104-10422-10022 “regard ¢ ‘to: Kennedy s assassination? As. soon is ‘the name of. Lee OSWALD was. mentioned in connection _ . with the. assassination of President . Kennedy on .22 November. CIA - file checks were begun and the Mexico. City’ Station was “asked by cable for more information on OSWALD. Within a week twenty- seven” - cabléd ‘reports had been sent to the White House, the Department of State, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. _ CIA Field stations provided bits of. information during. the Sek BECOY CHO RSERESINETEON,—THE MEXICO CITY SERELON TOVIOVEE TE ; ; ; ‘ : ; : * _ ___|_conversations probably involving OSWALD,-butnot—actually mention=— ing him b hanes these, transcripts connected him also to the Cuban _ + Consulate .in Mexico City. _Séveral Mexicans were" arrested and questioned ‘about his activities, giving a good picture of what he was really up to. “A host of fabricators, some anonymous, bombarded = overseas embassies with spurious tips on the case. ~All of these leads were soon’ discredited, ‘but they were still coming in. n lig € ey OSWALD's de fection to the Soviet Union where he- Kad remai ed for aimo hres years and tf crip oO México Ci ty e“hetrad-contact-with-members—of-tie-tuban~ and'“Soviet—Con= - | foreign assets. _ a | — . As the Agency responsible for the collection of foreign coun-. | terintelligence | information ,» it was the Agency’ s responsibility o Phy ct ~~ oO © m4 ® a fete core © ‘3 ae un. pd w ww pa] Fe) 7) fs bo ish) ct Jute o Ho oo s a. Obtaining detailed information on every aspect of OSWALD's activities and movements abroad; b. Studying this information in light of the Avency's now-
13-00000 1g g available to the BBT- and other | appropriate | govern- ment: agencies and departments , all. information obtained on | ” “OSWALD or pertaining to his contacts with Cuban and Soviet - officials and ‘organizations abroad. e ou elow ai are thosé acti ons taken by the Agency after ‘earning—the-identity-of-the-assassin-and~during—the-weeks—immedi— -ely following the President's death ————————__________ Specific Action Taken by the Agency a the sam ame day as the assassination, 2Z No vember 1963, the Bt or7-Plans;-Richard-HELNS; sent cable book message — o—a A-Station proad.—HELMS-stated thatthe tragic death— . of..Pre ident Kenned ste ires all of _to look sharp. for an Os. usual intelligence developments. aithoish have no reason to ut expect any thing of a particular military nature, all hands should: be on the quick alert at least. for the next few days while the new President takes over." [DIR 84608] On 22 November, the ‘Chief of WH/3, in response to an earlier a a re et ttt attention to previous tra arvey ee ee FA ic rélating . on Sovket-inbasey_setivity-and-senetion during these hewist audio tapes and transcripts since 27 September t to locate material possibly | pertinent. to OSWALD. th 84886: in reference £o_ MEXI - 6453 CIN 36017), 9. October 1963. ]. On. the same ‘day, Chief, WH/3, asked. Mexico City Station to cable verbatim transcripts in English. ‘of all OSWALD . intercepts and other material relating ‘to him. [DIR 84914] On 24 November, Chief, WH/3, asked the Mexico. City. Station's opinion as. to why OSWALD was -in Mexico in September-October 1963. [DIR 84920] On 25 Novenber, Chief, SE ‘asked Mexico ay Station to.
