« . Congressman Richard Ichord to show hin the exhibits he ©: the Oswald case, and that he had been misled by Bernard.” oa L, Fo, SEGREL eo Cees (oe RT MEMORANDUM FOR? Director of Central Intelligence Rel President's Commission by the Central. © ‘Intelligence Agency PO UPER VIA . > Deputy eirector for Plans SUBJECT 3 ease of Documents’ Furnished to the” On Monday, 8 May 1972, Mr. Arthur Dooley visited requested and to answer any questions, ‘It. Ichord is: Chairman of ‘the liouse Committee on Internal Security, S. It was quickly “pparent that. he knew very little about - Fensterwald; Jr. regarding the extent Of CIA's Coverage. of Oswald when he was in Mexico City. Mr.-Ichord ex- > amined the documents and raised a number of points ~ which were answered candidly and without reservation, He thanked us for easing his mind and said that we could consider the matter Closed, Mr. Ichord was well-disposed toward this Agency from the Onset and assured us that anything said or shown to hin would be held in Strict confidence. A more detailed memorandum is attached, Ray d%G. Rocca Denuty Caief Counter Intelligence Staff 1 Attachment, A/S Document Number §057-947 ke for FOIA Review on = SEP 197g - Calle y “shidey Wy ane . “7 vtonay enn [teste ") THI
13-00000.. 4 were identified in the Commission's Report as consular did not have Oswald under investigation when he was in questions as follows: of a conspiratorial relationshin between the Soviets and) _two Soviets were Supplied by CIA exnerts who were aware. SUBJECYr Lee Harvey Oswald Cease: Uriefing of Coneressman - Sichard Ichord, § Mav 2972 0 0 ce 1. Mr. Joseph O'Neill, Office of ‘the Legislative ~~ Counsel, presented Mr. Arthur Dooley, who furnished the .- o% 2 cy s . Cxnibits requested by the Congressman, and answered his. 2. Mr. Ichord s:id he was concerned over one aspect. of the Oswald Investigation from the Standpoint of his committee. He wanted io know if “during CIA's investigation of Oswald when he was in Mexico" we developed any evidence: Uswaldeither through Our coverare of the Embassv or outside meetings, He specifically referred to Soviet consular officials Pavel Antonovich Yatskov and Valeriy. Vladimirovich Kostikov, one or both of whom Oswald 05 contacted at the Soviet Embassy. (Both Yatskoy and Kostikov ° officials and KCB representatives.) I told him that CIA Mexico City; directed his attention to the pertinent exnibits; and explained that the XGB affiliations of the of their activities and not by anything said or indicated oy Oswald in the evidence compiled by us. Mr. Ichord oe examined the exhibit, noted that Oswald's short conversations only related to Securing visas; indicated that he had been misinformed; and said that he had no further questions to ask on this point. ; 3. He said that his question was snarked by Bernard Fensterwald, Jr. a former constituent, about whom he knew very little when he requested the documents. Since then he has learned of Fensterwald's dubious credentials aS am expert on the assassination and of his association with Jim Garrisson and others of questionable repute. I detailed our own difficulties with Fensterwald, his insistence that we are hiding something, and how, as Pxecutive Director-of the Committee to Investigate ASSassinations, he has been pressing us to release our Classified documents under threat of invoking the Freedom of Information Act. GRauP y for aetonrt|; WACradiag agg Ceelascitins je th FTN nett eaten ee ca teen eee ee meee cote sence cee oe coun een a oe eee ME
13-00000 . - vo ee 4. At Mr. Tchord's request,’ I gave him a conplete | a rundown on how CIA learned of Csvalii's voresence in Mexico, and the circumstances surrounding the nhoto of the oe timknown Ran which was taken in front of the Soviet. Embassy, snecified and refuted the assorted allegations regarding is wicture which were cenerated by Udvard Epstein, | a “esley Liebeler (a former comnission.attorney), Mark Lane, y a I an) te Jim Garrisson, and iater Rernard .Fenstervald,. Jrviloy néentioned that Fensterwald told usa year.ago that-he o> knew the identity of the unknown man hut so far has not.” a volunteered his name. One of Garrisson's charges was that ~~ Cswald was a CIA agent and that we cut him out of the | picture. I took the occasion to stress that Osvald was not a CIA agent and that we never. had anything to do with | s. I mentioned that when the President's Commission . came into existence Mr. Helms issued specific instructions. to cooperate fully with the Commission and to give it complete access to any information bearing on the assassina-- tion; that Commission members, at Mr. Helm's invitation | . visited our Mexico City station for an on-the-scene briefing and inspection. T told him that we have not’ “released exhibits relating to Oswald's visits to the Soviet. and Cuban Embassies, because the sources of the above a information are extremely sensitive and still productive. Mr. Ichord fully agreed on this score and complimented us en the extent of our coverage. 6. Mr. Ichord asked what steps CIA was taking to declassify its other documents. I told him of the required | five year cycle (one coming up shortly}, the review process, our interim releases, and CIA's desire to release them all as quickly as thé need for protecting them subsides. [I pointed out that most of our material consists of "nut complaints", rumors, gossip, etc; which have no security , Sienificance ner se but could be embarassing to innocent persons; disclose a productive and friendly foreign source; OG or acknowledge CIA's presence abroad where diplomatically this would be inadvisable. I cited_our experience with the “crank call" that originated in| how. in 1968 we tried to declassify tis exnibit but security officials objected on the grounds that Tt woulda publicly acknowledge CIA presence on their soil and perhaps stir unwarranted controversy./I stated that despite the above-type problems we gradually have been declassifying
CTA's material, sanitizing exhibits, as necessary= protect our sources and methods, — ree ee 7. I mentioned in passing,” that: two other things | heyond our control have contributed to the: ‘misconceptions over our exhibits: A)The inadvertent. release “by: National: ‘\xchives of the master list of numbere<,, exhibits shortly, after the demise of the President's. Commission: without > distinguishing between overt and. classified: items;.'and 3) the fact that many exhibits bear. different: numbers» but are interrelated, thus giving a. “false:impression. that. there are more. exhibits than is the case The» ‘release. of the master list without the accompanying: documents : ~. caused much apprehension and mis interpretation, particularly. among assassination "buffs"' and Amency critics. .I: cited - the “Oswald and the U-2" entry which was widely. exploited. until we declassified the document a couple of years. 8300. 8. Mr. Ichord asked if any. CIA members served. on. : the President's Commission. I said no, but mentioned that _ former DCI Allen Dulles was on the Commission. He then turned to the makeup of the Commission staff and how it ~ was chosen. I replied that we were not. really competent © =" to comment on how it was chosen but the staff consisted largely of attorneys of varied political and? ethnical backgrounds from widely separated parts of the country;. that, fron my observation, the Commission was impressively organized and a highly motivated, hard working group. 9. Mr. Ichord stated that he had no further questions to ask and thanked us for easing his mind. We offered to produce any other documents he might wish to see. Mr. Ichord replied that this would not be necessary. He returned our | exhibits and told us to consider the matter closed. 4 Arthur E. Dooley at ~ CI/REA + ' , ‘ SECRET. sel.