Doc ID: 6879080
Doc Ref ID: A4269460
AGENCY: NSA
JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM
IDENTIFICATION FORM
AGENCY INFORMATION
RECORD NUMBER: 144-10001-10195
RECORDS SERIES :
AGENCY FILE NUMBER :
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
ORIGINATOR : NSA
FROM LOWMAN,
TODASD (INTELL)
TITLE :
QUERIES TO NSA CONCERNING THE WARREN COMMISSION
DATE 01/26/76
01/26/76
PAGES : 7
SUBJECTS
REPORTS CONCERNING CUBAN MILITARY FORCES
US SENATE LETTER TO THOMAS LATIMER RE CUBAN/SOVIET COMMS
REQUEST OF LAST MONTHS OF OSWALDS LIFE
DOCUMENT TYPE: LETTER
CLASSIFICATION
干
RESTRICTIONS: 1A, 1B
CURRENT STATUS : X
DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 11/13/97
OPENING CRITERIA
.
ORIGINATING AGENCY'S DETERMINATION REQUIRED
COMMENTS
CONTAINS SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION
[R]
ITEM IS RESTRICTED
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE
ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN. RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
DATE: 12/09/97
PAGE: 1
THE
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ef ID: A4269460
RATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MARYLAND 20755
Serial:
N0078
26 January 1976
TOP SECRET
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY
OF DEFENSE (INTELLIGENCE)
SUBJECT: Senate Select Committee Queries to NSA Concerning
the Warren Commission
Reference your letter dated 14 January 1976 transmitting
a request from Mr. Alton Quanbeck of the Senate Select
Committee Staff. The following information is provided in
response to Mr. Quanbeck's letter, keyed by paragraph to
his letter (inclosed see underlined portions). Most of .
the information was made available to the SSC Staff, Mr.
Jim Johnson, during an interview with Dr. Louis Tordella
on 20 January 1976.
Para. 1.
-
NSA requested permission to retain
photocopies of those reports on which we had worked merely
as record copies of our efforts on behalf of the Commission.
It was felt that if a question should arise at that time
concerning what analytic efforts had been involved and the
number of manhours expended, a record copy would prove useful.
No operational use was made of these documents except to
hold them on file for a period of time which cannot now be
determined. To the best of our present knowledge, the photo-
copies have now been destroyed. Absolutely no results
relevant to the assassination were obtained through NSA's
analytic look at the exhibits. The Commission, in the person
of Mr. Allan Dulles, had asked Dr. Tordella, informally, to
review the exhibits for any secret writing or codes which
might have been contained in the documents. Dr. Tordella,
after causing a careful review of the documents by NSA crypt-
analysts, reported verbally to Mr. Dulles and other Commission
members that nothing whatsoever had been achieved by the
analytic effort. No written reply was submitted.
JFK, SEN. RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC.
ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES.
Classified by DIRNSA/CHORS (N91/CSBM 123-2)
Exempt from GDG, ED 11078,
Declassify Upon Notification by the Originator
APPENDED DOCUMENTS CONTAIN
SUSCHLHIO CONIIN
...v MAPER
D/OIR
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Para. 2.
Serial:
N0078
NSA is uncertain as to what is precisely
meant by these comments, but we assume that the comments on
names refer to our biographic files which are maintained on
foreign personalities of potential intelligence significance.
As the Committee knows, these biographic files are maintained
(now at CIA incidentally) as analytic support. It is also
possible that the Commission was referring to the fact that
names are frequently seen in traffic collected for foreign
intelligence purposes and therefore NSA might have access
to foreign names not otherwise available to the Intelligence
Community.
Para. 3. It may well be that CIA did obtain such
transmissions and pass them to NSA for analysis, but no one
presently working that analytic area recalls such a request.
Discussions with Dr. Tordella also failed to shed any light
on this subject. There are no files or records which we have
been able to locate from that time frame which would sub-
stantiate such a claim. In fact, the only file the responsible
analytic group has been able to locate concerning a request
from the Warren Commission deals with a file compiled from
open sources citing major dates in the last months of Oswald's
life. Presumably the date file was to be compared with NSA
product on/about the key dates in the hope that something
could be deduced. The file does not contain any "hits."
