[104-10194-10026.pdf — page 328]
CONTINUATION OF.DISPATCHSECRETHBRT-7797that a discussion might be held with James G. COLLETT, who was COS in Santiago during most of that time. CHOADEN believes that COLLETT w11l confirm that CHOADEN demonstrated his intense interest in his RVROCK work by performing not only the work called for in his contract (mostly clandestine printing) bit other chores as well... Example: during this period, or perhaps just after the expiration of CHOADEN's contract, CHOADEN, under Station guidance and instruction, approached and recruited a Communist Party agent. (It is understood that the agent is still reporting.) Another example: in March 1954, COS COLLETT approached CHOADEN and asked him if he would accept the Headquarters! request that he leave Chile, board an airplane for the U.S. and assist in an unidentified operation which would last "some months." That was the extent of the offer. CHOADEN accepted. This was despite the fact that he had no contract, and that he had to leave his family behind and to abandon a trip which had been planned through Europe. It is believed that this indicates that CHOADEN was pretty much "under RVROCK control" during this period. (Perhaps training records can assist in finding information on this Chilean period, as CHOADEN went to New York on one occasion for a six-week training course).4. The next period of contract employment is also hazy. The operation in which CHOADEN was asked to participate turned out to de PBSUCCESS. Some sort of contract was drawn up, but CHOADEN does not recall if any deduction for retirement was made, nor of the terms of the contract. It is requested that this contract be reviewed and, should there have been no retirement credit, that it too be reviewed for possible conversion to creditable service. There is no question of CHOADEN "responding to RVROCK control" during this period. It was full time work, and most of it per-formed away from family---some of it in the jungle. About sixty days, CHOADEN recalls, was spent in Project PEHISTORY. CHOADEN was awarded an RVROCK decoration for his work during this period. ABROAD.5. As the result of his participation in PRSUCCESS, CHOADEN was contracted as a Covert Associate from (about; this is a guess) October, 1954 until April of 1955. CHOADEN distinctly recalls that this contract called for rotirement credit if chosen as a future option. (It is not impossible that this contract was made retroactive to cover CHOADEN's departure from Chile in March, 1954.) It would be appreciated if Rio would be advised of the exact dura-tion and terms of this contract.6. CHOADEN was-a-Staff Employee from 1 April 1955 until 13 July of 1958, when he resigned. Retirement payments for this period were returned to CHOADEN, and he understands that they must be repaid sometime before retirement to make the period creditable.7. After resigning in 1953 CHOADEN went to Cuba and within a week signed a contract---as an independent operator and, to the best of CHOADEN's recollection, without any retirement benefits. Again, it is requested that this contract be reviewed with the view of possible conversion to creditable status.8. On March 14, 1960 CHOADEN again became a Staff Employee, and has remained in that status.9. Despite a rather long tenure with RVROCK CHOADEN now finds that mich of his service is either not creditable, or is creditable and not paid. CHOADEN would like to set this house in order, and to begin having regular deductions from his salary begin building up his paid-up creditable retirement equities. Headquarters' assistance in arriving at this happy state would be appreciated. CHOADEN is especially interested in obtaining approval for con-version of the early contract days in Chilo. It seems apparent that if repayment into the retirement system is to be initiated,