FBI turning off the alarm (flash) on 10/9/1963

[Jean Ceulemans]

I will make it easy for myself by referring to Bill Simpich's State Secret Chapter5 (maryferrell.org) 

Subtitle : "Right before the 10/10 memos were created, the alarm that Oswald was a security risk was turned off".

Especially Bill Branigan versus his subordinates Gheesling and Anderson only raises more questions.

Would the FBI do such a thing upon the request (or tip) of the CIA ?  Because LHO's file is to be used in a mole-hunt?  

Don't think so, in a mole-hunt that simply wouldn't be very wise (informing some FBI guys about it... nope) 

So it seems unlikely to me, there was a lot going on with LHO, the FBI knew he was arrested, he used a fake name, fake mailbox, you name it...

LHO did beat the flash-system by asking for the FBI himself... (good boy that Lee).

But removing the flash? Where was Hoover on this???  

 

 

[Gerry Down]

Truly perplexing.

I wonder if DeBrueys was keeping it quite that he had tried to recruit LHO as an informant and as a result, alot of LHOs shenanigans in New Orleans went under the radar from HQs perspective and so HQ deemed LHO to be of little threat.

It seems the Mexico City incident must have had something to do with having LHOs flash disappearing. But what exactly I can't figure out.

[Bill Simpich]

Jean and Gerry, take a look at what happened when the security flash was still on in September, 1963...

Hosty’s observations about Oswald in Dallas turned into membership cards in Mexico City

"Keep in mind that (FBI agent Jim Hosty, in charge of Oswald's file) told (Lambert Anderson of the FBI's Nationalities Intelligence division) on September 13 that Oswald had a subscription to the newspaper of the Communist Party, USA, and that he had a background of leafleting on behalf of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

We see the follow-up three days later, on September 16, when John Tilton of the CIA’s Cuban operations at JMWAVE in Miami asked Anderson to put together a joint agency operation designed to “plant deceptive information which might embarrass the (FPCC) in areas where it does have some support”.[ 3 ]

We will see that Oswald planted some deceptive information in Mexico City - he showed both his authentic FPCC membership card and his fake Communist Party card to Cuban consulate secretary Silvia Duran.

On the 16th, FBI records indicate that Oswald’s security flash file with the FBI's Identification Division was reviewed, with Anderson’s name written alongside.[ 4 ] On the 16th, Anderson’s name is written on Oswald’s security flash – although no document entered the file, it appears to be related to Tilton’s request for help that same day. Tilton had been involved with the DRE just days earlier and may have heard from Anderson about Oswald’s arrest.

On the 26th, Anderson confirmed that the anti-FPCC project was going forward, with plans to distribute “propaganda in the name of the committee”. This joint agency operation was launched right during the Cuba division’s project to recruit Cuban consul Azcue in Mexico City. As Azcue seemed sympathetic to Cuban exiles, he seemed like he might be ripe for recruitment. The problem was that Azcue was due to return to Cuba in a matter of days."   

What happened the next day, on Sept. 27, is that the "Oswald figure" appeared before Azcue and tried to get him to bend the rules to give him an "instant visa" to Cuba, similar to his successful attempt at getting an "instant visa" from consul Richard Snyder at the American embassy in Moscow back in 1959.   I believe that the "Oswald figure" showed his FPCC credentials to Azcue in an effort to provoke Azcue to see how he would respond - keep in mind that LITAMIL-3, an American agent, had just tried days earlier to convince Azcue to defect to the Americans.  I believe one objective was to get the Cubans to talk over their phone lines and in their offices that were bugged by the Americans.

The bigger objective may have been to assist Tilton and Anderson in their "joint agency operation designed to “plant deceptive information which might embarrass the (FPCC) in areas where it does have some support”.  Or maybe someone got wind of the anti-FPCC operation and piggy-backed a new operation on top of it that included the impersonation of Oswald.

What "areas" did the FPCC have "some support"?  Here, among the Cubans in Mexico.  The Oswald figure's provocative behavior with Azcue, which got him thrown out of the office, had to give the FPCC a black eye in the eyes of the employees at the Cuban consulate.

The Oswald figure was an attractive prospect – he represented a very rare re-defector, hoping to go to Cuba and then return once again to the Soviet Union.  His activities and contacts were a counterintelligence bonanza.