The analysts who performed this effort have since retired.
The informal request from Mr. Dulles is
the known total extent of NSA's role in assisting in the
investigation. The file discussed in Paragraph 3 is the only
file thus far recovered. There is no information which can
now be identified which was developed from Cuban or Soviet.
transmissions relating to the assassination.
Para. 4.
-
Para. 5. We have no information on this subject
at all. However, pursuant to the subject raised during the
Tordella interview, we have searched our files manually,
and as Mr. Lowman agreed during the Tordella interview, we
have recovered three product reports (Inclosures 2 through
4) which show that Cuban military forces did go on alert
immediately after the assassination. There is no SIGINT
evidence, however, that the Cuban forces were alerted prior
to the assassination, thereby suggesting that they had prior
knowledge of the event.
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE
ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN. RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
TOP
2
"
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Serial: N0078
Para. 6.
No hard copy material of any kind was
provided to the Commission (see Para. 1).
4 Incls:
a/s
Dave Jorman
DAVID D. LOWMAN
Special Assistant
to the Director
for Congressional Reviews
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF
PRES. JFK, SEN. RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
Doc ID: 6879080
ef ID: A4269460
Serial: N0078
CC:
DIR
(Less Incls)
D/DIR
ESS
ESS/R
ESS, Mr. Lowman
G, Mr. Peksa
NCRDEF
A, Miss Caracristi (Less Incls)
L221
M/R: Inclosures 2 through 4 are product reports numbered
2/0/CURUJ/
R66-63, 2/0/CUN/R196-63 and 2/0/CUJ/R58-63.
fo
K B
Frank Foster/0/ESS/3161s/26 Jan 76/kjb
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF
PRES. JFK, SEN. RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
1.
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ef ID: A42694180TROL NO.
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Handle Via Indicated Controls
COMINT
Access to this document will be restricted to those persons
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WARNING
This document contains information affecting the notional security of the United States within the meaning of
the espionage laws U. S. Code Title 18, Sections 793, 794 and 798. The low prohibits its transmission or the
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pertaining to the BY EMAN and Communications. Intelligence Controls. No action is to be taken on ony com-
munications intelligence which may be contained herein, regardless of the advantage to be goined, if such
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DATE
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES.
JFK, SEN. RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
Incl
TOP SECRET
5+
Rachdadha
dog and docto
OF RECORDS CONC.
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS.
AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES.
JFK, SEN.
RFK,
PHILIP A. HAHT, MICH.
WALTER F. MONDALE, MINN.
WALTER O. HUDOLESTON, KY.
Dee ID 6879080
CARY HART..COLO.
HOWARD H. BAKER, JR., TENN.
PARRY GOLDWATER, ARIZ
CHARLES MC C. MATHIAS
RICHARD S. SCHWEIKERD
WILLIAM G. MILLER, STAFF DIRECTOR
FREDERICK A. O. SCHWARZ, JR., CHIEF COUNSEL
CURTIS R. SMOTHERS, MINORITY COUNSEL
D.
HAN!.
ef ID: A426 Anited States Unate
SELECT COMMITTEE TO
STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH
RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES
(PURSUANT TO S. RES. 21, 34TH CONGRESS)
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510
January 13, 1976
Mr. Thomas K. Latimer
Special Assistant to the Secretary
U. S. Department of Defense
Washington, D. C. 20301
Dear Tom:
In connection with the Select Committee's investigation of
the assassination of President Kennedy, we earlier received
Since then we have
answers to certain questions put to NSA.
examined other material pertaining to NSA's contribution to
the Warren Commission's investigation and we desire further in-
formation from NSA.
By way of background for this request, we note the Warren
Commission provided NSA various documents and asked NSA to re-
NSA found no
view them for any cryptological significance.
cryptological significance and its report of this fact was pub-
lished by the Commission.
