ed a Lu ot 4 13-00000 SECRET Nr, RANKIN by memorandum of 23 June 1964 which included the folowing _ ee "additional observation: "The. Central Inte tigence Agency recommends that this photograph not be reproduced in the Commis - sion’ Ss ‘report because it would ‘jeopardize a most | | confidential. and productive operation. In - , addition, it could be enbarrassing to the indivi- | -dual ‘involved who as far as the Agency is aware had no connection with Lee Harvey OSWALD or the “assassination of President KENNEDY. " «48. tn this 4 instance the needs of the Commission prevai led over _ the DCI's statutory cbTigation. to protect sources and methods. The | "Unidentified Individual" remains to this day unidentified and there is n°) credible evidence up to this time to rebut the assertion made by . Mr. HELMS in the ‘concluding sentence of his memorandum to Mr. RANKIN on . 23 dune 1964. _ And the operation ‘did, as predicted, go down: “the drain. Within a week of the public appearance of the Odum Exhibit No. 1 and | Commission Exhibit 237, members of the Soviet -Embassy began systematic efforts to survey the surrounding buildings, ostensibly for rental space, but clearly their inquiries were directed to spotting possible. camera sites. The operation was continued in any case. Within a year’ it had become almost totally unproductive in coverage on Americans in — contact with the Embassy--a clear sign that this category of visitor was being warned away bythe Soviets themselves. 34 SECRET
13-00000 ~ SECRET. — Phase IIT: The e “Unidentified | Man” Photographs, eS 49. As could be foreseen, there has” been persistent pressure by an | critics of the Warren Commission Report to exploit Odum Exhibit No. Pas) ande Conmissi on Exhibit No. 237 for partisan interpretive purposes. ae considerable correspondence has. accumulated since the end of. 1964 in ef which the Agency has attempted to be responsive to ‘these requests. ands simultaneously, has tried to satisfy what has been its sole interest _ as _ From the inception of the matter: to | Protect the method of acquisition a “scat siete possible. 50. Following are highlights from the correspondence during the current phase. oa On 16 May 1967, over the signature of the General Counsel | of the: Agency» Lawrence R. HOUSTON, CIA voluntarily submitted a . 7 statement about the photograph to Judge BAGERT of the Criminal oe District Court for ‘the Parish of: Orleans , State of Louisiana. The response dealt affirmatively with the contents of the subpoena ; that had been delivered to the United. States Marshall in. the District, of Columbia, despite the fact that the subpoena could not be executed because of the lack of jurisdiction. Mr. HOUSTON proferred on Agency behalf categoric assur-_ ances to the court regarding the inaccuracy of statements and 35. SECRET
13-00000 . SECRET inferences made. by Mr. GARRISON in New Orleans about the photograph “of the unidentified individual. The Following is ‘extracted from . ae, “HOUSTON S 5 memorandum. "Because of the pub li city whi ch has surrounded the Orleans Parish Grand Jury proceedings , we have “recently carried out an exhaustive search of the “files of the Central. Intelligence Agency for any picture of Lee Harvey OSWALD taken in Mexico. As | a result of ‘this search, I can state categoricatly “that the Files of this Agency do not contain, and never “have contained, any such picture of “Lee Harvey OSWALD taken in Mexico and that we have no information whatsoever that any such photograph ever existed. _To the best of our knowledge and “information, therefore, there is no such Photograph. Furthermore, the’ photograph which is printed in the Warren Commission Report, ‘Exhibit No. 237 in Votume XVI, never contained more than one figure, and the figure in the photograph depicts an individual who, to our knowledge, has not been identified. The circumstances of the. filing of this photograph with the Warren Commission are set forth in affidavits on pages 468 and 469° of Volume XI, Hearings Before . the President's Commission on the Assassination of eerode rt
