure from Finland on the 15th: CE 2775 - Translation of registration of Lee Harvey Oswald for residence in Moscow, October 1959 (CD 735, p. 237). When the CIA questioned Soviet defector Yuri Nosenko who claimed that Oswald was a KGB agent, the first question on their interrogation list was about Oswald getting a visa within two to four days: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 56/NARA Record Number: 1993.08.10.14:55:58:930060. After traveling to Europe by freighter, the normally tight-fisted Marine stayed in an extremely expensive Helsinki hotel and booked a private guided tour of Moscow: John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee (Quasar, Ltd., Arlington, Texas, 2003), p. 255. Timm had already cautioned that any hope of the "jilted husband" Golub defecting to the West was becoming more remote, and thought that Golub might be on to Costille's game: Memo from CIA Western European chief Eric Timm to Helsinki CIA chief of station, 9/21/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 5/NARA Record Number: 104-10051-10196 Three weeks after Oswald entered Moscow, Golub's wife "returned to Helsinki on 7 November and surprised him after an absence of four months: Personal Information Data, Gregory Golub, p. 10, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10283 HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/ NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10291 This is part of a long-term pattern of citing LCIMPROVE in espionage affairs directed at the Soviets, when Dillinger describes the phone call of Oswald speaking broken Russian while seeking an instant visa: IN 36017, memo from Mexico City to Headquarters, 10/9/63, Oswald 201 File (201-289248)/NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10047 "Cable Concerning Telephone Call to USSR Embassy From American Male Who Spoke Broken Russian". Mexico City asks the Navy for a photo of Lee Henry Oswald: MEXI 6534, from G.F. Gestetner to Navy, re "Lee Henry Oswald", 10/15/63, COPY 4 OF A DUPLICATE FILE ENTITLED, "GOODPASTURE.", RIF#: 104-10086-10396 Oswald's plans make sense in the context of the REDSKIN program, which used strictly legal methods such as travel itineraries to gather intelligence about facilities in main metropolitan areas and along main transportation lines: Jeffrey Richelson, A Century of Spies, p. 257 It appears that Oswald may have been part of a vest-pocket operation run by a high CIA official who had no duty to respond in the ordinary channels: One officer acknowledges that "vest pocket" operations exist without other Agency officials knowing about it. At the same time, a deputy chief of clandestine affairs insists that he reviewed every clandestine operation ever run in the Soviet Union. Obviously, these two statements are contradictory. However, assuming the deputy chief is both truthful and accurate, it would indicate that if Oswald was involved in an operation, and it wasn't REDSKIN, the operation was closely held by someone who did not answer to this deputy chief. HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (staff notes)/ NARA Record Number: 180-10142-10413. It's not too late to sign the petition here... Consider joining the Mary Ferrell Foundation, which provides offers unlimited access to millions of documents that make a difference.

Here's some strong proof here that ERACERB-1 is the "acerbic" Nicaraguan president Luis Somoza Debayle, and that he was instructed by the US to be the titular head of any future plans to overthrow the Cuban government, with Artime as the military leader. Furthermore, here's a big lead here that Somoza was part of the Alvarado story of seeing Oswald taking money from the Cubans in Mexico City on Sept. 18. Many researchers believe that Alvarado's story was designed by David Atlee Phillips to provoke an attack on Cuba in the wake of the JFK assassination. Here's a brief chronology. Meeting between Artime and Somoza on July 31, 1963, with others there include ERYTHYROID-3 (also spelled ERYTHYROID-3, see below for his role in the Alvarado story) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=407211 Note: This is tentative ERYTHYROID-3 may have been the immigration deputy chief Capt. Reinaldo Perez, as he was at the beginning of this meeting on July 31 and also the mid-August described below. Of course, all this indicates that "ER" is the CIA digraph for Nicaragua. After meeting in Washington DC in July 1963, Somoza returned to Miami and told Cuban exile leaders that the US government had named Artime to be the head of the military part of Somoza's plan to overthrow Cuba http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=893453 Meeting between AMBIDDY-1 (Artime) and ERACERB-1 in August 1963: ARTIME: Nicaragua has the reputation of a dictatorship...you have to put up with that because of what the Communists say about you (paraphrase)... http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3 ERACERB-1:"Carlos Prio did not have the prestige to say that ERACERB-1 is not a dictator...(Prio) had launched an invasion of Nicaragua in the days of ERACERB-1's father". http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=4 Oct. 63: Artime spending increased time organizing Cuban exiles in Nicaragua, with Somoza expressing support for Artime http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=4 and following page ERYTHRYOID-3 was sought out by "the authority of Richard Helms" on 11/28/63. Larry F. Keenan of the FBI said on the same day that he did not want Alvarado in Mexican custody, and the CIA agreed. It looks like Keenan may have been cross-designated CIA - see the "LFK" initials on the dispatch. and then by C/WH/3 (I think that's John Whitten) on 11/29/63 for his opinion on Nicaraguan agent Gilberto Alvarado Ugarte after he told his story on 11/26/63 about Oswald receiving $6500 from a red-haired Negro in Mexico City on Sept. 18. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=474434 (11/26/63) - Alvarado's story http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=494475 (11/28) - "authority of Helms" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3 (11/28) - See the initials "LFK" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=494572 (11/29) See Goodpasture protest in her chrono (created years later) that "there is no possibility that this is a Nicaraguan frame-up" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=497655 On the night of Nov. 29, ERTHYROID-3 met with LITEMPO-4 (Fernando Barrios, head of Mexican federal police, the DFS), and reported to him on Alvarado's background. Goodpasture said that LITEMPO-4 had two meetings with Alvarado earlier on the 29th. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...ult&id=3651 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=497025 (Goodpasture) Noel Twyman in Bloody Treason suggests that Alvarado was given the "ERthyroid treatment" and threatened with extended psychiatric confinement. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=222769 The next day, Nov. 30, Alvarado admitted to the Mexican police that his story was a fabrication. He later reneged on this, and then flunked a CIA lie detector test. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=485934 As Peter Dale Scott said long ago, war on Cuba was averted, but the price was to focus on Oswald as the lone assassin. ________________________________________________________________________________ ____________ I recently had a conversation with a very good source in the research community, we were discussing, lamenting might be a better word that one of the real drawbacks of the Education Forum is that various members offer their opinions based on material that is extremely one dimensional, to be more specific there is usually no relation to their posts in regards to the files that have been recently declassified, in opposition to this I wanted to mention that the vaunted ZRGRACE material, is not as limited to a single document as someone was recently stating, below is an example of the inaccuracy of that statement. CI PROJECT - WATCH LIST/ZRGRACE IDENTITIES FOR INCLUSION IN PROJECT COVERAGE - REVISED http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=1 Note there are some morsels of pertinent information in this one, which could shed more light in the area of Oswald's activities if you believe, he was operating in an intelligence capacity of looking for leaks, traceable to the someone in the USSR, who had penetrated the CIA. ZR/GRACE documents Martin & Mitchell Defectors; this material is from the maryferrell.org documents re Rolando Masferrer, which in itself is something worthy of interest. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=35803 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=35810 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=35798 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=35812 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=35773 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=35815 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=35816 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=48442 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=17800 It does not require a rocket scientist to realize, even depending on ones own digging, lol; that ZRGRACE is intimately associated with the defections of Martin and Mitchell NSA, and their contacts with suspected Soviet intelligence operatives, I would also state on a [as far as I know] unrelated basis that in determining the claims of Lamar Waldron, [at one time, I do not keep up with what other researchers are doing, although Pat Speer recently did a very good job regarding the integrity of Warren Commission documents], that there is one cryptonym* that if deciphered would hopefully elucidate more information regarding whether Project AMWORLD was an invasion etched in stone, or merely, as I and others believe was merely a contingency that was tremendously affected by the assassination of JFK, in which conclusions regarding whether it was as Waldron claimed may be difficult to resolve with any definitive conclusions. There are not just a couple of ZRGRACE documents, in fact there a quite a few * At any rate the crypt is ERACERB-1, if one discovers his identity, the AMWORLD operation becomes a little less mysterious, but that is a singular opinion, and I encourage other members of the Forum to do their own digging. AMWORLD--SHOWDOWN MEETING BETWEEN AMBIDDY-1 [Manuel Artime Buesa] AND ERACERB-1, WEEK OF 29 JULY 1963 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=18130 Hey Robert, That certainly is an interesting document. I immediately thought that Artime was in there, given the Nicaraguan connection, so my guess is that, if I could bet on it, ERACERB-1 is Somoza or one of his kids. Also, Rex, as you know, has been filling in the Cryptomn blanks as best he can, and John Geherity has started a file on them. http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...yptonym_Project alvardoerythyroid.htm

A group of us will be in DC next week lobbying Congressional members and attending Sunshine Week events to build political momentum to free JFK and MLK files. More participation is always welcomed, just give me a shout. A very concrete thing that I've been thinking about is posting research on the forum. I have a series of articles just about ready on Oswald and his handlers. After I release the articles, I'm going to post my research notes on the forum so that they are not sitting on my computer. Similarly, I'm trying to think of how we might design "mix-and-match projects" where we could figure out better ways to organize the information that we've been dealing with since the 90s when six million documents from some pretty disorganized files from some pretty disorganized agencies got dumped into the Archives. For example, has anyone ever tried to summarize all the depositions? I've done a couple, but there's probably about 50-100 to do. It would only take a few hundred hours to wrap up, and I think we'd find hundreds of important nuggets of information in those summaries alone. The last few pages of Anne Goodpasture's deposition in 1995 told me more about the Oct. 1, 1963 Mexico City tape then I ever thought I would know. Among the people on this forum, the job of summarizing the depositions may be already completed. It came up for me again when I was reading the Helsinki documents recounting events in the second half of 1959. I tried to summarize the highlights from these documents, which recount "the days of wine and roses" between the Americans and Soviets that masked some intriguing counter-intelligence games. During this period, Soviet consul Gregory Golub was willing to issue "instant visas" in just a few minutes if he thought someone "looked all right". Golub's decision made it possible for the Marine Oswald to enter the USSR. I don't think the Marine would have gained entry with Moscow making the decision, which was the case at every other Soviet border station. The Golub documents had been altered so that they were half-size and virtually impossible to read without an enlarger. Happily, Rex Bradford at MFF has a 200% enlarger built on the site, so all you have to do is blow up the documents one at a time - after all, you can only read them one at a time. While I was reading them, I looked for a paper trail at MFF and on google. There was virtually nothing. Peter Dale Scott told me that the Golub documents were of great interest to some researchers when they first came out, but they were so filled with redactions that people lost interest. Most of the redactions are gone. Some items demand special scrutiny. The famous Minox camera of Oswald and various other items contain important evidence, but are sitting in the Archives with no protocol for researchers to obtain effective access. Having taken a hard look at the Mexico City documents lately, I would venture to say that these documents really need more scrutiny. At the rate things are going on, it will take several more decades to even begin to digest what is there. As many on this forum know, there is lots and lots of good stuff there. When I was writing about it, sometimes I didn't feel like I was researching. Much of the time, in astonishment, I was just reading and typing. I think that the Mexico City aspect of this case is waiting to be solved. We should consider a number of task forces to help crack the code. Some people may feel that they already know enough, and I respect that. But I want to know more, and I think I'm far from alone in that. When we understand the intelligence operations that were going on in Mexico City, we'll have a better idea how to analyze the forces behind the assassination itself, as well as its cover-up.

