Francesco/who-killed-jfk huggingface dataset:
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 47]
SECRETQ But do you know of any paramilitary operations that were actually run out of the United States?A No.Q As far as you know, then, this is a totally unique situation.A As far as I am concerned, it is, yes.Q Now, how large a Navy was actually organized in Miami? On a previous occasion you described this to me as the third largest Navy in the Caribbean.A That is right.Q What kind of equipment did these people have?A Well, we had -- honestly, everything from a canoe up to three to 500 foot mother ship. We had Boston whalers, rubber boats. We had a number of craft in, say, the 27 to 45 foot length. And they looked like real tubs. They were painted and they looked like they wouldn't even float but they had the fastest engines in them. They could outrun anything. They were extremely well armed. We had our under-water demolition teams. We had a pretty good.Navy.Q Did these craft operate under non-official cover in the Miami area?A Yes.Q Were there a variety of covers or was there one firm?A No. Variety.SECRET
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 48]
SECRET                                                                                                                                         47Q Fishing companies?A Well, fishing companies, Geodetic Survey, marine supply. In all, I think during the period that the station and these other entities were under commercial cover, or non-official cover, I think we had 100 so cover companies.Q Did any of these companies actually engage in any legitimate commercial activities?A Not to my knowledge, no.Q None of them -- were any of them in competition with firms in that area?A These are probably what we would call devised facilities. They were probably registered with the State of Florida and they paid taxes and this type of thing, but if one was blown or became known, we just crossed that out of existence and started up a new one.Q What did Eugenio Martinez do when he wasn't running these operations?A Well, he was down -- this is one of the reasons, as I told you before, we brought him back and put him under that contract, that retainer; because of the years that he spent under such strict operational discipline down in the Keys. Obviously, he didn't stay down there all the time. He came back -- he might come back once a month, or something like that, to see his family, perhaps once every two weeks if he got some time off.SECRETPhotocopy fromGerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 49]
# SECRETQ I see. So some of these boats and personnel wereactually stationed full-time in the Keys.A Oh, yes. Oh, sure.Q Were there any operations run out of the UnitedStates which involved destruction of crops or poisoning ofsugar or anything of that sort?A What did you have in mind specifically? You mean thePuerto Rican thing?A Well, that is one of the things I had in mind.Would you describe that for me?A Well, this is, I guess you could term it a target ofopportunity. This was where a vessel was carrying Cuban sugarto the Soviet Union and I forget exactly now what happened toit but I know that it got a hole below the waterline, orsomething, and had to put into Puerto Rico for repairs.In order to repair it, I guess, and get it in thedrydock or wherever it was, they had to remove the sugar andput it in the warehouse and at that time I guess somebody cameup with a plan to try to widen the rift between -- there wasa rift at that time between the Soviets and Cubans and toput a harmless substance into the sugar that would make itacid, sour tasting, and it wouldn't harm the sugar or theindividual, and some of this was done. And then when itleaked, of course, we had to get rid of it and we had a sugarfirm buy it back from the Soviets.# SECRET
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 50]
# SECRET1 Q Bought it back from the Soviets?2 A Yes.3 MR. MANFREDI: Off the record.4 (Discussion off the record.)5 MR.MANFREDI: Back on the record.6 BY MR. MANFREDI:7 Q Are there any other operations in which crops were8 -- were there attempts to destroy crops in Cuba?9 A No. No.10 Q Place foreign substances in Cuban products?11 A In Cuban products?12 Q Yes.13 A No. Not that I recall. You see, Cuba really -- in14 those days the only thing, Cuba was exporting sugar and nickel.15 The agriculture sector of the economy was in absolutely total16 chaos. God, they didn't have any citrus, they didn't have17 anything, and the poor people in Cuba were literally starving.18 There just wasn't anything to eat. And Fidel was going around19 with this big plan -- of course, there were a number of20 experimental cattle ranches in Cuba. King Ranch had one there.21 I forget -- several other European and American companies that22 had experimental cattle ranches there and they were experiment-23 ing with the, you know, cross-breeding and this type of thing.24 Fidel was preoccupied with this. He went up to25 Canada and paid $100,000 for a bull and -- so he just put it# SECRETPhotocopy fromGerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 51]
SECRET1.  