Donald Deselyna of SR Branch suggests LHO spied for CIA while in the USSR

[Matt Allison]

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2022/180-10110-10145.pdf

[Benjamin Cole]

On 5/27/2023 at 1:14 PM, Matt Allison said:

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2022/180-10110-10145.pdf

That is quite a memo. A defector, re-defecting to the US, former Marine, who had worked in a radio plant in Minsk. I wonder who that is. 

Tennent Bagley, CIA, told Malcolm Blunt that LHO was a witting asset. 

 

[Matt Allison]

My guess is that LHO was a vest-pocket asset (or hip-pocket; choose your own nomenclature...)

I know that his request to return to the U.S. took a fair amount of time; I'm not well-versed in the details of his return, but perhaps it required him doing a "favor" to "prove" his loyalty to the U.S.

[Benjamin Cole]

21 hours ago, Matt Allison said:

My guess is that LHO was a vest-pocket asset (or hip-pocket; choose your own nomenclature...)

I know that his request to return to the U.S. took a fair amount of time; I'm not well-versed in the details of his return, but perhaps it required him doing a "favor" to "prove" his loyalty to the U.S.

Verily. 

Often overlooked is during the Cold War, the US intel community had literally thousands of assets, including Cuban exiles, mercenaries, former US military, business executives and so on. Consider Clay Shaw and Mohrenschildt for how extensive the web of assets was. There were another 1000 Clay Shaws. 

A parallel might be the thousands of assets the US developed after 9/11, throughout the Mideast and domestically. Not all assets are saints, and some are necessarily iffy characters. 

Many assets are sleepers, who are just kept in waiting for the day they might become useful. The CIA is not designed to make a profit. If it has an asset in Region X who does nothing useful for 20 years, so be it. "Those who stand and wait also serve."

In the private sector such dead weight is cut off---this makes it hard to understand for many why an organization maintains a large base of often useless assets. 

But maintaining a large number of assets is not about making money. It is about having a large number of implementable people at any time, everywhere. 

My guess is LHO was such as asset. One of thousands, who might have developed some useful intel in Russia, and then wanted to come home. Then LHO became useful again in relation to Cuba and false flag ops.