14-00000 “5-2 ses’ pun out of another ohe of these houses (crypt for the four houses vas LIMUST/1, etc). This was handled by Glen WIDDEN (outside TSD officer) and Mahoney using HQ TDY teams for monitoring. This operation was also separate from LICALLA, The two houses in between were rented to unsuspecting tenants, ce, Mobile surveillance was developed by Anderson and later placed under Mahoney and Joseph Sancho. ‘This team consisted of a half dozen or so agents who used three to four late model cars and a panel truck (which could be used on stake_outs for photo covera:e). The plan was to activate this group by radio (from LIMITED BASE) Soviet hen someone of interest left the/Embassy gate and stay with them until they made their meetings. These agents knew about the LIMITED BASE be@ause they had LINITED photos for identification purposes. This worked fairly well until about the middle of 1958 (check date) when one of the surveillance agrents got too close to his target and was arrested by the Mexican transit police and turned over to the Mexican Secret Service. By the time the Station could arrange through a cleared attorney to bail him out (Judd Austin of the Goodrich, Little and Riquelme firm), the agent had identified Sancho (who wes evacuated across the border at Nogales by Bob Shaw) and the inside - phone number of Mahoney (who wes subsequently replaced by Louis Puckett). As a result of this flap, the LIFRAT project was broken up into several others. The agents were not changed but were given Frank new crypts. /Estencone and Peggy Maggard replaced Anderson in handling the unilateral phone taps. Puckett replaced Mahoney and handled the surveillance team (LIEITRAF) and the photo bases through Ramon. ad. LIBIGHT was the erypt used for a unilateral (originally) mail intercept handled by Charlie Anderson III, The agent (Mexican) had a semi official status and arranged to obtain selected letters from TSECRET
14-00000 _ Mexican President elect, Adolfo Lopez Mateos. During this period, the U.S. a - 4 - (SECRET, @ Sub-agent in the postal system (I think at the airport). His case officers Alfonso Spera, were later/Puckett, Robert Feldmann, and Alan White. At 2. “Liaison coveragé was unreliable and insecure as characterized by the nature of the Mexiéan services at that time. The Mexican DFS (Direetion of Federal Security) with which we dealt was a hip pocket croup run out of the Ministry Of Government, | This Ministry spent a major part of its time on control of ‘foreigners and political investigations... Their agents were vicious, venal, corrupt extortionists. ‘Robert. Melberg’ established contact with one of them ae Levine De Leon (later LIFIRE group) in about 1950 or 51. He gave them some training (a group of about five surveillance types) in travel control working the airport as well as file searches .of names from DFS Hgtrs' where the files were poorly organized and often inac¢curate, Now and then, however, some useful information was developed but it could not be depended upon. -Melberg iwas replaced by Phil Roettinger (resigned end remained in Mexico), Mahoney, Thomas Hazlitt, and Robert Feldmann, 6ve Tar Vs Gibsn ) During 1958, Win Scott met socially some of the éhronies of the Ambassador Robert C. Hill (reflecting the policy of then See State J.F. Dulles) was energetic in organizing groups to "fight commmism". One of these seeds grew into a proposal Miguel Aleman (jr. sof of former Mexi President), acting project (LIENVOY) went through about four distressing years of a shakedown. ‘The Mexican in contro] (LIELEGANT) was inexperienced, old, and greedy. His son (LIENVOY-2) was a masterpiece of deceit and corruption. LIELEGANT also manipulated cortrol over the principal agent of LIBIGHT mail intercept. The first case officer was Alfonso Spera inside with Turner Smith (retired) outside and John (TSD training officer for surveillance and head of the listening post where thirty telephone lines would connect as well as a transcription room .-
