Oswald, JFK and the National Security State

[Douglas Caddy]

LEE HARVEY OSWALD, JFK, AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE
by Jacob G. Hornberger November 3, 2015

http://fff.org/2015/11/03/lee-harvey-oswald-jfk-and-the-national-security-state/

[Roger DeLaria]

Good article that shows the fingerprints of intelligence that were all over the operation.

[Jon G. Tidd]

Hornsberger's out to lunch, in my opinion. If I had to bet, I'd bet he's never worked in an intelligence organization.

Human intelligence organizations have four basic categories of individuals: agents, agent handlers, counterintelligence operatives, analysts.

Oswald only could have been an agent. What qualifies one to be recruited as an agent? Answer: access to valuable, hidden information that some intelligence organization wants. Really wants.

Did Oswald have such access? Clearly not. Not in Russia or anywhere else. He was worthless to any intelligence organization, except as a patsy.

[Cliff Varnell]

The subtext of he article is that the elements of the national security state who handled Oswald were the same folks who handled the killing of Kennedy.

There is a tendency to conflate the killing of Oswald with the killing of Kennedy -- which disregards the principle of "compartmentalization of intelligence operations."

There is a tendency to regard the National Security State as monolithic.

These are questionable assumptions.

Elements within the National Security State may well have set up other elements as fall guys in case things went wrong.

Things did go wrong -- the patsy was captured alive.

First guy to go down for it -- Jack Ruby

Who was next on the fall guy chain?

Edited November 4, 2015 by Cliff Varnell