on an old Cuban Airways airplane. The damn airplane few too2.  high and the bull became sterile by the time he landed in3.  Cuba. No thought given to, you know, pressurizing the cabin4.  and keeping the temperature at a certain point and this type5.  of thing. So he was helping us all along the line and6.  this here again, we generate propaganda, incompetence and this7.  type of thing.8.  But as far as sabotaging any Cuban product, no, we9.  didn't go into that. Our object was to enforce the blockade10. and cut off his sources of supply.11. Q When was the Miami Station established?12. A As a station?13. Q Yes.14. A I think in September 1961.15. Q And that was several years before you became involved16. in Cuban matters?17. A Yes.18. Q Do you know of any other facilities of that nature19. within the United States, Agency facilities?20. A You mean, targeted against the opposition?21. Q Yes.22. A A station as such?23. Q Yes.24. A No. You have some communications facilities that25. you really call stations because here again, they are notSECRETPhotocopy fromGerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 52]
# SECRET1 directed towards any domestic activity. They are in support of2 overseas communications.3 Q Of course, we have FR bases and DCD offices and4 Office of Security officers, and so forth.5 A Right.6 Q But I am talking about actual stations.7 A Operating stations, no.8 Q This is the only such station in the United States9 as far as you know, is that correct?10 A Right.11 Q And was this station established to deal primarily12 with Cuban activities?13 A Yes.14 Q Cuban-related matters?15 A With Cuba, period.16 Q Did it have, when it was established, any other17 responsibilities with respect to Western Hemisphere activities?18 A Not to my knowledge.19 Q Entirely limited, then, to Cuban activities?20 A Yes, and in support of Cuban activity and other21 countries in the Hemisphere.22 Q When you joined the group dealing with Cuban23 activities, what was the size or the number of personnel attached to that Station?24 A To that Station? Well, the Station had probably a25 couple
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 53]
SECRET1 couple hundred staffers there, full-time employees of the2 Agency, plus I don't know how many contract employees,3 independent contractors, probably another 200 minimum. It was4 obviously the largest installation we had. I think at its5 height it had over 500 people in it.6 Q Full-time Agency people?7 A No, no.8 Q Combination of contract and --9 A And full-time, yes. A regular employee we call a staff10 employee.11 Q Now, would Martinez have been one of those contract12 people?13 A Yes.14 Q Even though he was located down in the Keys?15 A Oh, yes.16 Q And what kind of facilities did the Station have in17 Miami? Physical facilities.18 A Well, they were located on the south campus of the19 University of Florida, I mean, the University of Miami, at20 the old Richmond Naval Air Station. It was a self-contained21 unit. It was pretty well off the beaten path, in fact, damn22 well off the beaten path. It was about four miles from the23 Dixie Highway inland. We had our own guard force.24 Q Official cover?25 A No. Non-official.SECRET
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 54]
53Q Non-official cover. What was the cover?A It was a commercial cover. It was called -- the first one was called Zenith Corporation and it was set up with a President and Vice President, normal corporate setup.Q Engaging in any business?A No.Q Now, in a community of that type, Cuban community, how long could a non-official cover last?A Well, obviously it didn't, but it was research activities. Funded -- it is a giant mechanism when you put one of these things in for the funding and this type of thing, for your ostensible customers, establishing bank accounts.Q Yes, I understand.A So it was a research activity and the only people that ever paid any attention to the place were the newspapers. You know, somebody would make an inquiry, you know, we can't accept any work, we are loaded with Government contracts and this type of thing, and it held up reasonably well. And out of this one thing, of course, then we were running these innumerable other covers with different activities. The guard force, of course, were like -- well, they wore uniforms, similar to the Pinkerton people and this type of thing. And I think that there was -- in the later days at that site I think the Department of Agriculture had offices in there and some other Government agencies, in other buildings, of course.
