14-00000 ; . etme ge - -—, (eee Cia inked ; rs to We wel iG ROTATE ESTEE ee TID «wn securam asim: Pap: Direc tor of Central Intelligence FROM on Raymond A. Warren: Chief, Latin America Divis sion &é VIA Deputy Director for Operations SUBJECT Possible Accusations Against the CIA ee . . * @ 1. On 30 July 1976 at 16350 hours, Latin America Division . was advised by Mr. Tom White of the Office of Legislative Counsel that he had just talked on the phone to a staff aide of Representative Thomas Downing, Democrat of Virginia. The staff aide told White that Representative Downing had just received information from a Mr. Robert Morrow, author of a recent book (Betrayal) on the John F. Kennedy assassination. Morrow provided tnis alleged information to the Los Angeles Times, New York T Ems » a Richmond newspaper (Times or NewSieader, perhaps), and others. ‘According to this information, which the staff aide said is to appear. in the ‘New York Times on Sunday, 1 dugust: * a. President Richard Nixon promised ‘a Mr. Mario GARCIA Kohly that if an invasion of Cuba were successful; Nixon would arrange that all Cuban leftists outside Cuba would be killed.’ ‘The implication was that these killings would be carried out by the CIA. © b. British overflights feo the Bahamas Showed - that there were Soviet missiles in Cuba as early as 1960, and.they were not removed until 1964. President Kennedy Enew of this information, but withheld it from the public. . 2. The staff aide said that Representative. Downing plans to call a press conference on Monday, 2 August, to disclose the above information, but not necessarily to attest to its accuracy. Cae ao com or by Pd tea ty sabe ’ q7 piss er | 4 ‘ t t 2 e
e . cw iit Hea pebe ntacts in an In April 1964 for forging Cuban ang the This . . ay ¢ : oes . ( ‘ Serbia) d | a Aoceveine 20 ClA reeerds, Mario GARCIA Xo roth oon de Guiv Lici in Aavana. He is «a foruer Cu Son and vhe sen ef 2 former Cuban Anbeéssador ta Sp ifé% ne hag attempted to g2in official U.S. Govern anc the suppert of foreign governments, for variou Schemas to overthrow Fidel Castro. In pursuit of he has used numereus high-level government co eifort to associate himself with tha CIA. Garcia was sehtenced to one year in prison currency to introduce into Cuba to depress the econony. claimed he did this with the knowledge of the CIA U.S. Government CIA denied any knowledge of Garcia. Agency has onship with Garcia. b had no operational relati fsf George \ . - Raymond "A. cc: DDCI 7 - . _ CONCUR: ~ ° te . “24 ge ne PR i ep Deputy Director tor “Operations FE nag rm eo ¥. Lauder ly was an bus in. § ent su 0 rd fo 3 ray 4 aness- ince pport, ase ey ve dg He farren — ca ~~
14-00000 * How CIA ~y HARRY ALTSHULER MIDNIGHT Staff Writer The CIA and Fidel Castro were both betting on the same agent -— and Castro won. The CIA plotted to murder Cas- tro by using a Cuban agent cedeenamed Am/Lash, who agreed to lead a coup to overturn the Castro government. But Aay Lash wasa double agent. A longtime faithful pal of Castro, aamed Rolando Cubelo. he took the CIA's money — and spilled its plans- into Castro's ear. In angry retaliation, Castro set up the assussination of President John F. Kennedy. That is the story — alrenly long- koown in some Washington circles o~ behind the reopening of the file on JP K's murder. But the truth may be even more comples. Now a former CLA operas live, Robert D. Morrow, has spilled au dozen yours of secrets inte a confessional bouk, ‘Be trayal”” published by the Henry Regnery Co., Chicago. Le¢ Harvey Oswald was not the assassin, Morrow as« Renin, Oswald was just the chump set up to take the blame. while the teal killers escaped. According to Morrow, Oswald was a small-time CIA em- Ci ROBERT MORROW, man, holds Mannilicher rifte he was ordered to buy before the -. assassination. Three men fired at JFK he claims. 