So Tilton and Anderson have got a deceptive anti-FPCC operation going, which appears to have been piggy-backed on top of the events that brought the Oswald figure down to Mexico.  Doesn't it make sense that if Tilton and Anderson wanted to keep their deceptive anti-FPCC operation going, they may have wanted to dim the attention on Oswald?   

Gheesling was a major supervisor, one of a handful that answered directly to Hoover.   Gheesling had the power to turn off the flash, which he OK'd with Anderson on October 9.   Gheesling was suspended by Hoover after 11/22 for turning off the flash.  But why did he do it?  I will offer my thinking in the next post.

 

Edited April 22 by Bill Simpich

[Bill Simpich]

Following up on my previous post...Here's my take on why Oswald was taken off the security watch list the day before the 10/10/63 memos went out.  From Chapter 5 of State Secret:

The day before the 10/10 twin memos were created, Gheesling took Oswald off the security watch list after talking with Lambert Anderson. Both Gheesling and Anderson had signed off on a watch list document placed in Oswald’s file on August 13 after Oswald was arrested in New Orleans for breach of the peace while leafleting for the FPCC. Gheesling wrote that once he learned that Oswald was arrested, he told Anderson that Oswald should be taken off the security watch list because he had inadvertently forgot to remove his name after Oswald’s return from the Soviet Union.[ 38 ] Anderson confirmed that someone had told him that the security flash had been removed because it was no longer necessary once Oswald had returned to the United States.

One immediate problem with both of their stories is that their boss Bill Branigan wrote on 11/22/63 that the very reason Oswald was put on the watch list was to ensure that “any subsequent arrest in the U.S. was brought to our attention”. So why take him off the list after he was arrested?

An even more intriguing problem, with Gheesling’s story in particular, is that he wrote that he removed Oswald’s name from the security watch list on October 9 right after he learned about Oswald’s arrest. Gheesling’s explanation flies in the face of the aforementioned watch list document showing that both Gheesling and Anderson knew about Oswald’s arrest around August 13. Gheesling’s name and initials “wmg” are also on other memos discussing Oswald and his arrest dated August 21 and August 23.

The probable solution is that Anderson got wind of a tip. On October 8 Anderson received a Sept. 24 report of Oswald’s arrest, which revealed Oswald’s request to speak with an FBI agent and share quite a bit of information while in jail.[ 39 ] My conclusion is that on the 9th the two men came to some kind of mutual understanding that Oswald was helpful to the FBI, and saw no reason to keep him on the security watch list. “Anderson” of “Nat. Int.” is written on the watch list file, underneath the date of October 10. As a result, no alarms went off at the FBI when the 10/8/63 memo about Oswald being in Mexico City and trying to contact Kostikov arrived on the 10th. Any alarm that might have sounded about Oswald being a security risk appears to have been deliberately turned off by Gheesling and Anderson.

The intriguing question is whether Gheesling and Anderson took Oswald off the security watch list based solely on the report about Oswald's cooperation with the FBI, or whether they had also been tipped off that a molehunt was about to begin with Oswald's file.

It's not impossible that both factors may have been in play - but my current thinking is that FBI men Gheesling and Anderson didn't know about the CIA's molehunt.

Edited April 22 by Bill Simpich

[Gerry Down]

Great info Bill as usual.

Oswald gave false info while in custody such as saying he had got married in Texas. Not sure if it was to Martello or Quigley (or both) he told that lie to.

But even if LHO had lied to Quigley, Anderson might not have spotted any such lies when considering to take the flash off LHO. 

I presume FPCC members didn't  automatically have a flash on them. So if LHO was deemed to be a member of the FPCC, the flash might have been taken off LHO for this reason. FPCC members did not pose enough of a risk to have a flash on them.

[Jean Ceulemans]

Bill, Tilton's request is indeed an important key to understand the relation between FBI and CIA in these matters.   

I first read it thanks to you referring to it in State Secret :  MEMORANDUM:FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE (maryferrell.org)

And as you state, what happened on Sept. 16 is likely no coincidence.

I don't think either they knew about a mole-hunt.

But wouldn't taking the flash down be a risk just too big to take? It could seriously backfire, so something very serious was going on.

IMO it must have been something pretty heavy.  Otherwise I would have preferred to keep the alarm active, if he was being used at least they would be notified when het got in trouble.  Would the alarm really endanger the joint operation against the FPCC?  I'd rather consider the alarm to be usefull in such a case.

Who would be notified?  The same guys running the operation? Or any FBI agent requesting a name check?

