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Whitney Shepardson again


Jim Root

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On June 22, 1960 Whitney Shepardson (who was in charge of Secrete Intelligence, SI during WWII) wrote the following in a letter to a source that will, for now, remain un-named:

 

"When I got back to New York last week after seeing many of our wartime colleagues in England and in France, I  found your letter of May 4--which is a long, long time ago.

With respect to your letter from "Ti", I think that when you told A.W. D. (Dulles) about this you did not only the right thing, of course, but the only thing. Schluss!  

We have recently had rough going under the tilt of the U-2 in which great confusion resulted because many, many people knew something, and then chipped in.

I am all for communication with one responsible person only!

Affectionately,

W.H.S."

 

Some thoughts:

The "Ti" mentioned here is Wilho Tikander who was the OSS Station Chief in Stockholm, Sweden during WWII.  Richard Helms was also assigned to the OSS Stockholm Station during WWII and was a member of Shepardson's SI Team.  Helms remained in regular communication with this group during this time period.

Tikander, in a previous memo had informed the un-named source that he had received intelligence from a former Eastern European source that this group might find interesting that was for sale for $800.00.  The letter shows that the person Tikander informed was close enough to Dulles to pass the information on to the CIA. What I find more interesting is that he also found it important enough to let Shepardson know about it as well and wanted to confirm that he had done the right thing with the information.  Does this reflect a subservient roll?

I have previously shared information that I uncovered about Whitney Shepardson who was working with Richard Helms in mid 1959 seeking information about former intelligence connection in both Sweden and Finland.  This Shepardson directed communication led Wilho Tikander to suggest that an "off the record" intelligence mission would soon be conducted via Helsinki, Finland.  Within a few weeks Lee Harvey Oswald would enter the Soviet Union via Helsinki.  Could this be the mission Tikander was speaking about?

Prior to the US entry into WWII John J, McCloy was tasked by Sec.of War Stimson to establish a modernized intelligence agency, which he did (the OSS).  McCloy and Shepardson remained in close contact throughout the rest of their lives with Shepardson being the head of Council on Foreign Relations and even naming McCloy to head the World Bank.  During WWII McCloy would be instrumental in making Shepardson the head of SI. Is it possible that SI was still in operation after WWII and into the 1960's?

Lastly, I find it interesting in this letter that Shepardson talks about the U-2 incident in a way that suggests that he was in a position to have to deal with the "confusion" that "resulted because many, many people knew something..."  Just what might they have know that would concern the head of SI?

Thoughts,

Jim Root

 

 

 

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