The New York Times, on October 17, published a page-one story by Scott Shane about the CIA’s defiance of a court order to release documents pertaining to the John F. Kennedy assassination, in its so-called Joannides file. George Joannides was the CIA case officer for a Cuban exile group that made headlines in 1963 by its public engagements with Lee Harvey Oswald, just a few weeks before Oswald allegedly killed Kennedy. For over six years a former Washington Post reporter, Jefferson Morley, has been suing the CIA for the release of these documents. [1] Sometimes the way that a news item is reported can be more newsworthy than the item itself. A notorious example was the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers (documents far too detailed for most people to read) on the front page of the New York Times. The October 17 Times story was another such example. It revealed, perhaps for the first time in any major U.S. newspaper, that the CIA has been deceiving the public about its own relationship to the JFK assassination. On the Kennedy assassination, the deceptions began in 1964 with the Warren Commission. The C.I.A. hid its schemes to kill Fidel Castro and its ties to the anti-Castro Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil, or Cuban Student Directorate, which received $50,000 a month in C.I.A. support during 1963 In August 1963, Oswald visited a New Orleans shop owned by a directorate official, feigning sympathy with the group’s goal of ousting Mr. Castro. A few days later, directorate members found Oswald handing out pro-Castro pamphlets and got into a brawl with him. Later that month, he debated the anti-Castro Cubans on a local radio station. That the October 17 story was published at all is astonishing. According to Lexis Nexis, there have only been two earlier references to the CIA Joannides documents controversy in any major U.S. newspaper: a brief squib in the New York Daily News in 2003 announcing the launching of the case, and a letter to the New York Times in 2007 (of which the lead author was Jeff Morley) complaining about the Times’ rave review of a book claiming that Oswald was a lone assassin. (The review had said inter alia that “''Conspiracy theorists'' should be ''ridiculed, even shunned... marginalized the way we've marginalized smokers.'' The letter pointed out in response that those suspecting conspiracy included Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, and J. Edgar Hoover.) The New York Times has systematically regulated the release of any facts about the Kennedy assassination, ever since November 25, 1963, when it first declared Oswald, the day after his death, to have been the “assassin” of JFK. A notorious example was the deletion, between the early and the final edition of a Times issue, of a paragraph in a review of a book about the JFK assassination, making the obvious point that “MYSTERIES PERSIST.” [2] Apparently there was similar jockeying over the positioning of the Scott Shane story. In some east coast editions it ran on page eleven, with a trivializing introductory squib, "Food for Conspiracy Theorists." In the California edition, headlined “C.I.A. Is Still Cagey About Oswald Mystery,” it was on page one above the fold. One can assume that the Times decision to run the story was a momentous one not made casually. The same can probably be said of another recent remarkable editorial decision, to publish Tom Friedman’s op-ed on September 29 about the “very dangerous” climate now in America, “the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination.” Friedman did not mention JFK at all, and his most specific reference was to a recent poll on Facebook asking respondents, “Should Obama be killed?” [3] Four days later the Wall Street Journal expressed similar concern, adding to the “poll on Facebook asking whether the president should be assassinated, a column on a conservative Web site suggesting a military coup is in the works.” [4] Friedman’s column broke a code of silence about the threats to Obama that had been in place ever since two redneck white supremacists (Shawn Adolf and Tharin Gartrell) were arrested in August 2008 for a plot to assassinate Obama with scoped bolt-action rifles. Andrew Gumbel’s story about them ran in the London Independent on November 16, 2008; of the fifteen related news stories in Lexis Nexis, only one, a brief one, is from a U.S. paper. It is possible to take at face value the concern expressed by Friedman in his column. The Boston Globe, a New York Times affiliate, reported on October 18 that “The unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, a rise in racist hate groups, and a new wave of antigovernment fervor threaten to overwhelm the US Secret Service.” [5] But there may have been a higher level of concern in the normally pro-war Wall Street Journal’s reference to a military coup. Such talk on a conservative web site is hardly newsworthy. More alarming is the report by Robert Dreyfuss in the October 29 Rolling Stone that Obama is currently facing an ultimatum from the Pentagon and Joint Chiefs: either provide General McChrystal with the 40,000 additional troops he has publicly demanded, or “face a full-scale mutiny by his generals...The president, it seems, is battling two insurgencies: one in Afghanistan and one cooked up by his own generals.” [6] One can only guess at what led the New York Times to publish a story about CIA obstinacy over documents about the JFK assassination. One explanation would be the similarities between the painful choices that Obama now faces in Afghanistan – to escalate, maintain a losing status quo, or begin to withdraw – and the same equally painful choices that Kennedy in 1963 faced in Vietnam. [7] More and more books in recent years have asked if some disgruntled hawks in the CIA and Pentagon did not participate in the assassination which led to a wider Vietnam War. [8] Six weeks before Kennedy’s murder, the Washington News published an extraordinary attack on the CIA’s “bureaucratic arrogance” and obstinate disregard of orders... “If the United States ever experiences a `Seven Days in May’ it will come from the CIA...” one U.S. official commented caustically. (“Seven Days in May” is a fictional account of an attempted military coup to take over the U.S. Government.) [9] The story was actually a misleading one, but it was a symptom of the high-level rifts and infighting that were becoming explosive over Vietnam inside the Kennedy administration. The New York Times story about the CIA on October 17 can also be seen as a symptom of rifts and infighting. One must hope that the country has matured enough since 1963 to avoid a similarly bloody denouement. Notes 1. “C.I.A. Is Cagey About '63 Files Tied to Oswald,” New York Times, October 17, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/us/17inquire.html. 2. Jerry Policoff, The Media and the Murder of John Kennedy,” in Peter Dale Scott, Paul L. Hoch, and Russell Stetler, The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond (New York: Random House/Vintage, 1976), 268. 3. Friedman, in decrying attacks on presidential legitimacy, recalled that “The right impeached Bill Clinton and hounded him from Day 1 with the bogus Whitewater “scandal.” It is worth recalling also that the public outcry about Whitewater was encouraged initially by a series of stories by Jeff Gerth, since largely discredited, in the New York Times. See Gene Lyons, “Fool for Scandal: How the New York Times Got Whitewater Wrong,” Harper’s, October 1994. 4. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125452861657560895.html. 5. Bryan Bender, “Secret Service strained as leaders face more threats Report questions its role in financial investigations,” Boston Globe, October 18, 2009, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/10/18/secret_service_under_strain_as_leaders_face_more_threats/. 6. Robert Dreyfuss, “The Generals’ Revolt: As Obama rethinks America’s failed strategy in Afghanistan, he faces two insurgencies: the Taliban and the Pentagon.” Rolling Stone, October 29, 41. Several other articles entitled “The Generals’ Revolt” have been published since 2003, including at least two earlier this year and a number in 2006, when retired generals’ pushed successfully for the removal of Rumsfeld over his handling of the Vietnam War. 7. Gareth Porter, Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005), 266. 8. See for example James Douglass, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died & Why It Matters (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008). 9. Washington Daily News, October 2, 1963; discussed in Peter Dale Scott, The War Conspiracy: JFK, 9/11, and the Deep Politics of War (Ipswich, MA: Mary Ferrell Foundation Press, 2008), 286.

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September 18, 2010 at 11:28:31     Permalink THE JFK CASE: THE TWELVE WHO BUILT THE OSWALD LEGEND (Part 3: Counterintelligence goes molehunting with Oswald's file) Diary Entry by Bill Simpich (about the author) Become a Fan   (3 fans)

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Third in the series. This chapter focuses on how Lee Harvey Oswald threatened to reveal military secrets to the Soviets about the U-2, and how US counterintelligence used his file as a "marked card" to capture supposed Communist spies who were trying to infiltrate the CIA.

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Oswald threatened to reveal military secrets to the Soviets

The Warren Commission wrote many pages on Lee Harvey Oswald's visit to the American embassy in Moscow shortly after his defection to the USSR. However, the Warren Report says nothing about the U-2, much less about Oswald's work for the U-2 project as an aviation electronics operator.

The Commissioners were informed by CIA deputy director Richard Helms that Oswald only worked near the U-2 hangar in Japan, tap-danced around Oswald's access to the U-2 in the Philippines, and concluded that Oswald had no "information regarding the U-2 or its mission."

The Warren Report does mention that Oswald told legend maker #4 consul Richard Snyder that he had "already offered to tell a Soviet official what he had learned as a radar operator in the Marines" (p. 693). However, the Commission concluded that since neither the FBI or the Navy prosecuted Oswald, the State Department had no basis to conclude that Oswald's statement was "anything more than rash talk". (p. 775)

The CIA knew about Oswald's treasonous offer. In a memo written shortly after JFK's death, CIA officer John Whitten states that a list of "American defectors to the USSR list" was put together in November 1960. "From then on, we received a number of FBI and State Department reports on Oswald, detailing "his defiant threat to reveal to the Soviets all he knew about Navy radar installations in the Pacific."

Whitten makes it sound like the CIA heard about these threats after the U-2 went down on May 1, 1960. In fact, Snyder's report and Navy reports in early November 1959 describe Oswald's threat to provide radar secrets to the Soviets, and the CIA had copies of these reports in their files right after Oswald left the American embassy on October 31.

The CIA's position was that "Since Oswald was a former Marine and a U.S. citizen, his defection was of primary interest to the State Department, the FBI, and the Navy Department. CIA does not investigate U.S. citizens abroad unless we are specifically requested to do so by some other Government security agency. No such request was made in this case."

One CIA officer, however, shows extraordinary interest in Oswald.

This CIA officer is Ann Egerter, an analyst at the small, super-secret Counterintelligence Special Investigations Group (CI/SIG). Egerter called CI/SIG "the office that spied on spies". Her boss, legend maker #1 CI chief James Angleton, admitted that one of CI/SIG's purposes was to monitor defectors.

An FBI officer is also playing close attention - Marvin Gheesling, a supervisor at FBI Headquarters.

Oswald and the Moles

The October 31 and November 2 memos prepared by Snyder and his colleague Ed Freers about Oswald's defection are used by Ann Egerter, legend maker #5, to fill Oswald's file with items of false information known as "marked cards". "Marked cards" are designed to capture a mole who spreads the information to unauthorized individuals.

The "marked card" technique has been around for a long time. Peter Wright in Spycatcher refers to this method as a "barium meal". Tom Clancy in Patriot Games calls this trick a "canary trap". Author Peter Dale Scott mentions that the "marked card" was one of the methods used to try to catch the infamous CIA mole Aldrich Ames during the 1990s. The marked card didn't work because Ames himself was the chief of the CIA's Soviet Russia counterintelligence staff.

Freers and Snyder mentioned in their initial October 31 note about Oswald's visit that Oswald's mother's last address was at 4936 "Collinwood St.". Not only had Mrs. Oswald not lived on Collingwood since May 1957, but her address on September 4, 1959 was 3124 West Fifth Street, the very address Oswald had used on his passport application.

Keep in mind that when Snyder prepared his reports, he was a trained observer and reporter of minutiae that the average person would not notice. This "Collinwood St." entry was just one of several misspellings and errors that were purposeful and not accidental. This deliberate error was a "marked card" to see if a mole leaked this information elsewhere.

Two days later, the November 2 dispatch prepared by Freers and Snyder adds three more marked cards to the deck. One was that Oswald was "discharged" from the service. Another was that Oswald's highest grade was corporal. The third was that Oswald applied for his passport in San Francisco.

Peter Dale Scott, the author of the highly revealing essay "Oswald and the Search for Popov's Mole", carefully examined each of these marked cards. Oswald was not discharged, but received a dependency release and placed in the reserves with duties to perform until 1962. Oswald's highest grade was not corporal, but private first class. Finally, Oswald's passport states that it was issued in Los Angeles, not in San Francisco.
Lee Harvey Oswald's 1959 passport by none


Scott focuses on the importance of these anomalies that fill Oswald's CIA file, stating that they are evidence of "a significant, sophisticated multi-agency counterintelligence operation." Scott advances the thesis that "Oswald himself was a low-level part of a CI search for a leak or mole", and that Oswald's unexplained talk of espionage right in front of the KGB microphones (the KGB had the US embassy thoroughly bugged) is a very poor way to convince the KGB of his bona fides but "makes perfect sense as a test for leaks in response to Popov's arrest fifteen days earlier".

The American and Soviet embassies have long and famous histories for placing bugs in each other's embassies, tapping each other's phones, and reading each other's mail. The KGB confirmed in 1959 that Freers was not CIA, and that the KGB maintained a microphone in Freers' office.

In "Popov's Mole", Scott points out that the errors detailed above, and others that we will soon discuss, was repeatedly circulated in the documentary history of Oswald's files by Jim Angleton's colleague Ann Egerter and other CI/SIG officials. By embedding these false statements within Oswald's file, and tracking who had access to the file information, Egerter could determine if this information had surfaced elsewhere, and that would be evidence of unauthorized access.

Angleton told the Church Committee that the role of CI/SIG was to prevent the penetration of spies into the CIA and the government, and that the "historical penetration cases are recruitment of U.S. officials in positions (of) code clerks." Angleton's search for a mole turned the CIA upside down by the time he was fired in 1974. Dozens of CIA officers were fired. By 1980, Congress was forced to pass a "Mole Relief Act" to compensate the unfairly accused victims.

Egerter used Oswald himself in what is called a "dangle". Angleton's biographer Tom Mangold wrote that the execution of Popov accelerated Angleton's belief that "Popov could only have been betrayed by a mole buried deep within Soviet Division.". Mangold found Angleton misguided, stating that "Popov was actually lost to the Soviets because of a slipshod CIA operation; there was no treachery." David Robarge, in a very thoughtful piece that should be read in its entirety, agrees that Popov's capture marked the time when Angleton became "fixed on the mole". Oswald's arrival was on the same date as Popov's arrest.

Nonetheless, if Angleton was convinced that there was a mole in the Soviet Division, it's a good bet that he believed that radar operator Oswald's sudden entry into the Soviet Union on the same day was no accident.

What is curious is that Egerter opened no 201 file for Oswald at this point. A 201 file is a CIA file that is created to profile any person "of active operational interest". For whatever reason, she did not want to admit that the CIA had any operational interest in Oswald.

