*Doc ID: 6878938
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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM
IDENTIFICATION FORM
AGENCY INFORMATION
AGENCY: NSA
RECORD NUMBER : 144-10001-10288
RECORDS SERIES :
AGENCY FILE NUMBER :
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
DATE: 10/08/98
PAGE: 1
ORIGINATOR : NSA
FROM: NSA
TO PRINCIPAL DEUTY ASST SECDEF (INTEL)
TITLE :
SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE QUIERIES TO NSA CONCERNING THE WARREN COMMISSI
DATE: 01/26/76
PAGES: 10
SUBJECTS :
IONS
SSCSGO, WC INVESTIGATIONS
DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT
CLASSIFICATION : S
RESTRICTIONS: 1A, 1B
CURRENT STATUS : X
DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 07/24/98
OPENING CRITERIA
ORIGINATING AGENCY'S DETERMINATION REQUIRED
COMMENTS :
RELATED DOCUMENTS ENCLOSED-PARTIAL DPULICATON OF 144-10001-10127,-10195,
-10211,-10212, AND -10025
--
THIS COMPLIATION OF RECORDS WAS LOCATED IN DR.
LOUIS TORDELLA'S (FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NSA) RECORD COLLECTION.
[R] ITEM IS RESTRICTED
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Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN.
RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
43
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STATES OF
DE
FENSE
MERICA
OD SECREM
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TOP
GAMS MA
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MARYLAND 20755
Serial:
N0078
26 January 1976
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.
10288
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Exempt from GDS, EQ 21078, 1
Declassify Bloon
Э
Delainn
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN.
AND THE REV. DR. MLK,
RFK,
JR.
TOP
MARBLE VIA COLANT CHE
THE CHEETAH Olm8
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Para. 2. 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.
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Para.
6.
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Serial: N0078
No hard copy material of any kind was
provided to the Commission (see Para. 1).
Dane formon
DAVID D. LOWMAŃ
Special Assistant
to the Director
for Congressional Reviews
4 Incls:
a/s
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Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN.
RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
3
HANDLE VIA GOMET Ulko dl
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CC:
DIR
D/DIR
ESS
(Less Incls)
"
11
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.
Kela Brook
Frank Foster/0/ESS/3161s/26 Jan 76/kjb
10288
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK,
RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
SEN.
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SECRET
DEPARTME
CANS
UNITED ST
BERDEFENSE
DAVITIC
LATES OF
TOP
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20301
14 January 1976
MEMORANDUM FOR The Director, National Security Agency
The attached letter from Alton Quanbeck, Senate Select
Committee staff, dated 13 January 1976, is forwarded for your
action.
Please provide this office with a response to Mr. Quan-
beck's questions as soon as possible, but not later than
22 January 1976. Your response should include a proposed date
the Committee staff may have access to files mentioned in
paragraph 4.
Attachment
Horash. Latime
Thomas K. Latimer
600484
10288
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RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
TOP SECRET
UPON REMOVAL OF ATTACHMENTS THIS
DOCUMENT BECOMES UNCLASSIFIED
་་་་་་
·Dog ID: 6878938
REFERRED TO
OFFICE
Doc Ref ID A4268794,/
TOP SECRET
CONTROL NO. 208
R2132
RECEIVED
RELEASED
SEEN BY
SIGNATURE
DATE TIME DATE TIME
NAME & OFFICE SYMBOL
DATE
Handle Via Indicated Controls
COMINT
Access to this document will be restricted to those persons
cleared for the specific projects;
WARNING
This document contains information affecting the national 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
revelation of its contents in any manner to an unauthorized person, as well as its use in ony manner prejudicial
to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of.
the United States. It is to be seen only by personnel especially indoctrinated and authorized to receive in-
formation in the designated control channels. Its security must be maintained in accordance with regulations
pertaining to the BYEMAN and Communications Intelligence Controls. No action is to be taken on any com-
munications intelligence which may be contained herein, regardless of the advantage to be gained, if such
action might have the effect of revealing the existence and nature of the source, unless such action is first
approved by the appropriate authority.
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES.
JFK, SEN. RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
TOP SECRET
GRUP 1
Eelded tomatit
dawngrading and declassification
10285
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FRANK CHURCH, IDAHO, CHAIRMAN
JOHN G. TOWER, TEXAS, VICE CHAIRMAN
PHILIP A. HART, MICH.
WALTER MONDALE, MINN.
WALTER D. HUDDLESTON, KY.
ROBERT MORGAN, N.C.
• GARY HART, COLO.
Doc Ref ID: A4268794.
HOWARD H. BAKER, JR., TENN.
BARRY GOLOWATER, ARIZ.
CHANLES MC C. MATHIAS, JR., MD.
RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, PA.
WILLIAM C. MILLER, STAFF DIRECTOR
FREDERICK A. D. SCHWARZ, JR., CHIEF COUNSEL
CURTIS H. SMOTHERS, MINORITY COUNSEL
10288
DILWALL E
Plnited States Senate
SELECT COMMITTEE TO
STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH
RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES
(PURSUANT TO S. RES. 21, 94TH 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
answers to certain questions put to NSA. Since then we have
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-
view them for any cryptological significance. NSA found no
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
requested by Dr. Tordella for NSA's files. Since NSA's analysis
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,
made of these documents and what results relevant to the assassina-
tion were obtained from such use.
"
was
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
Assuming these statements are ac-
curate, we wish to know what significance such names would have
which the CIA does not have.
n
HANDLE VIA
"
CHALINIT
AI VEED
CLASSIF SSC Intell, act
EXTM
FROM CENTRAL DECLASSIFICATION
SCH BULF 6 9 165),
§
1 m (6 fordo one or more?
AUTOMAERALLY DECLASSIFIED ON
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Impossible to determine.
funique apassible, aseit date or event)
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN.
RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
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10288
Mr. Thomas K. Latimer
January 13, 1976
Page Two
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.
CC:
Frank Foster
Sincerely,
ая
Alton H. Quanbeck
CLASSIFIED BY SSC Intell act
EXEMPT FROM
SCHULE :
$580.
AUTEL
DECLASSIFICATION
KhaPTION CATEGORY:
Concorde one or more)
DECLASSIFIED ON
Impossible to Determin
(unless impe
ert ante or events
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN.
RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
1
DEWING I
HANDIC VIA COMMIT
SE
C
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10288
NSA
JLR:RM/bjc
7/7/64
535
JUL 10 1954
Lieutenant, General Gordon A. Blake, U. S. A. F.
Director, National Security Agener
Fort George 0. Meade, Maryland
Dear General Blake:
In regard to Dr. Tordello's request, the National
Scurity 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
M
cc: Mr. Rankin
. Mr. Willens
Mr. Mosk
Riches
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN.
RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
.

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CONCURPENCE
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DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN. RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
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10288