Tracy Barnes

[Ron Bulman]

On 7/15/2005 at 5:07 AM, Pat Speer said:

After the above exchanges with Larry Hancock about Barnes I did quite a bit of reading on the Domestic Operations Division, the Division created specifically for Barnes after Dulles and Bissell went bye-bye. I found that among its other duties the DOD was responsible for the recruitment of foreign nationals while on American soil. Since Hunt was the covert ops chief for the DOD this means that Hunt was responsible for buddying-up to, or finding persuasive information on, Cuban and Russian employees at the U.N. I asked myself if it was a coincidence then that the woman Oswald supposedly had an affair with in Mexico, Duran, was the purported mistress of Cuba's ambassador to the U.N., Lechuga In light of the Angleton memo about Hunt, I couldn't rule out a connection. Perhaps Phillips told Hunt about Oswald and perhaps Hunt was using Oswald on missions completely separate from the assassination. Perhaps someone in the know turned the whole thing around.

It's also worthwhile to note that Barnes was in fact the one who wrote Bissell's response to Kirkpatrick's scathing IG report on the BOP. Barnes blamed Kennedy for its failure, and felt the CIA was largely blameless. He must have been pretty upset to sit by and watch not only his mentor Dulles, but his closest associate Bissell, be pushed aside, and have his greatest rival, Helms, take over the Dirty Tricks Dept. Barnes so loved. Barnes was no coward and no bureaucrat and was considered rather reckless. He was probably the CIA's top advocate for assassination, having advocated and/or planned its use in Guatemala, Iraq, the Dominican, Cuba, and the Congo. He sent guns to Trujillo's assassins and ordered the transfer to be kept from the State Dept. Bissell lamented Barnes' influence in his memoirs. When you take into account that Barnes was instrumental in the careers of Hunt, Phillips, Robertson, and Morales, it's just hard to write this guy off as a suspect. He may even have been the ring-leader.

P.S. I recently remembered that Gordon Novel was tied to the Double-Chek corporation, a CIA front. Double-Chek was run by Barnes.

Maybe I've read it before but forgotten that first line.  That the DOD was created for Barnes after Dulles and Bissell were fired . . . (after) his greatest rival, Helms, takeover of the Dirty Tricks Dept. Barnes so loved.  Who was left that could have created such a department, made such moves, Angleton?

The holder of the Oswald files?  Hmm, I smell a rat.  Angleton on behalf of Dulles at the behest of David Rockefeller, the East Coast Establishment, the Military Industrial Complex ...

Thanks to Paul for resurrecting this thread.  A lot of interesting info in it.  

Having read Alan Kent's essay in Coup In Dallas by Hank Albarelli, A well Concealed T, I think it fits well. 

Barnes was in the background at DOD, with Hunt as a "bench player".  The perfect person to orchestrate the Assassination from behind the scene? 

[Ron Bulman]

On 7/14/2005 at 9:38 AM, John Simkin said:

On 3rd December, 1944, Allen W. Dulles wrote to David Bruce: "I have met Tracy Barnes here today and am anxious to get him to Switzerland as soon as possible... We can find useful work for him." Barnes worked under Dulles until the end of the war.

After the war Barnes returned to work for the Carter Ledyard, law firm in New York. In June 1950, Barnes was recruited by Frank Wisner to join the CIA. His first job was as deputy director of the Psychological Strategy Board.

Barnes was eventually placed in charge of what became known as Operation Success. David Atlee Phillips was appointed to run the propaganda campaign against Arbenz's government.

Barnes and Dulles were close associates.

[Chuck Schwartz]

Here is a relevant quote from "The Devil's Advocate" by D. Talbot (see page 261). "After Arbenz was overthrown, Dulles assembled his Guatamala task force in the White House to brief the president on the victorius operation, which had been confidently code named PBSUCCESS.  Less than one year after the Iran coup, the CIA director and his team had won a second opportunity to puff out their chests.  PBSUCCESS would forge deep, lifelong bonds among Dulles and his Guatamala crew, which included Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, Howard Hunt, David Phillips, and David Morales.  Many of the team members woud be reunited for the Bay of Pigs."

[Ron Bulman]

8 hours ago, Chuck Schwartz said:

Here is a relevant quote from "The Devil's Advocate" by D. Talbot (see page 261). "After Arbenz was overthrown, Dulles assembled his Guatamala task force in the White House to brief the president on the victorius operation, which had been confidently code named PBSUCCESS.  Less than one year after the Iran coup, the CIA director and his team had won a second opportunity to puff out their chests.  PBSUCCESS would forge deep, lifelong bonds among Dulles and his Guatamala crew, which included Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, Howard Hunt, David Phillips, and David Morales.  Many of the team members woud be reunited for the Bay of Pigs."

Hey Chuck.  I'll add to this from Coup In Dallas.  

"Barnes path was cleared into the CIA was cleared by the man who would become his mentor and who would act as this patron as long as he was in power in the CIA - Allen Dulles.  Dulles met then Capitan Barnes in 1944 and was taken with him quickly, writing to his OSS superior David Bruce: " I have met Tracy Barnes here today and am anxious to get him to Switzerland as soon as possible . . . we can find useful work for him." pg. 493.

 

"Barnes and Angleton were both Yale men, both attended Harvard law School though Angleton did not graduate.  Both members of Scroll and Key (vs Skull and Bones) . . . a lifelong bonding experience.  . . . and their wives met with some regularity . . . Georgetown Set, 1950's. . . . Barnes secretary . . . McIlvaine said when Angleton called, Tracy ran to this office."  pg. 500. 

[Paul Brancato]

Barnes and Bissell were part of the America First movement in 1940 at Yale.

[Chuck Schwartz]

America First , in 1940, did not want to support  Britain in its fight against nazi germany....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Committee