The FBI had operational interest in Oswald, and let everybody know it. Headquarters supervisor Marvin Gheesling is described as having "considerable experience in espionage, intelligence and counterintelligence operations." Gheesling, legend maker #6, promptly opened a "watch list" file on Oswald within a week of his visit to the Embassy in late 1959 by creating what is called a FLASH card. As John Newman muses, "This combination of being on the Watch List without a 201 file makes Oswald special. Perhaps not unique, but certainly peculiar. It was as if someone wanted Oswald watched quietly."

At the same time, Oswald was added to the HT LINGUAL list, Angleton was effectively in charge of HT LINGUAL, a joint project of the CIA, FBI and US Postal Service in which Angleton was the titular head. Oswald was now one of the 300 Americans whose letters would be secretly opened as part of HT LINGUAL project monitoring mail coming from the USSR.

A quick glance at what happened three years later: Gheesling's role turned ominous when he took Oswald off the watch list in the month before the assassination. Gheesling's action took place just hours before Egerter helped write two separate messages that provided two different descriptions of Oswald. One message sent to third party agencies referred to him specifically as "Lee Henry Oswald", with an inaccurate physical description, apparently designed to mislead the national leadership of these agencies. The in-house message provided a more accurate description of Oswald - as we'll see later, still containing subtle mistakes - going only to the local agencies. These are further indications of the molehunt.

Gheesling's decision to take Oswald off the watch list effectively dimmed the lights around Oswald. It meant that Oswald would not be watched in Dallas with close scrutiny in situations involving national security, such as when JFK came to town in a motorcade. If Gheesling had waited another day, Oswald would have been in the spotlight. Dallas agents would have been on him like white on rice.

After Egerter passes Oswald's marked cards to FBI's John Fain, Fain joins the molehunt

Going back to 1960...the marked cards begin to multiply a few months later. In February 1960, Oswald's mother is worrying about him. Marguerite told the Secret Service that SA John Fain recommends that she write Secretary of State Christian Herter and Congressmen Sam Rayburn and Jim Wright. Curiously, the FBI has no public paper trail of meeting with Fain at this early date. FBI files in 1959-60 and Oswald's Marine records remain classified and should be released.

Mrs. Oswald then sends one letter to Congressman Wright telling him that "according to the UPI Moscow press, he appeared at the US embassy renouncing his citizenship". The next day, she wrote Secretary Herter a letter saying that Oswald had not renounced his citizenship and "is still a U.S. citizen".

Why Mrs. Oswald would say two different things in two different letters one day apart is a longer discussion. Nonetheless, these two totally contradictory documents are a central part of this case. The inaccurate statement that Oswald had "renounced his citizenship" was central to SA Fain's report of May 12, 1960. This report also had the marked card of "Edward Lee Oswald" for the name of Oswald's deceased father, rather than his correct name of Robert Edward Lee Oswald.

Fain's inaccurate report about renunciation was the direct cause of Oswald's dishonorable discharge by the Marines on August 17, 1960. Oswald wrote the Secretary of the Navy trying to get this dishonorable discharge changed, not realizing that John Connally had resigned as navy secretary to run for Governor of Texas in 1962. Connally wrote back and said that he had forwarded Oswald's letter to the new secretary. John Fain is legend maker #7.

At a minimum, Ann Egerter's use of the Lee Oswald's file enabled CI to engage in some very clever molehunting, particularly when she decided to name his 201 file "Lee Henry Oswald". She claimed years later that "Henry" wasn't in her handwriting. Take a look for yourself. The name of the file itself was a "marked card". If anyone else referred to Lee Henry Oswald, a bright trail would be left behind. Egerter's form includes the terms "defected to the USSR" and "radar operator", but says nothing about Oswald's threat to pass "classified things" to the Soviets.

Next week, the series will continue with Part 4: When the U-2 Goes Down, Oswald is Ready to Return

Endnotes:

The Commissioners were informed by CIA deputy director Richard Helms... Richard Helms memo to Director, FBI; Warren Commission Document 931, 5/13/64.

The Warren Report does mention that Oswald told legend maker #4 consul Richard Snyder that he had "already offered to tell a Soviet official what he had learned as a radar operator in the Marines". Warren Report, p. 693.

However, the Commission concluded that since neither the FBI or the Navy prosecuted Oswald, the State Department had no basis to conclude that Oswald's statement was "anything more than rash talk". Warren Report, p. 775.

CIA officer John Whitten states in a memo written shortly after JFK's death that after an American defectors to the USSR list was put together in November 1960 "from then on, we received a number of FBI and State Department reports on Oswald, detailing"his defiant threat to reveal to the Soviets all he knew about Navy radar installations in the Pacific." memo by CIA officer John Whitten, "CIA Work on Lee Oswald and the Assassination of President Kennedy", p. 3, 12/20/63, Oswald 201 File, Vol 10B, NARA Record Number: 1993.06.14.15:56:02:000000

Angleton's search for a mole turned the CIA upside down by the time he was fired in 1974: See generally David C. Martin, Wilderness of Mirrors, (Guilford, CT, Lyons Press: revised edition, 2003).

Angleton admitted that one of CI/SIG's purposes was to monitor defectors: HSCA Security Classified Testimony, Angleton deposition, 10/5/78, p. 150.

The October 31 and November 2 memos of Snyder and Freers are used by Ann Egerter, Legend maker #5, to fill Oswald's file with items of false information known as "marked cards": Ed Freers memo to State Dept., 10/31/59; Warren Commission Exhibit 908, Snyder's report to State Department of 11/2/59, p. 2 (see fourth paragraph)

Author Peter Dale Scott mentions that the "marked card" was one of the methods used to catch the infamous CIA mole Aldrich Ames during the 1990s. The marked card trick didn't work because Ames himself was the chief of the Soviet Russia counterintelligence staff: Peter Dale Scott, "The Hunt for Popov's Mole", Fourth Decade, March 1996, p. 4.

Oswald's mother had not lived on Collinwood since May 1957: "Collingwood since May 1957", see Warren Commission Exhibit 822, SA John Fain's report of 7/3/61, p. 2. Also see Peter Dale Scott, The Hunt for Popov's Mole, p. 6.

The passport application: See Warren Commission Hearings, Volume 22, p. 77:

Freers' dispatch states that Oswald was "discharged" from the service, that the highest grade achieved was that of a corporal, and that he applied for his passport in San Francisco: Warren Commission Exhibit 908, Vol. 18, p. 97, Foreign Service dispatch from the American Embassy in Moscow to the Department of State, 11/2/59. Freers signs document, Snyder signs first page as the reporter:

Oswald received a "dependency release", with obligated service up until 1962, not a discharge. See Warren Commission Document 1, 12/6/63, p. 23,

Oswald was not discharged, but released from active duty: Warren Commission Document 1114, Navy message 22257, From: CNO To: ALUSNA, Moscow, 11/4/59.

His highest grade was not corporal, but private first class: Warren Report 687, 688; Warren Commission Exhibit 3099, Certificate of True Copies of Original Pay Records from 10/24/96 to 9/11/59 for PFC Oswald, dated 9/15/64, prepared by Major E.J. Rowe.

Also see: Warren Commission Document 1114, Navy message 22257, From: CNO To: ALUSNA, Moscow, 11/4/59.

The passport, which was not only examined by Snyder but retained by him:

Oswald had given his passport to Snyder at the Embassy when he said he wanted to renounce his American citizenship: Testimony of Richard Snyder, Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 5, p. 269.

The passport indicates clearly that it was issued not in San Francisco, but in Los Angeles: Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 18, p. 162, Warren Commission Exhibit 946, passport of Lee Harvey Oswald, issued September 10, 1959.
 

The KGB confirmed in 1959 that Freers was not CIA, and that the KGB had a microphone in his office: Diplomatic List, Moscow, 1 January 1959 (information obtained from defector Yuri Nosenko), HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 14/NARA Record Number: 104-10070-10150

Historical penetration cases are recruitment of U.S. officials in positions code clerks:Deposition of James Angleton, 9/17/75, Church Committee, p. 17.

Angleton's search for a mole is well-known for having turned the CIA upside down by the time he was fired in 1974: See generally David C. Martin, Wilderness of Mirrors, (Guilford, CT, Lyons Press: revised edition, 2003).

By the time Angleton was fired in the midst of the Watergate era, he was accused of being a Soviet mole himself. By 1980, Congress was forced to pass a bill to compensate the unfairly accused officers in what became known as the Mole Relief Act: David Wise, Molehunt, Chapter 18

Popov was actually lost due to a slipshod CIA operation there was no treachery. John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, pp. 87-88

David Robarge, in a very thoughtful piece that should be read in its entirety, agrees that Popov's capture marked the time when Angleton became "fixed on the mole": David Robarge, Moles, Defectors and Deceptions: James Angleton and CIA Counterintelligence, p. 36.

A 201 file is a CIA file on any person "of active operational interest": Clandestine Services Handbook, 43-1-1, February 15, 1960, Chapter III, Annex B, "Personalities - 201 and IDN Numbers", RIF# 104-10213-10202. Cited by John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1995) at p. 47 and 537, note 2.

Headquarters supervisor Marvin Gheesling is described as having "considerable experience in espionage, intelligence and counterintelligence operations": HSCA Report, Volume XII, p. 566.

"This combination of being on the Watch List without a 201 file makes Oswald special. Perhaps not unique, but certainly peculiar. It was as if someone wanted Oswald watched quietly." John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, p. 422.

At the same time, Oswald was added to the HT LINGUAL list": John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, p. 56.

Egerter helped prepare two totally conflicting documents. One was a teletype to third party agencies such as the FBI, State Department and the Navy inaccurately describing Oswald as "approximately 35 years old, with an athletic build, about six feet tall, with receding hairline...believed that Oswald was identical to Lee Henry Oswald": CIA teletype 74673 to FBI, State Department, and Navy, October 10, 1963; NARA, JFK files, CIA 201 file on Oswald.

The in-house version with the more accurate description went only to the local agencies:
CIA headquarters teletype 74830 to Mexico City CIA station, p. 3, October 10, 1963; NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10048

SA John Fain recommends that she write Secretary of State Christian Herter and Congressmen Sam Rayburn and Jim Wright: "Popov's Mole", p. 8: 16 Warren Commission Hearings, p. 729.

Mrs. Oswald then sends one letter to Congressman Rayburn telling him that "according to the UPI Moscow press, he appeared at the US embassy renouncing his citizenship": Marguerite Oswald letter to Congressman Jim Wright, 3/6/60, Warren Commission Document 1115, p. 51

The next day, she wrote Secretary Herter a letter saying that Oswald had not renounced his citizenship: "All I know is what I read in the newspapers. He went to the U.S. Ambassy (sic) there and wanted to turn in his U.S. citizenship and had applied for Soviet citizenship. However the Russians refused his request but said he could remain in their country as a Resident Alien. As far as I know he is still a U.S. citizen." Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. 16, pp. 594-595; Commission Exhibit 206.

The statement that Oswald had renounced his citizenship was picked up in SA Fain's report of May 12, 1960: FBI report of 5/12/60 by SA John Fain; 17 Warren Commission Hearings 700, 702; Exhibit 821, p. 3.

Because Fain printed this inaccurate information about renunciation in his report, the result was Oswald's dishonorable discharge by the Marines on August 17, 1960: John Newman, Oswald and the CIA, pp. 212-213

Oswald even wrote John Connally from the USSR, not realizing that Connally had quit his job as Secretary of the Navy to run for governor of Texas in 1962: Memo by FBI SA James Hosty, 11/25/63, p. 2, Commission Document 75 - FBI DeBrueys Report of 02 Dec 1963 re: Oswald/Russia, p. 701,

"Edward Lee Oswald": John Fain's report, 6/12/60, p. 3, 17 Warren Commission Hearings 700, 702, Exhibit 821.

"Robert Edward Lee Oswald": FBI report of Donald C. Steinmeyer, 4/1/64, re marriage records for Robert Edward Lee Oswald; 11/27/63 report by SA Joseph G. Engelhardt re sister of Robert Edward Lee Oswald.

The 201 opening form filled out by Egerter includes the terms "defected to the USSR" and "radar operator" but says nothing about Oswald's threat to pass "classified things" about his work to the Soviets: 201 file request by Ann Egerter, 12/9/60, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 7/NARA Record Number: 104-10054-10204

 

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FALSE DEFECTOR

 

The Kennedy Assassination and the Current Political Moment

"James Angleton was the mastermind not of the Bay of Pigs (that was Richard Bissell), but of a false defector program that sent spies into the Soviet Union. Among them was one Lee Harvey Oswald." - Joan Mellen

Transcript of a lecture given on January 28, 2007 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City

by Joan Mellen

 

It happened going on 44 years ago; yet, the murder of President Kennedy remains simultaneously a subject of fascination and taboo within mainstream discourse. You will not find a free exchange of views on the Kennedy assassination in the New York Times nor, to date, an acknowledgement of the unanswered questions arising from 9/11. This past November, I spoke at a Jewish Senior Center on the Upper West Side, where the director remarked that the Times had listed the lecture the week before and the week after. My talk on the Kennedy assassination had slipped down the memory hole.

I'm grateful to the 92nd Street Y for the liberalism of outlook and independence of mind that made this evening possible. The Kennedy assassination will not go away, and I'll try to explain why, heartened as I am by the fact that the former governor of Minnesota, Arne Carlson, gave a speech in November entitled “The JFK Assassination: Its Impact on America's History.” That's my subject as well: How the Kennedy assassination illuminates the present political moment.

James Jesus Angleton
The Kennedy assassination is present even in its absence in the recent film, The Good Shepherd, a movie about the CIA. Its central character, played by Matt Damon, is based largely on the late head of CIA Counter Intelligence, James Jesus Angleton. The distortions of the film return us to the meaning of the Kennedy assassination.

James Angleton in real life was the mastermind not, as the film suggests, of the Bay of Pigs (that was Richard Bissell), but of a false defector program that sent spies into the Soviet Union. Among them was one Lee Harvey Oswald. This talk is based on interviews I conducted for my book, A Farewell to Justice, as well as new interviews since its publication a year ago. I refer also to some of more than four million documents released under the JFK Records Collection Act at the National Archives.