4 A blamed Kennedy _for Bay Of Pigs failure. fate eet ee b naeet aa nnenete ’ ‘Him First! — LB ployee. working under orders. He had no idea what it was all JOHNSON refused to spill any detaits. 1” about or where his own actions fined injo the picture. ‘A group inside the CLA itself, working closely with Bis. gruntied Cuban exiles, plotted the assassination, sayS Mor. row, ' Oswald's boss was another CLA employee. Jack Ruby, Ruby knew the scope af the plot and wanted no part of it, Gut Ruby had a racket of his own on the side, Urugerunning from Cuba, It made him vulnerable to blackmail. Ruby was the Datias nightclub operator whe walked up ta Oswald and. as the nation watched on TV, shot him at close + ‘range. Ruby too is now dead, but his cluim was he performed the act out of love fur ihe dead President. Morrow says this is the truth about Ruby: "He was ordered to liquidute Oswald, to keep his mouth shut, und threatened with a jail sentence on a drug charge if he hesitated. en) . What did the CLA cabal have aypinst JFK? Morrow ¢x- plains the CIA group and its Cuban exile friends blimed Kennedy for the Bay of Pigs invasion failure, And they charged him with playing polities in the Cuban missile crisis. “Hour President and his brother sit on the missile infor. ination, he won't live through his first term,” Morrow heard from an insider. . The ClA-Cuban exile plotters regurded JFK as a traitor. ‘They felt he wasn't ready enough to battle Castro, whom they saw us a deadly menuce to the U.S. Their first plan was to cuin Castro by cotaterfeiting Cuban currency to smash the economy. They were nunning their counterteiting operation with U.S. government funds and salaries, but naturally they had to keep it dark trom the White House. : - Their secrecy succeeded too well — for the Secret Serv- ice broke in and arrested them as ordinary counterfeiters. . Morow himself was handed a two-year sentence, sus- pended, in connection with the scheme. The insiders felt the White House had interfered with their last hope — short of violence — of breaking Castro. “If we can‘t get Castro because of the President, we'll get the President first, so we can get at Castro,”* one of them warned Morrow. se emataact” The kingpin of the group, his book says. was Clay Shaw, Efigenio Amejeiras: Fidel Castro: and the early days of the Castro victory. Le te ony centile tet oes > oat rte ee Fe eae fae nen ee el eee eet met ap dee BS ae ROLANDO CUBELO, almost a Castro tookali? with the beard and cigar, wore his arm in a slir as a result of wounds he received in the Pres dential Palace takeover in Havana on Castro behalf. now dead. a New Orleans businessman who was a power the CIA. Morrow quotes him as declaring: *‘The assassin Hon ef a President may scem a monstrous act, but not if t! alternative is an America under communist rule...°* Long afterward. Shaw was indicted on 4 conspirac charge. and acquitted as innovent. But meanwhile. as Morrow tells it, the plot went ahe: Oswald was picked as the fall guy, to he fed to the poli. while the men who actually fired the shots in Dallas th: Nov. 22 got away. . This part of the Story fits in with recent Senate Inte’ gence Committee revelations of two Cuba-connected fi, tives following the assassination. One fled Texas for Mexi. the same day, and a Cubu-bound airliner was held back : he scrambled aboard. _ The other reached Mexico the following day. and v immediately Nown out to Cuba on an airliner with no ott: Pussengers. According to Morrow, these were the men with Mar licher rifles similar to the one Oswald owned. who fired the President trom hidden vantage points. The explanat! that there was more thin one man firing accounts for t. puzzling profusion of wounds. . ; : if the truth was known or Suspected in Washington, wr has it been su long coming into the open? ; Current talk in the nation’s capital is that the first ones realize Castro's involvement had # tervible fear that if ! were openly accused. it would fead to a confrootation w:: his hacker, Russia —< Possibly the nuclear holocaust t+ whole world dreaded. So they kept quict — even the man in the White Hous; Lynden B.Johnson. * : News comunentator Howard K. Smith has now revealed contidential conversation with Johnsen, long ago. “EU tell you suncthing about Kennedy's murder that wi rock you," Johnson confided. “Kennedy was trying te ge Custra, ut Castro #08 to hin firse.