104: nse (086 ag? Fal oN Tre ge oy I BR SEPAR SF : Sil he * 20 June'1975 > - | | MEMORANDUM FC FOR THE RECORD | oo (bb ae SUBJECT: “Meeting v with Mr. } Burt Wides (ona § Staff Member) ao ie a. “On the attermoon of 17 June 1975, Mr: John. Leader of the : re IG Staff visited Mr. Kennedy and asked that the undersigned be present, - "s+" Mr. Leader said that Mr. Burt WIDES of the Senate Staff had asked to. Lo. gee Mr, David Whipple and the undersigned. Apparently Mr..WIDES _ _ “> had read some old files relating to Africa and wanted to clearup some .- =. -. questions. According-to Mr. Leader’ the discussion would be informal. © <-. _However, it was possible that subsequent discussions would, depending ~ . '_. on what emerged from these discussions, would be before a larger Senate — _ Staff Group. The files which Mr. WIDES read were WIROGUE, QJWIN |,’ -> * and one other (unknown), It'was agreed that the undersigned would see 7 _}o. | -Mr, WIDES to see what he wanted, as WIROGUE/1 v was run by myself in 7 —_ an the early 1960's. . | | _ “e 4 2. At approximately 1615 hours the same day 11 met with Mr, WIDES, _ No other’ persons were present. Mr. WIDES explained that Mr. William” * ' Harvey had been asked by.Mr. Bissell.to look into the feasibility of ee “apc 7...’ ‘establishing an "executive action" capability within Staff "D". Aside ~~ 9- ~~ "4st. from the allegations related to Mr. Harvey's activities with relation to / (f".. . . Fidel Castro, he, Mr. “WIDES had noted that‘Mr. Harvey's Deputy, © .° 7:7 - . Justin O'Donnell had gone to the Belgian Congo and had handled an agent foe “!. encrypted QUWIN. The asset had a similar background as WIROGUE/1 | a ~ and had on one occasion according to the files been approached by WIROGUE/ I in Leopoldville with a proposition to establish what Mr. WIDES believes “ - is an “execution squad." Moreover, there was a cable in the file relating +... to the above which stated that "WIROGUE/: 1 exceeded his authority" _— i _. . written by the. undersigned and sent by Mr. Bronson Tweedy. Mr. WIDES a * ‘went on to say that when he was reviewing a summary of the WIROGUE/1 . case he noted a statement that WIROGUE/1 would be trained in small arms, «.- po ‘demolition and “innoculation." | Mr. WIDES admitted that since he called ee 5959 Nn “am 10 co)
14-00000 { : : eo. i . rr re 2 t . aw ge . : :¢ + ( . ut . ' . : . . . $e : . . : for me he had reread the summary and it was apparent that what was meant 7 __ WIROGUE/1 was to get innoculations. Nonetheless, although this may || ~.- fo be the case he was interested in WIROGUE/1 possible connection a with cet Soe, cd QIWIN, WIROGUE/I' training, handling and misston. 7 os ORNS ie Ue a 3. Mr. WIDES said he. knew, from the file that WIROGUE v was . 7 ‘originally trained for a SB mission, which was canceled, -he had received a . training for that mission and later Messrs. Edward Wells and Lester Houck | on had met ‘with -him and decided to pick him up for utilization in ‘the Congo, | - a He also knew that I had handled him while in the U.S.; met him in Frankfurt on and briefed him prior to his ‘dispatch to Leopoldville o. -Also that while in - 3 a oe, “.*": the U.S. “WIROGUE had undergone plastic surgery. Mr. WIDES asked - coe me -° specifically what training did WIROGUE receive and what was his mission. - * - Etold him that I had. forgotten after thirteen years about his plastic surgery. 7 nse Job) and this was done as an accommodation to WIROGUE,. His. ae o training in small arms and demolition was just that and I accompanied him ‘ - con a at the training site during the training. “I met him in Frankfurt to brief him - oe “on his new documentation, namely backstopped and to take. .0-°) him to Switzerland where a sum of money was deposited in a Swiss bank.” and a letter of credit was given to him whereby he could enter Leopoldvilles’ oa _ . His mission was to establish himself, namely by opening a Photo shop - es using the letter of credit, He was to be available to’the Station for para~ *” - military activities once he was established and the need arose. Unfortunately t -  WIROGUE, being of a criminal persuasion took the opportunity of the chaos- ' in the Congo to engage. in money~making propositions for personal gain, ~~ - -- didn't follow instructions and became a handling problem. The Station. - ~~ * ' " yecognized in a short period of time that WIROGUE needed a full-time _~ « vn -. handler and didn't have the luxury of manpower to do so. He was eventually _ returned to the U.S. and terminated. As for the cOémment of "execution ‘- “ squads" I simply did not recall it hut if he was contacting people én his. - own he probably did exceed his authority. Mr. WIDES asked if WIROGUE | received “special handling" as opposed to other agents. I replied that in -: a a sense he did as WIROGUE was a stateless person who required careful ne . Supervision. On the other hand, ‘Lester Houck was enamored with this type personality and wanted to ensure WIROGUE was kept happy « 7 @ 4. Mr, WIDES than zeroed inc on Qywin, wanting to know if I knew the ‘case, or that Justin. O'Donnell was handling him and if so what was his — _ mission. I told him that Q}WIN meant nothing to me nor was I aware that — O'Donnell handled him;as a matter of fact I do not recall O'Donnell being | in the Congo... Upon probing I explained that I was not the Desk Officer . for the Congo and was assigned to another section within the Branch, , Only reason I was given the WIROGUE case was due to a decision by . 2 SUPRA BL Ta iste ad .
14-00000 ; o, H a) eae. 7, et 2 I. | - «> -Lester Houck who felt that a Case. Officer having European. experience _ -- - have the case which I had. Mr. WIDES asked if Ur. Wells sawallthe | -” WIROGUE traffic. I responded that as Mr. Well was responsible for |. °--. -., the Congo, undoubtedly he did.” He then asked if Messrs. Tweedy and. .. Houck would see it, Again affirmative, Mr. WIDES then reviewed the |. -_ . -" Tumumba arrest and subsequent assassination and asked if ] knew if . is |». either QUWIN or WIROGUE were. in: any way involved... I replied ; in the , negative. a cu EY oe en Ss “Mrs WIDES then harked back to the *innoculation" training. os He explained. that he has sworn statements that the use of biological - . _ Warfare was contemplated in the Congo and wanted to know if WIROGUE -°- ledge WIROGUE was never trained in these techniques, nor was I aware ~ = oo : -. they existed or ever considered. Mr..WIDES assured me they did, however _ . -... his interview was simply to see if there was a connection between QUWIN - > “and WIROGUE and to clear up this little question of “innoculation” which ~ me, admittedly was resolved before the interview began. : 6. A ‘final note, Mr. ‘WIDES asked if Mr. Glenn Fields was Mr, _ Tweedy" s Deputy while I was in Africa Division. I said YES e Then Mre a WIDES thanked | me and. said that the matter was closed. ~ Distribution: a O&1 - Inspector General . -1.- AC/OPS a _ was trained in these techniques. I stated categorically that to my: know-. ann