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 55]
SECRET1 Q And this particular Station, then, was under the2 supervision of the group we have been discussing?3 A Yes. They were staffed within the Cuban Operations.4 Q When did the Western Hemisphere Division resume5 responsibilities for the Miami Station?6 A Well, when Des. Fitzgerald left as Chief of the7 Special Activities Staff and became Chief of the Western8 Hemisphere Division, he brought it back into the Division.9 Q Is there presently a Miami Station?10 A Oh, yes.11 Q And how large is it at the present time?12 A Well, since we -- I think when we closed down the13 Cuban Operations, I don't know how large it is at the present14 time because we are in one of these periods where we are15 reassigning people, but I think by the end of this fiscal year16 there are going to be between 11 and 14 people.17 Q When you joined the group in 1963, what functions18 were being performed by the Miami Station?19 A Well, all the classical intelligence functions. I20 think I have lined them out at one time -- collection of21 positive intelligence, counterintelligence, paramilitary, this22 type of thing. Covert action.23 Q This is the list of things you gave me earlier in24 the deposition?25 A Yes.Photocopy fromGerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 56]
SECRET                                                                                                               55Q Which of these activities, if any of them were actually being conducted within the Cuban community in Miami?A Well, the collection of foreign positive and probably counterintelligence.Q So the Agency was conducting counterintelligence activities in the Miami area?A Yes, sir.Q Can you give me an example of the kinds of counterintelligence activities that the Agency would be conducting in that area or was conducting in the area at that time?A Well, we had a number of joint operations, as I recall, with the Bureau. We had identified a Castro agent that came in by small boat and when she was -- she came in with a number of other people. When she hit the -- they had a reception center up in Opa Loca that was really a HEW operation. The Domestic Contact Division office had people out there and we did, too. Our people from the DDO were under Immigration and Naturalization Service cover. When the HEW people did the preliminary interrogation of these people they had to fill out forms, where were you born, this type of thing, biographic type thing. These forms would be passed to our people who would look at the forms and based on previous experience or what they might have been doing, and they felt that perhaps they might have some information of intelligence value, they would reinterrogate them.SECRETPhotocopy fromGerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 57]
## SECRETIt was in this manner that this gal came to our knowledge. We surveilled her for a long time and determined that obviously she was receiving messages and she was sending messages. So along with the Bureau we put a surveillance on her and we obtained a van with DF equipment in it and indeed, she went on the air in the morning at 5:00 o'clock or 4:30 or whatever it was, and the direction finder found it was being beamed toward Cuba, this type of thing, and that was oen of the examples of the CI activities we were involved in.Q Were there many activities of that type?A Not really. You have got to remember that the Bureau's Cuban squad was fairly small. I mean, it was a large squad in terms of FBI squads. It had 36 people on it, some- thing like that, but 36 people trying to follow a couple of hundred thousand Cubans around, you know, it is pretty nega- tive. This was one of the reasons that obviously from -- in those days when we had formed these revolutionary fronts which were being run by the Cuban exiles, they were reporting to Case Officers and they would report on things in the community, of people they thought were suspect and this type of thing. These leads in turn were then given to the Bureau and it was to this extent that we got ourselves involved in CI activity.Q Would it be fair to say that the involvement in CI## SECRETPhotocopy from Gerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 58]
SECRET                                                                          57activities in that area was primarily a function of the over-whelming number of these people and the Bureau's inabilityto properly staff the thing?A  Yes, yes. You have got to remember, too, that a lotof the people on that Cuban squad were in the legal sectionof the Embassy in Havana. You know, the FBI overseas isknown as Legal Attaches, obviously working out of the Embassythe same as our Station was, and a lot of our Station officersfrom Havana were down in Miami at that time. So there was arelationship there that had gone over a period of yearsbetween the Agency and the Bureau.MR.MANFREDI: We will reconvene at 1:00 o'clock.(Whereupon, at 11:45 o'clock a.m., the taking ofthe deposition was recessed, to reconvene at 1:00 p.m., thissame day.)SECRETPhotocopy fromGerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 59]