13-00000 all “11 - os a synopsis for COS background briefings to assist in the evalua- tion of any operational leads generated by the investigation. [DIR 85817] A second cable was sent out on the same day to Frankfurt Russian-born wife during their return to the United States during May and June 1962. [DIR 85973] On 2 December, headquarters sent a priority cable to Ber- lin, Bonn, Frankfurt, and The Hague asking for confirmatory infor- mation relating to the travel of OSWALD, his wife, and oldest child on their return from the Soviet Union (in 1962) to the United States. [DIR 86077]. On 12 December 1963, Chief, WH/3, asked Mexico City Sta- tion to continue to watch for Soviet and Cubantreaction to the - investigation of the President‘!s assassination, evidence of their -complicity, and signs that they were putting out propaganda about the case. Mention was made that Soviet intelligence officers in India had letters sent to American leaders demanding a full in- vestigation of the assassination. [DIR 88680]
13-00000 cable a summary of all the Station’ s “information relating to Silvia nN DURAN, (Mexican employee of the Cuban Consulate, Mexico City). [DIR 84926] Se asked the Wexico City Station — “for any information indicating that OSWALD may have entered Mexico” 4 “any tine other randuring—the-period-26-Septenber—to-S-Octobers So_26 Novenper_1965,- Headquarters sent a priority cable to Brussel} | London, Madrid | | Ottawa, —_ ; Paris, Rome , | and The. Hague requesting | station. [se Lee Harvey OSWALD. [DIR 85133] On 28 November. 1963, Chief, ‘WH/3, ‘stressed in a cable to the Mexico City Station that "there should be no let down in your ef- je fort tz follow all leads and investigate all facts which bear on this case: “We- ave By no means exc Wded-the possibility that ——— other powers mey-have-played-a-rolen” Chief, WH/3 added-theroques tite on ir e_all_your_coverage of S¢ iet-and Cuban installa- _tions and our liaison with Mexicans. " {DIR 85655] On 29 November, Headquarters forwarded. a book cable to. London, and The Hague, which ‘included
13-00000 |. (3) What form'did the follow-up take? ‘The initial response to headquarters' requirements levied ‘on the field, after the assassination of the President, has been “treated under Question Q) above. As this information was received in Headquarters it was compared with existing information, if any," synthesized, “analyzed, and then made available to the White House, the Departnent of State, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 7 Opies oF EhGS 5 -a6ss: inENtatrons were also forwarded to che secret fleadquarters._e amined ai e Lead sen in-b: the 1eld Ofe-: ering guida n e, and: when necessar Ys coordinating with tha appr priate United. States | government agency - prinar ity the FBI = when. “Most; if not all, a - | leads originating in the field were persons claiming to have know- yr the investigation involved an American citizen. | ledge of OSWALD or his wife. Investigation revealed that the “majority of these Teads were. re, fabricators. ‘In light of the urgency of the investigation being conducted by the FBI, all_correspondence between Agency Headquat ers~andits— td-und “we in—cable-forin; if -necessary;-messages—coukd-be—— ee eee A gency field _representatives.inthe Mexico City.Stationand___ Se in ita and Ban sand sated iththe 2a68) ERE SARSSAREARIA—— | keeping. the latter _continually apprised of all information pertain- ing to t the _investigation as it became available, to~the-Statdon. —r The Mexico City Station and Miami Base were able to respond immedi- ately to requirements levied by the local FBI representative:. The field reported to Headquarters on all information passed in the field to the FBI or received from the FBI representative so that _ Headquarters could make a formal dissemination to the appropriate government agency or department in Washington. eet cemngndateenenaenansnenantnatinn ptt pnt nits set anatdieaseettneteeesltttenesntentetantnehunstanetetyeneeQtitntsinitttyieti NR
13-00000 “oo cot oO eS " | - 13 -. , 7, (4) Identify and describe the records with regard to this activity. | The material relating to Lee Harvey OSWALD (internal Agency documents, reports to and from other government agencies and departments, correspondence with the Warren Commission, etc.) 'is held in the Agency's official file on OSWALD. The official cee file no. 201-289248 is held by the CI Staff and comprises 57° - volumes, i.e., well over 200 separate file folders and envelopes. In addition to the official file, there are ancillary files covering various aspects of the investigation and later develop- ments - FOIA requests for information, documents (copies) cleared for release in response to such requests, the Rockefeller Com- a1 mission, etc. : « A machine index of the material held in the official file reaches a total of 1829 deeuments—or entries. There is some duplication and ommissions. It is not possible to tell from the machine index the subject of many of the documents, particu- larly cables, nor is it possible to ascertain the originaof many of the documents appearing under those entries marked XAAZ-. See the attached list of files and folders reviewed -to date. fogs oe