An FBI document demonstrates that Oswald, who was indeed one of Angleton's assets in the Soviet Union, communicated back to the CIA through a CIA asset at American Express named Michael Jelisavcic. One of my discoveries for A Farewell to Justice was the original of a note that Oswald, arrested in New Orleans for a street fight, handed to police lieutenant, Francis Martello.

One CIA document refers to an FBI "65" file, an espionage file, for Jelisavic, a reference inadvertently unredacted when CIA declassified the document. This number clearly directs CIA to an espionage file. Oswald also had Jelisavcic's name and room number in his possession. Angleton's false defector program, not mentioned in The Good Shepherd, remains among the CIA's most closely guarded secrets; a secret necessary to preserve the fiction of the Warren Report.

Otto Otepka
The figure of Lee Harvey Oswald, and his peculiar biography as a low-level intelligence agent, continues to haunt those whose paths he crossed. After A Farewell to Justice was published, I drove down Alligator Highway in Central Florida to interview a very interesting nonagenarian named Otto Otepka. Mr. Otepka was high up in State Department security under the Eisenhower administration and into the 1960s. Routinely, he came upon the names of people who had defected, and whom it was his job to investigate for security purposes.

Highly commended for his diligence, Mr. Otepka displayed to me a wall filled with a display of framed commendations, including one signed by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles on behalf of President Eisenhower. (In these times President Eisenhower seems to be a bonafide liberal, not only for his prescient remark about the military industrial complex, but for another of his observations, that most of America has accepted the idea of the New Deal, but for a few oil millionaires in Texas).

Otepka saw at once that there was something unusual about Lee Oswald, “tourist.” As he placed this list of defectors into his security safe, Mr. Otepka planned to request that the CIA look into this individual. A nighttime burglary, obviously an inside job, resulted in this file vanishing. Soon Otto Otepka was demoted to an inconsequential post, writing summaries of documents. Oswald's “defection” was not to be scrutinized.

This all took place in the early sixties. In the year 2006, The Good Shepherd still could not mention Angleton's false defector program, which would have driven the film to the door of the Kennedy assassination. Instead the film conveniently closes in 1961 during the Bay of Pigs.

Oswald CIA Courier
In A Farewell to Justice I demonstrate that Oswald was an employee of the CIA; a fact recently re-confirmed by historian Michael Kurtz. Professor Kurtz reports on an interview he did in 1981 with Hunter Leake, second in command at the New Orleans field office. Leake admitted that the CIA used Oswald as a courier, and that Oswald came to New Orleans in April 1963 because the CIA office intended to use him for certain operations. Leake either was disaffected from the Agency, or, perhaps, was just an honest man. He admitted that he personally paid Oswald various sums of cash for his services. Oswald was on the CIA payroll; Leake himself had paid Oswald's CIA salary.

Leake also explained in this telephone interview with Professor Kurtz why there was no documentation on Oswald's employment with CIA in New Orleans. After President Kennedy's assassination, he drove the files personally to Langley, Virginia. They were so voluminous that he had to rent a trailer to transport them. Shouldn't revelations from so credible a source have made the newspapers?

In A Farewell to Justice, I write for the first time that Oswald had also been enlisted by U.S. Customs in New Orleans—information I gleaned from the documents deposited at the National Archives by the Church Committee. Not a single newspaper or magazine or television program chose to notice this astonishing revelation. I show how the framing of Oswald in Louisiana by the CIA began even before the shooting in Dallas.

As you study the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, you discover repeatedly that the press relinquished its freedom more than forty years ago. The latest document I was sent came from the LBJ library in Austin. Dated 1967, it was a telegram from the “Newsweek” columnist, Hugh Aynesworth, to George Christian, Lyndon Johnson's press secretary. Aynesworth was announcing that he was sending the President, in advance of publication, his latest attack on New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, the better for the President to take steps against Garrison's investigation.

CIA releases once marked “Secret” are filled with revelations of how reporters, such as Al Burt, the Latin America editor of the Miami Herald, visited the CIA to be instructed on what was and was not in the Agency's interest that he print. There are precedents for our present co-opted press, from FOX to CNN, its twin. Even Keith Olbermann on MSNBC seems unduly cautious.

E. Howard Hunt
In his memoir, American Spy: My Secret History in the CIA, Watergate & Beyond, long-time CIA operative E. Howard Hunt suggests that Lyndon Johnson should be viewed as the prime suspect in “having Kennedy liquidated.” It seems clear that Hunt, age 88, was still engaged in the business of drawing attention away from the massive evidence connecting CIA to the assassination.¹ Lyndon Johnson, the direct beneficiary of the assassination, seemed to Hunt a likely target.

Hunt was far too clever to regurgitate J. Edgar Hoover's disinformation that the Mafia planned and then covered up this crime. His obvious intention was to provide a false sponsor, someone other than the Agency. Even Hunt didn't bother to revive the fantasy that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, or acted at all, in the assassination.

The Warren Commission lawyers could find no motive for Oswald's shooting of President Kennedy, even as they blamed him. You might well ask, what, then, was the CIA's motive? Return to 1963 and the pressure by both the CIA's clandestine service and the Pentagon for a full-scale invasion of Cuba. President Kennedy opposed an American invasion of Cuba as not in the national interest, just as he had no intention of embedding us in the quagmire of a ground war in Vietnam. The first Texas President profited from John F. Kennedy's murder, and did the bidding of those forces John Kennedy opposed.

Richard Reeves' 1994 biography, President Kennedy: Profile of Power, quotes President Kennedy's fury at the sabotage of his presidency by the CIA. In the one true political moment in The Good Shepherd, Kennedy threatens to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and cast them to the winds. “I'll get those CIA bastards if it's the last thing I do,” Kennedy said, famously, underestimating his adversaries. The CIA's “Executive Action” ("murder") capability was in place by 1963; it had already been involved in the murder and/or attempted murders of various heads of state, efforts which are outlined in detail in the papers of the Church Committee.

Bobby Kennedy
Our mainstream press manages to avoid confronting the Church Committee documents, writing about the CIA as if it had no history, but was born in the aftermath of 9/11. They are particularly unwilling to connect our present political morass to past events. Foreign reporters have not been similarly restrained. On a magazine segment on BBC-2 which aired on November 20, 2006, documentarian Shane O'Sullivan revealed an extraordinary photograph connecting the assassination of John and Robert Kennedy. You won't find this information in that other Kennedy movie of this season, Bobby.

The press photographs (shown on page __) were taken at the Ambassador Hotel on the evening of the assassination of Robert Kennedy, where a crowd had gathered to celebrate his victory in the California primary. Pictured standing together were three high level CIA operatives. One was Gordon Campbell, the second in command at JM-WAVE, the big CIA station in Miami, from which emanated plans for the sabotage of Cuba and the assassination of Fidel Castro.

With Campbell was a long-time CIA operative named David Sanchez Morales, who worked with CIA propaganda expert David Atlee Phillips, a figure I discuss at length in A Farewell To Justice. Morales had assisted Phillips in the 1954 coup against President Arbenz in Guatemala. Morales' lawyer, Robert J. Walton, had quoted his client to the government investigator in Miami, Gaeton Fonzi: “I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch, and I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard.”

Morales was also close to a CIA operative named Felix Rodriguez, famously present at the murder of Che Guevara in Bolivia. He came away with Guevara's wristwatch. Rodriguez was so close to George H. W. Bush that he included photographs with the Bushes in his autobiography. Present in Dallas that November morning of the 22nd were not only George H. W. Bush, shortly to depart for Tyler, then return that afternoon to Dallas, but also Richard Nixon. Neither Bush nor Nixon, of course, staged the shooting itself, but it does seem odd that they were in Dallas along with David Atlee Phillips.

The third unlikely well-wisher of Robert Kennedy in this trio was CIA psychological warfare specialist, George Joannides. Joannides was CIA handler in Miami for an anti-Castro group called DRE (Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil). Lee Oswald's adversary in his street scuffle in New Orleans was a man named Carlos Bringuier, who claimed to be the DRE representative in New Orleans. Both were arrested. All trails lead to Lee Harvey Oswald. That street fight was clearly staged, as I show in my book.

I also discovered what Oswald actually said to Lieutenant Francis Martello, which Martello chose not to share with the Warren Commission: “Call the FBI. Tell them you have Lee Oswald in custody.” Yet another recently declassified FBI document once marked “Secret” reveals information given to the Bureau by a CIA officer. Dated 11/23/63, it confirms that Oswald was indeed a shared agent of both agencies.

It may be (here I'll speculate), that the street fight on Canal Street that established Oswald as pro-Castro, purveyor of leaflets for “Fair Play For Cuba,” was a propaganda victory by Joannides, whose specialty was psychological warfare. Five years later, Joannides apparently stands awaiting the impending murder of Robert F. Kennedy. There was a complete blackout in the U.S. media of O'Sullivan's BBC segment, but on the website of the London Guardian, you can find a report entitled, “Did The CIA Kill Bobby Kennedy?”

George H.W. Bush
I'm sure many in this audience are aware of the third recent moment at which the Kennedy assassination has surfaced. There are a few scant degrees of separation between the two Bush presidents, the role of the CIA in the Kennedy assassination, and Lee Harvey Oswald, the CIA asset. This surprising invocation of the Kennedy assassination occurred on January 2, 2007 at the funeral of President Gerald Ford, the last surviving member of the Warren Commission. I'll read this extraordinarily revealing paragraph from George H.W. Bush's eulogy, for those who missed it:

After a deluded gunman assassinated President Kennedy, our nation turned to Gerald Ford and a select handful of others to make sense of that madness – and a conspiracy theorist can say what they will – but the Warren Commission report will always have the final definitive say on this matter. Why? Because Gerry Ford put his name on it and Gerry Ford's word was always good.

Allow me to add that when amendments were offered to the Freedom of Information Act, enlarging public access to affairs of state, Gerald Ford vetoed the bill; only to have Congress to override his veto. Ford was no more a supporter of the truth than Mr. Bush's son. George H. W. Bush's own word was not always so good either. There are powerful reasons why George H. W. Bush was motivated to invoke the Warren Report, even, amazingly, to refer to a “conspiracy theorist”—as if that designation would at once banish some truths he does not want available. There are only two degrees of separation between George H.W. Bush and Lee Harvey Oswald.

At his 1976 confirmation hearings for the post of Director of Central Intelligence, a post into which he was elevated by Gerald Ford, Bush denied that he had any prior connection to the CIA. This was a falsehood. A CIA document at the National Archives and posted on the Internet (Record Number 104-10310-10271) reveals that in 1953, when George H.W. Bush founded Zapata Oil, his partner was one Thomas J. Devine—an oil wildcatter and long-time CIA staff employee. Thomas Devine's name does not appear in the original papers of Zapata, but it does in the company Bush created shortly thereafter as “Zapata Offshore.”

This CIA document reveals that Thomas Devine had informed George Bush of a CIA project with the cryptonym, WUBRINY/LPDICTUM. It involved CIA proprietary commercial operations in foreign countries. By 1963, Devine had become not a former CIA employee, but "a cleared and witting contact" in the investment banking firm which managed the proprietary corporation WUSALINE. WUBRINY involved Haitian operations, in which, the documents reveal, a participant was George de Mohrenschildt, the Dallas CIA handler of Lee Oswald.

In late April 1963, in Haiti, de Mohrenschildt appeared to discuss investment possibilities. The CIA officer, the author of the document, named only as WUBRINY/1, had no idea of de Mohrenschildt's long-standing CIA connections, and in particular his role in shepherding Oswald in Dallas. De Mohrenschildt could safely pursue CIA interests in Haiti because in that month of April 1963 Lee Oswald (his charge) moved from Texas to New Orleans on the orders of the CIA, reporting to Hunter Leake.

A May 22, 1963 CIA document has de Mohrenschildt admitting he had “obtained some Texas financial backing” and had visited interested people in Washington regarding the candidacy of one M. Clemard Joseph Charles for President of Haiti, “as soon as Duvalier can be gotten out.” We are reminded of CIA's efforts to influence the political configurations of other countries. An obvious example is the CIA's obliging of British Petroleum—for a price—in the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran, and his replacement by the Shah.

To summarize: George H.W. Bush is linked in April 1963, seven months before the Kennedy assassination, to a CIA project involving Lee Oswald's handler, Count Sergei Georges de Mohrenschildt, through his own CIA partner, Thomas Devine. Bush and Devine later traveled to Vietnam together, a trip for which the Department of Defense issued Devine an interim “Top Secret” clearance. No surprise there: Devine obviously had never left the Agency.

On the day Gaeton Fonzi was to interview de Mohrenschildt for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, de Mohrenschildt was shot, and his death ruled a suicide. Fonzi's card was in his pocket. Joseph McBride's Nation article ("The Man Who Wasn't There: George Bush, CIA Operative, July 16, 1988), exposed how George H.W. Bush was debriefed by the FBI about the Kennedy assassination on November 23rd . The inadvertently released document refers to “Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency.” Bush claimed it was a different George Bush, George William Bush, who worked for the Agency. But it wasn't so. George William came forward to say he was never debriefed by anyone.

Every road leads to the assassination of President Kennedy. What should also give us pause is that these documents about Zapata Offshore, which had offices on several continents but never did much business, were released under the JFK Act as Kennedy assassination documents. So it is the Agency itself, not the dreaded “conspiracy theorists,” that links George H.W. Bush with the Kennedy assassination. Or it's the government that is the ultimate “conspiracy theorist.”

