The Oswald file at CIA

[James DiEugenio]

Someone sent me the PBS documentary for the 50th anniversary which I had not seen.  It was mainly Larry Sabato and Robert Dallek so it was not going to be at all exceptional since those guys are MSM all the way.  For instance, Sabato made sure someone said JFK was late on ciivl rights.  Oh really, Larry?  He went to work on it the night of his inauguration.  He called up the Sec of Treasury Dillon and asked, Why were there no black faces in the Coast Guard parade?  Dillon said, he did not know but would find out.  And this is how affirmative action began.  JFK issued an executive order on it within two months. And that was just the beginning.

But there was an interesting segment which was done in recreation.  A woman who worked for the CIA wrote Sabato a letter after his book came out.  She said that she had just started work at CIA about a week before the assassination.  The day it happened, someone came into her small office and mentioned the name of Oswald.  She then walked over to a group of files and noted that his name had a folder with what she called a "Q" assignation to it.  She then noted that there were several people going in and out of James Angleton's office during the day. She decided to hide out until everyone was gone to look at the file.  But when she got around to going to the cabinet and opening the drawer, the file was gone.

That would have been interesting if she  could have copied it.  I don't know what the Q series signifies.  Except that both  Clay Shaw and Howard Hunt had digraphs that began with the letter Q.

[Ron Bulman]

I need to sleep on this before I get in over my head.  "Q'" is leading.  In multiple respects.

[John Butler]

21 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Someone sent me the PBS documentary for the 50th anniversary which I had not seen.  It was mainly Larry Sabato and Robert Dallek so it was not going to be at all exceptional since those guys are MSM all the way.  For instance, Sabato made sure someone said JFK was late on ciivl rights.  Oh really, Larry?  He went to work on it the night of his inauguration.  He called up the Sec of Treasury Dillon and asked, Why were there no black faces in the Coast Guard parade?  Dillon said, he did not know but would find out.  And this is how affirmative action began.  JFK issued an executive order on it within two months. And that was just the beginning.

But there was an interesting segment which was done in recreation.  A woman who worked for the CIA wrote Sabato a letter after his book came out.  She said that she had just started work at CIA about a week before the assassination.  The day it happened, someone came into her small office and mentioned the name of Oswald.  She then walked over to a group of files and noted that his name had a folder with what she called a "Q" assignation to it.  She then noted that there were several people going in and out of James Angleton's office during the day. She decided to hide out until everyone was gone to look at the file.  But when she got around to going to the cabinet and opening the drawer, the file was gone.

That would have been interesting if she  could have copied it.  I don't know what the Q series signifies.  Except that both  Clay Shaw and Howard Hunt had digraphs that began with the letter Q.

DiEugenio,

I often don't agree with you from time to time.  But, I always read your posts because they are always interesting, always informative, and I learn a lot from them.

IMO, Kennedy's affirmative action policies are one of the reasons he was murdered in Dallas.

[Ron Bulman]

Not somehow a reference to M16?

21 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

I need to sleep on this before I get in over my head.  "Q'" is leading.  In multiple respects.

Had the lady ready any Ian Fleming that might have influenced her?

[James DiEugenio]

Thanks John.

Ron, the Q was part of a CIA digraph series.  As I said, both Shaw and Hunt had that as a first letter.

[Ron Bulman]

Jim, sorry for the Bond allusion to Q.  That was the first thought I had about the letter and say covert operations.

If this lady saw it on a Oswald file, in or outside her and or Angleton's office, and, it was also used regarding Shaw and Hunt doesn't that indicate a connection regarding at least the files of all three, for some reason?  If maybe Angleton had a Q file on Oswald she saw did he also have one for Shaw and Hunt that she didn't?  Were they exclusive to his office(s)/Department?  Were there more Q files?

  

Edited June 3, 2019 by Ron Bulman

[Robin Finn]

[James DiEugenio]

Robin:

Is that supposed to be a joke?

Shaw's clearance was covert.  The description above does not at all sound covert.

Can someone explain what paragraph four means?  Sounds like pure gobbledygook to me.

Paragraph five is ludicrous. 

BTW, I specifically asked the Review Board NOT to go through CIA official channels to find out what this was because I knew they would reply like this.

 

[Larry Hancock]

Paragraph 4 means that the company had been security checked and listed the company as a possible resource in the event the agency needed its services, the CIA did that with several types of domestic companies as well as professionals such as detectives, lawyers, medical doctors, psychiatrists etc (which is what QKENCHANT was all about).  However only named individuals were to serve as contact points within those companies or people.  Officially they are  saying Hunt was added to the list of contact people went he went to work for the company, although there were previous contacts in place.

Of course this is the standard cover you would expect, it gives authority for the Agency to continue talking to Hunt but looks administratively and bureaucratically innocent...if you are asked questions about it later.

[James DiEugenio]

He could deal with administrative matters in the absence of others within the company?

What administrative matters?  The company's or the CIA's?

Why would he need a covert security clearance if it was the company's administrative matters?

[Larry Hancock]

Jim, the way I read it the thing is actually very simple, there were others in the company (in its administration) already vetted and listed as contact points for the company.  When Hunt joined the firm he was simply added to the list on something of an on call basis if they were not available. That would be the official position. 

In reality, it was more likely just a cover in order for him to work there with Agency personnel to be in contact with him as either he or they desired. 

[Joseph McBride]

That was the Robert R. Mullen Company where Hunt worked, a CIA front.

[Larry Hancock]

Yes, which takes you back to the point about the Hunt designation just being a type of commercial cover.....it would be interesting to see a list of exactly what activities Mullen conducted as a front beyond just being security vetted as a potential, on demand resource, does anyone have a list?

[Jim Hargrove]

In the 1970s, Robert Mullen was quick to deny that Southern Air Transport (SAT) of Miami was a CIA front.  SAT later was heavily involved in the Contra-cocaine scandal.  The May 19, 1975 issue of Newsweek linked Price-Waterhouse executive Percival Brundage to Southern Air Transport, Double-Chek Corp, the Robert R. Mullen Company, and Zenith Technical Enterprises. Brundage was president of the Friends of Albert  Schweitzer College, to which, of course, “Lee Harvey Oswald” famously applied.  Small world, this world of Lone Nuts!

[David Andrews]

As I recall, friction grew between Hunt and Robert Mullen over Hunt's duties, so it couldn't have been all chocolate and roses between Mullen Co. and CIA.  Unless, of course, that was part of the pattern of the Agency turning on Hunt.