I need to learn more about the FBI warning system, as so far we have conflicting statements (Branigan versus Gheesling and Anderson).

 

Edited April 22 by Jean Ceulemans

[Jean Ceulemans]

49 minutes ago, Gerry Down said:

Great info Bill as usual.

Oswald gave false info while in custody such as saying he had got married in Texas. Not sure if it was to Martello or Quigley (or both) he told that lie to.

But even if LHO had lied to Quigley, Anderson might not have spotted any such lies when considering to take the flash off LHO. 

I presume FPCC members didn't  automatically have a flash on them. So if LHO was deemed to be a member of the FPCC, the flash might have been taken off LHO for this reason. FPCC members did not pose enough of a risk to have a flash on them.

The New Orleans FBI report made it pretty clear the FBI knew LHO was using a fake name, PO box, etc. False info as you say. Would it be possible for the FBI to use that knowledge to get LHO to do things in MC?   

Unless LHO was already doing things for the FBI before that,  that would actually explain some of his actions on behalf of the FPCC before his arrest. But other than "being made to", I just don't get why LHO would do things for the FBI (in the joint operation against the FPCC).

On the other hand, it could also explain why he was so agitated when Hosty was still bugging him (and/or Marina, did he use her to avoid exposting the real reason?)...

So many questions still out there....

Edited April 22 by Jean Ceulemans

[Matt Cloud]

2 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

Following up on my previous post...Here's my take on why Oswald was taken off the security watch list the day before the 10/10/63 memos went out.  From Chapter 5 of State Secret:

The day before the 10/10 twin memos were created, Gheesling took Oswald off the security watch list after talking with Lambert Anderson. Both Gheesling and Anderson had signed off on a watch list document placed in Oswald’s file on August 13 after Oswald was arrested in New Orleans for breach of the peace while leafleting for the FPCC. Gheesling wrote that once he learned that Oswald was arrested, he told Anderson that Oswald should be taken off the security watch list because he had inadvertently forgot to remove his name after Oswald’s return from the Soviet Union.[ 38 ] Anderson confirmed that someone had told him that the security flash had been removed because it was no longer necessary once Oswald had returned to the United States.

One immediate problem with both of their stories is that their boss Bill Branigan wrote on 11/22/63 that the very reason Oswald was put on the watch list was to ensure that “any subsequent arrest in the U.S. was brought to our attention”. So why take him off the list after he was arrested?

An even more intriguing problem, with Gheesling’s story in particular, is that he wrote that he removed Oswald’s name from the security watch list on October 9 right after he learned about Oswald’s arrest. Gheesling’s explanation flies in the face of the aforementioned watch list document showing that both Gheesling and Anderson knew about Oswald’s arrest around August 13. Gheesling’s name and initials “wmg” are also on other memos discussing Oswald and his arrest dated August 21 and August 23.

The probable solution is that Anderson got wind of a tip. On October 8 Anderson received a Sept. 24 report of Oswald’s arrest, which revealed Oswald’s request to speak with an FBI agent and share quite a bit of information while in jail.[ 39 ] My conclusion is that on the 9th the two men came to some kind of mutual understanding that Oswald was helpful to the FBI, and saw no reason to keep him on the security watch list. “Anderson” of “Nat. Int.” is written on the watch list file, underneath the date of October 10. As a result, no alarms went off at the FBI when the 10/8/63 memo about Oswald being in Mexico City and trying to contact Kostikov arrived on the 10th. Any alarm that might have sounded about Oswald being a security risk appears to have been deliberately turned off by Gheesling and Anderson.

The intriguing question is whether Gheesling and Anderson took Oswald off the security watch list based solely on the report about Oswald's cooperation with the FBI, or whether they had also been tipped off that a molehunt was about to begin with Oswald's file.

It's not impossible that both factors may have been in play - but my current thinking is that FBI men Gheesling and Anderson didn't know about the CIA's molehunt.

How do Golitsyn's claims about "Fedora" fit in to CIA-FBI relations?

[Paul Brancato]

Do we know the identity of Litamel-3?

[Jean Ceulemans]

1 hour ago, Paul Brancato said:

Do we know the identity of Litamel-3?