Here's the whole article - give it a bump at OpEd News, it's been in their top ten since I put the "JFK Case" header on it yesterday. That version is hyperlinked. The sources are listed below. All comments appreciated. Bill The JFK Case: The Office That Spied On Its Own Spies Memos released in full show that Lee Harvey Oswald was used in espionage aimed at the Soviets during 1959 and 1963. On both occasions, Oswald was seeking an instant visa in order to enter a Communist country. Documents recently released in full reveal that alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was wittingly or unwittingly used in CIA spying activities referred to as LCIMPROVE during the two months before John F. Kennedy was killed. Until the last few years, these documents only existed in less-than-complete form. LCIMPROVE is defined in two separate CIA documents as "Counter-espionage involving Soviet intelligence services worldwide". The request for the definition of LCIMPROVE by government staffers to the CIA is here (see item http://www.opednews.com/populum/#2) The CIA's response is here. Counter-espionage involves actions taken to detect and counteract espionage. Several CIA memos with the subject line "LCIMPROVE" were written during the two periods of Oswald's life when he was trying to instantly obtain a visa to enter a communist nation. The LCIMPROVE memos in 1959 dramatically describe the time when Oswald was seeking to defect to the Soviet Union. These memos are also linked to the REDCAP program to induce Soviets and Eastern Europeans to defect to the West. These REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memos are filled with wild yarns about sex-and-alcohol parties involving Americans and Soviets together in Helsinki. It was days of wine and roses, with each side testing the other. American vice consul William Costille was enticing the Soviet consul Gregory Golub to defect. By all appearances, Soviet consul Golub just wanted to let the good times roll. Soviet consul Golub was warmed by the camaraderie. Helsinki became the only place in the Soviet borderlands where a foreigner could get a visa in a matter of minutes if you "looked all right". This change in policy came down shortly before Oswald needed to cross the Soviet border from Helsinki. Oswald was still a Marine when he came to Helsinki. Oswald would probably never have received permission from Soviet authorities in Moscow to enter the USSR. The instant visa from Golub is what made it possible for Oswald to successfully defect to the Soviet Union during October 1959. He married a Soviet woman and returned with his new family to the United States in 1962. LCIMPROVE documents from late 1963 report on Oswald's quest to get instant visas to visit Cuba and the USSR. A great deal of evidence indicates that Oswald was impersonated in Mexico City. All references to Oswald in Mexico City are based on what is contained in the CIA reports. I am not assuming that these stories about Oswald are true. The CIA reports on Oswald's visits to the Soviet and Cuban consulates in Mexico City to obtain these visas less than two months before the JFK assassination. Oswald showed up with his visa application at the Cuban consulate on a Friday all fired up to leave for Cuba the following Monday. This was during a time when Mexico City was an "intelligence battlefield" for both sides in the Cold War. On the lighter side, Oswald was behaving like a clown. He was demanding an instant travel visa to go to Cuba. The American government ban on Cuban travel had begun two years earlier in 1961. Mexico City was the only place in Mexico that an American had any chance to get into Cuba at all. The Cubans were only providing travel visas during time to American travelers when a way station was needed while en route to one's ultimate destination. In this case, Oswald hadn't even applied for a Soviet visa. Obtaining a visa from the Soviets was going to take four months. Oswald was doing one of the things he was known at being best at - being an impossible person. Oswald had succeeded in making himself the talk of the town on Embassy Row in Mexico City. Tongues were wagging inside the Cuban consulate at Oswald's rash and rude manners as he tried to convince the employees into giving him a visa to leave for Cuba the following Monday. His flat-out lie to them about having a Soviet visa added more fuel to the fire. The buzzing of the consulate employees was picked up by CIA wiretaps throughout the building and on every telephone. As a bonus, such an event inevitably worsened relations between Cuba and Oswald's Fair Play for Cuba Committee during a time when a documented CIA-FBI plan to discredit the FPCC was nearing fruition. The more hidden aspects involved the shadowboxing between the Americans and the Soviets. For years, there was a practice in intelligence circles of slightly altering items in Oswald's biography and using these items as "marked cards" as they passed information back and forth with each other. If an unauthorized person had access to a particular spelling of a name, for example, that "marked card" indicated that there had been a leak. A leaker might be a defector. The "marked card" technique has been around for a long time. Peter Wright in Spycatcher refers to this method as a "barium meal". Tom Clancy in Patriot Games calls this trick a "canary trap". Scott mentions that the "marked card" was one of the methods used to catch the infamous CIA mole Aldrich Ames during the 1990s. The marked card trick didn't work because Ames himself was the chief of the Soviet Russia counterintelligence staff. Thus, Oswald was wittingly or unwittingly involved in a molehunt aimed at American intelligence officers. Ann Egerter was the main mover in this effort. Egerter was with the Counter-Intelligence Special Investigations Group, or CI/SIG. For years, the CIA and other agencies had been using "marked cards" as a method to see if the CIA itself was being infiltrated by Soviet or Cuban agents. Egerter referred to her group as the "office that spied on spies". At the same time, REDCAP memos surfaced during the summer of 1963 directed at Kostikov and other Soviet Embassy employees. As mentioned above, REDCAP was a CIA program that encouraged Soviet defections. Soviet vice consul Valeriy Kostikov was the subject of a REDCAP memo written the same day that Oswald first visited the Soviet embassy. The CIA may have wanted to see if Oswald could effectively test the emotional makeup of Soviet vice consul Valeriy Kostikov or another embassy employee. Oswald was known to be a provocateur, in the classical sense of the word. He knew how to get an argument going, as well as how to spur a discussion that might reveal a vulnerability that Kostikov or another embassy employee. The story is that Oswald came to the Soviet Embassy in late September, buttonholed Kostikov, threw a loaded revolver down on the table, and burst into tears. The purpose of this drama may have simply been to get Kostikov and the other consuls to let down their guard and talk. My colleagues and I intend to bring this evidence to the House Oversight Committee between March 14-20, as part of the nationwide "Sunshine Week" to build dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Congressman Ed Towns of Brooklyn is the chair of this committee. On Tuesday, March 16, we will take it to the halls of Congress to release the many documents still in the vaults and for other documents to be released in full. Aging witnesses and informants can be interviewed while it's still possible to get their statements. We also have strong evidence of twelve different "handlers" directing Oswald for the four years prior to the assassination that will be provided in a series of forthcoming articles. We ask you to sign our petition and take action to call on Cong. Ed Towns and the House Oversight Committee during Sunshine Week to get them to do the right thing. Critical documents about American history and contemporary issues should be declassified and released to the American people. Here's our petition. Just about all the sources can be viewed in the endnotes, below. Paper trails were created in Mexico City to discredit Oswald by linking him with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the KGB Oswald had already obtained a new passport back in June of 1963, stating in his application that he planned to go to the Soviet Union and elsewhere by December. Oswald had one child and his wife Marina was due to have another in October. There were marital difficulties, but Oswald was devoted to his young child and looking forward to the next one. The family depended on his income for their day-to-day needs. All indications indicate that he was not truly serious in his attempt to return to the Soviet Union. Two goals were set for Oswald to meet and a third goal for his handlers. There is much evidence that Oswald was impersonated some or all of the time in Mexico City, and I'm not going to try to resolve that discussion here. When I discuss Oswald here, I'm talking about Oswald and anyone else who may have impersonated him. The first goal was for Oswald to leave a paper trail expanding his legend as a pro-Castro activist with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC). There was a CIA-FBI plan to use deception to discredit the FPCC, and the odds were good that Oswald would be used in some way. Oswald knew how to empty a room, and he did that to good effect at the Cuban embassy when he didn't get his instant visa. The reactions of the annoyed employees was just what the wiretappers wanted. Oswald had posed as an FPCC organizer in New Orleans that summer, although he never recruited any followers or did anything effective other than reveal himself over public airwaves as a defector returned from the Soviet Union. Direct travel from the United States to Cuba had been banned since 1961. He had to enter Cuba through a third country. The only place that could be done in 1963 was through Mexico City. The second goal was to put Oswald and Soviet vice consul Valeriy Kostikov in the same room in Mexico City and test Kostikov in some way, or at least to make a paper trail showing that the two men had spent as much time together as possible. The FBI had floated a rumor to CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton that the consular officer was not only KGB, but also a member of Department 13 (the bureau of assassination and sabotage), which Angleton had determined in June 1963 to be still unproven. Although the REDCAP program was most successful among Eastern Europeans, REDCAP was a worldwide program designed to induce Soviet defections. There were a number of REDCAP memos discussing the Mexico City Soviet station during this era. It's clear that there was a plan to see if any Soviet consuls were vulnerable to recruitment for defection, or to at least divide and conquer within their ranks by making it look like someone was toying with the idea. These REDCAP memos continued to float around well after the JFK assassination. The handlers Ann Egerter and David Phillips had the responsibility to meet the third goal, which was the other side of the REDCAP equation. Was everyone reliable inside the CIA itself? Get different items of information about Oswald spread out between four different intelligence agencies. Give the better dope to the locals so they'll work with you again. Give the bad dope to the drones at headquarters, which is where the mole might be lurking. Then sit back and see if anything leaks. This was all part of the eternal search for possible enemy penetrators of the CIA. During the autumn of 1963, the CIA and FBI were working on psychological operations against the Fair Play for Cuba Committee that would plant "deceptive information" to "embarrass" the FPCC The FBI's liaison to the CIA, Sam Papich, contacted FBI HQ on September 18, 1963, a week before Oswald's arrival in Mexico City. Papich let FBI headquarters know that John Tilton, a mid-level CIA officer with a background in psychological operations, was considering planting "deceptive information" which might "embarrass" the FPCC in areas where it has some support. A perceived relationship between Oswald and Kostikov could be used to discredit the FPCC, or any other activities that could be plausibly linked with Oswald. Another suggestion of Tilton's was for the FBI and CIA to work together to obtain the FPCC foreign mailing list and FPCC stationery "to produce large quantities of propaganda in the name of the (FPCC)". Tilton specifically says this is designed "to counter their activities in foreign countries". In other words, fake or misleading FPCC literature would be created that would make the FPCC look bad. How would this faux FPCC literature be circulated? "This would be done by distributing propaganda through appropriate cut-outs." A cut-out is an intermediary in a clandestine operation. A "cut-out" does not know the source or destination, the information being transmitted, or the identities of any persons involved in the espionage process. Was Oswald an appropriate example of such a cut-out? We know that part of Tilton's plan got past the talking stage. On October 27, New York informant NY 3245-S* (who may have been FPCC worker Victor Vicente) got inside the New York FPCC national office and gave to the FBI a couple hundred documents, the foreign mailing list, and a sample of FPCC stationery. One of those documents was a letter from Oswald to the office reporting on the publicity caused by his FPCC efforts on behalf of his one-person New Orleans chapter. In the swirl of the assassination, these two chiefs took careful note that the letter from Oswald to FPCC head "Vincent Lee" somehow got addressed to "Henry Lee". These gentlemen always wanted more dirt on the FPCC, but I think there was another reason why the chiefs took a second look. Oswald was trying to obtain his visas in the most difficult way possible While CIA officials mulled over who should be the cut-out to "distribute propaganda" that would backlash against the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Oswald was busy trying to get to the Soviet Union in the most difficult manner possible. Instead of mailing off an application for a visa to get to the USSR, a travel visa application in Oswald's name was prepared for personal delivery to the Cuban consulate in Mexico City. The application stated that Oswald wanted to visit Cuba by himself for two weeks on his way to the USSR. It was already complicated enough to try to visit two Communist countries at once. It would have been much simpler to visit them in separate visits. Given that Oswald was determined to visit both nations in one trip, the smarter and easier way would have been to mail visa applications to the Cuban embassy and the Soviet embassy in Mexico City as soon as possible after obtaining the passport in June. The story is that Oswald chose the bone-headed way, going to the Cuban consulate in person on a Friday afternoon on 9/27/63. Once at the consulate, he handed them an application to obtain a Cuban visa right there on the spot for a Monday departure on 9/30/63, even though he had no Soviet visa. The Cubans called the Soviet consulate, and were told it would take four months to get one. When asked about Oswald's wife, the story goes that Oswald said that Marina was in New York City and she would follow him from there. When the Cuban consulate workers told him the bad news, Oswald acted out and caused an unforgettably boisterous scene. Despite American claims, none of the consulate employees who were present could positively identify Oswald as the person at the Cuban consulate that day. Cuban consul Eusebio Azcue was emphatic in testifying that Oswald was not the "dark blond" man angrily demanding an instant visa. Because of the number of potential witnesses to this impersonation at the Cuban consulate, there is no paper trail of documents prior to the assassination showing that someone calling himself Oswald was seen at the Cuban consulate. Helms admitted to the Warren Commission that the CIA was told that Oswald was at the Cuban consulate before JFK was assassinated. When CIA director Richard Helms was asked about this near the end of his life, he claimed that the CIA "didn't want to blow their source". I believe we will discover that the "source" was the impersonator himself. Look at the end of this article at the CIA's records for suspect RIS officers. RIS stands for Russian Intelligence Services - a generic term for the civilian KGB and the military GRU. These records show that Oswald or someone like him spoke to Kostikov at the Soviet embassy on 9/27/63 and his colleague attaché Paul Yatskov on 9/28/63. One way to read this list is that the CIA is listing Oswald as a suspect Russian spy. Another and even more fascinating way to read these documents is to flip the script and look at the string of REDCAP cases in the summer of 1963 involving Kostikov and other Soviets that tests their potential as possible defectors. If you read from the bottom of the page of the previous hyperlinked item to the top of this one, you'll see a meeting between Oswald and Kostikov and a string of REDCAP cases both before and after. As discussed in greater depth below, REDCAP not only induced defections, but encouraged possible candidates to "stayed in place" and burrow against the Communist enemy from within without coming to the West. See the REDCAP cases throughout this list and by the names of Soviet embassy officials Kotsikov, Yatskov, and Nechiporenko. Also see a REDCAP memo focused on Kostikov during 9/27/63 itself. Particularly intriguing is a meeting between Kostikov and a David Paton, with the notation "Kostikov had legitimate contact with Paton on visas". There is certainly no such statement after the visa discussions with Oswald. With or without his knowledge, it looks like Oswald was used for counter-espionage purposes as part of a CIA molehunt for Soviet spies within the agency The names of both Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife Marina Prusakova were repeatedly misspelled as "Lee Henry Oswald" and "Marina Pusakova" in CIA messages during the time that Oswald was reported to have visited the Cuban and Soviet consulates in Mexico City. It wasn't just a typographical error. This error and others like it had been made repeatedly by the same person. The CIA's Ann Egerter (also known as Egeter) told Congressional investigators that she worked at the office that spied on their own spies, known as the Counter-Intelligence/Special Investigations Group, or CI/SIG. Egerter assisted in the preparation of two separate CIA messages on 10/10/63, both referring to him as Lee Henry Oswald. One message inaccurately referred to Oswald as "approximately 35 years old, with an athletic build" and the other message more accurately described him as "born 18 Oct 1939, five foot ten inches, light brown wavy hair". In fact, Oswald's central CIA file was wrongly entitled by Egerter as "Lee Henry Oswald" several years earlier when he had defected from the Marines to the Soviet Union. By the time of the weekend of the assassination, even Walter Cronkite was calling him "Lee Henry Oswald". There was another common practice among the agencies to invert Oswald's name as "Harvey Lee Oswald". Like most people, Lee Oswald never used his middle name except for official purposes. This practice of transposing his names emanated from CIA and military sources, and the FBI eventually picked up on it as well. The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) knew about this practice and looked for Oswald files under these various names during their investigation of this case during the 70s. Just a few of many examples: 1. A remarkable 1972 handwritten memo entitled "Harvey Lee Oswald" states: "Today the DC/CI (Deputy Chief, Counter-intelligence) advised me that the Director had relayed via the DDP (Deputy Director of Plans) the injunction that the Agency was not, under any circumstances, to make inquiries or ask questions of any source or defector about Oswald." 2. Thomas Casasin, chief of CIA's Soviet Russia Division 6, wrote that at one point he had "operational interest in the Harvey story" that involved the theme of defection. 3. The Warren Commission documented someone named "Harvey Oswald" appeared at the Selective Service office in Austin to complain about his military discharge at the same time that another Oswald was heading to Mexico City. 4. Lt. Harvey Oswald was reported to be seen in a well-known bar in Havana with leading FPCC leader Robert Taber right after the Bay of Pigs invasion. 5. "Harvey Lee Oswald" has a list of approximately a hundred documents attributed to him. Many of them have been destroyed or cannot be found, including an entire FBI file under that name. In the intelligence practice of having two or more files on a subject, the regular name is used for material that is meant for the public domain, while the transposed or misspelled name is for covert information. In that manner, an agency can tell the "truth" about the contents of their overt file, and hide its covert information in the covert file with the transposed or misspelled name. Author and professor Peter Dale Scott cites many of the errors discussed above (and more) in his groundbreaking essay Oswald and the Hunt for Popov's Mole. Most of these errors were committed by highly educated agents like Egerter, whose careers depend on getting names right and accurately spelling the names of relevant parties. Scott suggests that these errors are wholly deliberate, and that this pattern is one of the essential methods used by the CIA in a "molehunt" looking for Soviet spies that might be trying to penetrate the CIA itself. If a spy without proper clearances to the document were to repeat the misspelled name to another party, this "marked card" would point to the errant spy. Scott has written: "In the game of molehunting, of course, the distinction between targeter and targeted is not a secure one. The situation is something like the parlor game of Murder, in which the culprit is"likely to be one of the investigators." Egerter's boss James Angleton was the head of CIA counterintelligence. Angleton used CI/SIG in a ruthless manner, destroying the lives of innocent officers and anyone else who stood in the way of his hunt for Soviet agents supposedly penetrating the CIA. By the time Angleton was fired in the midst of the Watergate era, he was accused of being a Soviet mole himself. By 1980, Congress was forced to pass a bill to compensate the unfairly accused officers in what became known as the "Mole Relief Act". LCIMPROVE documents focus on when Oswald was trying to get a Cuban visa prior to the 1963 JFK assassination The first document, dated October 8, 1963 from LADILLINGER, mentions a phone tap on the Soviet embassy in Mexico City that supposedly picked up a call from Lee Oswald on October 1 in "broken Russian". It also states that Oswald's photo was taken by a hidden camera outside the embassy on the same day and described him as "apparent age 35, athletic build". This 10/8/63 message can be seen here. For many years, the controversy around this 10/8/63 document has been that it is not a description of Lee Harvey Oswald. Peter Gregory, a Russian translator, told the FBI that Oswald was skilled enough at Russian to be a translator himself. Oswald was 24 years old with a slender build, not 35 with an athletic build. FBI documents state that Dallas FBI agents who knew Oswald's voice described the voice as not Oswald's after listening to the October 1 tape of the phone tap and described the voice as not Oswald's. The CIA subsequently denied that this tape existed after the assassination and convinced the Dallas agents to cover up the tape's existence. Warren Commissioner David Slawson has admitted listening to the tape after the assassination, and is curiously vague and closed-mouthed about it. Slawson, a law professor, is recently retired and lives in the West Coast. He should be asked to tell the full story before Congress. CIA agent Anne Goodpasture admitted in 1995 that her boss Win Scott may have had a copy of the tape and "squirreled it away in his safe". Goodpasture said that the tape technician Arnold Arehart would know if a copy was made, as he was in the tape center "all the time". The photo turned out to have been taken on October 2, not October 1, and it was not Oswald. The House committee found Goodpasture's story of the photo "highly implausible". Hoover himself told LBJ that "we have up here the tape and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet Embassy, using Oswald's name. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy." In other words, this October 8 message from LADILLINGER has been cited for many years as the strongest proof that Oswald was impersonated when he was in Mexico City. The LCIMPROVE subject line on LADILLINGER's memo is telling evidence that this impersonation was part of a counter-espionage program aimed at the Soviets. I haven't seen LCIMPROVE in any of the earlier Mexico City memos. The second document, dated October 15, 1963 from GFGESTETNER, is very short. The Mexico City CIA station asks CIA headquarters to "pls pouch photo Oswald", or "please send a photo of Oswald". It may be that the Mexico City station itself was aware that there are problems with any would-be Oswald photos at the station. The message refers to "Lee Henry Oswald", not "Lee Harvey Oswald". This 10/15/63 message can be seen here. The 10/15 document also refers to "DIR 74830" this was the 10/10/63 message to Mexico City discussed above that provides a far more accurate description for "Lee Henry Oswald" "born 18 Oct 1939, five foot ten inches, one hundred sixty five pounds, light brown wavy hair, blue eyes". Except for his name and his weight (which varied between 130-150 pounds during his short life as an adult), this message got it right. In Popov's Mole, Scott brings home how the repeated use of the name "Lee Henry Oswald" and the error regarding his weight was part and parcel of the molehunt being led by CI/SIG's Egerter while Oswald was in the Soviet Union. With great determination, Egerter had succeeded in getting these details wrong for three years. The 10/10/63 message also told the Mexico City CIA station to provide the 5'10"/165 description to their local FBI, Navy, INS, and State Department contacts. However, CIA headquarters sent a second and contradictory message on the same day to the headquarters of these agencies providing totally wrong information for Oswald: "approximately 35 years old, with an athletic build", and falsely assuring them that their local contacts were being provided the same information. Ann Egerter helped prepare both of these contradictory messages. Remember that for Egerter, counter-intelligence meant that her group CI/SIG had to run an "office that spied on spies". During the 1970s, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) analyzed these two 10/10/63 messages from CIA headquarters and verified that they were drafted at the same time and sent within a few hours of each other. Given these contradictory messages, and the lack of an operational name accompanying LCIMPROVE, it indicates that Oswald may have been part of what the CIA refers to as a "hip pocket group" or a "vest pocket group" known to only a few persons. We have every reason to believe that Ann Egerter in Washington at CI/SIG teamed up with "Gerald F. Gestetner" (a pseudonym for chief of Soviet affairs Herbert Manell) and his wife "L.A. Dillinger" (a pseudonym for Barbara Murphy Manell) and others at the Mexico City CIA station to run this espionage operation using Oswald and aimed at the Soviets. We know that Egerter's boss was James Jesus Angleton, the legendary head of CIA counterintelligence that presided over Egerter's molehunting unit. Angleton is legendary for almost tearing the agency apart in the paranoid manner that he hunted for Soviet moles. We also know that Gestetner and Dellinger answered to David Phillips, the number three man at the station and the one in charge of covert actions as well as the Cuban desk. Phillips had a history of running anti-FPCC operations. Phillips made a point of letting Cuban exile leader Antonio Veciana see him with Oswald just a few weeks earlier in Dallas. Phillips admitted under oath that "we covered this man (Oswald) all the time" in Mexico City right after he wrote a book called The Night Watch describing Oswald as a "blip". Gestetner testified that his duties as Soviet affairs chief were to monitor counterintelligence, to negate Soviet efforts to penetrate their station, and to recruit Soviets to their side. Dillinger testified that she was the assistant chief on Soviet affairs in Mexico City, and that their joint duties were counter-espionage and field investigations on the Soviets. Dellinger had taking care of children at home and was only working part-time. Her main job was to review the telephone tap transcripts every day. Gestetner and Dillinger were married and reviewed these transcripts as a team. These agents took the name game right to the halls of Congress. When interviewed at Capitol Hill, they changed their names just slightly from "Gerald F. Gestetner" to "Herbert Gestetner", and from "L.A. Dillinger" to "Barbara Dillenger" using their old counter-espionage trick to make it more difficult for ordinary people to keep track of them in the dawning era of public access to computers. LCIMPROVE documents also focus on when Oswald was trying to get a Soviet visa prior to his 1959 defection A second set of documents focus on Oswald's defection to the Soviet Union in October 1959. Several LCIMPROVE documents are dated near the time and place of Oswald's border crossing from Helsinki to the Soviet Union. The Soviet consul and the American vice consul had just confirmed an agreement where an American could get an instant visa to the USSR in minutes in Helsinki if he "looked all right". This was a sea change from having to wait indefinitely while the documents were mailed to Moscow for approval. Oswald was on leave from the US Marines at the time, and any such approval would have been virtually impossible to obtain. It's documented that counter-espionage LCIMPROVE activities go back at least as far back as at a memo written on June 7, 1956, looking at Soviet consul Gregory Golub as someone who "professes sympathy for the United States". LCIMPROVE may have originated in response to the West publishing Khrushchev's famous call for the "de-Stalinization" of the Soviet Union three days earlier. The subject line of the 6/7/56 memo was "REDCAP/LCIMPROVE". For several years, a program known as "REDSOX sought to parachute agents into the satellite countries to foment rebellion, while REDCAP was intended to handle the results of such efforts, including the expected deluge of defectors and refugees." Angleton obtained a copy of Khrushchev's secret anti-Stalin speech in April and planned on using isolated portions of it for propaganda purposes. After the copy of the speech was reviewed and declared to be authentic, CIA chief Allen Dulles decided to use this opportunity to intensify REDSOX and REDCAP. Although we don't know what the "LC" phrase in LCIMPROVE stands for, the term LCFLUTTER is well-known as a CIA cryptonym for a truth-finding technique, such as polygraphs and truth serum. In the counter-intelligence realm, LCIMPROVE appears to be a technique for improving counter-intelligence operations directed at the Soviets, and it seems to be focused on visas and other travel-oriented events such as REDCAP. After Allen Dulles provided the full text of Khrushchev's speech to his brother Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the New York Times picked it up and published the speech on June 4. Significant uprisings resulted in both Poland and Hungary in the next few months. On August 28, 1959, the Helsinki CIA chief of station wrote a REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memo to David Murphy (CIA chief for Soviet Russia) and Eric Timm (CIA chief for Western Europe), telling them that Soviet consul Gregory Golub would issue visas immediately and without Moscow approval. Murphy later wrote a book where he described REDCAP as a "worldwide defector inducement" program. "First priority went to efforts to recruit Soviets as sources or, as the Redcap sloganeers put it, to encourage them to "defect in place". Failing that, those who insisted on defecting outright would be brought to the West, where their intelligence knowledge could be tapped." The Helsinki CIA station had been working on Golub for awhile, hoping that he might be a possible defector. Soviet consul Golub was very attracted to two female students taking notes for the CIA in a "legal travelers" program known as REDSKIN. American vice consul William Costille was an officer specializing in REDSKIN-style operations. During July 1959, seemingly estranged from his wife, Golub turned on the charm towards two women known to us only as PAWNEE/3 and PAWNEE/5. An internal CIA memo shows that the station agents in Helsinki were fascinated, as well as concerned that the agency should help PAWNEE/5 "avoid any pitfalls or traps which she might walk into either wittingly or unwittingly. It is hard to decide from this whether G. just has a case of plain old hot pants or is entertaining more sinister plans or schemes." By August 14, "arrangements (were) made for a night on the town this Saturday with Costille and date and Golub and a trusted Finnish girl we are certain will give Golub a run for his money." It seems that providing Golub with female companionship during the summer sweetened him up. The focus of the August 28 REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memo was that "as long as the Americans had made travel arrangements through a local travel bureau (in Helsinki), as well as hotel reservations, (Golub) said he had no objections to giving them a visa in a matter of minutes." Take a look at the Helsinki CIA chief of station's October 9 memo to two other CIA division chiefs, David Murphy of Soviet Russia and Eric Timm of Western Europe, written one day before Oswald came to Helsinki in hopes of a quick border crossing into the Soviet Union. As can be seen, the subject line was entitled REDCAP/(Redacted), the usual heading for much of their correspondence. As REDCAP was designed to stir up unrest among émigrés, it was far more successful in the Eastern European satellite states than in the USSR. An inspector general's report issued in June 1956 stated that "the Soviet division could not produce "an authoritative statement of its missions and functions". The report stated there were only twenty "controlled agents' in the USSR the list contained a low-ranking naval engineering officer, the wife of a guided missile research scientist, laborer, telephone repairman, garage manager, veterinarian, high school teacher, locksmith, restaurant worker, and unemployed. These were not the people that could tell you much what was going on in the Soviet Union except in their neck of the woods, much less the Kremlin. Given the low ebb of REDCAP in the USSR at this time, REDCAP would be the perfect spot to tuck in someone like Oswald whose apparent goal was to become a Russian citizen and yet might want to keep his option to re-defect to the West. It's not impossible that Oswald may not have even known that he was being used by the CIA. Future articles will show how the path was paved for his convenience by his handlers. REDCAP was originally designed in 1952 to deal with the results of uprisings in the Soviet satellites, with a special focus on defectors and refugees. This may have been another reason that REDCAP was slow to get off the ground in the Soviet Union itself. According to Angleton biographer Michael Holzman, "It is said that clandestine services chief Frank Wisner and James Angleton had dual responsibility for Red Cap." If this is accurate, this may indicate that Angleton and Wisner's successor Cord Meyer worked together with Murphy and the Western European chief to effortlessly guide Oswald into Moscow. The October 9 REDCAP memo provided immediate assurances that Golub had confirmed with Costille that Americans would receive Soviet visas as soon as they made Intourist advance reservations. How did this gem get by CIA deputy chief Richard Helms? Helms was in charge of investigating all issues related to the CIA for the Warren Commission. Helms had access to these REDCAP documents, but closed his eyes and touted that a 5-7 days was the absolute minimum to obtain any visa longer than a 24 hour transit visa. Helsinki was the exception during 1959. It took weeks or months to obtain a Soviet visa anywhere else, because the general rule was that the Soviet consul had to send the visa applications to Moscow. It appears that Oswald immediately made good use of Costille's tip about coming through Helsinki. Oswald arrived in Helsinki late Saturday night on October 10, requested his visa on the 12th, obtained a visa from Golub by the 14th, and was in the USSR by the 15th. On the 13th, right while Oswald's visa was hanging in the balance, Golub called up Costille and they had a quick lunch and get-together. This was the first time Costille had heard from Golub in more than a month. Golub thanked Costille "profusely" for buying him two tickets to see Leonard Bernstein on the 4th, and confided to him that he had given one of tickets to PAWNEE/5. Golub was surprised that PAWNEE/5 was not nervous about being seen with a Soviet, and "made a definite effort to impress Costille...that his relationship was strictly above board and he had nothing to hide." The next day, the 14th, Oswald got his visa. Was it thanks to Leonard Bernstein? When the CIA questioned Soviet defector Yuri Nosenko claim that Oswald was a KGB agent, the first question on one of the interrogation lists was about Oswald getting a visa within two to four days. After traveling to Europe by freighter, the normally tight-fisted Marine stayed in an extremely expensive Helsinki hotel and booked a private guided tour of Moscow. Eric Timm from the CIA's Western Europe division had already cautioned that any hope of the "jilted husband" Golub defecting to the West was becoming more remote, and thought that Golub might be on to Costille's game. Three weeks after Oswald entered Moscow, Golub's wife "returned to Helsinki on 7 November and surprised him after an absence of four months. (Redacted) states that the relationship appears to be the same as it was before Mrs. G left, and Golub was glad to have her back." This final LCIMPROVE memo of November 27, 1959 ends with Golub walking out on the "trusted Finnish" woman when she takes all her clothes off instead of wearing his wife's nightgown, making it clear that the days of wine and roses were over. All of the above is part of a long-term pattern of LCIMPROVE in espionage affairs involving visas and travel involving the Soviets. Keep in mind that Lee Oswald was a US Marine that had not been formally discharged. There was little chance that Moscow was going to grant him a visa, unless a friendly consul gave him an instant visa. The days of wine and roses with Golub and Costille sheds new light on the vigorous steps that were taken several CIA officers to get the Red Marine inside the Soviet Union. Oswald's Soviet soujourn could have been part of the aforementioned REDSKIN program, which often used students and strictly legal methods such as travel itineraries to gather intelligence about facilities in main metropolitan areas and along main transportation lines. However, given the general lack of knowledge among CIA officials about Oswald's activities in the Soviet Union, it appears that he may have been part of a vest-pocket operation run by a very high CIA official who did not answer in the ordinary channels. Someone like counterintelligence chief Jim Angleton could arrange the operation with the aid of the CIA chiefs that guided Oswald into Moscow. The USSR was not well understood in the postwar era, and US intelligence agencies were fired up to learn more about their new enemy. This was a time when the American people were extremely naïve about the role of intelligence agencies. Fear of the unknown was twisted into the drive to build and expand American supremacy. Mexico City is different. We see Dillinger describing the phone call of Oswald speaking "broken Russian" while trying to persuade the Soviet embassy to give him an instant visa. This time, Oswald's attempt was unsuccessful. Whoever was Oswald at the Soviet embassy on the 28th apparently dissolved in tears. This may have been part of a plan to test the vulnerability of the consulate staff of Kostikov, Yatskov, and Nechiporenko to see if there was any REDCAP potential. Later that month, Gestetner asked the Navy for a photo of "Lee Henry Oswald", continuing to work the counter-intelligence and Soviet sides of Oswald's new legend. The collection of FPCC evidence was continuing in New York. - Before events had run their course, they were interrupted by the events of November 22, 1963. Whenever new documents in the JFK assassination are released, the information obtained aids progressive social movements in their struggles. When we know what the intelligence agencies have done in the past, we are more effective in our work to fight for democracy here at home. When we fully understand what intelligence operations were going on in Mexico City, it will aid us in understanding what happened on November 22 and in subsequent events. We can learn, as a people, to resist manipulation by the specialists in public management. The next time that clever political forces create provocations in the Gulf of Tonkin or around weapons of mass destruction, we can refuse to blindly react and march into war as in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Even when presidents like LBJ decide to cover up the truth rather than risk being dragged into an attack on Cuba - which may have been the motivation for the JFK assassination - we can organize on the ground and bring the facts to light. Even now, there are witnesses waiting to be found and informants waiting to be released from their oaths so they are allowed to speak without fear of prosecution or loss of honor. Don't believe the drumbeat from the mass media. Although many years have gone by, many of the key facts in this case are now known. More remain to be known. At a time that FOIA procedure is moving in a more positive direction, this is the moment to demand more information from the hidden vaults and into the hands of the American people. We can sum up what we have, demand the rest, and ask the right questions to those still alive. When summing up what we have, the Mary Ferrell Foundation (maryferrell.org) is an incredible resource that made it possible to research this story without leaving my desk. The technology available for researchers enables us to accomplish investigations that could not even be considered a few years ago. We can get some great work done with more people joining in to summarize documents and help put together some of the puzzles in our nation's recent history. During Sunshine Week in Washington DC (March 14-20), a number of researchers and concerned citizens will call on the House Oversight Committee for hearings that will bring more documents and the living witnesses into the daylight. A new MLK Act, based on the JFK Act, is also under discussion for immediate release of the King case documents that are currently locked up until 2029. Sign our petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/JFKACT/petition.html Join us on Tuesday, March 16 in Washington DC to get more of our history into the hands of the American people. Ask Ed Towns and the committee to free the files. - Bill Simpich is a civil rights attorney and antiwar activist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thanks go to William Kelly and Greg Parker for their assistance in reviewing this article. Bill Simpich can be contacted at bsimpich@gmail.com. ENDNOTES: Here' s the request by government staffers asking the CIA to define LCIMPROVE, (see item http://www.opednews.com/populum/#2): (Note: HSCA are the initials for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which investigated the case between 1976-1979). HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 9/ LIST OF NAMES RE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION INVESTIGATION, p. 22. RIFhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: 104-10061-10115 (02/15/78) Here's the CIA's response: "Counter-Espionage Involving Soviet Intelligence Services, Worldwide": HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 9/ LIST OF NAMES RE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION INVESTIGATION, p. 23 RIFhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: 104-10061-10115 (02/15/78) Here's another version of the responses, from a "small black notebook" in CIA custody: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 18, page 3, NARA Record Number: 1993.07.17.08:10:45:620630 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=3; This next part you can skip, unless the reader has any doubt about the accuracy of the CIA's admissions. The names in the notebook were used to aid the staffers in determining the true identities of various witnesses. See how the numbers in the notebook correspond with the names in the left margin of those working the CIA's Cuban desk. HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 9, pp. 16, 17, 18, 19, NARA Record Number: 104-10061-10115. My colleagues and I intend to bring this evidence to the House Oversight Committee between March 14-20, as part of the nationwide "Sunshine Week": Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan initiative led by the American Society of News Editors. Here is more on Sunshine Week. On Tuesday, March 16, we will lobby in the halls of Congress in a call for the last of the millions of JFK documents still under lock and key to be released to the American people: The Mary Ferrell Foundation has an excellent backgrounder on the history of the fight to free the JFK files. See Freeing the JFK Files. You can still sign our petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/JFKACT/petition.html Oswald had already obtained a new passport back in June of 1963, stating in his application that he planned to go to the Soviet Union and elsewhere by December: Oswald's passport application, 6/24/63, Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 24, p. 509. Oswald was not a good speller, but to spell your own mother's name "Marguerite Claverie" as "Margret Clavier" and your wife's maiden name of "Prusakova" as "Prossakava" is rather beyond the pale. The only place that could be done in 1963 was through Mexico City: See the Mary Ferrell Foundation for more background on the still-unfolding story of Oswald in Mexico City. Hoover went to great lengths to point out that the CIA itself wrote a memo in June 1963 saying there was no proof to support the claim that Kostikov was part of Department 13: Memo from J. Edgar Hoover to CIA Director John McCone, 9/1/64, ADMIN FOLDER-X6: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, CIA REPORTS LHO, p. 51, RIFhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: 124-10369-10063. John Tilton was a mid-level CIA officer with maritime operations and psychological operations: Tilton was no Boy Scout. He reported to Edward Lansdale in 1962-63 as part of the Psychological Operations Group, a psy-op team designed to destabilize Cuba. Later in the decade, Tilton was the CIA La Paz station chief involved in the capture and assassination of Che Guevara. Tilton was the last chief of the Phoenix Program in Vietnam, a US program estimated to have killed 20,000 alleged Viet Cong and tortured untold thousands. Tilton was considering planting "deceptive information" which might "embarrass" the FPCC in areas where it has some support: MEMORANDUM: Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Found in: DDP (Deputy Director of Plans) Files, RIFhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: 104-10310-10151 (09/18/63) CIAhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: CIA-DDP-FILES (9/18/63); see also Church Committee, Book V, Final Report (1976), pp. 65-66; see also Newman, p. 394. How would this faux FPCC literature be circulated? "This would be done by distributing propaganda through appropriate cut-outs": MEMORANDUM: Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Found in: DDP (Deputy Director of Plans) Files, RIFhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: 104-10310-10151 (09/18/63) CIAhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: CIA-DDP-FILES (9/18/63); see also Church Committee, Book V, Final Report (1976), pp. 65-66; see also John Newman, Oswald and the CIA (New York, Carroll & Graf: 1995) p. 394. On October 27, New York informant NY 3245-S* (who may have been FPCC worker Victor Vicente) got inside the New York FPCC national office and gave to the FBI a couple hundred documents, the foreign mailing list, and a sample of FPCC stationery: Memorandum from SAC, New York, to Director, FBI, 11/27/63, re Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Miscellaneous CIA Series/NARA Record Number: 104-10310-10071 In the swirl of the assassination, these two chiefs took careful note that the letter from Oswald to FPCC head "Vincent Lee" somehow got addressed to "Henry Lee": Memo from FBI Nationalities Intelligence supervisor W. R. Wannall to Division 5 supervisor William Sullivan, 11/23/63, FBI - HSCA Subject File: FPCC/NARA Record Number: Oswald reportedly went to Mexico City and tried to obtain the Cuban visa right there on the spot, even though he had no Soviet visa: Oswald's Cuban visa application, Warren Commission Exhibits, Vol. 25, p. 815, Exhibit 2564, 9/27/63. When asked about Oswald's wife, Oswald reportedly said that she was in New York City and she would follow him from there: FBI report, 5/18/64, Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 24, p. 589; CE 2121, p. 39. statement made by Cuban consulate employee Sylvia Duran, 11/23/63 that Oswald's wife Marina was supposedly in New York City. None of the consulate employees who were present could positively identify Oswald as the person at the Cuban consulate that day. Azcue was emphatic in testifying that Oswald was not the "dark blond" man angrily demanding an instant visa: HSCA Report, Vol. III, 136. There is no paper trail of documents prior to the assassination showing that Oswald was seen at the Cuban consulate. When CIA director Richard Helms was asked about this near the end of his life, he claimed that the CIA "didn't want to blow their source": John Newman, Oswald and the CIA (New York, Carroll & Graf: 1995), p. 418. List of Records and Files on Suspect RIS Officers, 11/20/74. Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10414-10342. Every page of this document shouts out for more analysis. See, in particular: Oswald on 9/27/63: See bottom of page 26 of 29. See reference to Oswald and Kostikov: Top of page 28 of 29, somehow these pages were separated. "Y talked with O": At mid-page - a reference to Yatskov and Oswald meeting on 9/28/63. See a REDCAP memo focused on Kostikov during 9/27/63 itself: Memo from Mexico City Chief of Station Willard Curtis (Win Scott) to Chief, Western Hemisphere, DISPATCH: REDCAP/VALERIY VLADIMIROVICH KOSTIKOV, 9/27/63, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 9: Hernandez - Loganov)/NARA Record Number: 104-10173-10310. Particularly intriguing is a meeting between Kostikov and a David Paton, with the notation "Kostikov had legitimate contact with Paton on visas": You have to wonder about Paton as well. Well-known Political aide Frank Mankiewicz wrote a book with Fidel Castro and Kirby Jones in 1975, With Fidel. In the introduction (at vii.), the authors thank several members in the US Foreign Service for making "their travels a lot easier", including "David Paton in Mexico City". The CIA's Ann Egerter worked at the office that spied on their own spies: Preliminary HSCA Interview of Ann Egerter by Dan Hardway and Betsy Wolf, March 31, 1978, p. 3, 180-10142-10298. One message inaccurately referred to "Lee Henry Oswald" as "approximately 35 years old, with an athletic build": CIA teletype 74673 to FBI, State Department, and Navy, October 10, 1963; NARA, JFK files, CIA 201 file on Oswald. (Egerter's name is on this last page) Egerter signed this document as a coordinating officer, and was one of the people who reviewed it for accuracy, which described "Lee Henry Oswald". The other message more accurately described him as "born 18 Oct 1939, five foot ten inches, light brown wavy hair": CIA teletype 74830 to Mexico City CIA station, October 10, 1963, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 6/NARA Record Number: 104-10052-10057 (Egerter's name is on this last page) Egerter signed this document as a coordinating officer, and told Congressional investigators that she could not explain the errors in the description of Oswald in these two documents. Oswald's central CIA file was wrongly entitled by Egerter as "Lee Henry Oswald" several years earlier when he had defected from the Marines to the Soviet Union: Field Personality (201) File Request for Information on Lee Henry Oswald, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 60/(12/9/1960) NARA Record Number: 1993.07.26.19:17:44:150330. By the time of the weekend of the assassination, even Walter Cronkite was calling him "Lee Henry Oswald": Walter Goodman, "Reviews/Television; CBS Replays the Weekned of Nov.22:", New York Times, Nov. 17, 1988 The House Select Committee on Assassinations knew about this practice and looked for Oswald files under these various names during their investigation of this case during the 70s: List of Documents Requested From Blakey, p. 13, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 20/NARA Record Number: 104-10081-10025. "The Agency was not, under any circumstances, to make inquiries or ask questions of any source or defector about Oswald: Memorandum re Harvey Lee Oswald, 4/5/62, Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10440-10039 click here=8740&relPageId=2 click here=8740&relPageId=4 This note was apparently precipitated by the defection of Soviet agent Oleg Lyalin, best known for causing 105 Soviet agents to be expelled from Britain. See the notes of bemused CIA archivist Russ Holmes to Mrs. E___, probably Mrs. Ann Egerter, where Holmes confesses: "Interesting Oswald angle, DCS (Domestic Contact Services) source protection angle which cannot understand myself. However, we should note this re Oswald for the future Pete (probably Pete Bagley) has seen and I routed orig to Rocca"(Bagley and Rocca are counterintelligence supervisors) Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10440-10039 Domestic Contact Services has been described as a debriefing operation. Deposition of Victor Marchetti, 3/28/75, p. 66 Church Committee Boxed Files, NARA Record Number: 157-10011-10092. Thomas Casasin, chief of Soviet Russia. Division 6, wrote that at one point he had "operational interest in the Harvey story" that involved the theme of defection: Memo for the record, Thomas B. Casasin, 11/25/63, Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10429-10239. Lt. Harvey Oswald was reported to be seen in a well-known bar in Havana with leading FPCC leader Robert Taber right after the Bay of Pigs invasion: Report by Lambert L. Anderson at FBI HQ to SAC, New York (reporting tip from army intelligence), 1/28/64, FBI JFK Assassination File (62-109060), Section 43, pp. 88-89. click here=62297&relPageId=89 The Warren Commission documented someone named "Harvey Oswald" appearing at the Selective Service office in Austin to complain about his military discharge at the same time that another Oswald was heading to Mexico City: Memo by Mrs. Lee Dannelly, Asst. Chief for Administrative Services, State Selective Service HQ, 12/30/63; Warren Commission Exhibit 2137, Volume 24, page 734. There is a list of about 100 files that have his name inverted by the authorities: See Peter Dale Scott, Deep Politics II: The New Revelations in U.S. Government Files, 1994-1995, p. 142, Appendix II, "The Documentary Life of Harvey Lee Oswald". In the game of molehunting, of course, the distinction between targeter and targeted is not a secure one. The situation is something like the parlor game of Murder, in which the culprit is"likely to be one of the investigators: For more on this subject, see Peter Dale Scott, "Oswald and the Hunt for Popov's Mole", Fourth Decade, March 1996, at p. 14. If Scott offers many ways that the "marked card" was used. By 1980, Congress was forced to pass a bill to compensate the unfairly accused officers in what became known as the "Mole Relief Act": David Wise, Molehunt (Random House, 1992), see footnote 5. The first document, dated October 8, 1963 from LADILLINGER, mentions a phone tap on the Soviet embassy in Mexico City that supposedly picked up a call from Lee Oswald on October 1 in "broken Russian": Memo from "LADILLINGER" in the Mexico City CIA station to CIA Headquarters, 10/8/63, Russ Holmes Work File/NARA Record Number: 104-10422-10205. LIENVOY refers to the phone tap program. LIEMPTY refers to the hidden camera program. Peter Gregory, a Russian translator, told the FBI that Oswald was skilled enough at Russian to be a translator himself: 11/29/63 FBI interview by SA Earle Haley with Peter Gregory; Warren Commission Document 5, p. 290. FBI documents state that Dallas FBI agents who knew Oswald's voice listened to the tape of the phone tap and described the voice as not Oswald's: FBI HQ supervisor Alan Belmont to FBI supervisor Clyde Tolson, 11/23/63, see Lopez Report, Addendum to Footnote 614. The CIA subsequently denied that this tape existed after the assassination...: Report of the HSCA on the CIA's Handling of the Assassination, p. 7. HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (staff notes)/NARA Record Number: 180-10140-10044. ...and convinced the Dallas agents to cover up the tape's existence: Id., at p. 6. Warren Commissioner David Slawson has admitted listening to the tape after the assassination, and is curiously vague and closed-mouthed about it: Joseph N. Riley, Listening to Lee, Fair Play Magazine. CIA agent Anne Goodpasture admitted in 1995 that her boss Win Scott may have had a copy of the tape and "squirreled it away in his safe": Deposition of Anne Goodpasture, AARB, Dec. 15, 1995, p. 147. Goodpasture said that the tape technician Arnold Arehart would know if a copy was made, as he was in the tape center "all the time". Deposition of Anne Goodpasture, AARB, Dec. 15, 1995, pp. 147-148. The House committee found the story of the photo "highly implausible": Lopez Report, id., pp. 153-154. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy: LBJ phone call with Hoover, 11/23/63. The Mexico City station asks CIA headquarters to send a photo of Oswald, apparently aware that there are problems with the Oswald photo. Curiously, the message refers to "Lee Henry Oswald", rather than "Lee Harvey Oswald": Memo originating from "G. F. Gestetner", Mexico City station, to Director, MEXI 6534, 10/15/63, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 30: Mexico City Station File)/NARA Record Number: 104-10195-10409. The 10/10/63 message also told the Mexico City CIA station to provide this description to their local FBI, Navy, INS, and State Department contacts: October 10 message from CIA HQ to Mexico City station, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 3/NARA Record Number: 104-10050-10010 The final page has the reference to "ODENVY, ODACID, ODOATH, and ODURGE", cryptonyms for "FBI, State Department, Navy, and INS". CIA headquarters sent a second and contradictory message on the same day to the headquarters of these agencies providing totally wrong information for Oswald: October 10 message from CIA HQ to FBI, Navy and State Department: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 56/NARA Record Number: 104-10125-10339. CI/SIG was "the office that spied on spies": Preliminary HSCA Interview of Ann Egerter by Dan Hardway and Betsy Wolf, March 31, 1978, p. 3, 180-10142-10298. During the 1970s, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) analyzed these two 10/10/63 messages from CIA headquarters and verified that they were drafted at the same time and sent within a few hours of each other: Oswald, the CIA, and Mexico City (aka "Lopez Report") p. 144 (1978) Oswald may have been part of what the CIA refers to as a "hip pocket group" or a "vest pocket group" known to only a few persons: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 26/NARA Record Number: 104-10086-10396, from copy of a duplicate file entitled "Goodpasture", p. p. 14 of 106. Also see p. 21 of 106, which offers a little more. "Gerald F. Gestetner" (a pseudonym for chief of Soviet affairs Herbert Manell): Deposition of (Redacted), 4/28/78, p. 2, NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10023. "Herbert Manell" typed at top of this page. Gestetner has also been identified elsewhere as "Paul Dillon", see Philip Agee, Inside the Company, p. 528. "L.A. Dillinger" was a pseudonym for Barbara Murphy Manell: Memo for the Record by Russ Holmes, p. 5, NARA Record Number: 104-10419-10215. Barbara Manell Murphy and husband Herbert Manell are also identified on this slip as "Cynthia Hausman" and her husband as "Paul Dillon": NARA Record Number: 104-10096-10232. Also see Philip Agee, id., re "Cynthia Hausman". We know that Egerter's boss was James Jesus Angleton, the legendary head of CIA counterintelligence that presided over Egerter's molehunting unit: HSCA Security Classified Testimony/HSCA Interview of James Angleton, 5 Oct 1978, p. 150. Angleton is legendary for almost tearing the agency apart in his paranoid hunt for Soviet moles: See generally David C. Martin, Wilderness of Mirrors, (Guilford, CT, Lyons Press: revised edition, 2003). We also know that Gestetner and Dellinger answered to David Phillips on covert actions matters, the number three man at the station and the one in charge of both covert actions and the Cuban desk: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 26/Copy 3 of a Duplicate File Entitled "Goodpasture", p. 21, NARA Record Number: 104-10086-10395 click here=796203 See John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, pp. 236-243; Jim Powell, "Lies, Damned Lies, and Elena Garro", Dealey Plaza Echo, January 2008, p. 14. All too common in the files are mostly-illegible documents, like this file about Phillips' source FPCC member Court Foster Wood. Someone on the inside with the public's interest in mind retyped this opening page. 10/7/61, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 41/NARA Record Number: 104-10114-10162 Phillips made a point of letting Cuban exile leader Antonio Veciana see him with Oswald just a few weeks earlier in Dallas: Lamar Waldron/Thom Hartmann interview with Antonio Veciana, leader of Cuban exile group Alpha-66, 6/2/93; see pages 172-173 and 529-30 of their book Ultimate Sacrifice (New York, Carroll & Graf: 2005). Phillips admitted under oath that "we covered this man (Oswald) all the time" in Mexico City: HSCA Deposition of David Phillips, 11/27/76, p. 97. HSCA Security Classified Testimony. Phillips wrote a book describing Oswald as a "blip": David Atlee Phillips, The Night Watch (New York: Atheneum, 1977) p. 139. Gestetner testified that his duties were counterintelligence monitoring, to negate Soviet efforts to penetrate their station, and to recruit Soviets to their side: Deposition of (Redacted), pp. 3-4, HSCA Security Classified Testimony/NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10023. Dillinger testified that she was the assistant chief on Soviet affairs, and their joint duties were counter-espionage and field investigations on the Soviets: Deposition of (REDACTED), p. 5, HSCA Security Classified Testimony/NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10022. The deponent is identified on the record as "Dillinger" at pages 91-92. When interviewed at Capitol Hill, they changed their names just slightly from "Gerald F. Gestetner" to "Herbert Gestetner", and from "L.A. Dillinger" to "Barbara Dillenger": Preliminary Interviews with Herbert Gestetner and Barbara Dillenger, 3/20/78, NARA Record Number: 180-10141-10228. The names of this husband-wife team are mostly redacted in the depositions. At one point, Gestetner's deposition is identified as that of Herbert Mannell. In any case, their testimony makes it simple to match up with the interviews: Gestetner: "Head of the Soviet section of the station in Mexico City" Dillinger: "Assistant chief of Soviet affairs in Mexico City" It's documented that counter-espionage LCIMPROVE activities go back at least as far back as at a memo written on June 7 1956, looking at Soviet consul Gregory Golub as someone who "professes sympathy for the United States": HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10342 REDSOX sought to parachute agents into the satellite countries to foment rebellion, while REDCAP was intended to handle the results of such efforts, including the expected deluge of defectors and refugees: Ronald R. Krebs, Dueling Visions: U.S. Strategy in Eastern Europe Under Eisenhower, p. 64. The term LCFLUTTER is well-known as a cryptonym for a truth-finding technique, such as polygraphs and truth serum: See, for example, OPERATIONAL SECURITY/LCFLUTTER RIFhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: 104-10102-10259 (10/18/63) After Dulles provided the full text of Khrushchev's speech to his brother Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the New York Times picked it up and published the speech on June 4: Id., at p. 64. During late August 1959, the Helsinki CIA chief of station wrote a REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memo to David Murphy (CIA chief for Soviet Russia) and Eric Timm (CIA chief for Western Europe), telling them that Soviet consul Gregory Golub would issue visas immediately and without Moscow approval: Dispatch REDCAP/LCIMPROVE Procuring of Female Companionship for Gregoriy T. Golub, Memo from Helsinki CIA Chief of Station to Chief, SR (David Murphy) and Chief, WE (Eric Timm), 8/28/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10294. Murphy later wrote a book where he described REDCAP as a "worldwide defector inducement" program: David E. Murphy, Sergei Kondrashev, and George Bailey, Battleground: Berlin (New Haven, Yale University Press: 1997), p. 238. (available on google) "First priority went to efforts to recruit Soviets as sources or, as the Redcap sloganeers put it, to encourage them to "defect in place": Id., at 238. American vice consul William Costille was an officer specializing in REDSKIN-type operations: Memo by chief Eric Timm, Western Europe, to chief of Helsinki CIA station, 9/21/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 5/NARA Record Number: 104-10051-10196 click here=27338&relPageId=3 Costille and Golub met when Costille was installed as vice consul in December 1958. Memo from Chief, Helsinki CIA station to Chief, Soviet Russia (David Murphy) and Chief, Western Europe (Eric Timm), 12/30/58, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10313. During July 1959, seemingly estranged from his wife, Golub turned on the charm towards two women known to us only as PAWNEE/3 and PAWNEE/5: Memo from Chief, Helsinki CIA station to Chief SR (David Murphy) and Chief WE (Eric Timm), 7/10/59. It is hard to decide from this whether G. just has a case of plain old hot pants or is entertaining more sinister plans or schemes: July 1956 CIA routing slip, NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10302. Arrangements have been made for a night on the town this Saturday with Costille and date and Golub and a trusted Finnish girl we are certain will give Golub a run for his money: Memo from Chief of Station, 8/14/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10297. It seems that providing Golub with female companionship during the summer sweetened him up. The focus of the August 28 REDCAP/LCIMPROVE memo was that "Golub said he had no objections to giving them a visa in a matter of minutes: Memo from Helsinki CIA chief of station to Murphy and Timm, re REDCAP/LCIMPROVE Procuring of Female Companionship for Gregoriy T. Golub, 8/28/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10294. An inspector general's report issued in June 1956 stated that "the Soviet division could not produce "an authoritative statement of its missions and functions". The report stated there were only twenty "controlled agents' in the USSR: Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, (New York, Doubleday: 2007) pp. 124-125. REDCAP was originally designed in 1952 to deal with the results of uprisings in the Soviet satellites, including defectors and refugees: Ronald R. Krebs, Dueling visions: U.S. strategy toward Eastern Europe under Eisenhower, p. 64. It is said that clandestine services chief Frank Wisner and James Angleton had dual responsibility for Red Cap: Michael Holzman, James Jesus Angleton, The CIA & the Craft of Counterintelligence (Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press, 2008) p. 158. The CIA chief of station in Helsinki sent a memo to Murphy and Timm with immediate assurances that Golub had confirmed with Costille that Americans would receive Soviet visas as soon as they made Intourist advance reservations: Memo from Chief, SR to Chief, WE, 10/9/59 Richard Helms told Warren Commission counsel Lee Rankin on 7/31/64 that in Helsinki 5-7 days was the absolute minimum to obtain any visa longer than a 24 hour transit visa: Memo from Richard Helms to J. Lee Rankin, 7/31/64. CIA 104-10009-10053 It was weeks or months to try to obtain the visa anywhere but Helsinki - elsewhere, the rule was that the Soviet consul had to send the visa applications to Moscow: John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee (Quasar, Ltd., Arlington, Texas, 2003), p. 255. Oswald arrived in Helsinki late Saturday night on October 10, requested a visa on the 12th, got a visa by the 14th, and was in the USSR by the 15th: Mary Ferrell's chronology, October 1959. On the 13th, right while Oswald's visa was hanging in the balance, Golub called up Costille and they had a quick lunch and get-together. This was the first time Costille had heard from Golub in more than a month. Golub thanked Costille "profusely" for buying him two tickets to see Leonard Bernstein on the 4th: Dispatch: REDWOOD/REDSKIN/REDCAP re Gregory Golub, 11/27/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/ NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10291 Here's a document showing departure from Finland on the 15th: CE 2775 - Translation of registration of Lee Harvey Oswald for residence in Moscow, October 1959 (CD 735, p. 237). When the CIA questioned Soviet defector Yuri Nosenko who claimed that Oswald was a KGB agent, the first question on their interrogation list was about Oswald getting a visa within two to four days: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 56/NARA Record Number: 1993.08.10.14:55:58:930060. After traveling to Europe by freighter, the normally tight-fisted Marine stayed in an extremely expensive Helsinki hotel and booked a private guided tour of Moscow: John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee (Quasar, Ltd., Arlington, Texas, 2003), p. 255. Timm had already cautioned that any hope of the "jilted husband" Golub defecting to the West was becoming more remote, and thought that Golub might be on to Costille's game: Memo from CIA Western European chief Eric Timm to Helsinki CIA chief of station, 9/21/59, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 5/NARA Record Number: 104-10051-10196 Three weeks after Oswald entered Moscow, Golub's wife "returned to Helsinki on 7 November and surprised him after an absence of four months: Personal Information Data, Gregory Golub, p. 10, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10283 HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 8: Golitsyn - Hernandez)/ NARA Record Number: 104-10172-10291 This is part of a long-term pattern of citing LCIMPROVE in espionage affairs directed at the Soviets, when Dillinger describes the phone call of Oswald speaking broken Russian while seeking an instant visa: IN 36017, memo from Mexico City to Headquarters, 10/9/63, Oswald 201 File (201-289248)/NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10047 "Cable Concerning Telephone Call to USSR Embassy From American Male Who Spoke Broken Russian". Mexico City asks the Navy for a photo of Lee Henry Oswald: MEXI 6534, from G.F. Gestetner to Navy, re "Lee Henry Oswald", 10/15/63, COPY 4 OF A DUPLICATE FILE ENTITLED, "GOODPASTURE.", RIFhttp://www.opednews.com/populum/#: 104-10086-10396 Oswald's plans make sense in the context of the REDSKIN program, which used strictly legal methods such as travel itineraries to gather intelligence about facilities in main metropolitan areas and along main transportation lines: Jeffrey Richelson, A Century of Spies, p. 257 It appears that Oswald may have been part of a vest-pocket operation run by a high CIA official who had no duty to respond in the ordinary channels: One officer acknowledges that "vest pocket" operations exist without other Agency officials knowing about it. At the same time, a deputy chief of clandestine affairs insists that he reviewed every clandestine operation ever run in the Soviet Union. Obviously, these two statements are contradictory. However, assuming the deputy chief is both truthful and accurate, it would indicate that if Oswald was involved in an operation, and it wasn't REDSKIN, the operation was closely held by someone who did not answer to this deputy chief. HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (staff notes)/ NARA Record Number: 180-10142-10413. It's not too late to sign the petition here... Consider joining the Mary Ferrell Foundation, which provides offers unlimited access to millions of documents that make a difference. la bumpa

