AMHINT and the Assassination of JFK

[Robert Howard]

http://www.antiterroristas.cu/index.php?tp..._obj_id=1001735

The CIA-trained Cuban terrorists created in the plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion became major purveyors of this history of secrecy and lies. In December 1962, Cuba released more than a thousand prisoners of Brigade 2506, the Bay of Pigs invaders. They joined thousands of other Cuban émigrés to be given further training by the CIA. From 1963 through 1966, about 300 CIA agents like E. Howard Hunt worked out of a CIA station based at the University of Miami. They controlled thousands of Cuban operatives in a campaign of constant armed attacks, sabotage, infiltration, propaganda, arson, and murder.

Some Bay of Pigs veterans enrolled at Fort Benning for CIA training that gave them commissions as Army lieutenants. Within the time frame of this forum, I’ll follow briefly only one of these trained terrorists: Luis Posada, but Posada had three important buddies at Fort Benning -- Jorge Mas Canosa, Orlando Bosch, and Félix Rodríguez -- all of whom became connected in some form or other to terrorism. Decades later, Luis Posada told New York Times reporters that “the CIA taught us everything -- everything.” He said, “They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb, trained us in acts of sabotage.”

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m113...50/ai_54545997/

When he arrived in Miami, Mas, like most of the young exile men, saw U.S.-backed violence as the only means available for the overthrow of the revolutionary government. He later modified, but never abandoned, this methodology. The young Mas joined the CIA's Bay of Pigs invasion expedition, but never set foot on the island. The CIA assigned him to a decoy ship.

After the April 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco, Mas turned to radio, doing biweekly anti-Castro broadcasts into Cuba over the CIA's Radio SWAN. He married Irma, his high school sweetheart. To earn his living he began delivering milk; subsequently he sold shoes in Miami's Little Havana.

In 1963, the CIA offered a select group of Bay of Pigs veterans a chance to enroll in an intelligence training course at Fort Benning, Georgia. Mas met two Cuban exiles there, Felix Rodriguez and Luis Posada Carrilles, who became his lifetime buddies after undergoing this special training with him. Like other Bay of Pigs veterans selected as "special cases," Mas received a commission as second lieutenant, but - like many of his compatriots - quit the army when he discovered that the U.S. government had no immediate plans to invade Cuba.(2)

Mas Terror

Following his 1963 Fort Benning experience, Mas met Jose "Pepin" Bosch, kingpin of the Bacardi rum family, and abandoned his shoe-salesman career in Little Havana. How does a former shoe salesman with little record of accomplishment get into millionaire Bosch's league? Did the CIA suggest that Bosch back Mas, yet another among many Cuban exiles plotting terrorist raids against Cuba, as a leader of RECE (Representacion Cubana en el Exilio)? Former House Assassinations Committee investigator Gaeton Fonzi says that the CIA, not Bosch, financed RECE. Fonzi cites an FBI document that has Mas delivering $5,000 to Luis Posada, then a CIA contract agent, to blow up a Soviet or Cuban ship docked in Veracruz, Mexico.(3)

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKvarona.htm

During the month of June 1963, Manuel Artime, a leading political figure among the Cuban refugees in Miami, Florida, came to Fort Benning, Georgia, for the purpose of recruiting people to go to a revolutionary camp in Nicaragua. Artime informed this group that the U.S. Government was not going to do anything for Cuba and that he had obtained aid and instructors from Europe." "Help should start to be received by Artime after November 1963." "Muina is working for, or with, Artime. Muina has indicated that Cuba will not gain its liberty with the assistance of the United States, but needs to look for help from another country. Muina believes that the United States has decided to apply the principle of co-existence towards Cuba." "There is a group of officers with the Cuban Officers Training Program at Lackland Air Force Base who contemplate submitting their resignations if the United States has not done anything for the freedom of Cuba by December 1963. Many officers have indicated their desire to resign in order to join Manuel Artime who is supposedly organizing a training camp in Nicaragua. Artime has some contacts that have been undermining the present training program by spreading dissention among their fellow officers.