A Farewell to Justice was published in November 2005. In the intervening time, new documents have emerged that corroborate my view that the Central Intelligence Agency planned, supervised and implemented the assassination of President Kennedy. Those who claim that we will never know what happened to President Kennedy would do well to spend some time at the National Archives. P

<![endif]>

©2007 Joan Mellen is the author of A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK's Assassination and the Case That Should Have Changed History (www.joanmellen.net), available from The Last Hurrah, 937 Memorial Ave, Williamsport, PA 17701 (570) 321-1150. She is also the author of Jim Garrison: His Life and Times, The Early Years, available at www.jfklancer.com. She is a professor of English and creative writing at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is the author of several books, ranging from film criticism to fiction, true crime and biography. <![endif]>

 

Endnotes

1. According to Hunt's son, Saint John, Hunt left a more specific two-page deathbed memorandum, explaining how Frank Sturges had attempted to enlist him in the Kennedy assassination, which, according to this fragment, was being masterminded by Lyndon Johnson. Involved also were CIA murder specialist William Harvey, CIA officer out of Counter Intelligence named Cord Meyer, David Atlee Phillips, against whom there is massive evidence indeed, and a few others. According to Saint, as he is called in Rolling Stone, Hunt said, no thanks. He didn't want to be involved in any operation with William Harvey. Instinct if nothing else suggests that Hunt was settling old scores with those in the Agency with whom he had issues. There is no way to corroborate any of these accusations made by Hunt, deathly ill and, as another of his children suggests, drifting in and out of clarity. If nothing else, this Hunt brouhaha suggests that "deathbed confessions," if that's what this is, are specious sources of historical information. ("The Last Confession of E. Howard Hunt," Rolling Stone, April 5, 2007)

 

<![endif]> ADDENDUM

Shane O'Sullivan's documentary "Who Shot Bobby Kennedy?," which aired in the UK on November 20, 2006, revealed photographic evidence that three senior CIA operatives were present at the scene of RFK's assassination. Present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968 were David Morales (who was Chief of Operations), Gordon Campbell (who was Chief of Maritime Operations), and George Joannides (who was Chief of Psychological Warfare Operations). Although Sirhan Sirhan – a Palestinian – was arrested as the lone gunman, witnesses placed his gun several feet in front of Kennedy, while the autopsy showed the fatal shot came from one inch behind. Even under hypnosis Sirhan remembers nothing, and psychiatrists have stated Sirhan may have been in a hypnotic trance. (BBC Newsnight, 11/21/06; pics from Shane O'Sullivan's website: http://www.rfkmustdie.com/)

 

---

curtjester1 wrote:

> Name one true defector who stayed. Name one person that wasn't on
> assignment. Name anybody who stayed.


MARSH REPLIED;

Charles Jenkins of Rich Square, N.C.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904EEDD1139F935A25752C0A960958260

James Dresnok.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/29/news/deserter.php

Read the HSCA defector study.
THE DEFECTOR STUDY

The HSCA conducted a defector study to ascertain if OSWALD'S defection
was suspicious. The Committee: "To determine which individuals the
Committee would study, a letter was sent to the CIA requesting the names
of persons who defected to the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1964." The
CIA "provided a list of the names and variations of the names of 380
Americans who were in the USSR during that time period," entitled, "U.S.
Persons Who Have or May Have Defected to the USSR Between 1958 and
1963." This list included the names of Communist Party members who made
frequent trips to the Soviet Union or were there on official Party
business, like Henry Winston. Winston could not be termed a defector.
The names of emigrants were included in this list. Some had been in the
Soviet Union for over 20 years. The CIA: "This listing represented U.S.
persons, including some non-U.S. citizens, who owed some measure of
allegiance to the United States, who had either defected or shown some
interest in defecting." [HSCA V12 p404] The HSCA requested the CIA
provide more information so that it could select, for a detailed
analysis, those defectors who were most similar to OSWALD. The CIA
provided a second list which was "a computer listing of the name, 201
file number, date and place of birth, and a compilation of information
derived from the 201 file, as well as citations for various other
Government agency reports." No HSCA investigators visited CIA
headquarters and went through defector files there. Instead, the CIA
gave the HSCA some of the files the Committee requested, "the vast
majority of which" were in undeleted form. The HSCA conceded there was
not always "an independent means of verifying that all materials
requested from the Agency had, in fact, been provided. Accordingly, any
finding that is essentially negative in nature - such as that LEE HARVEY
OSWALD was neither associated with the CIA in any way, nor ever in
contact with that institution - should explicitly acknowledge the
possibility of oversight." [HSCA R 197] From the second defector list,
the HSCA eliminated those who had :

(A) Been born outside the United States.

(B) Gone to the USSR some time other than the 1958 to 1962 time period.

© Remained outside the United States until 1964."

The HSCA focused on the files of 23 defectors from the original list of
380. The Committee then examined the request dated October 25, 1960,
from the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research on 13
individuals whom it considered defectors. That list included the following:

(A) OSWALD.

(B) Seven individuals whose files the committee had decided to examine
under the previous criteria: Mollie Block; Morris Block; Bruce Frederick
Davis; William H. Martin; Bernon F. Mitchell; Libero Ricciardelli;
Robert Edward Webster.

© Two individuals whose names appeared on the computer listing but had
been excluded since they were not born within the United States [Joseph
Dutkanicz and Vladimir Sloboda]

(D) Three individuals who had not previously been known to the committee
as defectors: David DuBois; (FNU) Sergeant Jones; Sergeant Ernie Fletcher.

When the CIA responded to the October 25, 1960 request of the Bureau of
Intelligence and Research of the Department of State, two additional
names were added to the original list of twelve defectors - Maurice
Halperin and Virginia Coe. The HSCA had already selected Maurice
Halperin from the computer list of 380 names, but had no knowledge of
Virginia Coe.

MAURICE HALPERIN

Maurice Halperin (born March 3, 1936) was a specialist in Latin American
affairs employed by the OSS during World War II. In the summer of 1967
Maurice Halperin assisted Soviet agents Martha Dodd Stern and her
husband Alfred Kaufman Stern to secretly travel from Mexico to
Czechoslovakia. Maurice Halperin traveled to the USSR shortly after the
departure of the Sterns from Mexico; he was employed by the Soviet
Government as a Latin American specialist and has "periodically renewed
his American passport." This information on Maurice Halperin was
compiled by JAMES ANGLETON. [CIA CSCI-316/01206-67]

The Committee requested all CIA 201 files on the 23 individuals from the
computer list. It requested files on Joseph Dutkanicz, Vladimir Sloboda,
Jones, David DuBois and Ernie Fletcher, since their names appeared on
the State Department defector list. Finally, it asked for the file on
Virginia Coe.

Out of the 29 individuals whose files were the subject of this request,
five were immediately dropped. The CIA could not identify Jones (an Air
Force Intelligence document existed about his defection); David DuBois
and Virginia Coe had defected to China, not the Soviet Union; and the
Martin & Mitchell file was too sensitive and could not be presented to
the HSCA. Now the list was down to 24, on whom the Committee asked other
Government Agencies to provide selected information. After this
analysis, thirteen more defectors were eliminated: 5 for lack of
substantive information; 5 for being Communist Party members who made
frequent trips to the Soviet Union, or for residing outside the United
States for an extended period of time before entering the Soviet Union;
and three for remaining in the Soviet Union for over 20 years. The HSCA:
"Thus, the defector study was reduced to 11 individuals, two of whom
were married." Actually, three of the defectors were married. These
three couples could logically have been eliminated from the study
because OSWALD was single when he defected.

THE THEORY

Anyone who defected to the Soviet Union at the height on the Cold War,
and wasn't a hard core Communist ideologue, had to be a little crazy.
Many of the defectors were just that.

THE BLOCKS

Morris Block (born March 30, 1920) attended the 1957 Sixth World Youth
Festival in the Soviet Union. After the conference, he traveled to
Communist China, prompting the State Department to impound his passport
for misuse. He tried to defect to the Soviet Union with a falsified
passport in 1958. In 1959 Morris Block, his wife Mollie, (born November
6, 1912) and his child defected to Poland. They were transferred to
Moscow, where they applied for visas to China. The Soviets suggested the
Blocks accept Soviet asylum in September 1959, and later issued them
Soviet internal passports for foreigners. They were sent to Leningrad.
There, Morris Block had an affair with his Russian-language teacher, and
his family left him and moved to Moscow where his daughter was
hospitalized for a nervous disorder. After the Blocks were reunited,
they decided to re-defect; however, their applications for Soviet exit
visas were refused. Morris Block disconnected a loudspeaker broadcasting
propaganda at his place of work. Molly Block granted an anti-Soviet
interview to The New York Times. Finally, the Blocks were expelled from
the USSR.

LIBERO RICCIARDELLI

Libero Ricciardelli decided that exposing his three children to a
Communist system of government could straighten out his domestic
problems. In February 1959 he defected, contracted influenza, and was
granted Soviet citizenship after he denounced the United States. By June
1963, the Ricciardelli family returned to the United States.

HAROLD CITRYNELL

Harold Citrynell (born March 10, 1923) entered the Soviet Union with his
wife and child on February 27, 1958. He was granted Soviet citizenship
and remained in the Soviet Union until June 29, 1959. The FBI: "Subject
was born in the U.S. in 1923 and served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to
1945. He graduated from the College of the City of New York with a
degree in mechanical engineering and held many jobs in that field
between 1950 and 1958. In February 1958 he took his wife and infant
daughter to Russia and attempted to obtain Soviet citizenship...he
returned to the U.S. in July 1959. His wife divorced him in 1962 and
after holding several jobs in the U.S. he traveled to England and then
to Bulgaria in 1964. After working for one month in Bulgaria he went on
strike and refused to work. He had numerous difficulties in that country
and eventually returned to the U.S. in 1965 and it appears that he is
emotionally disturbed and suffers from a persecution complex." [From
Legat London (163-2201) Director (165-70603) 8.12.67] That brought the
number of relevant defectors down to eight. Two of these should have
been excluded because they fit the not native-born American criterion,
although their names appeared on the State Department list.

VLADIMIR SLOBODA

Vladimir Sloboda, a native of the Ukraine, was sent to Germany as a
forced laborer during World War II. He enlisted in the United States
Army in Germany in 1953. He became a United States citizen in 1958.
After basic training in the United States, Sloboda was assigned in
August 1958 to an Army Intelligence Group in Europe. He defected to East
Germany in August 1960 requesting Soviet asylum. Vladimir Sloboda's CIA
201 file reflected that the "fact of Army countermeasures caused by the
arrest of 154 MID [East German Military Intelligence] agents recently"
was responsible for his defection. JAMES ANGLETON agreed: "The Sloboda
defection was participated by increased Army security measures,
according to (deleted) in January 1962. Our conclusion that Sloboda was
in prior connection with the KGB turned on the facts that:

(1) Sloboda's prior KGB involvement was confirmed by (deleted) in
January 1962. (It is our assumption that he made the same statements to
the Army debriefers who spoke with him in early 1962.

(2) He was a KGB resettlement case.

(3) he later told an American Embassy official in Moscow that he had
been blackmailed and framed in going to the USSR." Counter-Intelligence
Staff member Newton S. Miler (CI/OG/SOV) prepared a report on Vladimir
Sloboda on October 12, 1960.

SLOBODA'S ATTEMPT AT RECRUITMENT

On April 25, 1969, the CIA reported:

"The Office of Security file of (deleted) reflects that on November 20,
1960, (deleted), an employee of the Joint Overt Interrogation Center
Berlin received a telephone call from an English speaking male
identifying himself as 'your friend Vladimir.' The caller asked
(deleted) if he had been to his mailbox yet, and when (deleted) answered
in the negative, the caller said there was a letter in the box and he
suggested that (deleted) pick it up. The caller added that (deleted)
should not worry about the letter since it had been placed in the box by
a secure means. (Deleted) retrieved the letter, which was postmark
November 20, 1960, read it and immediately called his chief."

The text of the recruitment letter read:

"Dear Mr. Deleted. Don't be surprised at his way of contacting you and
don't take rash action before considering the contents. After watching
and studying your life and activities for some time in the United
States, Austria (Vienna), in Zone (Ulm) and here in West Berlin we have
concluded we might be of service to each other. From different sources
we have come to know many details of your official and private life and
we are aware that your present position gives you small chance for
promotion, and we are aware of the financial hardships you must face.
These difficulties could be much greater if we did not think of sending
you this letter. Being aware of your slips and blunders in work we have
not made any moves which could undermine your reputation with Col. Ross
(Berlin) and Major Huey (Oberusel). It is believed you could draw the
right conclusion from out attitude. It is enough to mention that we were
able to learn much from the documents in March 1959 in Frankfurt Am Main
when you were driving a hired car. Through your slips in handling your
sources Wolfgang and Dieter, in whose path we put no obstacles, many
things became known to us. The same is to be said about the sources you
ran in Vienna under the cover name Porter. By so doing, we hoped to come
to an agreement with you at a suitable time on mutually profitable
terms. We could continue to relate information regarding your activities
and work of your office known to us because of your mistakes, but this
would be pointless. We offer you a business-like cooperation on terms
profitable to both sides. There is no need to describe what we are. It
must be clear to you. Since you are a man of reason and sound logic you
must understand that cooperation will give you a chance to overcome
financial difficulties and make savings for the future. Also, we could
create conditions which would aid the growth of your prestige at your
office and in turn help you get a better job on your return to the
United States. If agreement is reached we will immediately provide you
with a substantial sum to settle your affairs and guarantee you monthly
pay in the future, higher than your salary, as long as you stay in
contact. If you agree to our proposal, come to the democratic sector of
Berlin for future talks. On November 20, 1960, from 1930 to 2000 hours
arrive at the U-Bahn Station in Warchauerbruecks. A representative of
our organization, Vladimir, will meet you at the flower shop at the
entrance to the station...It goes without saying that if during talks we
can't reach mutual agreement, that we will still guarantee you absolute
security and safety. You face no danger during the talks. If we do not
hear from you by December 1, 1960 we shall consider ourselves free to
act. To assure you this letter is not a trap laid by your security
service, we shall broadcast on Soviet Forces Volga Network an old waltz
tune on November 20, 1960, at 1310. If this is not convincing, write us
in advance what other piece of Russian music you would like to hear and
when you would like to hear it. Write to Herr Gruneat, Berlin,
Lichtenberg 1, Postschliessfach 34. When writing we recommend you do not
sign the letter, using any fictitious return address you like...We would
like to warn you that it would be a mistake on your part to show this
letter to your chiefs, because in the long run this will only harm you.
We know there is an instruction from Washington which deals with such
cases and that is kept at the Security Section of Lt. Col. McCord's
office. We do not like to resort to threats, and in principle blackmail
runs counter to our working methods, but you must realize we may be
forced to resort to certain measures, not to compromise you, but to stop
your activities against us. So you have ample chance to get everything
you are striving for. For this you must have courage and resourcefulness."