SECRETAFTERNOON SESSIONThereupon,WILLIAM C. STURBITTS,called as a witness by Counsel for the Commission on CIAActivities, and having been first duly sworn by the NotaryPublic, was examined and testified as follows:EXAMINATION BY COUNSEL FOR THE COMMISSION (Cont'd)BY MR. MANFREDI:Q. When we recessed for lunch you were talking about the Miami Station . Do I understand that the Miami Station was the largest CIA station in the world?A. The largest CIA station in the world.Q. At its height?A. Nothing comes anyplace close to it.Q. I wonder if you could describe briefly for the record what the AMOTS were.A. Well, the AMOTS were Cuban a Cuban intelligence organization in exile. We full intended -- this was part of the overall contingency plan that US Government had. Should Castro ever be overthrown, these people would be the nucleus to go into Cuba and form a new Ministry of the Interior.Q. Now, Ministry of the Interior, is that a euphemism for Security Agency?A. Well, in most countries of the world the Ministry of Interior, unlike ours, is the security force, internal andSECRETPhotocopy from Gerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 60]
1 Q. And these people were Cuban exiles?2 A. Cuban exiles.3 Q. How large an outfit were the AMOTS?4 A. Well, at one time -- I can give you the exact figuresbut I know it well exceeded over 100, probably closer to --6 0. Go ahead.7 A. Probably closer to 150, something like that.8 Q. Now, would that 150 persons be included within the9 three to 500 who made up the Miami Station?10 A. No.11 Q. That was over and above the personnel of the Miami12 Station?13 A. Right.14 Q. These people were fulltime CIA employes, weren't they?15 A. Right. Well, let me -- these people really were -- they were being subsidized by the Agency. They were employed by two cover companies, the largest of which was called Latin American Social and Economic Research. Then we had another19 smaller group that did the interrogating and they were under another cover, commercial cover, -- I just don't recall what it was. But these peop.e ostensibly were employees of these wholly owned proprietaries of the Agency. They were duly constituted, incorporated, paid taxes, all this type of thing.23 Q. The salaries of these people, although paid indirectly were paid by the CIA?
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 61]
SECRET                                                                                                      601 A. That is right.2 Q. And was training provided them by the Agency?3 Q. Oh, yes.4 A. You said the smaller group of the two groups that made5 up the AMOTS conducted the interrogations, is that correct?6 A. Right.7 Q. When you speak of interrogations, are you referring to8 debriefings?9 A. I am referring to debriefings of newly arrived exiles10 or perhaps exiles that had been in the country whom during their11 time here had acquired new information.12 Q. How were those -- how and where were those debriefings13 conducted?14 A. Well, normally the debriefings were conducted at Opa15 Loca.16 Q. That is the Air Base?17 A. That is the old Air Base there but that is where the18 reception center was for all the Cuban refugees coming in.19 Sometimes if there was going to be a lengthy debriefing, we had20 a residence which we rented and the interior was changed into21 small rooms like this where you could bring people in, sit them22 down, under controlled conditions, and debrief them without any23 interference and this type of thing.24 Q. For how long a period did these debriefings go on?25SECRETPhotocopy fromGerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 62]
## SECKEIA. You mean in terms of wears?Q Yes.A. Well, I would think that I would probably say from about 1962, and I think the debriefings as such, of course we relied principally on the airlift for the people coming out and when the airlift was cut off, which Castro did cut off about, I guess about 1970 or '71, in that timeframeΩ I see.A. that stopped the flow of the refugees, so we just terminated that part of the activity.Ω. Well, in addition to debriefing refugees that came in in the airlift, did the smaller group of AMOTS have any other intelligence gathering functionsA. No.Ω In the community?A. Well, I can't give you a real yes or no to that. I would suppose that there is an outside possibility they could have been used to debrief people within the community, within the Cuban community, but we had in the organization -- all these people were Cuban with the exception of we had what we call an On-Site Case Officer, who was a fulltime staff employee and he had a couple of assistants, including a secretary. These people were directly under his control. Though the organization as it was set up, they had their own chief and this type of thing, but the chief took his instructions from the On-Site Case Officer.