Good stuff, you should keep up with the threads on Operation Valkyrie and Venezuelan arms cache, as there are some overlaps to some of what you have posted. One of my most valuable research possessions is the paperback Retrospect 1964, which is a chronology of UPI photos and dispatches from 1963. One of the items that I discovered in it that I ran across is a summary of 6/20/63, which shows a photo of Dr Antonio Maceo with the caption "Dr. Antonio Maceo, President of [the] Cuban Revolutionary Council in Miami, caused a brief headline flurry with claim that invasion of Cuba had started."

Regarding your post, I have mulled over a lot of items over the years regarding the anti-Castro exile Cuba connections to the assassination, one thing that always jumped out at me is when I used to look at NARA document listings for a particular person or exile organization, and always noticed the amount of documents then, on Juan Bosch and the Diaz brothers, I really think that the key to understanding "how it all worked out," is the pattern of exile activities between the Kennedy Administration on one hand, and the JMWAVE/JCOS maneuvering to control the leadership of the post-Castro leadership for an ersatz free Cuba, when one centers on this I think the Cuban Revolutionary Council is a key area, which makes the E. Howard Hunt/Barker area still pertinent.....Another issue is something called Operation Omega.

Just some thoughts.

PS You are no doubt the man to talk to when it comes to the "suspicious vehicles" in the JFK Assassination, I am sure you know more about Rambler's than I ever will, lol.

On the topic of suspicious vehicles, ala Lee Bowers; have you ever seen the automobile list that William Duff allegedly had access to? It's quite a list, but I don't know enough to be a very good candidate for studying that area, also there is a automobile associated with the Parrot Jungle incident in Florida, do you know about that one, on the latter the color doesen't seem to match, but in relation to the Walker shooting, if I am not mistaken, it may be worth looking into. I am not so naive as to think that having a paint job done or a license plate switch would have been out of the question, if you believe in black ops, that is.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Robert Howard

[Lee Forman]

Good stuff, you should keep up with the threads on Operation Valkyrie and Venezuelan arms cache, as there are some overlaps to some of what you have posted. One of my most valuable research possessions is the paperback Retrospect 1964, which is a chronology of UPI photos and dispatches from 1963. One of the items that I discovered in it that I ran across is a summary of 6/20/63, which shows a photo of Dr Antonio Maceo with the caption "Dr. Antonio Maceo, President of [the] Cuban Revolutionary Council in Miami, caused a brief headline flurry with claim that invasion of Cuba had started."

Regarding your post, I have mulled over a lot of items over the years regarding the anti-Castro exile Cuba connections to the assassination, one thing that always jumped out at me is when I used to look at NARA document listings for a particular person or exile organization, and always noticed the amount of documents then, on Juan Bosch and the Diaz brothers, I really think that the key to understanding "how it all worked out," is the pattern of exile activities between the Kennedy Administration on one hand, and the JMWAVE/JCOS maneuvering to control the leadership of the post-Castro leadership for an ersatz free Cuba, when one centers on this I think the Cuban Revolutionary Council is a key area, which makes the E. Howard Hunt/Barker area still pertinent.....Another issue is something called Operation Omega.

Just some thoughts.

PS You are no doubt the man to talk to when it comes to the "suspicious vehicles" in the JFK Assassination, I am sure you know more about Rambler's than I ever will, lol.

On the topic of suspicious vehicles, ala Lee Bowers; have you ever seen the automobile list that William Duff allegedly had access to? It's quite a list, but I don't know enough to be a very good candidate for studying that area, also there is a automobile associated with the Parrot Jungle incident in Florida, do you know about that one, on the latter the color doesen't seem to match, but in relation to the Walker shooting, if I am not mistaken, it may be worth looking into. I am not so naive as to think that having a paint job done or a license plate switch would have been out of the question, if you believe in black ops, that is.

Hey Robert - you said it. Much here - and SOA figures in. I think there is a large void of documentation here - some which may not even exist. Of the Cubans selected for special Fort Benning training - how many received what kind of training? Certainly there had to have been a few selected especially for ZR related training.

I think the Parrot incident should be added to the suspicious vehicles thread - even if it was indirectly related to 11/22. What I have had a hard time finding again is the reported incident of the rambler associated with the surveying of DP which took place coincidentally within some very short timeframe of 11.22. I may need to go through a lot of material to find that again - but I'm willing to bet it is worthwhile. There's just no way that El Indio didn't case the joint.

- lee

[Lee Forman]

ayep...

