13-00000 es enentraaengr as ENTE DD/P 4a2AZ6 | Prestpent’s CoMMISSION : ON THE ASSASSINATION OF Presip—ent KENNEDY 200 Maryland Ave. N.E. EARL WARREN, Washington, D.C. 20002 J. LEE RANK'N, RICHARD B. RUSSELL Telephone 543-1400 General Gouna JOHN SHERMAN COOPER HALE BOGGS AAZ- 2G GERALD R. FORD x . A 7 7 JOHN J. McCLOY MAY 25 1964 ALLEN W. DULLES o . Keque st Fem Warren Commission for adel thsne | wa ” a aee ive on. Os waleli, o bt. Matin of USSR tourist Visa ay ('1 4 ey Mr. Richard Helms w_Helsiwht mee fod Deputy Director for Plans out 30 Central Intelligence Agency A b Washington, D. C. 20505 ae ye ve Pe i Dear Mr. Helms: ne. o In connection with some discussions recently had with Mr. Abram Chayes, The Legal Adviser to the Department of State, Mr. Chayes has informed the Commission that members of the Depart- ' ment of State have informed him that at the time Lee Harvey Oswald received his tourist visa to enter Russia from the Soviet Embassy at Helsinki,. Finland, at least a week ordinarily transpired between the time when the tourist applied for his visa and the issuance of that visa. If this is true, then the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald obtained. his tourist visa in from two to four days may have some significance. From material previously supplied to the Commission by the Central Intelligence Agency we have concluded that Oswald arrived in Helsinki on an airplane from London’on October 10, 1959, — that his Soviet tourist visa was issued from the Embassy in Helsinki on October 14, and that he departed for Moscow on a train on October 15. Assuming that he applied for a visa the same day he arrived in Helsinki, four days were required for him to obtain the visa. If, however, his airplane arrived too late on October 10 for him to reach the Soviet Embassy and apply for a visa that same day, he probably would have had to wait until Monday, October 12 to tender his application. We have no information on the probable time of arrival of his flight or the closing time of the Embassy, so we cannot estimate whether he had sufficient time to get from the airport to the Embassy before it closed on Saturday, October 10. eeiipranantananctaitny Document Number 107-306 A og THE CLA HAS NO OBJEC: TQ THE DECLASGIFICATION CF THIS for FOIA Review an JUN 1976 COCUMENT ast” . CS COPY - DOl~ ATI
13-00000 | te # We have already asked that the Department of State look further into this matter and give us its best opinion regarding the average time required to obtain a Soviet tourist visa from Helsinki in October 1959 and also the regularity or lack of regularity evidenced by the Soviet Embassy in this regard. We are of course interested in the question of the regularity of procedures because we want to know whether, if - Oswald did in fact obtain his visa more quickly than was normal, his doing so was significant, or whether it may have been only the result of a not-infrequent deviation from normal procedures. ' If it is still possible at this time to determine the approximate hour on October 10, 1959 when Oswald's flight arrived in Helsinki and the hour when the Soviet Enbassy closed, this information, plus an estimate of the time required to travel from the airport to the Embassy by commercial transportation, would also be of assistance.to the Commission. Sincerely, Je Lee Rankin General Counsel cS COPY » QOl~-Q23IT2F$