°* Smith admits, “1 was rocked all right. t beuged for details but he refused, saying it will all come out some duy.”” Frue enough, there have been tumors for vears. in MIT NIGHT and chewhere, despite the massive efforts to bur investigation under the Warren Report. The CIA and the FBE were naturally reluctant to let rh workd find out they had been booby -trapped by a doub!- agent. Chey dida’t even want to chink about the truth — that was the CLA piloting against Castres Uhiet Ted to the death « Ube American President, Phat was why the CLA and the FRE kept secrets trom tk Warren Cominission ind even failed to follow up leads fo. fear ot what they might learn,
14-00000 poe S LOM coud eed gad ened mud 5. Mr. Helms did state exactly the words quoted in the news story -- "or even contemplated,"* But the context of those words was what was reported to him as the result of a search of records and memories. To this day those familiar with the extensive Oswald records state that there .is no reflection in those records that anyone even. undertook to propose or approve a contact with Oswald. It would have been natural to do so, but apparently any such thoughts did not progress to formal action. From the memorandum ‘quoted, it is apparent that someone at Branch level did think about it, even if nothing ever came of it. This hardly con- stitutes a responsible or official or serious "contemplation" of the idea. Mr. Helms' full statement on this point seems literally correct in the full context of his statement, although more refined qualifications might have reiterated the basis for his conclusions. The news story is misleading on this point. 6. The news story statement that Oswald was considered due to his ''unusual behavior in the USSR," is exactly the opposite of the statements of the quoted memorandum, which reported the care that should be used if Oswald were approached, because of his strange conduct. 7. The statement in the news story about Mr. Dulles consulting with Agency personnel on how to answer questions is basically true. The interpretation to be placed on this _ counselling will depend on the interpreter. The inference of the news story is that Mr. Dulles was counselling slanted responses on the Oswald issue, thereby tending to reinforce the interpretation of deception attributed to Mr. Helms. LE Sohn E . Woe, Attachment: As Stated cc: ODDCI w/atts DIG: SOBreckinricce: js (R 1407) 6 Ostohar 1976 vistributica: Orig wfatts - Addressee wfatts ~ pact wfatts - ee wfatts - wfatts - wfatts - ~-3- Bk ATE mw ag oF Bee me SAP 57 4a ubahw dad: cy Be thecaci lb Nae gt ae ve Da ara 4
14-00000 oMF oO ~ fi ~ 2. 0 7 0 0 o = = L "y. CRE 7 | restorers mr tse verre _ sean CONF: e663 INFO: FILE D¢d, dfoce 0 d03, ce [af a a ‘DISSE? BY: AS ma oh ee poo/be of PS / Kt 2 0 weTUAN TO re To: TNNEDIATE ‘TEHRAN: | 7 oO , UNINTEL RYBAT oo os Oo ok oF oe AP WIRE STORY IN WASHINGTON STAR ON FOIA RELEAS E OF OSuALD! S. MA senna MAKES FOLLOWING SATEEN AEG You SHOULD BE. - quARe ert Ke  @Qure: ws SWORN TESTIMONY BEFORE THE WARREN connzss Sati : : RICHARD HELMS. THEM A BRANCH CHIEF AND LATER Ciats DIRECTOR | "SAID THE AGENCY NEVER HAD OR EVEN comeneuate it CONTAC TS 9s METH OSUALD. -- NEULY RELEASED DOCUMENT. SAYS, ve SHOUED Tits TELLIGENCE INTER EST IN OSWALD AND DISCUSSES. + “FHE LAYING on OF INTERVIEWS. END QUOTE. ¥ Aareniae Cee “Bs ABOVE NISCONSTRUED FROM SANITIZED So% RELEASED UNDER FOTA. WRIT TEN BY FORMER OFFICER WHO WAS INTERESTED IN POSSTB BLE. USEFUL IN- .* FORMATION OSWALD MIGHT HAVE IN CONTEXT OF SOVIET REALETIES. In RESPONSE TO DCE.CALL TO ALL HANDS TO RECORD WHATEVER TH HIGHT BE RELEVANT TO WARREN COMMISSION INTERESTS; “OFFICER WROTE THIS CES : THE Fare DOES RECORD BRANCH LEVEL DISCUSSION BUT STATES THAT 2 URITER DOES or KNOW WHAT ACTION WAS TAKEN. E-2, INPDET-a , ** pam, CHAS: BRIGGS: Dcn . CESS ERT:. . i, SS | : THEODORE: 6: SHACK x! sy - “ADDO BE ee OFPICAR . wee COUCKDINATING OFFIC EAS SVP a etassimearion "REPRODUCTION BY OTHER THAN THE ISSUING OFFICE IS PROHIAQITED cD) IeNSy m oF , vo os Cc bv: soe € REF — Oe OSuy yy