John, My best wishes to you during this time. It was the most profound period in my life when my mother died. I have never known a deeper loss. I'm very glad that you took the time and care to preserve such wonderful memories. It will serve in good stead in times to come. What you wrote is a great tribute.

For you following along at home, I'll reprint the portion of my article and endnotes on Richard Gibson's dalliance with the FBI and CIA. The documents I've reviewed indicate that both the FBI and CIA were willing to listen to Gibson, but unwilling to hire him. Gibson spent a lot of time in the early 60s chatting with June Cobb, a colorful character: Fidel's secretary, Jose Juan Arevalo's translator for "The Shark and the Sardines", an ally of the FPCC in Mexico, and a CIA informant. Gibson did talk to the CIA again after the JFK assassination, and thought that a "Lee Bowmont" who wrote the FPCC in 1962 might be identical with LHO. "Bowmont" allegedly wrote from Ft. Worth, Texas enclosing a photo and a newspaper clipping on activity similar to F.P.C.C., and asking for information on F.P.C.C. I have not seen any other communications between Gibson and the agencies since that time. The way that Gibson left the USA seems very phony to me, and V.T. Lee may have known it was phony as well. Does anyone know any way to reach V.T. Lee, or if he is still alive? In a dramatic incident during the summer, Gibson's problems with money finally got the best of him. On July 16, 1962, Richard Gibson wrote a letter to Thornton Hagert of Falls Church, VA, the stepbrother of Philip Reiss of the Dept. Of Agriculture. Gibson writes in the letter that Reiss told him in the past that he is a former CIA employee. Gibson wants to make contact with the CIA, and suggests either the 799 Broadway office or his home. (201-306052) (also see redacted version at 105-93072-80) On July 24, 1962, the Nationalities Intelligence Section get the OK to interview Gibson. On August 16, 1962, Gibson is interviewed by NY agents Hoeg and Day. James Day writes the report in October, after Gibson skipped the country heading for Algeria in 9/12/62 - some say "just ahead of an indictment" but I'm not convinced any indictment was in the works based on these records. Gibson initially went to Canada, and there is no sign of pursuit or even concern by his departure by the intelligence agencies. Although I don't see anything in the file indicating a push for indictment of Gibson, Gibson's story to Lee was that the Cuban Mission told him that indictment was imminent. From reviewing the documents, it seems like this was Gibson's cover story. "On September 15, 1962, NY T-1 advised that on the evening of September 14 Ted Lee (also known as VT Lee) advised that Gibson's departure from the United States was unexpected. Lee told the source that someone from the CMUN (the Cuban Mission to the UN) had contacted Gibson and had told Gibson that things were getting hot for Gibson in the United States and that it would be necessary for Gibson to go to Canada for a short time. According to what Lee told NY T-1, the employee of the CMUN gave Gibson an envelope and instructions. Lee further stated that when Gibson got to the Cuban embassy in Ottawa, Canada, Gibson was told that he should go to Algeria with the result that Gibson left Ottawa, Canada by plane on September 13, 1962 headed for Algeria. Lee stated that Gibson told him of this when Gibson called Lee from Ottawa, Canada on the evening of September 12, 1962. Lee further advised T-1 that very few people know of the involvement of the CMUN in this matter and that NY T-1 should keep it secret." Gibson says he will assist the FBI for money, as he finds the FPCC no more than a translation service and the whole leftist movement "ineffective and inconsequential". He adds that the Cubans are stupid and he hates stupidity, and that the Communists have failed to help the Negro race. Hoeg discusses in his report that he will submit the New York office’s “recommendation for both a tactical and strategic plan to be implemented to disrupt, dissolve, or at least neutralize the FPCC as a subversive organization”. Another report on this interview says: “We advised Attorney General (Robert F. Kennedy) re (Gibson’s) interview with New York office on 8/16/62 (redacted) wherein he wanted money to denounce FPCC and wanted US to grant fugitive Robert Williams immunity from prosecution if he returned from Cuba. We told AG Gibson was untrustworthy and we were not initiating any more communication with him. Data herein will be given AG, as well as CIA and State Department, which agencies are aware of the previous interview.” FBI reports Gibson is in Algeria, speculates that Gibson may have been picked up by the CIA as an informant, but a handwritten note by Austin Horne of the CIA says no. Chief of the Nationalities Intelligence Section Raymond Wannall told his boss domestic intelligence chief William Sullivan that Gibson is very untrustworthy and the approach has to be to accept any info he provides but not to run Gibson as an informant. A later document confirms that neither the FBI or the CIA would accept Richard Gibson’s help at that time: "Gibson indicated that he was willing to publicly denounce the FPCC, say he was duped, that the FPCC is a tool of the Cuban government, that it is ineffective, and anyone still remaining loyal (to the FPCC) was just wasting his time, or any other tactic subsequently determined to be the most effective course of conduct. However, there was an undertone that he expected to be paid for any efforts in this regard. He stated that it was his personal opinion that it would be much more effective to use the FPCC as a cover for intelligence and counter-intelligence purposes, but when questioned for his specific thinking in this regard, he commented only that this could possibly be worked out later." Endnotes: "The Nationalities Intelligence Section gets the OK to interview Gibson..." NO TITLE, Found in: FBI - HSCA Subject File: Richard Thomas Gibson, RIF#: 124-90147-10062 (07/25/62) FBI#: 105-93072-NR, http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 "On September 15, 1962, NY T-1 advised that on the evening of September 14 Ted Lee (also known as VT Lee) advised that Gibson's departure from the United States was unexpected." For serious researchers: NY T-1 in this document was also known as NY 3164-S, cover page D of RIF# 124-90147-10093. The FBI practice was for the T numbers to change for each report. In the unredacted copies available to the public, T-3245-S (Victor Vicente) would be identified with a different T number for that individual report, and the key at the beginning of the document would explain that that particular informant was T-3245-S. "Lee further advised T-1 that very few people know of the involvement of the CMUN in this matter and that NY T-1 should keep it secret." NO TITLE, Found in: FBI-HSCA Subject File: FPCC, RIF # 124-90120-10037, FBI# 97-4196 105-93072-81.-840 (1/22/63), p. 53 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=63 The FBI saw no indication of any immediate SISS interest in Gibson: RIF#: 124-90147-10083 (09/18/62) "Gibson says he will assist the FBI for money, as he finds the FPCC no more than a translation service and the whole leftist movement "ineffective and inconsequential..." NO TITLE pg 6, Found in: FBI - HSCA Subject File: Richard Thomas Gibson, RIF#: 124-90147-10077 (08/17/62) FBI#: 105-93072-78, p. 6, http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=7 “We advised Attorney General (Robert F. Kennedy) re (Gibson’s) interview with New York office on 8/16/62 (redacted) wherein he wanted money to denounce FPCC and wanted US to grant fugitive Robert Williams immunity from prosecution if he returned from Cuba..." NO TITLE pg 2, Found in: FBI - HSCA Subject File: Richard Thomas Gibson, RIF#: 124-90147-10087 (09/18/62) FBI#: 105-93072-82 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 "FBI reports Gibson is in Algeria, speculates that Gibson may have been picked up by the CIA as an informant, but a handwritten note by Austin Horne of the CIA says no." NO TITLE pg 1, Found in: FBI - HSCA Subject File: Richard Thomas Gibson (RIF#: 124-90147-10090 (10/09/62) FBI#: 105-93072-84 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 Chief of the Nationalities Intelligence Section Raymond Wannall told his boss domestic intelligence chief William Sullivan that Gibson is very untrustworthy and the approach has to be to accept any info he provides but not to run Gibson as an informant. NO TITLE pg 1, Found in: FBI - HSCA Subject File: Richard Thomas Gibson (RIF#: 124-90147-10095 (10/25/62) FBI#: 105-93072-87, http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=2; Also see discussion with Richard Helms about Gibson, SUBJECT: RICHARD GIBSON, FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE pg 2 RIF#: 104-10217-10188 (09/11/62) CIA#: 80T01357A, http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 "Gibson indicated that he was willing to publicly denounce the FPCC, say he was duped, that the FPCC is a tool of the Cuban government..." RIF 124-90120-10037; 97-4196-840, p. 6, 1/22/63. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=16