Edited June 17, 2009 by Lee Forman

[William Kelly]

First of all, thanks to all for these informative posts.

AMHINT was the name given to the leaders of the DRE; AMSPELL was the cryptonym for the CIA's relationship with the DRE. AMSPELL files refer to the group and its activities; AMHINT files refer to the individuals.

Document # 104-10015-10108 has been released.

The Pfeiffer report is the only documented instance I know of connecting AMSPELL to a Castro assassination plot. Former DRE leaders disclaim such knowledge, either out of embarassment or forgetfulness. I don't judge. My sense is that these were half-assed plots that Agency people quickly realized were half-assed. Out chauvinism if not racism, CIA men thought it would be easy to get to Castro and kill him. Until they tried. Then the CIA plotters moved from talking to the likes of the DRE boys to talking to the Mafiosos. They needed real heavies.

What new any and all this says about JFK and the events of 1963 is not clear to me.

It is true that the AMHINTs were trusted agency assets in 1963. More than one of them had Provisional Operational Approval from the agency, a standard designation for a cooperative agent. At least one AMHINT (Salvat) went to Dallas in October 1963 but disclaims any connection with Oswald or the assassination. I have no reason not to believe him. Other AMHINTS were in contact with the House Un-American Activities Committee in September 1963 and right after the assassination. On 11/29/63, the AMHINTs backed out of an invitation to testify to HUAC about Oswald and several of them left the country at that time.

What, if anything, case officer Joannides knew about Salvat's trip to Dallas is unknown. What he knew about HUAC's invitation to the DRE leaders to testify about Oswald is unknown. I am fairly sure (but cannot prove) that Joannides knew about the AMHINTs travelling outside of the country after 11/22.

Beyond that lies mostly speculation, fun and often interesting but ultimately pointless.

The significance of the story, insofar as it can be learned 46 years later, is in the Joannides files.

Please help force the release of those files by joining this Facebook cause.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=646...amp;ref=profile

thanks,

Jeff

I think its real important to support Jeff's case, as he is taking a big risk for being so tenacious about these records.

But I take issue with his statement regarding the chronology of the CIA Mafia plots to kill Castro and the use of the DRE by the CIA.

I think Jeff Morely gets it backwards when he writes, “…CIA men thought it would be easy to get to Castro and kill him. Until they tried. Then the CIA plotters moved from talking to the likes of the DRE boys to talking to the Mafiosos. They needed real heavies.”

Were’t the Mafia plots early on, and the DRE implicated later on as part of the Northwoods aspect of the plot to kill Castro/JFK?

From what I understand, the Mafia were brought in to kill Castro (by the CIA's O'Donnell) as early as 1959, during the Eisenhower administration. When JFK and RFK were told about these plots, they objected. In fact, they changed the US policy towards Cuba, rejecting support for the former Batista officials, and promoted the Cuban revolution without Fidel, which would have included the DRE, who helped Castro overthrow Batista.

The CIA’s Cuban Aid Relief (CAR) was established in Philadelphia to assist exiled Cuban professionals who were not affiliated with the Batista regime, drawing a clear line in the sand against the old regime from ever returning.

The Mafia were in cahoots with former Cuban president Prio, but the Kennedys favored the Cuban exiles who had fought Batista, and the Mafia who were previously hired to kill Castro certainly got the message that even if Castro goes, they weren’t going to go back to Havana like it was before. They gave up on Castro and Cuba and Caesar’s Palace, which was designed for Havana, was built in Vegas instead.

I don’t think the Mafia ever even tried to kill Castro, and only used the CIA plots they were associated with in order to blackmail the government, which Giancanna and Rosselli tried to do at the time of their deaths.

After the Mafia plots, the focus of the real plots to kill Castro were centered around the CIA-DOD Task Force. This was set up with Desmond Fitz at CIA reporting directly to the Joint Chiefs, and Gen. Krulack being responsible for support of CIA covert Cuban operations, including the JMWAVE Maritime ops that became entangled with the Dealey Plaza coup.

It was this CIA/DOD joint task force operation against Cuba that included the “Contingency Plans for a Coup in Cuba,” and an assassination plot based on the Nazi Valkyrie plot to kill Hitler.