(Deleted) was of the opinion "that the Russian Intelligence Service was
attempting to suggest that Vladimir Sloboda (MIG defector in August
1960) was being used in this approach." [CIA AC/FIOB/SRS Jerry G. Brown
4.25.69] Vladimir Sloboda had engaged in discussion with (deleted)
regarding "Wolfgang and Dieter" who were assets. Vladimir Sloboda was
clearly a spy seeking asylum, not an American defecting. The Russians
quoted Vladimir Sloboda as saying that he defected because of his
revulsion to the U-2 flights. He never returned to the United States. On
March 23, 1962 ANGLETON'S Deputy, James Hunt, Deputy Chief,
Counter-Intelligence, was consulted about questioning Mrs. Lilian
Sloboda by (deleted) SR/CI/RED. [NARA 1993.06.18.17:30:46:900000 dated
3.28.62]

In 1965 the CIA prepared a report on Vladimir Sloboda, much of which was
withheld. This report dealt with Vladimir Sloboda's knowledge of CIA
personnel and a possible recruitment attempt by him. The document
concluded: "It is not known whether Sloboda is affiliated with the
Soviet Intelligence Services at this time. According to a December 19,
1962, Foreign Service Dispatch from the American Embassy, Moscow,
(deleted)." [CIA Memo J.F. Meredith to Chief/FIOB 9.30.65]

JOSEPH DUTKANICZ

Foreign-born Joseph Dutkanicz visited the Soviet Embassy, Washington, in
1952, made pro-Soviet statements, and listened to Radio Moscow. In 1954
the U.S. Army court-martialed Joseph Dutkanicz on charges of subversive
activity. He was acquitted and allowed to continue his normal U.S. Army
activities. In 1958, while he was stationed in Germany with the U.S.
Army, he was approached and recruited by the KGB. A Western-bloc
security investigation caused him to seek asylum in the USSR.

Joseph Dutkanicz defected to the Soviet Union in June 1960. JAMES
ANGLETON commented: "Security investigations was immediate cause of
defection. USAREUR Case Summary 2-62-2 indicated that DUTKANICZ told
American Embassy, Moscow, official that he was under investigation for
security reasons. He defected soon after, in accord with a KGB
suggestion that he do so...A more significant indication of his KGB
involvement before his defection is the fact that the special decree
granting him Soviet citizenship was enacted three months before his
arrival in the USSR." In 1962 Joseph Dutkanicz's wife, Lilian Dutkanicz
recounted that after their arrival, Russian agents contacted her husband
on a daily basis for a period of six months or more. After one year, her
husband told her he wished to return to the United States and that she
should tell the officials at the U.S. Embassy he had been blackmailed
into collaborating with the Soviets. Joseph Dutkanicz's wife was allowed
to leave the USSR. On November 15, 1963, Joseph Dutkanicz died in a
hospital in Lvov, USSR. [FBI LHM 5.20.65 highly deleted no serial
"Enclosure 105-189"]

Colonel Burke, an Army Counter-Intelligence officer informed Jane Roman
that he suspected Joseph Dutkanicz had KGB connections only after his
defection: "Dutkanicz had not been attached to the 513 MID but to a
signal outfit in which his job was climbing telephone poles. The
statement that both these men had prior KGB connections is not true.
Army just suspected this to be the case after their defection. The
statement that both men fled as the result of Army Security checks is
not true. Both men were not under security check although the Army was
taking an "informal look into" the activities of one of them." ANGLETON
prepared a report on Joseph Dutkanicz's pre-defection KGB connections
for the Department of the Army in connection with the Warren Commission
report: "USAREUR Case summary 2-62-2 indicated that Dutkanicz himself
told American Embassy officials in Moscow that he had been approached by
KGB representatives in a bar near Darmstadt in 1958 and accepted
recruitment as a result of their threats and inducements. He claimed to
have given them a minimum for cooperation from then until his defection,
although the Army considered it probable that the had done more than he
admitted." [CSCI-316/01779-64 dated 11.7.64 NARA 1993.06.18:56:10:93000]

Lee H. Wigren, Chief, Soviet Research, Counter-Intelligence Research,
noted Joseph Dutkanicz's wife indicated her husband had connections with
the Counter-Intelligence Corps: "She indicated that their trip behind
the Iron Curtain 'had been made possible because her husband worked for
the CIC and was allowed to do things the ordinary 'GI' could not do.
There are also penciled notations in the 201 file suggesting that his
Army assignment may have included intelligence functions of some kind."
[NARA 1993.06.18.17:18:53:500000 - CIA 893-910]

The file made a convincing argument for both defectors having prior
contact wit the KGB. This brought the number of relevant defectors down
to six.

SHIRLEY DUBINSKY

In October 1961 Shirley Dubinsky (born March 11, 1925) wrote several
letters to Premier Khrushchev asking for citizenship, then traveled to
the Soviet Union, where her bizarre behavior caused her to be placed in
a mental hospital. She returned to America in February 1963.

NICHOLAS PETRULLI

Nicholas Petrulli (born February 13, 1921; died in April 1982) was
another mentally ill defector. Nicholas Petrulli visited the Soviet
Union in August 1959 and believed he could land a high-paying job there.
He went to the U.S. Embassy, Moscow, and renounced his citizenship.
Richard Snyder administered the oath of renunciation. About two months
later, Nicholas Petrulli realized he had made a mistake. The State
Department declared him legally incompetent and he was allowed to return
to the United States. Nicholas Petrulli had received a medical discharge
during World War II based on a mental breakdown, and had received
disability payments as a schizophrenic. [FBI Los Angeles JFK case
#-11.24.63] Richard E. Snyder recalled, "The Soviets decided that they
didn't want him. They looked him over for quite a while, the same as
they did OSWALD. And they said, 'No, go home boy.' He was no longer an
American citizen, which made for a bureaucratic tangle. The out that
arose in his case was that he had been discharged from the Air Force on
a mental discharge." After Petrulli returned to the United States the
FBI interviewed his brother, Dominick Petrulli who said Nicholas
"returned from Russia about three or four years ago; shortly thereafter
the attempted to commit suicide, was committed to a mental hospital on
Long Island and later moved to California. Dominick described Nicholas
as being extremely nervous, highly sensitive and one who become
emotional after he realized the gravity of a situation." [FBI Los
Angeles 11.24.63]

On October 31, 1960, the Staff of the Office of Security of the CIA
drafted a memorandum which was sent to the Chief, Security Research
Staff, that listed defectors of interest to the CIA: "Robert Edward
Webster, and Nicholas Petrulli were subject of OO/C [Domestic Contacts
Division] requests on May 29, 1959, and June 15, 1959, respectively,
with a view to their being debriefed upon their return from visits to
Russia. Neither was interviewed by CIA, either before or after their
visits. With reference to Nicholas Petrulli it is noted that his cousin,
Michael Thomas Schiralli, [SSD 84, 253] is a former CIA covert employee
who was assigned to the Robalo site in Panama under Project FJ-HOPEFUL
and also took part in PB SUCCESS. [The overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz in
Guatemala in 1954]. As of 1954 he was to be debriefed as he chose to
return to private employment." [CIA Memo from M.D. Stevens 10.31.60
Subject: American Defectors]

MARTIN GREENLINGER

Martin Greenlinger, had fallen in love with a Russian woman while he was
attending the 1957 World Youth Festival in Moscow. In April 1958 he
returned to the Soviet Union and married her, then applied for an exit
visa for her and her child from a previous marriage. In July 1958 Martin
Greenlinger returned to the United States alone. One year later, the
Soviet authorities issued Mrs. Greenlinger the exit visa. The U.S.
Embassy, however, refused to issue an entrance visa due to her Communist
Party affiliation. The CIA file on Martin Greenlinger stated: "This
apparently involved Komsomol membership although the wives of Parker and
OSWALD - q.v. - had many more drawbacks and were let in." In September
1960 Martin Greenlinger was awarded a National Science Foundation
fellowship for one year. Still unable to obtain a U.S. entrance visa for
his wife, he applied for visas at the British Embassy, and was told his
wife would be issued a visa if he got a job in England. Eventually the
National Science Foundation approved his plans to study mathematics in
Manchester, England. The HSCA reported: "No further information is
known." If no further information was known, then this defector did not
fit the criterion of having re-defected before 1964.

BRUCE FREDERICK DAVIS/LEE HARVEY OSWALD

This left three defectors to correlate. One of them was Bruce Frederick
Davis (born Rome, N.Y. May 4, 1936).

1. Bruce Frederick Davis was born in Rome, New York in 1936. He was the
son of Dorothy Talbert of Scottsdale, Arizona. His father was killed in
the Second World War. His stepfather was an officer in the U.S. Army and
his family moved frequently around the U.S. His upbringing was very
strict. [CIA Memo 6.29.62] Bruce Frederick Davis had a difficult
childhood since he spent 12 years of schooling in ten different schools.
OSWALD'S mother moved frequently during his childhood and OSWALD
attended ten different public schools. [WR pp. 672-681]

2. In June 1954, following his high school graduation, Bruce Frederick
Davis enlisted in the Marines and served three years. Bruce Frederick
Davis attended the U.S. Marine Aviation Electronics School. OSWALD
enlisted in the Marines around this time, and attended a similar school.
After discharge from the Marines, Bruce Frederick Davis attended college
and supported himself through various part-time jobs. He enlisted in the
Army in November 1958, and was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, for
advanced training, and then to Germany, where he was given a Secret
clearance. While in Germany, Bruce Frederick Davis was involved in an
incident with "a Negro soldier, name unrecalled. During the fight half
of Bruce Frederick Davis' right ear was bitten off...Subject's injury
was called 'service connected.'" OSWALD was involved in an attack on a
Mexican-American soldier while he was in the Marines.

3. Bruce Frederick Davis defected to East Germany on August 19, 1960. He
raced his car past the U.S. military patrol near the border, then
abandoned it at the barricade of the border itself. "He walked past the
barricade and was apprehended about 300 yards inside the Soviet Zone of
Germany by two border policemen who searched for weapons and turned him
over to another two man police border patrol." Bruce Frederick Davis was
questioned by Soviet Zone authorities. He claimed he answered all their
questions innocuously, and did not reveal he had a Secret clearance
while assigned for a short period to Division Headquarters in Wuerzberg,
Germany. The Soviets were dissatisfied with the results of the
interview, and Bruce Frederick Davis was sent to East Germany, where he
was kept in a series of safehouses, then blindfolded and sent to a
barred building. Bruce Frederick Davis asked if he could attend
Friendship University in Moscow to complete his college education.
Instead, on October 3, 1960, he was sent to the University of Kiev.

In October 1960 two articles appeared in Izvestya and Pravda, with
statements by Bruce Frederick Davis attributing his defection to
disillusionment with U.S. foreign and military policy: "On the night of
August 19, 1960, I deserted the U.S. Army. I am 24 years old. I was born
and raised in the U.S.A. I am not married. I didn't belong to any
political party and didn't have any other reasons to be discontented
with my life in the West. All my hopes as a simple American who wants
peace were destroyed by the spy flights of the U-2 and RB-47 planes, and
the breakdown of the Paris conference for heads of states...I hope to
receive this political asylum in the USSR, to continue my education and
to live and work among the Soviet people." On July 1, 1960, the Soviets
had shot down an Air Force RB-47 reconnaissance plane which was on a
ferret flight along the Soviet border, a mission designed to activate
and pinpoint Soviet radar. [Ross & Wise The Espionage Establishment
p251] OSWALD denied that he was a communist prior to his defection,
which allegedly was based on similar objections to capitalism.

4. Although Bruce Frederick Davis physically defected, he did not
officially denounce his American citizenship, and the documents provided
to him by the Soviets categorized him as a stateless person. OSWALD was
issued a stateless-person passport. Bruce Frederick Davis settled in
Kiev as a student at the Kiev Institute of National Economy, where he
was provided a free dormitory room and a subsidy of 900 old rubles per
month. OSWALD received a government subsidy of 700 old rubles per month.

UNAUTHORIZED TRAVEL

Bruce Frederick Davis made many unauthorized trips while he was studying
in the Soviet Union. The CIA reported: "After his repatriation in 1963,
Davis told U.S. authorities that he made a total of seven unauthorized
trips from Kiev during the 1961 to 1963 period...Davis was apprehended
on two of his seven trips, and was returned to Kiev each time under
escort. On both occasions he was merely reprimanded by the Deputy Chief
of the Institute at which he was studying." On May 1, 1961, he flew to
Moscow and spent three days there, where "he met an American tourist, a
former salesman for an electronics firm in Los Angeles, approximately 27
years old, who stated that he had been in Rumania. He was separated from
his wife, by whom he had two children, because of a love affair with a
girl in Rumania. Bruce Frederick Davis later wrote a letter to him and
sent it off to Rumania. The unidentified tourist answered by stating
that correspondence between them might be dangerous to those in the
U.S.A., and therefore was not to be continued." The meaning of this was
unclear. In July 1961 Bruce Frederick Davis made an unauthorized trip to
Johnkoi, Crimea, where he had seen some Badger bombers arriving and
departing from an unseen military airfield. Bruce Frederick Davis was
apprehended for traveling without a permit, and sent back to Kiev. In
September 1962 he appeared at the American Embassy, Moscow, to request
an American passport. He was apprehended on the second day and sent back
to Kiev under guard. He phoned the Embassy and stated he would not be
completing the application, as he had been arrested for participation in
a brawl in Kiev. He returned to the Embassy in October 1962, and was
issued a passport and an entry visa into West Germany. Bruce Frederick
Davis allowed the passport and visa to expire, allegedly due to a new
Soviet girlfriend he met.