ARTICLE APPEARED ( ON PAGE Pe eeeernttiony enon ae. on g : - a eed SS 20M & a z 2 SS yeh Sh lal ae Pn Sd ya os fay ts tae Re 2 Ty. -  # Bowtee ee Sp ate a 3e ey Contrary. io. sworn testimony, the CIA once considered using presiden-*+ tial assassin Lee Harvey Oswald a3 a-4 source - of ‘intelligence . information; about. the Soviet Unioa, according to 2. a newly released CIA document. :.,. -.3 In sworn testimony . before - the Warren «Commission, : formers€L! A Director Richard. Helms. said the-| agency never had.“‘or even ‘contem-. . plated” any contacts with Oswald, ‘The newly released docunient,. writtea by an unidentified CIA officer. three days aft er President John F, Kennedy: was killed in Dallas om Nov. 2 27, 1883, says that:“"we showed intel . “Hh gence es este in n Oswald'a a! - 7 he ‘anidenttiel Silices naced- that “i do not know what action n developed 7 BR de teh, *, thereatter. AeA ates "THE MEMO: Was’ AMONG hun-z deeds of pages* of, cocuments. ‘from’ ‘the CIA’s fileon-Lee Harvey Oswald. The material wastreleased “to..The "Ass sociated _Press yesterday’- under; ‘the Freedom of Information Act. *} : tps A. ‘second document -reveals- “thats ‘former’ CIA: Director Allén Dulles, ; \{ while serving as-a member-of the-, i| Warrea Corimission; privately. counes en CIA officials on the best way. to | 4 i H BE answee cuestions-from the coramis-- sion about allegations, that, Oswald Wasa CIA agente EA dee tin gies § Dulles “thought | “language ‘which’ made it clear. teat. Lee Harvey Os~ wald was never an employe or ageat of CIA would suffice,” an unidenti-. fied CIA officer wrote Helms { in: “April 1954. . er ae “T qeree with. him that a carétutly _phrased denial of the charges of ‘in-1 volvacent with Oswald sa emed roost appronria Le,” the unidentified uiticer, arcled Js. . dae oor * ( ee ote wore wae & sf Doc umerit Con tact . time in summer. 1960.” * was after’ their arrival.” ae ro “when he appeared before the.com- “mission in May- 1984,- Helms,‘ then head “of. thé. agency's. clandestine “Lservices, testified ,under~ oath that UPthere’s no imaterial in- the Central ~Intalligeace® ‘Agency, * either. .in ‘the’ Srecords o¢ in the mind of any of the’ individuals: that there.was any ‘con> “tact had or. even n comtemplated with’? THE NOV: 25 5: 1683,” riemo explains i that the agency’ S interest in Oswald #3 a-potential intelligence source was due: to. his “unusual behavior in the ‘Ws ”. - to. which. he had defected in: a we yb 2 wake “We. were particularly interested ia the ‘(delet ed) Oswald might pro-- “vide on the Minsk f: actory In which he thad been employed, on certain sec-- ‘tions. of the city. itself, and of course-. iwe thought.the usual (deleted) that “might help develop (deleted) person-. {ality dossiers,” the memostates.: oe The memo-indicates.that Oswald: Twas. also of. interest to. the: CIA, be--. cause .of concern em that! it his < “Russia ce 8 tien ree atts 22s ye" eee ane rae oa a bee “born wife: Marina, fight have been -part of a trend for Soviet women to ;macry foreigners, leave the country ‘and settle overseas where they could serve: as Spies, Ce : ae serge Fe. * THE MEMO. ‘ABOUT thes ageney's s | ‘interest “in: Oswald said the-discus- ‘sions about Oswald occurred “some- The author} coatinued:: we con't recall if this was! discussed while Oswald and his fami-} ly were en route to our Country, or if iti Fe oleh ott a 8 be tee