This was the specific plot to kill Castro that was “turned” against JFK, a plot that utilized the Valkyrie/Northwoods scheme to blame the assassination on Castro (using DRE support).

This was a very sophisticated plan and was not the as the early plots that utilized the Mafia, or David Ferrie and the Yahoo bandits who raided the Houma bunkder, but rather, it was David Atlee Phillips, Des Fitz and Krulack’s boys, who ran the Cuban maritime commando training center at the Navy base, which the Batista henchman had spied. A very tight operation.

When the anti-Castro CIA plots went from the Mafia to the Pentagon, it went up a notch in sophistication, and the “Contingency Plans for a Coup in Cuba” was utilized for a coup in the USA.

Edited July 10, 2009 by William Kelly

[Lee Forman]

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Shot Down: Morley vs. CIA

by DALE K. MYERS

Last week’s ruling by United States District Judge Richard J. Leon didn’t come as a big surprise to anyone watching from the sidelines.

Judge Leon ruled in favor of the CIA in a long running dispute between the intelligence agency and journalist Jefferson Morley who’s been seeking access to agency records that might shed some light on whether there was a relationship between deceased agent George E. Joannides and accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

In July 2003, Morley submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the CIA seeking all records pertaining to CIA operations officer George E. Joannides including but not limited to seventeen specific categories of records. Morley believed that Joannides was “uniquely well-positioned to observe and report” on the assassination of President Kennedy and that the documents he requested promised “to shed light on the confused investigatory aftermath of the assassination.”

The CIA initially responded to Morley’s request by telling him that records relating to the assassination had been transferred to the National Archives and that he should direct his FOIPA request there. After further review, however, the CIA reconsidered its position and in 2004 sent Morley three complete documents, two documents in segregable form, and 113 redacted documents. Some material was withheld in its entirety and the CIA declined to confirm or deny the existence of other records requested by Morley.

Because the CIA had conducted an adequate search, sufficiently explained any withheld information, and properly invoked the FOIPA exemptions it claimed, the Court granted summary judgment in the agency’s favor.

On review, however, the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision in part and reversed in part. Specifically, the Court of Appeals ordered the CIA to (1) search its operational files (which it had not done previously), (2) search records it transferred to the National Archives, (3) supplement its explanation regarding missing monthly reports Morley believed should have been filed by Joannides, (4) provide details as to the scope of its previous searches, (5) explain to the Court’s satisfaction why entirely withheld information was not segregable, (6) substantiate its refusal to confirm or deny the existence of certain records requested by Morley, and (7) provide additional justification for withholding some documents under FOIPA exemptions.

In response to this ruling, the CIA conducted additional searches resulting in the release of 113 responsive records in April 2008 and another 293 records in August 2008.

Subsequent to the new releases, the CIA renewed its motion for summary judgment on the basis that it fully complied with the Court of Appeal’s remand. Morley opposed the motion and filed a cross-motion for summary judgment.

Last week, Judge Leon granted the CIA’s motion for summary judgment, thus closing the door on Morley’s challenge.

In his ruling, Judge Leon explained that the additional searches conducted by the CIA of its operational files in 2008 satisfied the Court of Appeal’s 2004 remand and that the CIA had also now explained in sufficient detail how it crafted its search of the three locations which comprise the statutory definition of the agency’s operational files.

“Not surprisingly,” Judge Leon wrote, “Morley is unhappy with the scope of the CIA’s search. But to the extent Morley takes issue with the CIA’s decision not to apply these search terms to any other agency directorates, his argument must fail because it neglects the explicit statutory definition of ‘operational files,’ which is limited to the three directorates searched by the CIA.”

Because the CIA had described the search of its operational files with more than relative detail, in good faith, and in a nonconclusory way, summary judgment in its favor was deemed appropriate on that point.

Additionally, the 2004 Court of Appeals was not satisfied with the CIA’s explanation concerning the whereabouts of 17 monthly reports which Morley believes Joannides filed between 1962 and 1964.