Bruce Frederick Davis visited the Embassy on another unauthorized trip
in January 1963. He delivered papers to the Embassy from another unhappy
defector and from Soviet citizen Vitalya Kalinochenko. These papers
contained Kalinochenko's autobiography, the reasons he was dissatisfied
with the Communists, and a request to be contacted regarding his
experiences with the Soviet Navy and the rockets used by the Soviet
Navy. On July 19, 1963, Bruce Frederick Davis went to the U.S. Embassy,
Moscow, and, "with the help of a Mr. Fain, U.S. Embassy official" his
re-defection plans were completed. Fain was listed in Who's Who in the
CIA: "Fain, Thomas Alexander. Born: March 22, 1922; Language: Russian.
1943 to 1945 First Lieutenant in G-2 of U.S. Army; from 1949 in
Department of State, work for CIA (Economic espionage); 1962
Intelligence School in Oberammergau; OpA: Belgrade, Oberammergau, Moscow
(2nd Secretary), Washington." The decision that Bruce Frederick Davis
had not expatriated himself was made by Counsel Samuel G. Wise: "Samuel
Wise may well be Samuel Griffin Wise Jr. #74574, SD & SSD, who
apparently was once (deleted). The State Department reviewed Wise's file
on June 2, 1954; and as of September 1962 a Samuel G. Wise was Second
Secretary of the American Embassy in Moscow. At that time Wise advised
in a cable to the State Department that it appeared that Bruce Fredrick
Davis, #352267 who defected from the United States Army in Germany on
August 18, 1960, had not expatriated himself. Davis' case is very
similar to that of OSWALD, and he, like OSWALD, lived in the Soviet
Union for two years after his defection and prior to making application
for return to the United States. Wise was an applicant for CIA
employment in early 1953 and was security approved Subject to polygraph
on August 11, 1953. He did not enter on duty and in September 1953 the
office which had been interested in him was 'no longer interested.' On
November 13, 1953, Wise was (deleted)." [CIA Office of Security
Marguerite D. Stevens 1.29.64]

BRUCE FREDRICK DAVIS' POLYGRAPH TEST

Bruce Frederick Davis was returned to military control in July 1963 and
was debriefed by Army Intelligence. He told Army Intelligence that he
believed in "the theory of Marxism and Leninism. He feels that the
system would work in a highly industrialized nation, such as the United
States, because in the USSR, which is a backward nation, the system does
not work properly. Bruce Frederick Davis does not believe in the present
method of application of the system in the USSR. Bruce Frederick Davis
refused to admit he was a communist, but he did admit that he was
sympathetic towards communism. During the interview, he, at every
opportunity, defended the Soviet way of life, praised their economic
struggle, and voiced admiration for the Soviet communist personality."

Bruce Frederick Davis was polygraphed by Army Intelligence with such
questions as, "Were you required to sign a statement of obligation to
work for Eastern intelligence upon your return to the U.S.?" Bruce
Frederick Davis answered, "No," and the polygraph showed no sign of
deception. Bruce Frederick Davis was then asked a similar question,
which was withheld by Army Intelligence. His answer to this question was
also withheld, but we are told he displayed reactions indicative of
deception. The debriefing report continued: "A reaction indicative of
deception was recorded in his answer to Question 2, Test III," which
was, "Isn't it true you were forced to leave Russia?" Bruce Frederick
Davis answered, "No." When confronted with his reaction, "He denied
being forced in any way to leave Russia, or that he was asked by anyone
to leave. He denied that he left for any reason except of his own desire
and he left by the method he had previously revealed, that of contacting
the U.S. Embassy, Moscow, and being given a visa." The report continued:
"Bruce Frederick Davis failed to answer Question 7, Test III." This
question was: "Do you believe in communist theory?" "No answer." He was
asked why he did not answer the question. "He replied that he refused to
answer under the provisions afforded him in Article 31, UCMJ, because
his answer might tend to incriminate him."

The FBI: "Following his return to United States control he was sentenced
on October 1, 1963 to a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay
and allowances, hard labor for one year, and reduced to the enlisted
grade of Private E-1. He is currently serving this sentence at the
Federal Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas." [highly deleted memo D.J.
Brennan to Sullivan 12.7.63] In the early 1960's, the CIA and the State
Department conducted an interagency exchange of information on
defectors. The CIA reported to the State Department that there were five
defectors who were ascertained KGB agents: Dutkanicz, Martin, Mitchell,
Sloboda and Bruce Frederick Davis. [CIA 1634-1088 p11] This researcher
has no further information on Bruce Frederick Davis other than a highly
deleted FBI report from Phoenix, Arizona, dated November 13, 1964. [FBI
105-92510-35 pgs. B, 1-4, 6-8; FBI 105-92510 NR Serial dated 7.28.69]

ANALYSIS

When Bruce Frederick Davis was not on the polygraph, he expressed his
belief in communist doctrine. When he was connected to the polygraph,
however, he refused to discuss his beliefs. Would the polygraph have
indicated deception? Bruce Frederick Davis fit OSWALD'S profile. He was
possibly an Army "dangle." A recently released CIA document described
him as "a source."

ROBERT EDWARD WEBSTER

Robert Edward Webster, (born October 23, 1928, Tiffin, Ohio), was a
plastics technician for the Rand Development Corporation who made
several trips to the Soviet Union to prepare for the 1959 U.S.
Exhibition in Moscow. He defected to the USSR in October 1959.

THE RAND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The Rand Development Corporation was a CIA proprietary. On October 9,
1959, the CIA surmised that "As was pointed out last June and earlier,
it might well have been of value to have obtained from ATIC, or the
coordinator for the fair, a list of persons who Rand was sending to the
USSR in order to avoid inadvertent contacts with such people as Robert
Edward Webster and Ted Korycki as Guide 223 or Lincoln Leads
respectively. This might be something to note for any future operation.
Of the others mentioned [in a newspaper article about Webster's
defection] H.J. Rand was (deleted)." In 1975 the CIA reported: "A check
of Agency records has not revealed that Webster has ever been used in
any capacity by this Agency or ever been given any type of clearance.
Consideration was being given in late May 1959 and early June 1959 for a
debriefing of Webster in regard to his proposed travel to the USSR.
However, Webster was not contacted prior to his departure for the USSR.
On his return to the United States in 1962 Subject was debriefed by
Agency Officers to obtain Soviet Realities data." [NARA
1993.08.14.09:37:45:870028]

DOCTOR H. J. RAND

The President of the Rand Development Corporation was Doctor H. J. Rand.
H.J. Rand's father was Vice-Chairman of Sperry-Rand. [63-Civ-2753-USDC
SDNY; Fortune 11.63 p135] The telephone number for the Rand Development
Corporation in New York City was answered at a division of
Martin-Marietta. Martin-Marietta was a major stockholder in Sperry-Rand.

H.J. Rand undertook private negotiations with the USSR for the purchase
of technical devices and information, on behalf of the CIA's Office of
Scientific Intelligence. During the late 1950's, CIA Agent Christopher
Bird was the representative of the Rand Development Corporation in
Washington, D.C. The Executive Vice President for Research and
Development of the Rand Development Corporation, George Bookbinder, was
a former OSS man who worked under Frank Wisner in Bucharest in 1944.
[NYT 6.15.59; Smith OSS Univ. of Calif. Press London 1977 p397;
Bookbinder DOB 7.7.14 died 11.79] In 1967 the Chairman of Rand
Development was J. Elroy McCaw. In 1990 Forbes Magazine named him one of
the richest 400 men in America. In 1970 Bookbinder and H.J. Rand had a
falling out. Bookbinder sued Rand Development. [USDC SDNY 71 Civil 5631]

On October 23, 1964, Birch O'Neal suggested that Yuri Nosenko (AEDONER,
"Sammy") be questioned about George Bookbinder, H.J. Rand and Brigadier
General W. Randolf Lovelace's connection to Galina Ivanovna Rednikina, a
Russian language secretary.

Sammy Misc Ex 355

October 23, 1964

MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, SR/CI/K (Deleted). Attention Miss (Deleted).

SUBJECT: Requirement for AEDONER

1. It is requested that AEDONER be shown the attached items which refer
to the following individuals and be requested to provide all information
he may have concerning the persons and events referred to in all the items:

Galina Ivanova Rednikina, an interpreter at the Sovietskaya Hotel in
Moscow who has acted as a Russian language secretary for,

George H. Bookbinder, an official of the Rand Development Corporation of
Cleveland, Ohio, and

Henry James Rand, head of the Rand Development Corporation, and

Brigadier General W. Randolph Lovelace, Flight Surgeon and head of
aero-space medical program of NASA, who visited the USSR in 1958 with
Bookbinder and Rand.

2. For your information, only Rand, Bookbinder and Lovelace have had
frequent contact with Soviet officials both in the United States and the
USSR, including Mikhail Ilich Bruk, formerly with the Soviet Ministry of
Health, who was identified by AEDONER as an agent of the KGB.

3. You will also note that Rand was the employer of Robert E. Webster,
who defected to the Soviet Union in 1959 and renounced his U.S. citizenship.

4. This matter will also be of interest to Mrs. (Deleted) of SR/CI.

Birch O'Neal Chief, CI/SIG

Attachments: Bio Sheet and Photo of Redivkina (Photo to be returned to
CI/SIG); Original clipping and copy from New York Times dated November
15, 1959, with photo of Bookbinder (Original photo of Bookbinder to be
returned to CI/SIG); Copies of clipping referring to Rand and Webster;
Copy of clipping referring to Lovelace.

Distribution: SR, OS/SRS, CI/SIG

THE RAND CORPORATION

The Rand Development Corporation was often confused with CIA-linked
think tank known as the Rand Corporation - the Rand Development
Corporation was called the Rand Corporation in at least one State
Department document. The Rand Corporation was organized in 1946 by
General Henry "Hap" Arnold to perpetuate the partnership of military men
and university scientists that had been established during the war. Rand
was initially administered by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation. The
Sperry-Rand Corporation provided part of the initial funding for the
Rand Corporation although Rand stands for research and development.

In 1968 the CIA ties of the Rand Development Corporation were exposed
because of an Department of Interior expense inquiry into an
antipollution contract between the Rand Development Corporation and that
Agency. Donald L. Hambric of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Administration mentioned the contract to Department of the Interior
officials. He wrote: "Rand also has a small classified contract with the
CIA and any auditor working at Rand should have at least a secret
clearance." [NYT 4.25.55, 4.16.67, 3.7.68, Sel. Repat. Cases Inv. U.S.
Def. to USSR c/c 11.6.64; 71-Civ-5631 USDC-SDNY p3; Balt. News. American
1.31.75; NYT 3.7.68]

TONY ULASEWICZ AND RAND DEVELOPMENT

Tony Ulasewicz, a member of NIXON's White House/Special Operations Group
wrote: "When I first met Chotiner, the first thing he did was to hand me
a file on the Rand Development Corporation and its officers...Chotiner's
file on the Rand Development Corporation disclosed that during the 1968
presidential campaign Rand was named as a defendant in a lawsuit started
by some angry Minnesota businessmen. The charge was that the Small
Business Administration and the Government Services Administration were
guilty of fraud and conspiracy in the way a government contract for some
postal vehicles was awarded to a wholly-owned the Rand Development
Corporation subsidiary, the Universal Fiberglass Corporation. The
Universal Fiberglass Corporation, the lawsuit charged, was born for the
sole purpose [of obtaining this contract]. "Despite apparent lack of
qualifications, a crony of Senator Hubert Humphrey awarded the contact
to the Universal Fiberglass Corporation. The Universal Fiberglass
Corporation defaulted and disappeared under Rand Development's
umbrella." Murray Chotiner was trying to bring this situation to the
attention of the media. [Ulasewicz, Pres. Priv. Eye, 1990]

ROBERT EDWARD WEBSTER'S DEFECTION

While in Moscow for seven weeks, beginning May 1959, Robert Edward
Webster dated Vera Ivchenko, the hostess employed at the tourist
restaurant of the Hotel Ukraine. In this capacity, Vera Ivchenko
contacted many foreign correspondents, including those who accompanied
Vice President NIXON to the USSR. According to the information given to
the HSCA by the CIA, Vera Ivchenko was suspected of being a KGB agent.
When the HSCA wrote about Robert Edward Webster, it never mentioned Vera
Ivchenko's name: it referred to her as Robert Edward Webster's
girlfriend. Robert Edward Webster conveyed to Ivchenko that he wished to
divorce his wife in the United States and return to the Soviet Union to
marry her. Robert Edward Webster first revealed his desire to defect on
July 11, 1959. He approached two Soviet officials in charge of
arrangements for the U.S. Exhibition, and requested information
concerning the procedures for a U.S. citizen to remain in the USSR.
Robert Edward Webster was given a telephone number to call, and a
meeting was set up in the private room of a restaurant. Robert Edward
Webster was instructed to write a letter to the Supreme Soviet
requesting to remain as a citizen. He was given a form to fill out which
he would submit to Mr. Popof. With Popof, Robert Edward Webster filled
out a questionnaire furnishing his background and expressing his wish to
remain in Russia to "better himself in the plastics industry." When
Popof would not accept this, Robert Edward Webster said: "I want to stay
in the Soviet Union because all the businesses in America are
government-controlled." He refused to publicly denounce the United
States, but stated that he "wished to cooperate in every way with the
Soviet Union." In late July or early August, he attended a meeting in a
private restaurant room at the Metropole Hotel. Robert Edward Webster
told two Soviet chemists he could help them make the Rand spray gun
which he demonstrated at the U.S. Exhibition. Robert Edward Webster also
attempted to design a fiberglass resin depositor, but due to the lack of
parts and equipment, the machine did not work.

Robert Edward Webster told the FBI that he was never questioned by the
KGB: "The only time I was questioned concerning American defense matters
occurred when some Moscow engineers asked me what government work was
handled in the Rand Development Corporation. I denied any knowledge of
this, because I had none." Robert Edward Webster informed the HSCA that
the KGB never contacted him, that there was no reason for them to do so
as the government officials who aided him in his defection had his
entire story. He said he had never been questioned relative to
intelligence matters. On September 9, 1959, he was told that he had been
accepted as a Soviet citizen. He disappeared the next day. Although he
asked to work in Moscow, the Soviets informed him he would be sent to
Leningrad. The following day, the Soviet officials registered Robert
Edward Webster at the Bucharest Hotel, and instructed him not to leave.
He was given 1000 old rubles, and asked to write a note to a Rand
Development employee requesting that money be left for him at the hotel,
since he was going on a tour of Russia. The KGB threw a short party for
Robert Edward Webster on September 11, 1959. He was then flown to
Leningrad with an interpreter, where an Intourist representative met
him. He applied for work at the Leningrad Scientific Institute of
Polymerized Plastics, and lived in a hotel with Ivchenko. On October 17,
1959, Robert Edward Webster was in Moscow. He attended a meeting at the
OVIR Central Office with the original Soviet representative with whom he
had contact; an unknown Soviet; Doctor H.J. Rand; George H. Bookbinder;
and Richard E. Snyder. At this meeting, Robert Edward Webster said he
was free to speak; he told Richard E. Snyder that when he applied for
Soviet citizenship, he was granted a Soviet passport on September 21,
1959. He never exhibited the passport to Richard E. Snyder, because it
had not yet been issued to him. When Robert Edward Webster later decided
to re-defect, he told Richard E. Snyder he had no Soviet documentation
at the OVIR meeting but was still in possession of the American passport
which he never sent to Richard E. Snyder as requested. He did, however,
fill out a State Department form, "Affidavit for Expatriated Person," in
which he renounced his American citizenship. Vera Ivchenko joined him
the following day for a month-long vacation. [also see DOS ltr. Snyder
to Boster 10.28.59; Davis to Snyder 12.10.59] On return to Leningrad,
the couple began work at the plastics institute, where Vera Ivchenko was
employed as an assistant and translator. They resided in a new apartment
building.