From bill's chapter : .... this man was LITAMIL-3, a diplomat of more than 30 years in Mexico. Although I am not 100% certain on this observation, my research indicates that LITAMIL-3 may have been cultural attaché Osmin Fernandez Concepcion, who also served as the mayor of the city of Marianao. When in Cuba, Fernandez lived in the same home as Castro’s executive secretary Conchita Fernandez, who apparently was his sister-in-law.[ 67 ] There are two photographs of Osmin Fernandez in the Cuban mugbooks – he does not appear to be in his fifties, but the photos are small and may not have been totally current.[ 68 ] LITAMIL-3 had been “anxious to ‘get out’ for considerable time but…‘stayed in place’ at station request” back in April 1961 during the Bay of Pigs.[ 69 ] Osmin’s 201-334092 file number is just digits away from Azcue’s 201-334089.

‐-----------------

I don´t know if Bill has an update on the above

Edited April 23 by Jean Ceulemans

[Bill Simpich]

Paul and Jean, I do have an update on LITAMIL-3.  New releases show that LITAMIL-3 is 201-290894, and that 201-290894 is Ricardo Vidal Dominguez.  We have created a pseudonym page for him at MFF.   He was an informant within the Cuban diplomatic corps.

Jean, I am moving more towards the belief that Oswald was at least trying to get himself in the FBI's orbit in the last three months of his life.  I can't get over the .way he sought out FBI agent John Quigley after his New Orleans arrest of 8/9/63 and put himself out there as a source of information.  Oswald then seemed to pick up on Jim Hosty's 9/10/63 report about Oswald's long-distance mail relationship with the CPUSA and the FPCC, and then the Oswald figure shows up in the Cuban consulate later that month brandishing membership cards in both the CPUSA and the FPCC.   I believe that Oswald himself wrote the Nov. 9 letter to the Soviet embassy complaining about the FBI (and knowing the FBI would intercept it!) and appeared at the Dallas FBI office in mid-November with a note complaining about Jim Hosty "bothering his wife".

Matt, I agree that Fedora and Golitsyn are very important personages - Mary Ferrell created a decent index on Fedora and we created a good page on Golitsyn based on his cryptonyms DS-2137 and AELADLE - but I haven't seen any indication that Fedora or Golitsyn were involved in the Mexico City events of Sept-Oct. 1963.

[David McLean]

Bill and All, Clarify please, were the 10/10/63 memos part of an ongoing hunt for a Soviet bloc mole and/or a ploy to smoke out the Oswald imposters of Sept 28 and October 1,2? Or both. And Nagell via Russell hinted at a Bloc mole around CIA ops in MC, and a feedback loop at HotelLuma, did they not? I seem to recall there is absolutely no record of  Nagells late September letter to Hoover/FBI.
 

Edited April 23 by David McLean
Typos

[Bill Simpich]

David, my belief is that the 10/10/63 memos were a ploy to smoke out the Oswald imposters of 9/28 and 10/1.

It's not impossible that these memos are part of an ongoing hunt for a Soviet bloc mole as well - but I would need evidence of that - which I haven't seen.

[Matt Cloud]

9 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

Matt, I agree that Fedora and Golitsyn are very important personages - Mary Ferrell created a decent index on Fedora and we created a good page on Golitsyn based on his cryptonyms DS-2137 and AELADLE - but I haven't seen any indication that Fedora or Golitsyn were involved in the Mexico City events of Sept-Oct. 1963.

The question wasn't tailored so narrowly. You write: "The intriguing question is whether Gheesling and Anderson took Oswald off the security watch list based solely on the report about Oswald's cooperation with the FBI, or whether they had also been tipped off that a molehunt was about to begin with Oswald's file."

Golitsyn told the FBI, including Hoover, either directly or indirectly, that there was a Soviet agent in the Washington FBI office.  You ask why was Oswald taken off the watch list, which went to the FBI's Soviet Desk.  Was Oswald taken off because a Soviet agent took him off?  Is THIS the question here, and not the framing which you have offered?

Edited April 23 by Matt Cloud

[Greg Doudna]

Bill S., if Mexico City was the planned and approved joint CIA/FBI dirty trick op to plant negative discrediting information re the FPCC, would it not be simpler to assume a competent witting Oswald as the operative working for the US side of that, than an impersonator with Oswald either ignorant of or suborned to pretend to go along with some different impersonator?

Have you been aware of and considered the strange story of George Demerle, FBI informant of troubled, poor background who worked both left and right radical groups (communist organizations and Minutemen both, gaining confidence of BOTH that he was “really” on their side) … as a possible parallel to Oswald in terms of realism in working both left and right? In Demerle’s case FBI documents show he was a maverick and his own person, not entirely trusted by but found useful to the FBI, cp Oswald?