[towtorro-t0tas] rote eee 19 juL we?” ‘MEMORANDUM | SUBJECT: Ramparts:. John Garrett UNDERHILL Jrt, an Samuel George CUMMINGS, and INTERARMCO - 1. Ramparts of June 1967, Vol. .5, No. 12, pp. 28-29, contains. the following passages about Subjects: , Le | “Phe day after the assassination, Gary Underhill left ' Washington in a hurry. Late in the evening he: showed up at the home of friends in New Jersey. He was very agitated. - A small clique within the CIA was responsible for the as~ gassination, he confided, and he was afraid for his life and probably would have to leave the country. Less then six . months later ‘Underhill was found shot to death in his - .Washington apartment. The coroner ruled it suicide. "J... Garrett Underhill had been an intelligence agent during World War ll and was a recognized authority on limi- ted warfare and small arms. A researcher and writer on military affairs, he was ona first-name basis with many of ‘the top brass in the Pentagon. He was also on intimate terms with a number of high-ranking CLA officials--he was one of the Agency's ‘un-people' who perform special assignments. ’ At one time he had been a friend of Samuel Cummings of “Enterarmco, the arms broker that numbers among ‘its cus ‘tomers the CIA and, ironically, Klein's Sporting Goods of Chicago, from whence {[sic/ the mail-order Carcano alleg-. edly was purchased by Oswald. ; ; ’ SECRET oT
14-00000 “Although the friends had always known Underhill to be .. iperfectly rational’and objective, they at first didn*t take “his account seriously. ‘I think the main reason was,! explains the husband, ‘that we couldn't believe that the . ‘CIA could contain a corrupt element every bit as ruth-  lesé--and more efficient--as the mafia.' , “ contained cliques operating without any “ge RYBAT | “The friends whom Unde thill visited say he was sober but badly shook. They say he att ributed the Kennedy ; “murder to a CLA clique which was carrying ona lucrative racket in gun-running, narcotics and other contraband, | _and manipulating political intrigue to serve its own ends. Kennedy supposedly got wind that something was going on and was: killed before he could ‘blow the whistle on it’. _ “Phe verdict of suicide in Uniderhill's death is by no ’ means convincing. His body was found by a writing -. collaborator, Asher Brynes of the’ New Republic. He had been shot behind the left car, and an automatic pistol * was under his left side. Odd, says Brynes, because — Underhill was right-handed. Brynes thinks the pistol — was fitted with a‘silencer, and occupants of the apartment building couid not recall hea ring a shot. Underhill obvi- ously had been dead several days. “Garry. Underhill's chilling story is hardly implausible. : honeycombed with ‘self- Aga spy apparatus the CIA is real central control. ies ing information. 26 A check of Agency records has yielded the follow about John Garrett UNDERHILL Jr. a. DPOB: 7 August 1915, Brooklyn. _ b. Attended high school in Brooklyn and was graduated from Harvard in 1937. ; c. Died.8 May 1964. RYBAT
RYBAT d. Was a pictorial journalist for Life, 1938-1942. e. Ordered to active duty with MIS, Washington, as a second Heutenant, on 8 July 1943. Served with MIS... - for 2-1/2 years , working on technical and photog raphic headings for MIS publications, evaluation of intelligence, and enemy uniforms, insignia, weapons, etc.” On. ‘ “9 October 1945 received a War Department staff-citation ~ for superior work in military intelligence. Left active duty in May 1946. . ; {. CLA memoranda of February and October 1949. “ show that there was interest by the New York office of OO; Contacts Division, in using Subject as a contact for foreign intelligence. Name checks were conducted with various military. members of the intelligence community, but these yielded insufficient information, and OO was advised that contact should be developed with caution, on a limited basis, and that Subject was not to receive in- formation classified higher than confidential. Be On 12 March 1957 national agency checks were again requested on Subject because of interest by the | Office of Security. , , h. A UP article of unknown date cites an article written by UNDERHILL for Es uire. The article- described the U.S. Army as shockingly weak. The UP piece stated that UNDERHILL served in military intelligence in World War ‘Ll and Korea. UNDERHILL said that he had served a3 a cone . sultant /probably in 1956/ to an Army coordinating group. ; i. A report of 6 August 1954.from the Office of Security, , Department of State, concerns contacts between UNDERHILL . and one Herman AXELBANK, who was trying to sell photo- graphs of Soviet military subjects. UNDERHILL reported © these contacts to the FBI and to CLA. In November 1949 SECRET RYBAT