On October 8, 1959, an Memorandum for the Record was generated by
(deleted) "Regarding: Attempts to Locate Webster; receipt of (above)
Emb. Cable. - AIIC Cleveland asked whether Webster was carrying out
clandestine task for CIA which hadn't been coordinated with them. Was
assured that this was not case & to best of our knowledge Webster had
not been briefed by & was unknown to either DDP or OO Offices. Check
made with (deleted); had encountered Webster on a few social occasions;
he will consult with Messrs. (deleted) to produce a more complete
picture of Webster."

On October 20, 1959, this Memorandum for the Record was generated by
Bruce L. Solie, Office of Security / Security Research Staff regarding
Robert Edward Webster: "(Deleted) advised (deleted) called Roman
regarding Agency interest in Webster. - Office of Security files - no
clearance; was an OO/C interest in Webster in late May 1959, but Webster
wasn't contacted by OO/C prior to trips to USSR. CI/OA files - no record."

On October 21, 1959, this document was sent by (deleted) to Chief,
Domestic Contacts Division, attention Support Branch "Regarding: Webster
case at recent Machine Searching Conference on October 20, 1959. Our
organization has no interest in matter."

On October 22, 1959, an Office Memo (Deleted) to Chief, Contact
Division, Attention Support (Deleted) re: Webster was generated
"Questions asked by Major Robert Lochera (?) of OSI: a) Is this office
doing anything re: Webster's defection? b) If not, do they contemplate
doing anything? c) What would this office have done if Webster left
normally? (Deleted) called next day w/response they knew only what was
in newspapers regarding Webster; (not very cooperative)."

"A CIA Office Memorandum dated October 23, 1959, was sent to Chief
Contact Bureau (Deleted)concerned: "information on Vera Ivchenko,
Webster's girlfriend."

"October 26, 1959. Memo (Deleted) to Director, FBI, regarding Agency
interest in Webster. Webster never used by Agency; was considered for
debriefing May 1959 to June 1959, however, he wasn't contacted prior to
departure for USSR. Agency does have (deleted) [interest in Rand
Development]. In view of Webster's employment with Rand Development
Corporation, please forward any information obtained in the
investigation of Webster."

On October 28, 1959 a report on Robert Edward Webster stated: "Webster
was given security clearance on June 5, 1959, but never had access to
military information."

"October 30, 1959. Office Memo (Deleted) regarding Kent (of WRU)
conversation with H.J. Rand regarding Webster."

These document came from a handwritten summary of all the CIA documents
in Webster's file prepared by the HSCA on March 15, 1978. Several pages
of entries marked Volume III (Cont.) & Vol. IV have been deleted.

ANALYSIS

Some people in the CIA thought Robert Edward Webster was an operation
due to his connection with the Rand Development Company. This researcher
thought Robert Edward Webster was an operation until documents
declassified in 1995 revealed that before coming to Rand Development,
Robert Edward Webster had worked for six corporations that had nothing
to do with the intelligence community. Just before Robert Edward Webster
left for the Soviet Union The New York Times took a family photograph.
It on October 20, 1959, and showed Robert Edward Webster, a Quaker, with
wife Martha, his seven-year-old son Michael, and daughter six-year-old
Anne reading a magazine entitled USSR. Robert Edward Webster deserted
his wife of eight years and his two children in Ohio with no apparent
warning except for a call to the Russian secretary in the Rand
Development Company's Moscow office; he requested the secretary notify
his family he was not returning. If Robert Edward Webster was an agent,
his method of establishing a cover was extraordinary. The KGB would have
found it difficult to believe that a CIA spy would leave his wife and
children in the United States, then have a child with a Russian woman.
Robert Edward Webster was destroying his family. Was someone carrying
out the dictates of the Doolittle Report and "hitherto acceptable norms
of human conduct no longer applied" or was Robert Edward Webster crazy?
Logic dictated that the KGB would have been interested in the Rand
Development Corporation, simply because its name evoked the Rand
Corporation. Webster was probably questioned by the KGB.

WEBSTER LOOSES HIS CITIZENSHIP

Robert Edward Webster was granted a Soviet internal passport after
writing a summary of his life, listing his relatives and where they
worked, submitting photographs of himself, and undergoing a medical
examination. In December or January 1960, he turned over his American
passport and obtained a Soviet passport at the OVIR office in Leningrad.
Robert Edward Webster had lawfully renounced his citizenship; the State
Department issued a Certificate of Loss of Citizenship.

MARINA OSWALD AND ROBERT WEBSTER?

This entry was found in a CIA Name List With Traces on Marina Oswald's
address book: "Prizentsev, Lev Kondrat'yevskiy Prosepepekt 7, Apt. 63 or
Kondrat'yevskiy Prosepepekt 63 Apt 7, Leningrad." In a December 17, 1963
FBI interview, Marina Oswald said she met Lev Prizentsev at a rest home
near Leningrad [October 1960?] and that 'he had an amorous interest in
Irina Volkova [q.v.] who, unfortunately was already married.' Traces: 1.
No traces on Prizentsev. 2. Robert E. Webster claimed to have resided in
a three-room apartment at Kondrat'yevskiy Prosepepekt 63 Apt. 18,
Leningrad." Did Robert Edward Webster know Marina Oswald? Robert Edward
Webster told the FBI he had no contact with LEE OSWALD, although he had
heard of him. [David Slawson WC Notes #340] In 1993 Lev Prizentsev said
he did not know that Robert Edward Webster lived in his building.
[Interview with W.S. Malone 5.12.93] ANGLETON sent a memorandum to J.
Edgar Hoover about this on May 11, 1964. Marina Oswald told this
researcher in 1994: "There may have been a connection or there was none
at all. I tell you what it is. When I was going to pharmacy school I was
there with Ellie Sobreta whose address is in my book. It just happened
to be in a good neighborhood, and if Robert Edward Webster was living
there, neither of us knew. She doesn't know it up to this day. So people
started making connections where is none. I did not know Webster. She
simply was my friend and I visit her and he lived in her building."

WEBSTER REDEFECTS

After six months had passed, Robert Edward Webster began to take the
steps necessary to re-defect. In early December 1959 he wrote to the
U.S. Embassy; he claimed he had received no reply to this letter. In
January 1960 he received a letter from his father informing him that his
mother had a nervous breakdown and he was needed in the United States. A
daughter, Svetlana Robertovna Webster, was born to the couple in August
1960. In late April 1961 Popof arranged for him and Ivchenko to visit
Moscow on Mayday. In Moscow, due to his American clothing, he entered
the American Embassy unchallenged. He informed Consul John McVickar that
he wished to return to the United States. John McVickar requested two
notarized statements from Robert Edward Webster's father saying he would
be responsible for his son after Robert Edward Webster's return, and
told him to apply for a Soviet exit visa. When he returned to Leningrad,
Ivchenko helped him prepare the application for the exit visa. She gave
her consent, which was required.

Still, high government officials, suspected Robert Edward Webster was on
a CIA mission. On April 15, 1961, the Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, Allen Dulles, sent a letter to McGeorge Bundy, the
National Security advisor to President John F. Kennedy's, which stated
the CIA had no operational relationship with Robert Edward Webster.
{Rockefeller Commission handwritten notes.] In June 1961, Robert Edward
Webster was apprised that his request for an exit visa had been denied;
he would have to wait one year before he could reapply.

On November 8, 1961, a CIA Official Routing Slip indicated that
documents on Webster had been sent to CI/SIG Mr. O'Neal, Mrs. Egerter,
Evans, Grady, RID Files. Remarks: CD/OO Case 29.267 From S. Stetson
CD/OO Support Branch.

Soviet officials from Moscow visited Robert Edward Webster, inquired why
he was unhappy, and suggested he send for his American family. In
February 1962 he was granted an exit visa. In March 1962 the American
Embassy gave him instructions on obtaining an American entrance visa.
Robert Edward Webster quit his job, and his father sent him a plane
ticket for his passage home. He surrendered his internal Soviet passport
for his exit visa in May. Robert Edward Webster arrived in the United
States as an alien under the Russian quota, on May 20, 1962. He did not
attempt to get Ivchenko or his daughter out of the Soviet Union. [DOS
For. Ser. Disp. 10.25.59 - Edward Freers; WCE960 p3; FBI 105-82555-NR
2.7.64; HSCA V12 p448-450]

WEBSTER'S DEBRIEFING

Shortly after his return to the United States, Robert Edward Webster's
wife divorced him. She married W.G. Belding of Zelienople, Pennsylvania.
Eugene S. Rittenburg, Cleveland Resident Agent, reported this to
Headquarters. Robert Edward Webster was debriefed in Ohio by CIA and Air
Force representatives. The CIA reported: "(Deleted) and (Deleted) talked
alone with Webster in the INS offices for about one hour. During this
time, no attempt was made to secure any FPI, rather it was a general
'get acquainted' type session. Webster was very well-dressed, but
extremely nervous. His nervousness was not caused by our presence, as
Mr. O'Brian had previously told us that he was having difficultly
getting Webster's fingerprints as he was perspiring so profusely - even
through his fingertips." [CIA Pitts F.O. 6.28.62] Robert Edward Webster
was brought to CIA Headquarters where he was debriefed for two weeks.
The debriefing reports included a chronology of his life, the CIA's
assessment of him, information regarding life in the Soviet Union,
Robert Edward Webster's work there, biographical data on persons he met
there, and other information which was classified. [CIA SR/6-62-274,
11.1.62, Kay Grady] Ann Egerter, Birch O'Neal, (FNU) Grady and (FNU)
Evans received copies of the debriefing.

Robert Edward Webster told the CIA that his father was a ceramics
engineer who was still in college when he was born. "The family lived in
Columbus until the father graduated from college and then moved to South
Milwaukee...Subject describes these years as being lean and describes
the family as being 'poor.'He recalls that in Milwaukee he developed a
fear of being in water. In Louisville he was caught trying to steal
apples from a neighborhood store. He states he was sent home by the
store owner but not punished. In Louisville, when the Subject was six or
seven years old his mother reportedly suffered a nervous breakdown. It
was described to him that his mother passed out and was hospitalized in
a Louisville City Hospital. He states that his father indicated that he
never knew the reason why his mother became ill. He recalls visiting his
mother in the hospital and viewing her through a screen wire door. This
scene became quite vivid for him again in January 1960 in Moscow when he
received a letter from his father in which the father stated that his
mother had suffered a complete mental breakdown and was in the hospital
again...He isn't sure how long his mother was in the hospital...At the
same time while studying at night he took a day job in a manufacturing
plant. On weekends he went home to his parents by bus and during one
such trip he met his future wife. She was also studying away from home
in a beauticians school and going home on weekends. After a short
courtship he proposed, she accepted and they eloped. His wife was under
age and kept her true age from the authorities when applying for a
marriage license. Their plan was to keep their marriage secret until
after his wife had finished beauticians school. However, the news
somehow got back to his wife's parents and the secret was out. His
mother-in-law was quite upset over the marriage. His parents, however,
accepted in calmly and without fanfare and the subject notes that they
could do little else since they also eloped when they were married. His
wife finished beauticians school and he dropped out of Carnegie Tech and
began the job of supporting them. He changed jobs and his wife began
part-time work as a beautician. But they found the going difficult and
after a few months he found a job in a plastics factory in his home
town. His wife, who is a diabetic and has been since childhood, became
pregnant. Because of her diabetes she required special medical care
during her pregnancy. One year and one month after their marriage their
first child, a son, was delivered by cesarean section. Subject became
active in civic and church affairs, was promoted to foreman capacity in
the plastics plant and he began attending a local small college in the
evening studying chemistry. (Paragraph Deleted) His wife required
constant medical attention as well as insulin and special diet. On two
occasions early in their marriage she went into insulin coma and was
seriously ill. Their expenses were greater than his income and he found
himself getting deeper in debt. Feeling he could better himself he began
looking for a new job and found a better paying one in a nearby town. He
again was given a supervisory position in this plastics plant but this
time he was supervising all female workers. (Paragraph Deleted). The
plastics plant where he was working was purchased by another firm and
though he was advised that he would not loose his job, in anticipation
of being fired he quite his job...he continued to look for other work
and through business contacts was approached by the Rand Development
Company of Cleveland and was offered a better paying job with them. He
accepted an moved to Cleveland. Soon he was assigned to a traveling job
in which he was to demonstrate a new piece of plastics manufacturing
equipment. He began to travel frequently and each trip began to keep him
away from home for longer periods of time. His wife became increasingly
upset because of his prolonged absences...On one trip in 1958 in Chicago
after getting an exhibit set up and eating and drinking in excess he had
his first episode of passing out. He describes being under a great deal
of tension he knew he was going into shock. Realizing what was going on
he told people what to do for him and after lying down for a while, he
soon recovered. A similar episode occurred in Moscow in May 1959 where
he was preparing the plastics equipment for the exhibition. In 1959 his
company asked him to go to Moscow to set up an exhibit...On the second
trip he was gone much longer than originally planned for and he soon
began receiving letters from his wife in which she gave him a 'fit about
his long absences. He notes that once in the States he was away for some
time and on returning home he found that his wife had taken the children
and had left town. He located them at his in-laws and when he asked his
wife to return she questioned whether he really wanted his family or
not. He convinced her that he did and she returned.