Greg, Thanks for your supportive insights. I would like to know more about the Redskin story and several other items you mentioned. The "Border Crossing" story about Reies Tijerina and his possible family connections was excellent. Wikipedia says that Tijerina is still alive and living in El Paso, and I bet he or other family members would be glad to address those questions you posed. Did you know that he joined forces with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at Rescurrection City in the DC actions of 1968 after MLK was killed? His book, "They Called Me King Tiger" is a treasure. I have read Arevalo's "The Shark and the Sardines", and it's excellent. In many ways, it's just as current as ever. I'm hoping to post more in the future about the "9/11-style plot" to blow up New York City commercial and military installations in Nov. 1962, I've seen very little written about it in the past; also more on the hunt to make the FPCC look bad. The hyperlinked article at opednews.com must be getting traffic from forum members, it's up to #2 in "most viewed". Thanks to everyone who gave it a bump, bump it again! Bill

Here's the endnotes. There's a hyperlinked version at opednews.com in the news column that's easier to read. Give it a bump, maybe it'll get more people to sign the petition to Congress to enforce the JFK Act! Bill Endnotes: http://www.newswithviews.com/news_worthy/news_worthy18.htm “a Cuban plot to bomb Bloomingdale’s…” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...absPageId=48642 “…other midtown shopping establishments” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=90 “Arrested...” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=89 “allied with the pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba Committee” http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopol...ecretgov_5h.htm “the supposed saboteurs were returned to Cuba in April 1963 in exchange for 3 CIA officials” http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/w...Vol20_0266a.htm “forty or fifty free copies of a 40 page pamphlet” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...&docId=1265 “the author of those pamphlets was holding a receipt for 45 of these pamphlets from the CIA Acquisitions Division.” http://www.counterpunch.org/simpich07242009.html Victor Vicente was a “key informant” for both the CIA and the FBI http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 “he let FBI agents into the FPCC office so they could photograph the documents” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=396499 “the CIA sent Vicente to Havana…to meet with Castro and Che Guevara” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=377132 "an operation designed to make the FPCC look bad" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 "Victor Vicente took care of that request during the next month" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=79 “Standing right in front of Oswald in line was William Gaudet” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=488851 “Cuba chief David Phillips admitted, ‘We covered this man all the time.’” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=7 “among his fellow employees at Langley, the effect was electric” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=12 "Win Scott had been asking since October for a good photo of Oswald" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3 “Goodpasture said she felt that it should not be sent out” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=488851 “a picture of a man that he wrongly claimed” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=31 “Scott came up with good pictures of Oswald” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=34 “two CIA men backed this story” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=11 "the tape was not Oswald’s voice" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=33 “that tape…has also been buried” http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk...-1963_0030a.htm “Hoover…reported the impersonation of Oswald” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=429764 “LIONION-1” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=17 “LIFEUD-22” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=234532 “(the photographer of the) Cuban embassy” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=440480 "set up an elaborate process to protect his identity" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=422559 “he’s in Madrid” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=439480. "Alberto Rodriguez Gallego” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=6 "1972" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...geId=2(Gallego) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=7 (two CIA agents) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 (LIMUST) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...Id=2(LIEMBRACE) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...ageId=2(LIFIRE) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...geId=2(LIMOTOR) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...Id=2(AMSUPER-1) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...eId=2(LIVALVE-1 and others) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=7 “poisoned candy to Arevalo’s family" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=510952 “five children” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3 "bomb" http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=7 “a faked ‘montage’ photo of Arevalo standing with a Soviet military attaché” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl...9/clinton11.htm “200,000 lives” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=797258 “the day after the Kennedy assassination” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 “monitoring his movements” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=49 “final two months” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=5 “ensuring that Arevalo would never become president” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3 “(June Cobb) was also a CIA asset” http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3 “for his work in overthrowing the Guatemalan government” http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKoswaldrifle.jpg “an armed Lee Harvey Oswald holding together in his fist the newspapers of the Socialist Workers Party and the Communist Party” http://www.petitiononline.com/JFKACT/petition.html “Write Congress and call on them to enforce the JFK Act”

I suspect Robert Taber is still alive. The War of the Flea is a very important book and I am sure he would have got an obituary in newspapers like the Guardian. Bill, have you had any luck in finding Gibson or Taber? No luck reaching Taber yet...Van Gosse thought he died ten years ago, but I haven't confirmed that yet. Gibson is somewhere in Europe, I think he's still alive. I'd really like to find Vincent T. Lee or Victor Thomas Vicente. I think of them now as "Vincent and Vicente". As mentioned earlier in this thread, the "40 or 50...basic pamphlets-14" Oswald asked the FPCC to send him in 1963 were the very 45 Basic Pamphlets #14 by Corliss Lamont that Ethel H. Smith ordered on CIA letterhead on behalf of the chief of the CIA's Acquisitions Division. (See Jim DiEugenio's Destiny Betrayed, p. 219) Somehow Oswald knew to ask for "forty or fifty" of these exact pamphlets. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=531 Somehow Oswald happened to order these pamphlets when Vincent Lee was not in the FPCC office and Victor Vicente was running the shop. Somehow Victor Vicente (who worked for the CIA and the FBI, doing black bag jobs as T-3245-S*) received these 45 pamphlets from the CIA and mailed them to Oswald, claiming he mailed "50". A copy of these 40 page pamphlets that Oswald had in his possession when he was arrested in New Orleans in 1963 is in the record and can be seen on-line (WC Ex. 3120). These pamphlets were from the first printing in 1961 - the very printing ordered by the CIA. This pamphlet had gone through four printings by 1963. Here's a fascinating precedent for this kind of thing - the Weekly Standard reported two weeks ago that when Taber wrote War of the Flea, the entire first printing "was bought up by the American military and became required reading for Special Forces officers". http://www.annrachelmarlowe.com/2009/10/11...nterinsurgency/ This seems like good evidence that Lee Oswald was not only being used by intelligence operatives, but, even more importantly, that he was seeking them out. Your thoughts?

Well, like I posted above - people do things for conflicting reasons, or give out reasons that conflict with reality. LBJ was caught in several hintings of conspiracy during and after the Presidency, and seemingly for conflicting purposes. Shakespeare told Kevin Costner (in "JFK") that one may smile and smile and be a villain. Well, one can cry and cry, too. Just watch courtroom broadcasts on cable. P.S. - This is no knock on your argument, but Barr McClellan's book on LBJ is an ephemeral historical work, so slight it isn't even really there. It's one insubstantial anecdote - a business associate of McClellan's and LBJ's told McClellan that Lyndon had had Jack offed - surrounded by a hundred pages of innuendo. This does not make a complete book, much less a useful history, and I'm amazed that the small money involved could induce a publisher to accept what, by rights, should have been a one-page magazine piece. This does not mean that I believe LBJ was innocent - but he and his Suite 8F clique were essentially ground troops for the real kingmakers, who resided at a further economic remove in the business and politics of oil, drugs, military spending, and globalist-inspired anti-communism. LBJ was perhaps only as responsible as Edwin Walker or Joseph Milteer or Ed Lansdale, and just as disposable. Maybe that was the thought creeped out the old Senate power-broker in the Air Force One toilet. It probably creeped him out again when he "denied himself" the nomination, knowing or sensing that he was giving the seat up not to Bobby after all, but to the old hard-line anti-communist, Nixon - the Black Prince of our tragedy. "The Black Prince of our tragedy." I think I know what you're referring to, but I'm not sure. Could you expand on that?