“Regrettably,” Judge Leon wrote in his ruling, “Morley has read the Court of Appeals’ opinion as a broad invitation to once again mount his argument as to why these reports must have been filed in the first place, why they should now be considered ‘missing,’ and why their absence indicates an inadequate search on the part of the CIA. He is mistaken. It was not an accident that the Court of Appeals began its discussion of the monthly reports by stating, ‘Morley is less persuasive in contending that the search was inadequate because there are certain documents that he suspects the CIA has in its possession but withheld.’ “

The actual reason the Court of Appeals remanded on this point was that the CIA failed to explain to the Court, or Morley, its search for these reports and its resulting belief that they never existed. Instead, the CIA had merely pointed to a memorandum it previously wrote to the National Archives which the agency claimed ‘may’ explain why the reports did not exist. While the CIA continues to point to the National Archives memorandum, it now details on the record its new search efforts to uncover the monthly reports.

“Morley’s continued disbelief in the agency’s explanation,” Judge Leon wrote, “is not enough to create a material issue of fact on this point. He offers ‘nothing more than mere speculation that as yet uncovered documents might exist,’ which is not enough to ‘undermine the determination that the agency conducted an adequate search for the requested records.’ “

According to Judge Leon, Morley’s primary objection to the general scope of the CIA’s search appears to be that it neglected to use two search terms which Morley feels are particularly significant. Specifically, Morley contends that Joannides was involved in two covert operations identified by the cryptonyms AMBARB and AHMINT, and he argues that the CIA’s search is inadequate to the extent it did not explicitly search for these files.

However, Judge Leon ruled that Morley’s objection was unavailing because the CIA had explained how it searched for all records relating to Joannides and that the presence or absence of the search terms AMBARB and AHMINT does not impact the Court’s finding that the CIA conducted an adequate search.

In additional to ruling that the CIA had provided adequate explanations for exempting information under the law, Judge Leon also ruled that the CIA has offered a sufficiently detailed explanation, as required by the 2004 Court of Appeals, as to why disclosing the existence of some records relating to Joannides might endanger intelligence sources and methods.

According to Delores M. Nelson, Chief of the Public Information Programs Division at the CIA, intelligence activities lie at the core of the CIA’s functions. If the CIA admits it possesses records regarding the CIA’s participation in a covert action, they believe this disclosure could reasonably be expected to result in damage to the United States’ foreign relations with those countries in which the covert actions occurred. They also believe that even the denial of the existence of records with respect to Joannides’s covert operations could have similarly deleterious effects.

Thus, the CIA continues to neither confirm nor deny the existence of all records relating to Joannides’s covert operations, except for those relating to two covert projects which the CIA has already publicly acknowledged: one, referred to by the cryptonym JMWAVE, and the second, service as a CIA representative to the House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations from 1978 to 1979.

Judge Leon wrote, “Morley, nonetheless, objects to the scope of the CIA’s Glomar response because he believes the agency has already declassified records which document Joannides’s involvement in the covert AMBARB and AHMINT operations. Based on this belief, he contends that the CIA cannot continue to confirm or deny their existence. I disagree. The CIA denies it ever officially declassified or acknowledged Joannides’s participation in these operations. And notwithstanding Morley’s allegations to the contrary, he fails to point to relevant portions of any document officially recognizing Joannides’s participation in these operations.”

Thus, Judge Leon ruled in favor of the CIA granting them summary judgment.

Needless to say, Morley and attorney James Lesar disagree with Judge Leon’s ruling claiming that Judge Leon is factually wrong about Joannides and the AMBARB and AMHINT operations and that his summary ruling was improper. They hint at yet more appeals.

From where I sit, the whole six-and-one-half-year affair looks like a big fishing expedition gone bad.

While it’s easy to imagine that there might have been a connection between one of the covert operations run by George Joannides and Oswald given their focus on all things Castro, we have yet to see one shred of believable evidence offered by Morley or anyone else that there actually was a connection, let alone a connection that significantly alters what we know of Oswald’s deed in Dealey Plaza.

LOL - what a crock! And your slip is showing...

[Guest Tom Scully]

I don't have a number to go with the names, but the first group of men to be given AMHINT cryptonyms were -

Manuel Salvat

Carlos De Varona y Segura (this was Tony Varona's son)

Alberto Muller y Quintana

Miguel Garcia

Ramon Barquin Cantero

FWIW.

James

More coincidences? Who knows, but concerning the Bushes, Devine, Macomber, and Stone, Jr., and his Rockefeller in-laws., coincidences certainly "pile up".