oe _S- SEGRE - aft Vi al = * yo 4 . : staffed by Mexican army officers.) Initially the stetion tried to m-et every demand made by the Mexicans. Both Smith end_John hed language difficulties and personal problems associated with being outside the station so thet the Mexicans were virtually uncontrollable, spendiig money es they pleased, squirrelling away equipment at enormous costs, and neglecting their part of the bargain in the production of transcripts or placing taps which we wanted. Spera was replaced by Jack Brady who found himself in the same pincer movement of having Scott approve a request by LIELEGANT that Brady had turned down by the son, LIENVOY-2, Finally when the cost became exhorbitant and there was little to show for it, the project was revamped. Smith and John returned to the U.S. and were replaced by a TSD officer, Charles Flick, who was put inside the listening post to maintain Brady was reassigned to other duties pending a transfer, the equipment./ Scott took over the project as case officer meeting with LIELEGANT. He designated Ann Goodpasture to meet dailing with Flick for routine supervision of the listening post, picking up transcripts and tapes. Goodpasture had no dealingswith the Mexicans except when Scott was 111 or out of town, Generally, all decisions were made by Scott. This was about late 1961.. 3. My memory is a little vague about the origins of the Cuban Embassy but I think the staff first developed from a pro-Castro group celebrating on New Years eve 1959, As I recall, it was a makeshift arrangement of volunteers through most of 1960 end 61 with Tom Hazlitt producing voluminous reports on their activities end recruitirg agents right and left among Cuban nationals in Mexico City. 4. Personnel assignments. Of interest to us now is who was in Mexico during the period prior to Oswald's visit and the subsequent investigation by the Warren Commission. To determine who vas there and what they were doing I have grouped persons torether chronologically with ereas of their assignment as the covering from 1950 to 1969 so thet é€xekkex names pop up, one can tell what tye . tats had . Uke . period they were in Mexico and their assignments at the time. SECRET,
14-00000 _é  SECHET, . FA ¢ © 4 8/56-6/69 COS Winston M. Scott (deceased) pecs =—-7/56 - 7/58 Alfonso Rodriguez (retired) 10/58 - 12/62] retired) 6/63 ~ 9/65 Alen Uhite (retired)— 10/65 - 1969 Stanley Watson (retired in Mexico) COVERT ACTION | + Prior to 1954 Howard Hunt (retired) 12/54 - 7/58 Willierd Hill (resigned) 12/56 - 9/61 Stannard Short (retired) Chief 9/61 - 3/64 David Phillips C/(retired) 8/62 - 9/64 Asst ~ 2/64 - 6/65 Janes Flannery C/(retired) — 9/64 - 11/66 Herold Dalghren Asst 10/65 - 1967 Stanley Watson C/ (retired) 66 - 68 68 - 71 Joseph SmithC(retired in Mexico) CUBA OPERATIONS 56 ~ 4/62 Tromas Hazlitt Chief 2/60 ~- 4/62 Jack Stewart (retired Costa Rica) 1/63 - 4/65 Bob Shaw Chief — 9/63 - 7/65 Ray Swider — Loo ER oe 10/63 - 5/65 Lorna Mackay Cratanae . ' 8/€% - 6/65 David Phillips Chief (ne teed j= 9/65 — 190/68 Joseph Piccolo 10/65 - 12/67 Pesgy Maggard SOVIET TARGET - 6/57 - 10/59 Louise Lyon Cra kant ob} 6/62 - 1/67 Prentice Marheine (ps) 9/59- 8/65 Herbert Manell Chief= (retired ?) 9/59 - 8/65 Parbara Manell =- Outside CO 5/64 - 7/66 Willian Bright 4/65 - 11/67 Cynthia Hausmann : 6/65 = 7/67 Alice Pittinger 7/65 ~ 4/69 Paul Dillon Chief SOVIET PTeANSORTRERS 6/56 - 6/58 Morris Gordon (resirned) 6/58 - 6/63 George Misko — 6/63 = 70 Boris Tarasoff (retired in Mexico) ~