During October, 1963, New Orleans FBI agents Warren de Brueys and Milton R. Kaack suppressed the reference to “FPCC/544 Camp Street” that was stamped on Lamont’s pamphlet in Oswald’s possession A little follow-up on my previous post. One thing I didn’t know was that the Lamont pamphlet that came into the FBI’s possession in New Orleans in August 1963 was stamped “FPCC/544 Camp Street”. This document was suppressed by the FBI and a “clean” version of this pamphlet was given to the Warren Commission as CD 3120. This is clearly cover-up activity after the assassination. But a review of the below material reveals that New Orleans SAC Warren de Brueys and SA Milton R. Kaack both suppressed the information about “FPCC/544 Camp Street” in their reports before the assassination. It seems clear that they were protecting some intelligence operation - the question is what it was. The next part of this comes directly from Gerald McKnight’s Breach of Trust, p. 320: “Milton Kaack had access to Quigley’s copy of Lamont’s pamphlet, which “bore the rubber-stamped impression “FPCC/544 Camp Street/New Orleans, La.” When the Commission questioned Quigley about his interview with Oswald, the FBI agent never mentioned the 544 Camp Street address. On September 12, 1963, FBI New Orleans asked the New York office to “furnish an appropriate characterization of Corliss Lamont”. “FBI New York’s “characterization” of Lamont as a fellow traveler (communist sympathizer) and Quigley’s Oswald interview report were included in two larger reports: Kaack’s and de Brueys’s for October 31 and October 25, respectively. In neither report was the Camp Street address mentioned. “Three days after the assassination, the FBI did what can charitably be called a cursory investigation into the 544 Camp Street address. The results were incorporated into the FBI’s Commission Document (CD) 1 summary report to the Commission. “The salient information was: “Also at the time of his August, 1963, arrest, Oswald had been passing out publications bearing the stamp ‘FPCC, 544 Camp Street, New Orleans, La.” “The Commission was never informed that at one time the CIA-funded Cuban Revolutionary Council’s New Orleans chapter had occupied at this address. “This was not an FBI oversight. When Secret Service agent John Rice, the agency’s special agent in charge of the New Orleans office, requested from his FBI counterpart information about where Oswald had had his FPCC handbills printed and also about the 544 Camp Street address, FBI Washington abruptly advised him that it had checked “this angle thoroughly but with negative results”. In short, Rice was warned off the case.” McKnight’s footnote is equally enlightening: “For Quigley’s report of the interview, see Hearings Before Commission, Vo. 17, 758-762. His report contains Hidell’s name and the bogus FPCC PO Box 3006 address, but not the 544 Camp Street address; Hearings Before Commission, Vol. 4, 437; Vol. 17, 811. "For Kaack, see CE 826: http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/w...Vol17_0390a.htm "and for de Brueys’s October 25, 1963 report, see CD 1114 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=1 "The quotation from CD 1 can be found on p. 64 of that document... http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=75 “Early JFK assassination researcher Paul Hoch established beyond question that the pamphlet Quigley received from Oswald bore the 544 Camp Street address. Hoch’s persistence with the Justice Department was finally rewarded with a Xerox copy of the original FBI record copy that Quigley filed with the FBI’s New Orleans office. This copy of the record held by the FBI contained the rubber-stamped 544 Camp Street address. The copy of the Lamont pamphlet that appeared in the official record as CE 3120 did not carry the 544 Camp Street address. See Paul Hoch’s lengthy correspondence with the Justice Department under ‘Paul Hoch, 544 Camp Street, Weisberg Subject Index, Weisberg Archive.’” To follow-up on the memo about the FBI’s closing off of Rice’s investigation, see WC Exhibit 1414, a 12/9/63 Secret Service memo written by SA Anthony Gerrets and approved by Rice: http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/w...Vol22_0429b.htm Gerrets’ memo begins by acknowledging that “the address ‘544 Camp Street, New Orleans, La.’...appeared on some of the literature in the possession of Lee Harvey Oswald when he was arrested...”. It goes on to document interviews with well-known Cuban exile activists such as Arnesto Rodriguez, Sr. and Luis Ravel of the Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC), Manuel Gil of INCA, and Ronnie Caire of the Crusade to Free Cuba Committee, which makes it clear that the CRC had an office at 544 Camp during 1961-62. The landlord Sam Newman made it clear that the last payment received for back CRC rent was paid on April 3, 1963 - two weeks before Oswald made the move to New Orleans. Tenants from two of the union offices in the building are interviewed, but there is never any mention of the Guy Banister detective offices at 531 Lafayette Street. If one enters Newman’s building on the Lafayette side, the address is 531; if one enters on the Camp side, it is 544. One area that needs follow-up is whether there are any early reports of the Secret Service or the FBI knowing about Guy Banister's presence in the CRC offices during 1961-1962. McKnight mentions that it exists, but I couldn't find it in the above-mentioned Secret Service report. Perhaps it's an earlier one that I couldn't readily locate. The last part of the report turns to the question Rice asked New Orleans FBI agent Paul Alker on 12/6: What were the results of any investigation done to connect Oswald and the FPCC with 544 Camp Street? Alker said that “they had checked this angle out thoroughly but with negative results.”. An FBI document of August, 1963 indicates that Paul Alker was the #3 man in the New Orleans field office hierarchy. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=854244 Garrets says that “in the event any information is developed which would place (Oswald) at 544 Camp St., New Orleans, it will be the subject of another report.” In other words, since the above mostly-hostile witnesses denied knowledge of LHO or the FPCC at 544 Camp Street, coupled with Alker's "warning off" Rice, Rice and Garrets let their investigation die. http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/w...Vol22_0431a.htm Conclusion SAC Warren de Brueys and SA Milton R. Kaack both suppressed the “FPCC/544 Camp Street" stamp on Lamont's pamphlet in their October 1963 reports. Why?

Bill, If you were trying to lob a softball to me, it looked more like a knuckleball by the time I was done swinging at it. But I think I tagged it. Victor Vicente mailed Corliss Lamont’s pamphlets to Oswald - and probably sent the same 45 pamphlets originally purchased by the CIA two years earlier. The evidence is overwhelming that Victor Vicente was the one who mailed Corliss Lamont’s pamphlets to Oswald. Jerry Rose raised some good points on this story in “A Fine Basic Pamplet: Oswald and Corliss Lamont” in the Fourth Decade, and we can stand on his shoulders now that more documents have been released. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3 Vincent T. Lee was in the West Coast the week in April that Oswald ordered “40 or 50 of the fine basic pamplets (sic)” from him in his first letter to the New York FPCC office dated 4/18/63. Someone wrote “sent 4/19" in the margin of Oswald’s letter, and then wrote “50" and put it in a circle. That someone was almost certainly Vicente - not only was Vincent Lee out of town on 4/19 and had asked Vicente to watch over things during his departure, but he specifically denied to the Warren Commission that it was his handwriting. (It should be noted that Vincent Lee initially tried to cover up for Vicente by telling the FBI that the notations were in his handwriting in his initial 12/6/63 interview) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=88 Two days later, Vicente assisted the FBI in their “black bag job” on the FPCC office, where Vicente “made available records and correspondence currently maintained at FPCC Headquarters…Approximately 100 photographs were taken of this material…NYO will make appropriate dissemination when the film is developed.” For more information on Vicente and this incident, see my article earlier in this thread on “Fair Play for Cuba and the Cuban Revolution”. Rose’s article would have been even stronger if he had realized that “Basic Pamphlets” was the name of Lamont’s mail-order pamphlet enterprise in 1961. It just so happens that the CIA ordered 45 pamphlets of the first edition in June 1961. Is it simply an eerie coincidence that LHO ordered “40 or (50)"? Was it a message that he was willing to "split the difference" in some way? We know that 45 pamphlets were ordered by “Ethel H. Smith, on behalf of the Chief of the Acquisitions Division” by taking a glance at the CIA’s order slip and mailing envelope displayed at p. 219 of Jim DiEugenio’s Destiny Betrayed. The CIA purchased these 45 pamphlets from Lamont using its own letterhead! There were four printings of the “Crime Against Cuba” during 1961, and DiEugenio displays the text of the first printing in June and fourth printing in December to show the difference. DiEugenio informs us that the first printing was the version that Oswald was handing out in New Orleans two years later, during August 1963. To see the actual pamphlet and that it’s a first printing, see WC Exhibit 3120, page 2: http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/w...Vol26_0405b.htm All the evidence indicates that Vicente sent Oswald not 50, but the 45 pamphlets originally ordered by the CIA in the first printing during June 1961. What is increasingly clear is that Vicente made it his business to mail those pamphlets to Oswald. Oswald asked the FPCC to send "pamplet-14" to him - most people would not have understood the reference The next question - why did Vicente choose the pamphlet of “Crime Against Cuba” to send to Oswald? I couldn’t find the spring 1963 FPCC literature catalog, but I did find the one for the fall of 1963. “Crime Against Cuba” was the only Lamont publication listed in the more than sixty catalog items, which lead to another question - why would the FPCC be offering this 39-page pamphlet for only five cents a copy? http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=17 Let's return to the main question in another way...how did Vicente know which Lamont pamphlet Oswald wanted? Sure, “Crime Against Cuba” may have been the only Corliss Lamont publication in the FPCC catalog. But how did Vicente know what “Basic Pamphlets” referred to, when they weren't listed in the catalog in that fashion? Take another look at WC Exhibit 3120, above. See the front page, where it is labeled at the top: “Basic Pamphlet-14". Next, the title: “The Crime Against Cuba”. Then, look at LHO’s first letter to the New York FPCC office: “I stood yesterday...passing out fair play for cuba pamplets...I now ask for 40 or (50) more of the fine, basic pamplets-14". http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=81 It’s clear from the letter that Oswald knew exactly what document he wanted. But it’s completely unclear how Vicente could have known that “basic pamplets-14" was referring to Lamont’s pamphlet. “Crime Against Cuba” is simply not a “fair play for cuba pamphlet” as described in Oswald’s letter. Lamont’s pamphlet only refers to the FPCC as a “source” at the end. The authorities were always fascinated by Lamont’s pamphlet, and they always seemed to have copies of it Lamont’s pamphlet made an impression on the authorities. Joan Mellen states that the FBI had a copy of this pamphlet “the day before Oswald scuffled with Bringuier”, citing RIF 124-10248-10191. Jerry Rose points out that when Oswald was arrested fighting with the anti-Castro Cubans in August, Oswald spoke with New Orleans officer Captain James Arnold and made statements to him indicating his mistaken belief that Corliss Lamont was a woman. Oswald also asked to speak with an FBI agent. Incredibly, FBI agent John Quigley was sent to the jailhouse for an interview, despite the fact that Oswald was incarcerated for a minor misdemeanor. Among other things, Quigley and Oswald also chatted about the pamphlet. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...absPageId=13645 About a month later, on Sept. 12, 1963, the New Orleans SAC Milton Kaack wrote Hoover’s office and reported that LHO was not only passing out FPCC literature, but also Lamont’s “Crime Against Cuba”. Kaack also asked New York to send by airtel a characterization of Corliss Lamont. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=692194 It’s worth noting that after the assassination, the FBI’s Inspector Gale wrote a memo (originally redacted) naming the 18 agents that were punished for their mistakes that played a role in allowing the assassination to happen. Not only did Gale single out Kaack for punishment, but he also fingered Lambert L. Anderson, sitting at Hoover’s “Seat of Government”, who “supervised the Fair Play of Cuba aspects of this case from 8/16 to 10/31/63. He failed to have Oswald put on the SI (security index) in spite of considerable Fair Play for Cuba activity coupled with soviet defection background. In explanation he claims he did not feel Oswald met criteria for inclusion on SI.” It appears that Anderson and Kaack worked together, as Kaack’s last memo on the continuing investigation of Oswald prior to the assassination was 10/31/63. Anderson and Kaack deserve very close scrutiny. Anderson prepared many of the pre-assassination memos between Wannall and Sullivan, who were both censured for their inaction during this period. Kaack was keeping tabs on LHO as early as May of 1963, when LHO was allegedly working for deputy CIA chief Hunter Leake in New Orleans and his ostensible Dallas case agent Jim Hosty complained that he didn't know where the Oswalds had gone. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=300117 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=274386 In summary, the incident with Lamont’s pamphlet-14 is a strong indicator that Vicente obtained these documents from the CIA specifically to plant them on Oswald. For whatever reason, it seems that Oswald was giving a very strong signal of how many pamphlets to ask for. The mysterious thing to me is why would the CIA ask Lamont for 45 pamphlets on their own letterhead, and then try to use them for operational purposes two years later? Was it a plan, or just plain stupidity? It’s one of the strongest links between the CIA and LHO.