MISS NANCY BUSH BECOMES A BRIDE; She Is Attended by Nine...

New York Times - Oct 27, 1946

... Nancy Bush, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Prescott Sheldon Bush of Greenwich, to Alexander Ellis Jr., ... William Butts Macomber of Rochester, NY, was best man.

Miss Alexandra Mills Is Bride of TJ Devine

New York Times - Apr 15, 1973

William B. Macomber Jr., United States. Ambassador to Turkey, was best man. Mrs. Devine attended the Green Vale School in Glen Head, L. r., and graduated

Two Investment Counsel Firms to Consolidate

Christian Science Monitor - May 1, 1942

Davia--will become of Scudder, Stevens deClark. Other partners are: Theodore Scudder, James N. White, F, Vlnton Lawrence, Jr., Ltvingaton T. Merchant,

State Dept. Apologizes To Congress Over Tape

Daily Boston Globe - Feb 12, 1959

... it had tape-recorded evidence of an attack by Russian fighter pilots on an American transport plane Asst 'Secs Livingston Merchant and William Macomber Jr ...

KENNEDY TO KEEP 2 TOP ADVISERS ON SOVIET POLICY; Will...

New York Times - Jan 8, 1961

... that the following developments-can be i expected: I Livingston T. Merchant, ... Wil-] liam B. Macomber, Assistantl Secretary of State for Congres-] ..

Investment companies - Volume 47 - Page 486

books.google.com/books?id=9SIWAQAAMAAJ

Arthur Wiesenberger & Company, Arthur Wiesenberger Services, Wiesenberger Financial Services - 1987 - Snippet view - More editions

THE SCUDDER FUNDS SCUDDER CAPITAL GROWTH FUND Statistical History An assumed investment of ... Paul Bancroft III; Thomas J. Devine; Robert W. Lear; Wilson Nolen; Daniel Pierce; Gordon Shillinglaw; Robert G. Stone, Jr. Capital ....

BENEFICIAL OWNERS - EDGAR Pro

google.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?...

Oct 3, 1996 – Thomas J. Devine Consultant. Mr. Devine serves on 1982 -- less than (69) the boards of an additional 16 1/4 of 1% funds managed by Scudder. ... Robert W. Lear, Robert G. Stone, Jr. and Edmund R. Swanberg serve as .... Brown*, Mark S. Casady*, Linda C. Coughlin*, Margaret D. Hadzima*, Jerard K.

.....how many Rockefellers would have to be in close proximity to the "witnesses" in any of these salacious smears before you would be influenced not to go all in, ASAP? "Betty" Coxe, wife of Charles F. Spalding, just happened to be the sister-in-law of Judith Gratz, a close relation of the mother of Marion Rockefeller, wife and sister-in-law of the Bush and CIA connected Stone brothers, Robert Jr. and David.: .....

http://legacy.plansponsor.com/magazine_type1/?RECORD_ID=12139

1994 » May Table of Contents: No Competitive Bid

Ever since it was set up in 1985, the American Association of Retired People's investment fund family has used just one manager, despite the fact that the fund group has ballooned to $12.5 billion in assets. And unlike other organizations that sponsor investment programs, such as wrap-fee providers and defined contribution pension plans, the AARP has yet to retain an independent evaluation service to assess the performance of its single provider, Scudder, Stevens & Clark.

Trustees of the AARP, one of the most powerful lobbying forces in Washington, with 33 million members-850,000 of whom own AARP/Scudder funds- are only now beginning to talk of exposing the position to competitive bidding. Since hiring Scudder over a number of candidates, it has not reviewed the relationship, says Craig Hoogstra, AARP's director of financial services and special services. And back in 1984, multiple managers "weren't even a consideration," he explains-the simplicity of one manager appealed to AARP.

"There were particular needs that had to do with conservative management, funds that were not complicated, low-barrier funds," says Wayne Haefer, membership director. "It meets the needs of our members. We didn't approach this as a way to maximize income for this institution."

Another reason is that when it started the program, one of AARP's main concerns was fees-which officials say have always been fairly structured. "The focus has been whether the fees are appropriate," says William Macomber, a former US diplomat and a trustee of the program since it began.

According to the shareholder report, fees range from 43 to 62 basis points, depending on the investment vehicle and the amount of funds under management. The account manager, AARP/Scudder Financial Management, has a member services agreement with AARP Financial Services.