14-00000 Unilateral phono taps 1949 ~ 1961 Chsrles Anderson III Chief 49-71 % Outside CO 4/55 ~ 4/60 Pegey Maggard Asst David WILSTED (ps) 4/56 - 1/62 Frenk Estancona Chief retired in Mexico: 7 ’ 2/60 - 10/64 Thomas Keenan = O/64 = 12/67 Michael Parner Unilateral photo © Cubans 6/59 ~ 4/64 Robert Zambernardi (resiened Mexico) 7/59 ~ 6/62 Richard Srathar TSD (retired) Unilateral photo Soviets 3/54 - 4/59 Narry T. Mahoney 56 ~ 68 Outsid Agen retired Chicako) Remon Alvarez (re osiened in Mexico) 5/57 - &/64 A, Goodvasture (alternate CO - and internel routing) 6/55 - 6/63 Louis D. Puckett (retired) 6/63 - 10/64 Thomas Keenan => Robaee A. a lesan 65 - 66 Willism Bright ye, ei GF S nas peo? f iv é : “ore f Laat 59 Winston Seott (deceased) 60 Alfonso Spera (retired) 1959 +~ 1960 Turner Smith (outside, now retired) 1959 - 1960 John’ (Treining rept resigned) 1960~- 1961 John Brady (retired) 1962 - 1968 A, Goodpasture ~ 1961 - 1971 Cherles Flick (outside TSD Star sae) by lon *: o 5 i. ( a) D as Pa R 3 for ~*~, \ Lyaison — surveillence Prior 1954 Robert Melberg (retired) 3/54 - 4/59 Harry Mehoney (retired) Lf/59 ~ 1961 Thomas Hazlit 12/62 ~ 9/67 Robert Feldmann ¥) Ne TSD Outside unit Jpee ey fe AfBS = 12/03 Gien Widden Of/59 -4/64, Joseph il. Re
About mid 1962 (check date) LIENVOY outside Mexi rept asked for the telephone numbers of the Soviet, Cuban, and Satellite Exsbassies. With this forewarning, LIFEAT (unilateral coverage) was disconnected. However, as I recall, the Mexicans connected 5 Cuban lines, 5 Soviet lines, 3 Czech, 2 Folish, end 1 Yugoslav line. The basehouse listening post had a live monitor who mede short summaries of interesting conversations for a daily resume which was received each day around § a.m. (passed by Flick to Goodprasture to get to Scott before 9 a.m.) Later (when the reel was completely recorded) full transcripts were typed and passed to the stetion in the seme way, however, there was usually a time lag of a day or so. Those transcripts which hdd Russian or another language besides Spanish or English went out of the listening post the day after the transcript (of other conversations on the reel)was typed. These reels were taken to another location where they were translated and typed. In the case of the Russian translations, Boris Tarasoff usually ren about a week behind the date of the conversation because of the volume of Russian conversations among the x.embers of the Soviet Embassy. During this period (fall of 1963) the reels were probably being brought into the station and carried to Boris by one of the people from the Soviet Section or they may have been carried to him by Flick but I think I brought the reel in and gave it to Herbert Manell to take to Boris, Herbert Manell and his wife Berbara handled all of the processing of Soviet transcripts. My job involved screening the photograchs as soon as we leerned thet the man calling himself Oswald was probably an Anericen. However, here again there was a backlag because the photos were yicked up three times a week but the ones picked up were usually for dates a few days pre¥lously because the doctor processed the film on a night time basis, Fhotographs were made usually until one roll vas used but later we got it changed to one day coverage on each roll - in other words the Bde ee operstors cleared the camera each day whether there was angnghikmxaxpma a full roll of film exposed. Instructions were to cover office hours, photograph each
new Soviet and family, all foreigners and foreign lieengee plates. Euman error did occur but generally the efents were conscientious. The Cuban embessy coverage had more sophisticated equipment (a pulse camera) but it frequently developed mechanical difficulties. Bob Zambarnardi and Spathar (I think) handled this film - pick up and delivery. Lorne MacKay screened the film inside the station. I am certain thet the Oswald call came to our attention from the Soviet line. It was picked u: end taken to Boris for a translation because the caller was trying to speak Russian. Any delay was caused by waiting to compare the photographs with the typed transcript. There were no copies of transeriots every made in languages other than Spanish or English because Win Scott could read only those two languages end he versonally screened the trenseripts for operational leads he wanted pursued.