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2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992
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OIM 98-000nn
13 April 1998
MEMORANDUM FOR:
Deputy Executive Director
VIA:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Director of Information Management
Lee S. Strickland
Chief, Information Review Group/OIM
Pending ARRB (JFK Board) Issues
1.
(AIUO) Per your request at our 1 April bi-weekly
meeting, we have summarized below the significant issues which
are under deliberation and negotiation with the JFK Board. Our
approach on protecting Agency equities is multi-step:
• First, with the staff, we argue relevance although the statute and
implementing regulations define "assassination records" very
broadly as including
• (1) any records related to the assassination or Oswald,
•
(2) any records concerning the various conspiracy theories, and
(3) any records within the scope of previous investigations
including the Church Committee, Pike Committee, Warren
Commission, or House Select Committee on Assassinations
(HSCA),
Second, with the staff, we argue that release would cause current
damage although the exemptions under the JFK statute are much
narrower than the corresponding exemptions under the FOIA, and
• Third, if we fail to convince the staff, we must proceed to a more
detailed and formal presentation to the Board.
1 (AIUO)
It is the materials collected by the HSCA which are the most
numerous and often the most troublesome in terms of sensitive equities. They
are generally referred to as the "sequestered collection."
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2.
document
(S)
--
ISSUE 1
Unacknowledged Covert Actions
Within records surfaced by the Ford Library is a
a Helms Memorandum for the Record on a PFIAB meeting
which contains references to CIA covert financial support to
political parties in Peru, Greece, Italy and Brazil and to labor
unions in France and Italy.
3. (S) After much negotiation, the ARRB staff has agreed
to recommend to the Board that the information related to those
covert actions be considered non-related and the documents
designated “Not Believed Related' (NBR). The document will be
grouped with similar ``NBR" documents and be presented to the
Board for final action at the 13 April or 12 May meeting.
ISSUE 2
final
--
Alias Documentation and Accommodation Addresses
--
4. (S) The security file of former Agency employee, David
Morales (deceased true name already released), within the
sequestered collection contains documentation on five of his
alias. We anticipate similar problems as we re-review other
security files within the sequestered collection. We are
attempting to work a compromise with the following elements but
details have yet to be finalized:
protect all references to official documents reflecting the alias
such as (social security cards, drivers licenses
• release items designated as pocket litter such as club cards,
• protect elements of accommodation addresses to avoid identifying
specific locations, and
lastly, make a decision to actually release or protect the alias
itself depending on the timeframe and its importance to the JFK
story.
5. (S) However, disagreements on the actual implementation
(e.g., protect house number but release street name of
2
(S)
See Attachment 1.
(S)
See Attachment 2.
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time.
accommodation address) have prevented a final resolution at this
We are also exploring with the DO senior management
whether the blanket release of pocket litter (whether lawfully
obtained or forged) might present media or operational issues
today. Accordingly, we have requested that the issue be
postponed until the May meeting.
ISSUE 3
Organizational Materials
--
6. (S) This request (one of the earliest and known as CIA-
1) asked for organization charts on various Agency directorates
and/or components for the years 1958-1968. All Agency
directorates provided material responsive to the request and the
ARRB staff has selected items for inclusion in the JFK
✓ collection. Remaining at issue are three DO charts a 1961
generic DDP organization, a 1963 generic DDP organization, and a
detailed JMWAVE organization. The DO has agreed to release the
first two and remain adamantly opposed to the release of the
JMWAVE chart given its similarity to current organizational
plans.
7. (S) This issue will be presented by ARRB staff to the
Board at the 13 April meeting where they will recommend that the
DDP generic charts be accepted (good for CIA) and that the JMWAVE.
chart be declared as an assassination record (bad for CIA); an
actual vote by the Board will not take place until the May
meeting.
8..
ISSUE 4
Mexico City Tapes
(S) This request asked for a thorough search of Agency
files and documents for and CIA “..
་་
surveillance 'take' from
Cuban and Soviet facilities in Mexico City at the time of the
Oswald visit and in the immediate wake of the assassination."
Among the items provided by the DO were five boxes containing
audio tapes from telephone taps on the Cuban and Russian
embassies and facilities. A number of the tapes are dated 22
4 (S) See Attachment 3.
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November 1963;s many others are dated 23 November 1963 through
December 1963.