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 63]
SECRET                                                                                  621 Of course, if these people went out and did something on2 their own, they could do things we were not aware of, obviously.3 You can't -- you know what they are doing during their eight or4 ten hours that they are going to work everyday but once they5 leave, we don't know what they are up to.6 Q. Did they have CIA credentials?7 A. No sir, because they were proprietary hires of this8 commercial cover.9 Q. Did CIA levy any intelligence requirements upon these10 people other than in their duties -- in their debriefing11 capacity, I should say?12 A. No. When -- there were -- obviously there was a13 standard debriefing form that covered questions of intelligence14 interest or a battle, you know, anything -- economic questions,15 morale, and this type of thing. When these questions -- when16 these people were cebriefed and the debriefer wrote up the17 report, it would be sent from the AMOTS over to the Station.18 If the debriefing report contained something of positive19 intelligence, of that nature, the Case Officer -- well, not the20 Case Officer but a staffer in the Station may or may not jot21 down some additional requirements and ask that that person be22 recontacted and asked specific.questions.23 Q. Now, in addition to debriefing, what else did this24 smaller broup of AMOTS do for the Agency in the Miami area?25 A. This was their prime purpose.SECRET                                                                                 Photocopy fromGerald Ford Library
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 64]
SECRETQ. How large was that particular group?A. Oh, there were only about, I would say at the outside, I think there were about five debriefers with the support people which would be secretaries, translators, strictly administrative types. I don't think there were more than probably 12 or 15 in that group, if there were that many.MR. MANFREDI: Off the record.(Off the record discussion)BY MR. MANFREDI: Back on the record.Q. Before we move on to further discussion of the AMOTS could you briefly describe for me what role the CIA plays in resettling Cuban emigres?A. CIA doesn't resettle Cuban emigres.Q. What Agency is charged with that responsibility?A. Health, Education and Welfare.Q. Does CIA play any role in that process?A. We may assist if we are asked but the idea of the whole airlift was having relatives here for somebody to claim you when you came in so you wouldn't become a ward of the State of the Government, and normally when these refugees came in, they were processed through the Center and then they had a place down on Biscayne Boulevard they called Freedom House and this was, of course, all run by HEW, and they if need be and they had to stay overnight or stay several days, HEW would put them up and care for them in Freedom House.SECRET
[178-10002-10279.pdf — page 65]
SECREIThen as soon as they could, of course, they would move them to the areas where they wanted to resettle them, where the relatives were, this type of thing, and we had nothing to do with that whatsoever.Q. Turning back to the AMOTS, and to the larger of the two groups, what was the name of that group again?A. SASER, Latin American Social and Economic Research.Q. We can call them LASER for short?A. Really, they are both -- the only reason we separated the two groups was for security because we had one group housed over here and the smaller group was over here. Obviously we couldn't bring these refugees into the larger establishment, so that is why we took the smaller establishment to preserve some cover.Q. Okay. What activities was the larger group engaged in?A. Well, the larger group was engaged in the collection of intelligence. They compiled dossiers on the principals inside Cuba. They carded -- they kept card files on every refugee that came through the reception center. They provided they did do economic and social reporting. They put out a monthly newsletter based on the information they collected.The information these people collected as opposed to the information we collected, ther's was all unclassified. That came from -- all the information they had came from human sourcesSECRETPhotocopy from Gerald Ford Library