1.
By letter of July 10, 1964, (a copy of which is attached)
Mr. Rankin provided General Blake a copy of certain documents
Since NSA's analysis
requested by Dr. Tordella for NSA's files.
1
of the documents was apparently completed at the time of Rankin's
letter we wish to know why NSA wanted to keep these documents
for its file. Further, we wish to know what use, if any, was
made of these documents and what results relevant to the assassina-
tion were obtained from such use.
..
"
2. In a Commission staff internal memorandum, discussing the
documents provided NSA, it is reported that NSA is "primarily
interested in names, and NSA claims it has "information 
on 
names
which the CIA does not have. Assuming these statements are ac-
curate, we wish to know what significance such names would have
"
•
HANDLE VIA COMINE
CHAN
CLASSIFIEDS SSC Intell, act
EXCMET
OMNERAL DECLASSIFICATION
SCHIBULF OF 12:
§ 13 or 01 (or res
AUTOMATICALLY DECLASSIFIED ON
Impossible to determine
(unicus possible, sal date or excol}
RFK,
THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES.
JFK,
SEN.
Doc ID: 68790omas K. Latime
January 13, 1976
Page Two
OF RECORDS CONC.
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS.
AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
ef ID: A4269460
HANDLE VIA COMINT CHANNELS
to NSA and what information on names NSA had that CIA did not.
If names had significance, what names did NSA use in its analysis?
3.
We are informed that CIA obtained transmissions from the
Soviet Embassy in Mexico City for November or December 1963 and
that it may have passed these to NSA for analysis. Did NSA re-
ceive these transmissions or any transmissions relevant to the
assassination inquiry? Did it analyze them? What were the re-
sults of its analysis?
4.
We are interested in learning the extent of NSA's role in
assisting in the investigation of the assassination. In that
|connection, please inform the Committee the extent of NSA files
relating to the assassination. Please provide the staff of the
Committee access to those files. Please provide the staff with
a summary of all information NSA developed from Cuban or Soviet
transmissions relating to the assassination.
5.
We have been informed that after the assassination the
Cuban government instructed its embassies and consulates to re-
turn all files on Oswald to Cuba. What information does NSA
have on whether such instructions were issued?
6.
In connection with the answers to questions 4 and 5, please
indicate whether such material was provided the Warren Commission
and provide copies of all documents evidencing that fact.
We would appreciate receiving a response to these questions.
as soon as possible and to expedite this inquiry we are sending
a copy of this letter to Mr. Foster of NSA.
Sincerely,
al
Alton H. Quanbeck
CLASSIFIED BY SSC Intell act
EXEMPT FROM
SCHULF.; •
$50
:
CC:
Frank Foster
DEFASSIFICATION
MAPON LAGGY:
wordle way or more)
AUTHAY DECLASSIFIED ON
Impossible to Extermine
(unless imper
tnt or events
'
FUT SEQTAGE
HINDI VIA COMPIT CHANNELS
JFK, SEN.
RFK,
OF RECORDS CONC.
THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES.
.
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS.
MLK, JR.
DR
AND THE REV.
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JLR:RM/bjc
7/7/64
{
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N3A
JUL 10 1954
Lieutenant, General Gordon A. Blake, U. S. A.
Director, National Security Agence
Fort George 0. Meade, Maryland
Dear General Blake:
In regard to Dr. Tordello's request, the National
S curity Agency is authorized to keep for its file the following.
photographic copies of items which have been used by the
Commission in its investigation:
(2)
Commission Exhibit 31
(2)
Commission Exhibit 15
(3)
Commission Exhibit 104
(4)
Commission Exhibit 18
(5)
Typewritten version of Commission Exhibit 24
(6)
F. B. I. items A-2, A-6
(7) F. B. I. items 137, 152
:
Thank you for the cooperation and assistance you
have rendered the Commission.
Sincerely,
SIGNED
J. Lee Rankin
General Counsel
RECE
cc: Mr. Rankin
Mr. Willens
Mr. Mosk