9. (S) This is one of the most complex requests because of
the following facts:
• at one time, there was a tape of Oswald in existence but it has
since been lost or erased;
• the relevance of these tapes is argued to be only to prove that no
tape in existence today contains the Oswald conversation;
this was not an unilateral operation but rather a joint operation
with the Mexican Government;
• there is a confidential request from the ARRB to the Mexican
Government for any copies of the actual Oswald conversation they
may possess; and,
quite obviously, the sensitivity is not so much the mere fact that
we possess such tapes but our confirmation of the extent and our
release of the actual conversations captured.
10. (S) The good news, at least at this time, is that the
ARRB staff has agreed to postpone Board consideration until May
and, in the interim, the Agency will have an opportunity to
review (i.e., listen and transcribe) and determine the
sensitivity and provide detailed arguments in this regard.
11.
ISSUE 5
Protection of (LITAMIL-9
(S) (LITAMIL-9 was a CIA penetration of the Cuban
Embassy Unfortunately, his identity was indirectly and
inadvertently released in 1993 and, as a result, (he was
identified in true name as a CIA agent in John Newman's book,
Oswald and the CIA As of 1993, LITAMIL-9 was still alive and
living in Mexico City with family in Cuba. To date, the ARRB
Board has agreed to protect his identity and crypt and delay the
release of his 201 file until the Agency could make some
judgments about the potential damage created by the release on
S (S) The scope of this request is quite significant; it includes five boxes
of 185 tapes from operations against both the Cuban and Russian Embassy.
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additional documents with his name/crypt in them. That will now
occur at the May meeting of the Board. It is, however, unlikely
that the Board would agree to delay release until 2017, however,
there is precedent for delaying release of records on individuals
for shorter periods or until death.
12. (S)
ISSUE 6
Richard Gibson (CIA Asset)
Richard Gibson, who presently lives in England, is
a left wing journalist who was associated with the Fair Play For
Cuba Committee (FPFCC), an entity to which Oswald wrote letters
and claimed to be a member. Gibson did not become an Agency.
asset until after the assassination, however, he had been of
interest to the FBI when he headed the FPFCC. Unfortunately, a
combination of previous releases led to press reports in
1994/1995 about his relationship with the CIA. At that time, CIA
officers were dispatched to advise him about the possible
{compromise and promise him the very best attempt at protecting
the relationship.
13. (S) Since then, the ARRB has agreed to delay the
release of any additional information until the Agency and FBI
had determined the full extent of the files on Gibson and the
Spotential damage. The issue is scheduled for ARRB action at the
May meeting and our objective is to release Gibson's role in the
(JFK assassination story while protecting his relationship with
(the Agency; however, the FBI has a four volumes file which covers
(both FBI interest and Gibson's relationship with the Agency. We
will be working in detail with the ARRB staff and the FBI on this
approach.
ISSUE 7
-->>
Certain Files of CIA Officials
་་
14. (S) This is a major request encompassing “... the
office files of the individual occupying the following positions
during the period 1959-1964.''
• The Office of Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
•
•
.
•
General Charles Cabell 1953-1962
General Marshall Carter 1062-1965
The Office of the Deputy director for Plans
Richard Bissell 1958-1965
• Richard Helms 1962-1965
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• The chronological files of C. Tracy Barnes, 1959-1964
Office of General Counsel, Lawrence Houston, 1959-1964
Operational Diaries of William Harvey 1962-1963.
This request will by its very breadth require significant time on
the part of the directorate (and DCI) IROS. While it may appear
overly broad, we have developed a methodology with the ARRB staff
which provides the access required by the Board but guarantees
that their review is focused: In sum, we work from shelf lists
to narrow the selection and then conduct file review sessions
with the ARRB staff; if material requested is particularly
sensitive, access can be limited to the ARRB Executive Director
or members of the Board. This effort will continue for some
time.
1
j
Conclusion
15. (AIUO) At the present time, over 40 persons are
involved in the JFK records review and we anticipate that this
level of effort may increase by 25% in the coming months as we
near the statutory end of the Board (30 September 1998)..
However, even if the Board is not extended (and it has been
extended previously), there are statutory tasks for CIA which
will extend 12-18 months beyond the end of the Board's existence.
Your continued support is critical.
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Lee S. Strickland