pot SECRET President Kennedy. Consequently, we have no record . ‘of “any photograph that answers. in any way ‘the description of the one we understand was requested - int the subpoena. | "7 hope 3 you will: accept this information in this eh EN ce mo -_ “form in. the spirit of cooperation in which it” ds oa | proferred. " as be : The Agency has ‘repeatedly, serviced requests about ‘the eo  fdentify ¢ of the unknown individual from Mr. “Emory L. BROWN, ar. 3 | . Route #4, ‘Box 82, ‘Squankum Road, Farmingdale, New Jersey.. The lt a fe oo “exchange of correspondence in our record covered ‘the period - Ae - 17 April 1970. . “Detailed inquiries on the unidentified individual were . received on 1 and 24 November 1971, to which the Agency responded. — on. WS November and 14 December, ‘respectively, from Mr. Paul L. HOCH, 1735 Highland Place #29 Berkeley, atta. : . d. The most extensive effort to pursue the unidentified ' individual was and is being made by Bernard FENSTERWALD, Jr., who: is now Executive Director of a Committee to Investigate Assassina- tions, 927 55th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., beginning on. 22 March 1971, shortly after the Agency declassified Commission . Document No. 674, and extending through 11 October 1972, after the 37 SECRET
SECRET 7: FBI! Ss declassification of Commi ss ion Document No. 556. On 8 April 1971; ltr. FENSTERWALD was invited, to the Agency for a discussion | with the General Counsel, Mr. HOUSTON, of. his question about. the photograph of ‘the unknown ‘individual. Two other photographs of - | the unidentified individual, in addition to the photograph - - depicted | in the two Commission exhibits, were “shown to him at that time. | Tt. is a matter of more than ordinary’ interest to note that on ‘this « ‘occasion Mr. FENSTERMALD , who was accompanied by his 8 partner, Mr. Wit Tam OHLHAUSEN, told Mr. HOUSTON and another — "representative of ‘the ‘Agency in attendance that he knew who. the . unidentified a man was. . The following is extracted from Mr. HOUSTON's -Monaraniay oP Record, 8 B April 1971: 7 ir, FENSTERUALD came to my office this. morning with his partner, William G. OHLHAUSEN, Tooked at. the other photographs and told us he did know who - the man’.was. “He said he is presently serving a 1 prison term somewhere in the United States and admitted that he had known OSWALD, but Mr. FENSTERWALD said there was nothing to indicate any connection between. the man in the photographs and the assassination of President KENNEDY. Mr. FENSTERWALD did not give us the man's name at -this time, as he said enough people had suffered “unnecessarily from allegations that they were 38
associated with the assassination, but he did say he was sure we had a file on the 1 man. He a asked how he could use them. He said he did ee : not know and finally agreed that for the time oo “being he would not press his request. a , Woe The whole meeting was extreme ly friendly and they ‘thanked us for our: response. " “The Following is extracted from the Memorandum of Record by the other CIA man present, Mr. Arthur E. DOOLEY. o ot : eo “ar. -FENSTERWALD said he knew who the person 7 was and had spoken to him; that the man was too | ma - . _ nervous to come Forth on his own. FENSTERNALD | would not give the man 's name but said he isan. Anerican, serving a prison term in this ‘country on a criminal charge, and that he had met: OSWALD | in Mexico. I asked whether the prisoner had any — conspiratorial relationship with OSWALD. FENSTERWALD replied he did not know the answer as he had not interviewed the man as yet. ‘We reiterated that we did not know who the man was, and said that we would like.to know his identity. FENSTERWALD replied that CiA has a | 39° SECRET. a oe asked if he could have the photographs. and | as Se
_ SECRET a “thick file. on. 1 the unknown man, and: ‘that we will be furnished his name in ‘due ‘course. . oe Swe FENSTERWALD made no , Feference in. his subsequent ‘conversations and correspondence to this. allegation about the identity of. the "Unidentified Individual, " " though the claim, if true, would - be of. direct evidential ‘interest and possibly permit us to assert . with finality what we believe has been the fact from the beginning: the “Unidentified # Man has nothing to do with the OSWALD case at all. - Rttacnent A: “Memorandum by David W. ‘Belin tor. E, Harry Knoche, dated 15 April 1975, with attachment:. "The CIA and the Man Who Was Not Oswald" from the New York Review of Books, by Bernard Fensterwald and George. O'Toole. Attachment B:' “Pages 364, 365, and 667 from the Warren Conmission’ s a Poo /Teport. on ; 40 SECRET