‘tor, ‘Domestic Contact Service, whose otfice provided _reply.. ne RYBAT oe | UNDERHILL visited Washington to call the attention of CIA te certain AXELBANK pictures and was advised that Colliers. might be interested in some ‘of them for an article on Ruggia. | UNDERHILL discussed AXELBANK. with "Ricky" Haskins of — 3. On the. basis of the foregoing an inquiry was made of direc. the attached 4. The following information about Samuel George CUMMINGS, 201-178343, was compiled from his 201 file acd from information | provided by the Office of Security and by CiCLSPG. a. Hig date and place of birth are 4 February 1927, | Philadelphia. . woe . ; b. He entered on duty with CIA's a staff employee in December 1950. He was then a GS-9 assigned to | ' Ground Branch, Weapons and Equipment Division, OSI. - In January 1952 he was transferred to the Office of Procurement’and Supply. During 1952/1953 he travelled abroad extensively, baying foreign weapons. ¢. He married a German national and consequently resigned in November 1953, when he became a career ; agent in Guatemala.  @ Cables of the 1951-1952 period state that CUMMINGS was then buying arnis for CLA and that the arms were intended for resistance elements behind the [ron Curtain. - e. On 17 August 1954 CUMMINGS became the aa principal agent of the = , | nternational Armatnent Corporates and TH Lt. , both incorporated in Ganada. Swiseriand, and the U.S. CUMMINGS engaged in sharp practises in’ his conduct of business and was 2lso extremely diffi- cult to control, SECRET - RYBAT
Jad ‘vofInterarmco. ‘VBAT | {. A.1957 cable states that a business man in.: Panama, an Agency source, knew CUMMINGS to ' be. providing information to the FBI and also knew him to be "careful about keeping the appropriate’ U.S. Government: agencies informed of his deals." g.. In ‘early 1958 CUMMINGS assumed sole wad) _ ownership of I CUMMINGS bought them with a non-interest bearing promissory note in the amount of $100, 000,° payable in four annual ‘inatallrnents of $25,000, and certain | items of inventory which had ac and a market.value of $250, 000. On 28 June 1961 the West German publication Der "Spiegel reported that CUMMINGS had been em-~ ployed by CIA aa an arms expert during the Korean War. and that he had cooperated with CLA in “supplying. arme to varioua trouble spots". . f. Shortly after: CUMMINGS: left his staff position for Interarmco, contact with him waa established by _the WH Division. This contact was taken over by C/CI/SPG iw September 1954. (CUMMINGS knows ° him only by alias.) This contact is still maintaineds—_ Until recently the principal purpose was to dispose of arms The current contact is not operational,—~ ft is not based ona project, and no payments are made to CUMMINGS who volunteers information re- _ sulting from his extensive travels and high-level contacts. An operational clearance for CUMMINGS? -use by the Cl Staff as an informant was granted in March 1958. SECRET ~RYBAT \ [aes al
BAT j. On 4 January 1962 the Rome periodical Vie Nuove ‘stated that. CUMMINGS was hired by CLA as an expert in arms and ballistics. . . Uk. Iv ‘December 1962 the Office of Security recom. “mended ‘against his use by Domestic Contact Service as , a source, and in December 1964 the CI-Staff advised that ” it had no operational interest in Subject. (Comment;. Aa wag ‘noted above, this statement is correct, because Subjéct's activity ie ‘not ‘directed by the Agency. He .. : volunteers information: } i. An Interagency Source Register memo to ACSI, dated 1 June 1965, stated that at that time there was “no record of a current ‘operational interest in Subject. " m, An Agency report of 24 February 1966 cited. CUMMINGS. ‘ag trying to procure milllary equipment from Communist Bloc countries on behalf of DIA. n, Agency reports of February and 4 May 1967 stated that CUMMINGS had been in close contact with the BND (West German foreign intelligence service) for a@ year or more, that he had been given require- ments by the: BND, and that these included lists of. Soviet and Bloc arms for procurement. It was also , ‘reported: that he showed a BND representative a copy of @ purchase order for the procurement of a Soviet T-54-tank, the order having originated with DIA. BND officials have often stated that CUMMINGS is a CIA agent. eo. A form dated | June 1967 waa directed to the Inter rageney Source Regiater by "DA", presumably - Department of the Army. 5. Agency records contain numerous references to” INTERARMCO, 5 . “SECRET RYBAT
14-0000 6. It is noted that UNDERHILL, CUMMINGS, and INTERARMCO have not appeared to date in any press or classified reports of the Garrison investigation in New . Orleans, with the tenuous exception: of the Ramparts article cited at the outset of this memorandum. SECRET RYBAT