"During his second stay in Moscow he met a Russian girl, Vera. He first
met her in restaurant where she worked as a translator and soon
thereafter began dating her. He found himself comparing her with his
wife and soon began telling Vera all his family troubles. He describes
Vera as married but separated from her husband. She was pictured as
petite, womanly and passionate. In the next breath he spontaneously
denied intimate relationships with her until after the Soviets had
officially informed him he could stay in the Soviet Union (Deleted). The
Subject feels that somehow, somewhere during his second prolonged seven
to eight week visit in Moscow, Vera subtly suggested that he stay in
Russia. But at the same time she 'pooh-poohed the idea that he could or
would stay.' During this visit he made up his mind to attempt to stay in
Russia and so informed Vera. 'I must have been way off base and I wonder
if I had a nervous breakdown.' But staying in Russia offered him a
chance to get as far away as possible from his troubles at home and the
plastics industry in Russia was in its infancy and he felt he could make
his mark there.

"Sometime in mid-summer 1959 he returned to the U.S. and was home for
ten days. This period with his wife is described as being a honeymoon
but in spite of this he continued with his plan to return to the Soviet
Union and request permission to remain there. He packed some winter
clothes, books and jazz records to take with him.

"On returning to the USSR sometime in July 1959 he approached a male
translator at the exhibit and inquired as to necessary procedure to
obtain permission to become a permanent resident of the USSR. He
received some vague answers and then was asked to identify the person
who was interested in such a step. He then indicated he was the
interested party and there began shortly thereafter a series of
clandestine meetings with various Soviet officials. At each meeting he
states he drank heavily and was generally 'loaded' by the time the
meeting was over."

Technical information supplied by Robert Edward Webster was included in
a Joint Report of the Foreign Technical Division, Air Force Systems
Command, and the CIA. On February 20, 1970, the Domestic Contacts
Division/Operational Support Staff contacted CI/Liaison Jane Roman
regarding Robert Edward Webster. [NARA 1993.08.02.20:01:25: 870033]

Robert Edward Webster

Sstetson/ bm HH-20822

DCS/Operational Support Staff 2268

900 Key Building February 20, 1970

DO/DCSL

CI Liaison (Illegible)

Mrs. Roman For your information

2 C 42 Hq. (Illegible)

ROBERT EDWARD WEBSTER: A VEGETABLE

Frontline located Robert Edward Webster in 1993. He was in Oaks Nursing
Home, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and was allegedly unable to converse.
[CIA 535-227A, 522-228; CIA Name List with Traces Vladimir Makarov,
Robert Aleksanddrovich Ivanov also Vanda Kuznetsova] Robert Edward
Webster's nurse, Susan Gilbert, told me: "He suffers from no mental
illness. His family doesn't want him to talk and his legal guardian
doesn't want him to talk. He's a shell of the man he once was. Medical
ethics prevent me from telling you more. He doesn't want to talk to you
or see you."

OSWALD'S DOMESTIC CONTACTS DIVISION DEBRIEFING

The HSCA conducted a review of defector files to determine whether
defectors were routinely debriefed upon their return to the United
States. The HSCA began with the CIA's full list of 380 defectors. From
this list, the HSCA compiled a list of persons who were U.S. born
citizens who defected, or attempted to defect, to the Soviet Union
between 1958 and 1963, and who returned to the U.S. within the same
period. In addition, the Committee included individuals from the October
25, 1960, State Department letter regarding defectors sent to the CIA.
The Committee requested files on 29 individuals and the CIA provided
files on 28 individuals on whom it maintained records. These 201 files
were reviewed as well as any existing Domestic Contacts Division files.
The review revealed that, in the cases of six of the individuals, there
was no indication they had ever returned to the United States. As for
the other 22 defectors, the file review showed there was no record of
CIA contact with 17, although 4 of these files contained reports by
sources who had advised the Agency of their contact with the
re-defectors, so they had been indirectly contacted. The circumstances
of the CIA's contact with the other five defectors differed:

Irving Amron (born December 4, 1917) - His file reflected that he had
been living in the USSR since 1933 and returned to the United States in
1962. He was debriefed by a CIA officer after applying for employment in
response to a newspaper advertisement. Amron had been in the Soviet
Union too long to have been included in the study.

Bruce F. Davis - His file contained a CIA debriefing report.

Harold Citrynell - His file reflected he was unwittingly debriefed by a
CIA officer, upon the departure of the official from the Soviet Union,
in the American Embassy, Copenhagen. Also interviewed by Domestic
Contacts Division.

Robert Edward Webster - Extensive debriefing at CIA Headquarters.

Libero Ricciardelli - CIA debriefing by Boston Domestic Contacts Division.

Out of 22 defectors, nine had been debriefed by the CIA either directly
or indirectly, almost half. The HSCA: "Based on this file review, it
appeared to the committee that the CIA did not contact returning
defectors in 1962 as a matter of standard operating procedure. It
becomes clear from the review of these defector files that CIA
debriefing of defectors was a random occurrence. Nonetheless, in the
instances when the Agency did choose to debrief returning American
defectors...the persons who were debriefed were similar to OSWALD in
that they defected and returned within the same general time period and
each spent his time in the Soviet Union in areas of interest to the CIA."

If the CIA had debriefed Robert Edward Webster and Bruce Frederick
Davis, the defectors whose circumstances most closely resembled
OSWALD'S, why not OSWALD? Was he debriefed by a component other than
Domestic Contacts Division? The Committee: "The CIA has denied ever
having any contact with OSWALD and its records are consistent with this
position. Because the Agency has a Domestic Contacts Division that
routinely attempts to solicit information on a non-clandestine basis
from Americans traveling abroad, the absence of any record indicating
that OSWALD, a returning defector who had worked in a Minsk radio
factory, had been debriefed has been considered...not to be indicative
that OSWALD had been contacted through other than routine Domestic
Contacts Division channels."

REDWOOD

The Committee discovered conflicting information when it "interviewed
the former chief of an Agency component responsible for research related
to clandestine operations within the Soviet Union," who, on November 25,
1963, wrote the following memo:

Chief, (Deleted)

Chief, (Deleted)

Chief of Station, (Deleted).

(Deleted) OSWALD

For Information

For the record we forward herewith a memorandum by (Deleted) Staff
Employee in which he gives his recollections of (Deleted) interest in
Subject following Subject's return to the United States from the USSR.
(Deleted).

SUBJECT: OSWALD

TO: Deleted.

(1) It makes very little difference now but REDWOOD [the CARS - another
version] had at one time an OI (Overseas Intelligence) interest in
OSWALD. As soon as I heard OSWALD'S name, I recalled that as Chief of
the 6 Branch I had discussed, sometime in the summer of 1962, with the
then Chief and Deputy Chief of the 6 Research Section the laying on of
interviews through the Domestic Contacts Division or other suitable
channels. At the moment I don't recall if this was discussed while
OSWALD and his family were on route to this country or if it was after
their arrival. (2) I remember that OSWALD'S unusual behavior in the USSR
had struck me from the moment I had read the first (deleted), and I told
my subordinates something amounting to 'Don't push to hard to get the
information we need, because this individual looks odd.' We were
particularly interested in the information that OSWALD might provide on
the Minsk Radio factory in which he was employed, and of course we
sought the usual biographic information that might help develop foreign
personality dossiers.

(3) I was phasing into my (deleted) cover assignment, and out of
(deleted) at the time. Thus, I would have left the country shortly after
OSWALD'S arrival. I do not know what action developed thereafter. Addendum

(4) As an afterthought, I recall also at the time I was becoming
increasingly interested in watching a pattern we had discovered in the
course of our biographical and research work in 6: the number of Soviet
women marrying foreigners, being permitted to leave the USSR, then
eventually divorcing their spouses and settling down abroad without
returning 'home.' The (deleted) case was among the first of these, and
we eventually turned up something like two dozen similar cases. We
established links between some of these women and the KGB. (Deleted)
became interested in the developing trend we had come across. It was
partly to learn if OSWALD'S wife would actually accompany him to our
country, partly out of interest in OSWALD'S own experiences in the USSR,
that we showed operational intelligence interest in the HARVEY story.
(Deleted.)" [CIA 435-173A; CIA DO-02647-p3 of 3]

Edward Petty: "REDWOOD was not an operation, it was a type of activity.
It was the examination for exploitation of people who had come out of
the Soviet Union. REDSKIN was more a penetration type activity. Looking
for operational opportunities with people who were going in."

The author of this document told the HSCA that, to his knowledge,
contact was never made with OSWALD. Moreover, if a debriefing had
occurred, the officer stated he would have been informed. This officer
was wrong. OSWALD photographed the plant and procured a floor plan; this
was corroborated by a CIA employee, who, in 1962, had worked in the
Soviet Branch, Foreign Documents Division, Directorate of Intelligence.
He "Advised the HSCA he specifically recalled collecting intelligence
regarding the Minsk radio plant. This individual claimed, that during
the summer of 1962, he reviewed a contact report from CIA Field Office
representatives who had interviewed a former Marine who had worked at
the Minsk radio plant following his defection to the USSR. This
defector, whom the employee believed may have been OSWALD, had been
living with his family in Minsk. The employee advised the HSCA that the
contact report had been filed in a volume on the Minsk radio plant that
should be retrievable from the Industrial Registry Branch, then a
component of the Central Reference Office. Accordingly, the committee
requested that the CIA provide both the contact report and the volume of
materials concerning the Minsk radio plant. A review by the committee of
the documents in the volumes of the Minsk radio plant, however, failed
to locate any such contact report." Frontline researcher John Newman
reported: "A memo from CI/SIG has surfaced in these files with
handwriting on it which gives the name of a Domestic Contacts Division
employee - a name which appears to be one 'Andy' Anderson - as a CIA
contact for OSWALD. This document confirms the recollections of other CS
employees that Andy Anderson did in fact debrief OSWALD. Don Deneselya,
who worked in the Russian Branch, Foreign Documents Division, Office of
Contacts read Anderson's debrief in 1962." [Testimony to Rep. Conyers
11.17.93] John Newman stated that the former deputy chief of the
Domestic Contacts Division Division said that the CIA did debrief Oswald.

OSWALD'S ADDRESS BOOK

Scott Malone reported that when OSWALD was questioned about his address
book he pointed to a number and said it belonged to a CIA agent who
debriefed him. OSWALD had the telephone number of McGehee Investments
(RI 8 7604) in the Texas Bank Building in his address book. The words
"Rand 4 U at Jobco" appeared before this number. This firm was not
listed by Dunn and Bradstreet. There was no indication it existed other
than a listing in the 1963 Dallas Criss-Cross Directory. Earl Goltz
reported that President John F. Kennedy's Under Secretary Of State,
Dallas resident George McGhee (born March 10, 1912), was mentioned in a
letter written by OSWALD associate George DeMohrenschildt in 1961, in
which he suggested the Soviets might be interested in the film of his
Central American walking trip. George McGehee had an office in the
Republic National Bank Building. McGehee was in Washington and Germany
during the period OSWALD was in Dallas.

HELMS

Scott Malone also reported that in September 1993 Richard Helms admitted
that OSWALD "might have been" debriefed. In 1964 the Warren Commission
questioned then-CIA Director John McCone about CIA contact with OSWALD.
John McCone's testimony was based on a search supervised by Richard
Helms. John McCone submitted an affidavit and testified: "I have gone
into the matter in considerable detail personally, in my inquiry with
the appropriate people within the Agency, examined all records in our
files relating to OSWALD...OSWALD was not a CIA agent, employee or
informant. The Agency never contacted him, interviewed him, talked with
him...The Agency never furnished him with any funds or money...in the
Soviet Union or anyplace." John McCone was then asked whether he was
made aware of every CIA agent and informer. He answered, "Mr. Helms, who
is directly responsible for that Agency division's activities as a
Deputy Director, might explain. Would that be permissible?"

Richard Helms stated: "On Mr. McCone's behalf, I had all of our records
searched to see if there had been any contacts at any time prior to
President Kennedy's assassination by anyone in the CIA with OSWALD. We
checked our card files and our personnel files and all our records. Now,
this check turned out to be negative." Richard Helms said "no contact
had even been contemplated with OSWALD." [Wash. Star 10.1.76] The Warren
Commission never questioned ANGLETON.

ANGLETON

When questioned in the late 1970's ANGLETON denied that the CIA ever
contemplated contacting OSWALD. Attorney Marvin Miller asked:

Q. Could it have happened without your knowledge?

A. No.

Q. Then your testimony would be that every single activity undertaken by
your section with any individual was cleared with you first or given to
you afterwards?

A. Well, I think I would have learned from my Deputy if there had been
any, any attempt or any desire to contact OSWALD because of the FBI
jurisdiction of the case.

Q. What about the time he was in the Soviet Union?

A. I don't think I was aware at the time.

END OF NODULE.
CLICK HERE TO GO ON TO THE NEXT NODULE.
>
>>>>> influx. LHO was the 3rd one. Most didn't go to Russia, just eastern
>>>>> bloc
>>>>> countries. They didn't go there on their own whim.
>>>> Most? OK. How does that translate to 40?
>>> Seen lists, and people in the know who leaked. Oswald was at the top
>>> of the list.
>> Nonsense.
>>
>>
>
> Otto Otepka.
>
>>>>>>> one was so secretive because they were using two. The evidence is
>>>>>>> overwhelming that they lived very parallel lives and worked through
>>>>>>> CIA
>>>>>>> folk. It was too bad one portion of the CIA hated JFK so bad a
>>>>>>> vendetta
>>>>>>> formed, and finding away for one to be their scapegoat in the end.
>>>>>>> It
>>>>>>> ended with both Oswalds in the Texas Theater, and the subsequent
>>>>>>> cover-up,
>>>>>> You saw two Oswalds in the Texas Theater? Show us.
>>>>> Unfortunately they weren't able to get any photo shots of either one.
>>>> They? Who? Pictures were taken of Oswald. Who is this other guy?
>>> You just asked to show the photos of Oswald in the Texas Theater. And
>>> how
>>> would I see them? What is so hard to understand that there were none?
>>> I
>> Show me evidence of another Oswald in the theater.
>>
>>
>
> I did in past threads within the year, as well as this one. One does have
> to watch where one casts their pearls...
>

Evidence, not speculation.

> CJ

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