For AARP, this is a moneymaker, amounting to at least $2.75 million in annual revenues. AARP/Scudder pays it about 5% of Scudder's management fee for its work in measuring fund performance by comparing each vehicle to a group of about 25 peer funds, says Hoogstra. A five-person AARP staff-rather than a third-party evaluation service-monitors and approves this process, and compares the funds' performance with its peers' using Morningstar reports.

Aware that other institutions require their managers to participate in competitive bidding, the trustees now say they are not universally opposed, but the prospect is unlikely. "There are beginning to be conversations on these issues, but there has not been any inclination" to act, says George Maddox, a sociologist at Duke University and an AARP trustee. To even look at another manager, Maddox would want it to consistently outperform Scudder's funds and have a comparable service agreement.

Wrap fee providers and other sponsors of mutual fund programs are keen on diversification through a wide spectrum of asset categories by employing multiple managers with varying investment styles. But AARP trustees are skeptical of too much diversification, fearing, they say, that additional managers could bewilder their subscribers.

"There's a whole training effort in dealing with older persons. My feeling is that people do not deal with older people" productively, says Adelaide Attard, a New York gerontologist and AARP trustee.

The AARP program consists of eight investment vehicles, only one of them unveiled since the program began in 1985. The initial seven were the High Quality Money Fund, with $254 million; High Quality Tax Free Money Fund ($134 million); GNMA and US Treasury Fund ($6.7 billion); High Quality Bond Fund ($604 million); Insured Tax Free General Bond Fund ($2.08 billion); Growth and Income Fund ($1.56 billion); and Capital Growth Fund ($607 million). The new offering, a balanced fund, was introduced in January and now invests about $70 million. A 27-member board of trustees, including 12 unaffiliated with either Scudder or AARP, oversees the funds.

If there were other managers working with AARP dollars, "I would have to know that there was a system set up to make it easy for the investor," says Attard. "I'm not sure the advantages are better that the disadvantages."

Yet some AARP trustees say they might be willing to consider a change if they had a better idea of the extra labor and expense involved in manager search and supervision. "I am prepared to look into how they manage that sort of thing and how they get a board to pay attention to it," Maddox says.

"When it started, I wasn't at all sure this was going to take," says Macomber. "We've been watching growth and keeping an eye out. You can hardly complain about the growth of those funds." The AARP program has achieved respectable if not stellar growth for Scudder's client, but numbers for the mutual fund industry as a whole suggest that it could do better.

Mutual fund investing has exploded from $371 billion in 1984 to $2.14 trillion, and 28% of the US population now them, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI) in Washington DC. Meanwhile, the AARP funds have grown from nothing to $12.5 billion in nine years-but still less than 3% of the organization's 33 million members are investors.......

1. 
   A.A.R.P. Is Adding Some Spice To Its Menu - New York Times
   www.nytimes.com › COLLECTIONS › STOCK FUNDS Feb 2, 1997 – ''Some people are frankly overwhelmed by the investment choices available to them,'' said Linda C. Coughlin, chairwoman of the A.A.R.P. ...
   
2. 
   KEMPER LOAD FUNDS SURGE: SCUDDER EASING OUT OF NO ...
   www.investmentnews.com/article/19990208/SUB/902080721 Feb 8, 1999 – Linda C. Coughlin, head of the AARP program, has been tapped to lead the yet-to-be-named new group. The 13-year Scudder veteran was ...
   
3. 
   Linda C. Coughlin, Formerly Chairman of Scudder Mutual Funds ...
   www.prnewswire.com/.../linda-c-coughlin-formerly-chairman-of-scu... 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Linda C. Coughlin, former Chairman of the Board of Scudder ... She joined Scudder in 1986 to launch the AARP Investment Program from
   

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/fashion/weddings/29coughlin.html

Published: June 29, 2008

Brooke Ellen Coughlin, a daughter of Linda C. Coughlin of New York and Ronald V. Coughlin of New Canaan, Conn., was married on Saturday evening to Nicolás Philip Barquín, a son of Jean C. Barquín and Ramón C. Barquín of Bethesda, Md. The Rev. Martha Metzler performed the ceremony at St. James’ Episcopal Church in New York.