Thank you, John, for asking me to join the forum. I've attached my FPCC article with the endnotes, which many people have been asking me for. The documents referenced in this article provide a unique window into the JFK case. It's the viewpoint of the pro-Castro activists here in the United States. A lot has been heard from government actors and anti-Castro activists. But hearing from American pro-Castro activists is relatively new. It's no accident these documents were held back for decades. The documents reveal that most of the initial activists in 1960 are clearly not government informants - people like J. Edgar Hoover wanted to know a lot more about them after the Bay of Pigs protests. The scales tip drastically by 1963 - that's when you start seeing 40 informants in a single FBI report. This is one more reason to lobby the Congressional oversight committees to release assassination-related documents already in the custody of the National Archives - before all these informants die of old age and what they know is lost. It's worth taking a long look at John Tilton when reviewing the article. Tilton was a CIA mid-level operative who asked the FBI to provide him with FPCC stationery and mailing lists (which Victor Vicente did on 10/27/63, as well as letters written to Lee by Oswald). Tilton also worked with Lansdale on psy-ops, was the head of the CIA station in La Paz that helped capture Che Guevara, and served as the last chief of the assassination-driven Phoenix Program in Vietnam. (My post the other day on "Lee Henry Oswald" provides these background articles on Tilton). Tilton also asked the FBI to help him with a deception program designed to make the FPCC look bad abroad. He wrote this letter a week before Oswald went to Mexico City, and just days before Oswald made his travel arrangements with William Gaudet of the CIA by his side. This FPCC deception program may have been the purpose of Oswald's Mexico trip. New York City also emerges as a key aspect of the JFK case. It's the home of the FPCC. Also the home of the UN and the Cuban Mission to the UN, which worked closely with the FPCC. Oswald lived in NYC. The NYC FBI field office generated some of the first reports on LHO in early 1960. The Mannlicher-Carcano was allegedly shipped from NYC to Chicago to Dallas. Many politically active pro and anti Castro Cubans lived there during this era, even Orestes Pena. The FPCC had three key leaders. The documents indicate that Taber offered to work for the CIA after JFK's death, but was refused as "untrustworthy", the same pattern as his successor Richard Gibson about a month before his permanent departure for Europe in Sept. 1962. I don't get it - I thought untrustworthiness was part of the job description of an informant. The final leader of the FPCC, V.T. Lee, is a fascinating story by himself, which I haven't got into yet. I have been able to confirm that he was born in August 11, 1927, but what was his real name at birth? This is usually the first thing the intelligence agencies try to establish - for him, it appears they didn't care. Clarence Thomas Lee is what Julian Sourwine and SISS claimed - Sourwine claimed that Lee's parents were named Tappin, but Lee claimed that he was born with the last name "Lee". http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=177 V.T. Lee was African American, was at the same apartment house with Richard Gibson (also African American) at 37 1/2 St. Mark's Place in 1962. The reason I bring all this up is because V.T. Lee's history is very hard to put together - a newspaper article about his life is included in the above SISS article but that's not terribly reliable...what happened to him after his spin with the Workers World Party in 64 or 65? There's a reference about him in 1966 that had Richard Helms clearly unglued. I haven't spoken to anyone who interviewed him after that date except on the phone... ...More to the point, I want to interview Lee, Gibson, and Taber and hear their side of the story. Can anyone help me find them? I think Gibson is still alive, I'm not so sure about Lee or Taber. If he's still alive, I'd also like to interview Victor Vicente, V.T. Lee's right hand man in 1963 who aided the FBI with all their black bag jobs on the FPCC office, and then went to Mexico City and Cuba in July 1963 on behalf of the CIA and met Castro and Che. My research indicates that there are extensive files on all the people and many more named above, and that most of their files were not unearthed by the efforts of the AARB. We can have the oversight committees designate them as assassination-related records under the JFK Act, and then they have to be turned over to the National Archives. Unless this happens by 2017, most of these records will be lost forever. Any questions about the FPCC documents, feel free to fire away. There's more available, and a lot more out there. Bill Simpich FairPlayforCuba73209.pdf

I wanted to see if I could revive this thread, because I think that the "Lee Henry Oswald" story leads to better understanding of how Oswald was used by James Angleton's CI-SIG (counter-intelligence, special investigations group) and David Phillips of the SAS. Angleton's assistant Ann Egerter was the one who named the 201 file "Lee Henry Oswald" and denied to the HSCA that the word "Henry" was in her handwriting. More than 30 years later, her deposition is one of the only ones that has not been declassified. The October 1 transcripts and much more are now on-line and readily available. I hope we can keep pushing to have more documents released by the Congressional oversight committees in the coming year. CI-SIG treated "Lee Henry Oswald" as an intelligence asset Here are some indications that that Oswald was used wittingly or unwittingly for a molehunt by Angleton: In “Oswald and the Search for Popov’s Mole”, Peter Dale Scott focuses on the importance of the numerous anomalies that fill Oswald’s 201 file. One important one is Angleton's assistant Ann Egerter opening a 201 file for Oswald more than a year after his defection to the Soviet Union and only after inquiries were made about his defector status by the State Department, and entitling the file “Lee Henry Oswald”. In "Popov's Mole" Scott argues that inaccurate information was repeatedly planted in the documentary history of Oswald’s files by officials such as Egerter and FBI Special Agent John Fain, specifically to find out if this information leaked somewhere else. If it did, this was evidence that a “mole” had access to it. Jim Angleton’s search for a mole is well-known for having turned the CIA upside down. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=3 The CIA's top "defector-in-place" (an agent who not only defects, but remains in and feigns loyalty to the target country), Peter Popov. code-named ATTIC, had passed on a leak in 1958 that the Soviets knew a lot more about the U-2 than the US thought. The very day that LHO arrived in the Soviet Union - October 16, 1959 - Popov was arrested. Angleton's biographer Tom Mangold wrote that this event accelerated Angleton's molehunt, believing that "Popov could only have been betrayed by a mole buried deep within Soviet Division." Mangold also wrote that "Popov was actually lost to the Soviets because of a slipshod CIA operation; there was no treachery." (John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, pp. 87-88) Nonetheless, if Angleton was convinced that there was a mole in the Soviet Division, he may have believed that radar operator Oswald's presence in the Soviet Union that day had something to do with it. At a minimum, it is reasonable to believe that Angleton wanted LHO carefully watched, and that intelligence decisions would be made based on LHO's actions. That is a good working definition of an intelligence "asset". As David Phillips told the HSCA, "We covered this man all the time." http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=99 Egerter told the HSCA that the 201 file for a CIA asset "would be a restricted 201 file and it might even be a false 201 file, not having anything in it. Everything would be held by the case officer...operational material is not filed in 201 files...It would be held by the operations officer, case officer." (DiEugenio & Pease, eds., The Assassinations, p. 157, citing Egerter's 5/27/78 deposition, pp. 31-38; was it reclassified?) Even the transcript of Oswald's October 1 call to the Soviet embassy may not be authentic The last time “Lee Henry Oswald” was seen in the files was when the CIA generated twin messages with very different descriptions of Oswald on October 10, 1963, stating that he had contacted the Soviet embassy in Mexico City on October 1. The transcript of the October 1, 1963 visit do exist. Although "Lee Henry Oswald" is not invoked there, everyone from J. Edgar Hoover on down seems to agree that LHO was impersonated during the calls that day. You can read them here... http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=8 There is a dispute about the authenticity of the October 1 transcript. Win Scott and David Phillips prepared a cable to CIA HQ on October 8 stating that Oswald spoke in "broken Russian". http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=66 Not only does the transcript reflect that Oswald spoke in English, but Oswald's Russian in 1963 was very good. Another discrepency is that Anita Tarasoff (she and her husband transcribed the tapes) remembered that Oswald was asking for financial aid in the October 1 transcript. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=96 Amazingly, both Win Scott and David Phillips appear to agree with her: Win Scott: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=101 David Phillips: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=54 When Phillips tried to get around it, Chief Counsel Sprague angrily said to Phillips that "you have slithered around" recent disparaging claims he had made to the media that Oswald had been seeking financial aid. Even Phillips had to agree! http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=94 As the tapes no longer exist, there is no way to test the transcript against the tapes, only against the documentary record. Ann Egerter's deposition testimony about the October 10 messages from the CIA is not credible, and should be released in full Moving to the twin October 10 messages with very different descriptions of Oswald: One message was in-house, while the other went to third party agencies (FBI, State Dept., and Navy). The latter message stated that “Lee Henry Oswald” was 35 years old and balding. Egerter checked both of these messages for accuracy. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=157 These October 10 messages went out just hours after FBI official Marvin Gheesling took Oswald off the FBI’s Watchlist, claiming that it should have been done upon Oswald’s return from the Soviet Union the previous year. As stated by author James Douglass, the upshot was that Oswald’s “staged Soviet connection could then be documented for scapegoating purposes after Dallas, but without sounding a national security alarm that would have put a spotlight on Oswald and prevented Dallas from happening." When Ann Egerter was interviewed by HSCA investigators on 3/31/78, she asked to use an alias. She said that CI-SIG was known as the “office known for spying on spies” and that its main work was infiltration of the CIA. (pages 1 and 3 of memo) She also said that the words “Henry”, “Marine Corps” and “Navy” on the 201 document did not look like her handwriting and that she did “not recognize 2nd writing”. (pages 9 and 10 of memo; other numbered pages unreadable) http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 To see Egerter’s handwriting on the document that opened the 201 file: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=113 Egerter complained to the CIA after the deposition was over that she had not done well, citing her problem with the “Lee Henry” handwriting, among a host of other issues. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=740779 Her deposition of 5/17/78 remains one of the only depositions - if not the only deposition - still classified more than thirty years later. Are the twin messages of October 10 related to the CIA-FBI deception program in foreign countries to counter the FPCC? As Peter Dale Scott has said, it is important to analyze intelligence operations prior to the assassination, the assassination itself, and the cover-up. The events we have looked at so far appear to focus on a molehunt and possibly an FPCC deception program. On 9/16/63, John Tilton of the CIA made two requests. One was for the FBI to help obtain FPCC stationery and any existing foreign mailing list in order to have a sample “to produce large quantities of propaganda in the name of the (FPCC)” in order to “counter” their activities in foreign countries. Tilton also said that the CIA was considering planting “deceptive information” which might “embarrass” the FPCC in areas where it has some support. Tilton assured the FBI that no "fabrication" would take place without advance notice and agreement. David Phillips with the SAS was in charge of Cuban affairs during this period, and specialized in actions of deception. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=377132 LHO's subsequent visit to Mexico City on September 25 may have been an effort to plant "deceptive information". Pursuant to Tilton's other request, the FBI asked FPCC activist Victor Vicente, NY 3245-S* to provide them with FPCC stationery and the foreign mailing lists. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=438314 Tilton did it, and included within the package correspondence to the FPCC, that included a typed copy of a letter from Lee Oswald to V.T. Lee that Vicente had already provided in a previous break-in in April 1963. In this typed version, prepared under the guidance of experienced Oswald investigator FBI agent Robert P. Gemberling, VT Lee was described as "Henry Lee", a phrase that was not used in Oswald's letter. Was this just a mistake, or a conscious effort to link these two men in the documentary record in some way? The handwritten version of the VT Lee exhibit: http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/w...Vol20_0269b.htm The typed version of the VT Lee exhibit referring to "Henry Lee": http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=676 Tilton was no Boy Scout. He reported to Edward Lansdale in 1962-63 as part of the Psychological Operations Group, a psy-op team designed to destabilize Cuba. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=73 Tilton was the CIA La Paz station chief involved in the capture and assassination of Che Guevara. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB5/ Tilton was the last chief of the Phoenix Program in Vietnam, a program estimated to have killed 20,000 alleged Viet Cong. http://www.naderlibrary.com/phoenixprog26.htm A final anomaly brought out in "Popov's Mole" is a crucial key to the assassination itself A false physical description of Oswald as 5 feet, 10 inches and 165 pounds can be found in three crucial places: 1. This description originated in a memo written by FBI Special John Fain in May, 1960, supposedly based from talking to Oswald’s mother, although Oswald’s weight never varied any more than 130-150 and was 150 at the time of his death. LHO's height was generally described as 5 feet, 9 inches, though the Marines reported Oswald as 5 feet, 11 inches. LHO seemed to favor the 5'11" description when dealing with government officials, for some still-unknown purpose. http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/w...eport_0084b.htm http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=10 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=792581 2. The last known pre-assassination use of this physical description was in the second of the twin October 10 messages was a cable sent two hours later to the station in Mexico: "Oswald is five feet ten inches, one hundred sixty five pounds..." Although Egerter checked it for accuracy, "accuracy" is not the issue. The issue is how this particular description was chosen from all the descriptions out there. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=157 3. Finally, the broadcast over the Dallas police radio fifteen minutes after JFK was shot was that the unidentified assassin was “5/10, 165 pounds...” http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/w...Vol23_0438a.htm Although confused commentators have claimed that Howard Brennan was the source, it's well documented that an "unidentified citizen" gave the above description to Inspector Sawyer after he saw someone looking like Oswald running from the Book Depository immediately after the assassination. The citizen did not comply with the sheriff's request to come to the office later to fill out a report, and Hoover said that the "sheriff's office can locate no record on this citizen". http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=109 Even after the Warren Report was published, Hoover responded to general counsel J. Lee Rankin's request that according to the Dallas police the information came from an ‘unidentified citizen’.” (There is no record of Hoover re-contacting the sheriff's department). http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=72 - also see Gerald McKnight's (Breach of Trust, p. 109) Rankin repeated his request to Hoover for more information on this incident, but apparently to no avail. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=33 - Bill Simpich

Is it your opinion that Oswald was working for the FBI/CIA when he wrote to the FPCC on 26th May, 1963? I try to be very cautious on this kind of question. I do think that LHO was trying to penetrate the FPCC - the question is to what end. The best evidence on any affiliation LHO may have had with the CIA at this time comes from Hunter Leake, one of the CIA chiefs in New Orleans who claimed that LHO reported to him in May 63 and that Helms had him drive all the LHO files to DC where they were never seen again. It would be good if there was a second CIA source from that time period. I'm also aware of James Wilcott's HSCA testimony, and remain fascinated by it. It also appears that Fain and Hosty of the FBI had some relationship with LHO as well. As LHO told Fain in late 62 that he would report to him on any criminal activity, it would seem that he should have been listed as a Potential Criminal Informant or a Potential Security Informant from that statement alone. I'd like to see more follow-up on Joan Mellen's findings that LHO was an informant answering to Cesar Diosdado in Customs. I think what we do know is that LHO was at least an "asset" of both these agencies, meaning that the agencies were watching him very carefully to see who emerged from the shadows to talk with him, and treated that as information that they would act on. When John Quigley of the FBI came running in August 63 to take Oswald's statement after his arrest for a misdemeanor, that says a lot. When Marvin Gheesling took Oswald off the FBI watchlist hours before the twin October 10 cables that would have put LHO in the intelligence spotlights, that says even more. When John Whitten testified that "the effect was electric" when the CIA HQ learned that LHO had been arrested on November 22, that kind of says it all.

I'm a civil rights attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area, practicing since 1982. I’ve been fortunate to work in a field that has used its power to make a difference - the legal system is too often a sector that resists meaningful social change. I am also involved in the movement against US military intervention and for global justice. To that end, the JFK case provides an unprecedented insight into both civilian and military intelligence - gaining control over these entities is a big piece of the puzzle if we hope to see a world moving towards transparency and real democracy. I occasionally write for Counterpunch and Truthout, and hope to get a book out relatively soon that will tackle a variety of subjects. One section I’m working on covers the efforts to get the US into war with Cuba - both before and after the death of JFK. To that end, I’ve studied the FPCC pretty closely, and hope to engage with others about how operations surrounding the FPCC tied into the work of Jim Angleton, David Phillips, and their friends, particularly in and around CI-SIG, the Mexico City station, and the FBI field office in NYC.