Mo. 104: (104-10132- ats “s a " sunjecr: THE LEE’ HARVEY OSWALD CASE © #351164 _ SECRET a, €O..onat shale NO, 16 $010—104 ( , cf UNITED STATES GOV1. aNMENT * ~ Memorandum TO : Files ws DATE: 29 January 1964 FROM : -M. D. Stevens an te able 1. According toa newspaper ‘colum of "Allen and Scott" in-the - ' Chicago American of 6 December 1963, on the OSWALD Case, Abram CHAYES, Legal Officer of the State Department, was one of two persons im- .. mediately responsible for OSWALD's being permitted.to return:to the United States from the Soviet Union in June 1962.. The other individual: named was Llewellyn THOMPSON, the then Ambassador to Russia. ‘Another - - said to have been involved in the handling of OSWALD 's case was Semel WISE, Counsel. of the American Embassy in Moscow. 2. Abram CHAYES, #352234, who as of 16 February 1961 was described as "the new Counsel in State", was granted Security approval for liaison contact with J. Foster COELINS (in the office of the Chief of the Covert Action Staff) on 6-March 1961. ‘The request for CHAYES' clearance was a "Blanket" request to permit discussion with him of NSC 5412/2 matters on a need-to-know basis. ; . 36 In September 1961 there was a White House. namecheck : request on CHAYES! wife Antonia (Toni) Leigh CHAYES, nee: HANDLER. ; 4. In March. 1962, CHAYES was granted a renewal of his Liaison ae contact clearance with c/ CA on a continuing basis. This time his contact - was Archibald ROOSEVELT, JT . a 56 on lo February 1962, HUMAN EVENTS reported as follows with 7 reference to CHAYES: . "SOFT ON COMMUNISM: Representative Francis E. Walter “(Re-Pa:), Chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, has scored the new State Department regulations on passports, claim- ‘ing they would allow Reds denied passports to "rifle freely ‘the . confidential files of the FBI, the CIA and other investigative agencies." The man behind the mew regulations, which Walter — . claims violate the Internal Security Act. of 1950, is reportedly State's chief legal officer, Abram Chayes. Chayes, a Kennedy . appointee, is an ex-Harvard professor who was Chester Bowles’ top legal adviser when Bowles was Governor of Connecticut. Walter has introduced legislation: -to remedy the ‘new passport — regulations ." | | - SECRET Document Number taeipe9 . GROUP 1 peepasiies ; Excited se mati for FOIA Review on FEB wm deciasslficatica a |
14-00000 6. Samuel WISE, "Counsel in the American Embassy in Moscow" who is referred to above, may well be Samuel Griffin WISE Jr., #74574, SD & SSD, who apparently was once a contract employee on (ARACTIVE. [The State Department reviewed WISE's file on 2 June 1954; and as of September 1962 a Samuel G. WISE was Second Secretary of the American™ Embassy in Moscow. At that time WISE advised in a cable to the State Department that it appeared that Bruce Frederick DAVIS, #352267, who defected from the United States Army in Germany on 18 August 1960, had not expatriated himself. DAVIS' case is very similar to that of OSWALD; and he, like OSWALD, lived in the Soviet Union for two years after his defection and prior to making application for return to the United States./ 7. WISE was an applicant for CIA employment in early 1953 and was security approved subject to polygraph on 11 August 1953. He did not enter on duty and in September 1953 the office which had been interested in him was "no longer interested". On 13 November 1953, WISE was granted a CSA to permit his use as a contract employee on (ABACTIVE in New York City. His CSA was cancelled on 2h March 1958. 8. WISE was named as a friend of during an investigation of “bh latter for possible CIA employment”™in 1952. WISE, according to andlady and social acquaintance in Washington, D.C. during the period 6f about a year which ended in April 1952, was the only person she knew by name with whom s friendly. According to the informant, WISE was a student at Columbia University whose address was 423 Furnald Hall. s Security disapproved for CIA employment in June 1952 because of his chose association on a professional and social basis, while attending Denver University from 1946 to 1951, with persons of questionable loyality. In November 1954, bwas of interest to project QPVALIVE with reference to assignment to] | however, the interested office withdrew their réquést oi Hilti, Arter Security advised of the derogatory information regarding him. 9. WISE from 1951. to 1954 attended Scarsdale High School in Scarsdale, New York, which was attacked by a Citizen's Group, which alleged Communist influence in the school system. He had several questionable associates in addition +t M. D. Stevens ScunET GROUP 4 Exeleded from automatic downgrading aad declassification