The couple met while students at the Rome campus of Trinity College in Hartford, from which they both graduated.

Mrs. Barquín, 28, teaches first grade at Brunswick, a private boys’ school in Greenwich, Conn. She received a master’s degree in childhood education from Bank Street College of Education.

Her father retired as a partner in the New York office of Booz Allen Hamilton, the management consulting firm. Her mother is a management consultant in New York; until 2007, she was the chief administrative officer at Cendant, the travel and real estate company.

Mr. Barquín, 29, works in New York as an associate at a real estate investment bank subsidiary of Wells Fargo. He has a master’s degree in real estate development from Columbia.

His mother retired as the librarian at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School in Washington. His father is the founder and chief executive of Barquín International, an information technology consulting firm in Washington.

The bridegroom is a grandson of the late Ramón M. Barquín, a colonel in the Cuban army who led an unsuccessful rebellion in 1956 against Fulgencio Batista; Mr. Barquín left the island soon after Fidel Castro took power.

1. 
   AMHINT and the Assassination of JFK - JFK Assassination Debate ...
   educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate Jun 2, 2009 – The Education Forum; → Controversial Issues in History; → JFK Assassination Debate. Javascript ..... Ramon Barquin Cantero FWIW. James ...
   
2. 
   CIA Secrets - JFK Assassination Debate - The Education Forum
   educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate Jul 25, 2010 – The Education Forum; → Controversial Issues in History; → JFK .... McGeorge Bundy called Ramon Barquin in Peurta Cabezas and told him to ...
   
3. 
   Neil Huntley - JFK Assassination Debate - The Education Forum
   educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate Apr 29, 2009 – The Education Forum; → Controversial Issues in History; → JFK ...... chief of these allies were the JURE leaders Manuel Ray, Ramon Barquin, ...
   
4. 
   William King Harvey - JFK Assassination ... - The Education Forum
   educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate Dec 1, 2005 – The Education Forum; → Controversial Issues in History; → JFK Assassination Debate .... Barquien" and Justo Carrellio phon? and ?Chromon ...
   
5. 
   For Your Eyes Only - The Education Forum
   educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate Nov 18, 2005 – The Education Forum; → Controversial Issues in History; → JFK ..... This was the result of the coup attempt by Colonel Ramon Barquin's "Los ...
   
6. 
   Gerry P. Hemming - The Education Forum
   educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate Feb 11, 2005 – Personal contactswith Barquin elements reveal that they not desire any ..... a lot to say about Robert Emmett Johnson on the Education Forum.
   
7. 
   Identity of Angelo? - JFK Assassination Debate - The Education Forum
   educationforum.ipbhost.com › ... › JFK Assassination Debate May 18, 2006 – The Education Forum; → Controversial Issues in History; → JFK .... Pazos, RaulChibas, Rogelio Cisneros, Ramon Bar-quin and Justo Carrillo.
   

BTW, Scudder (Later merged with Kemper, then with DWS, and Zurich, and finally with Duetsche Bank...) could not have become sole investment manager of AARP members without the approval of Leonard Davis. Note that the NY Times obit of Leonard Davis does not even mention AARP, but the LA Times obit headlines the connection:

Leonard Davis Dies at 76; Philanthropist and Insurer - New York Times

www.nytimes.com › COLLECTIONS › NEW YORK TIMESJan 20, 2001 – Leonard Davis, a leading philanthropist and the founder of the Colonial Penn Group, an insurance company that pioneered insurance ...

Leonard Davis; Helped Start AARP and Gerontology Programs at USC

articles.latimes.com/2001/jan/23/local/me-15772

Jan 23, 2001 – Leonard Davis, who pioneered insurance plans for elderly people, ... founded the Philadelphia-based Colonial Penn Group, a pioneering .

[David Boylan]

I'm just looking at some of the newly released AMSPELL/DRE, AMHINT docs and thought this one may be of interest. 104-171-10037. It's an April 62 status report by the DRE case officer Harold R. Noemayr. Could Noemayr be a pseudonym for Joannides? Or was this his predecessor?

Edited July 25, 2017 by David Boylan

[Brian Schmidt]

I believe Noemayr is Ross Crozier.

[David Boylan]

Thanks Brian. You would be right. :-)