(tos-otes-10066] SECRET: RYBAT 19 JUL 1387 MsMCRANDUM suBsect: Ramparts: John Garratt UNDERHILL peer Samuel George CUMMINGS INTERARMCC 1. Ramparts of June 1967, Vol. 5, No. iz, Pp. 28-29, contains the following passages about Subjects: “The day afer the assassination, Gary Underhill left Washington in a hurry. l.ate in the evening he showed up at the home. of friends in New Jorsey. He was very agitated. A amall clique within the Ul’ waa reaponsible fer tha ase sapaination, he confided, and he was afraid fer hia Mle and probably would bave to leave the country. Lesa than six month: later Underhill waa found shot te death in hia Washington apartment. The coroner ruled it suicide. "J. Garrett Undsrhill had been an latetligence agent during world War U1 aad was a recognized authority oa Umi- ted warfare and amall arms. A researcher and writer on +. Military affairs, he was-on a firstename basis with many of the top braas in the Pentagon. He was also on intimate terms with a number of high-ranking CiA officials--be was one of - the Agency's ‘um-peopis’ whe perform apecial assiguments. At one time be had been a friend of Samual Cammings of interarmco, the arms broker that numbers among its cua- tomers the CIA and, ironically, Klein's Sporting Goods of Ghiecags, from whence /sic/ tho mail-order Carcano alleg- edly was purchased by Cowald. SECRET BYeAT
14-00000 at ae ne re SECRET nYBAT "Yhe frlends whorn Underhill visited say ho was sober - . but. badly shook. They say ho attributed the Kennedy ‘murder toa CLA clique which was carrying on 5 lucrative _ packet. in’ gunerunning. narcotica and other contraband, ‘and manipulating political: intrigue to serve ita own ends. Kennedy supposedly got wind that ‘something was going on ‘and was. killed before he could ‘blow. the whiatlo. on it’, although” the friends had always known Underhill to be " perfectly rational and objoctive, they at first didn‘t take hie account seriously. ‘I think the main reasoa wag,' —~ explains the husband, ‘that we couldn't. beleve that the CLA could contala. a corrupt element every bit as ruth a lesa-eand more efficient--a9 the mafia.’ a "The verdict of euicide in Unde rhill's death ia by Bo means convincing. His body wae found by a writing collaborator, Asher Brynes of the New Republic. He had been shot behind the left var, and an automatic pistol was under his left side. Cdd, enye Brynes, bocausge Underhill was right-handed. Erynes thinks the pistol waa fitted with a silencer, and cecupants of the apartment building could not recall hearing a shot. Underhill obvi-+ ously had been dead several days. "Garry Underhill'’s chilling story is hardly implausible. A8 & apy apparatus the Cls is honeycombed with self- contained cliques operating without any real central control. eee! 2. < check of Ageacy recorda has yielded the following information about John Garrett UNOCRHILL Jr. a. DPOB: 7 August 1915, Brooklyn. i b. Attended high school in Brooklyn and wae graduated from Harvard in 1937. e, Died 8 May 1964. SECRET RYBAT
14-00000 “UNDERHILL served tin milltary intelligence in “orld War ‘ sultant {probably in 1956/ to an Army coordinating group. , d, tras a plctorlal journalist for Life, 1938-1942. e. Crderod to active duty with MIS, ashingten, as a second lieutanant, on 6 July 1943. Served with MIS for ¢-1/2 yeara,. working ou technical and photographic beading» for MIS publications, evaluation ‘of intelligence, a and’ enemy: uniforms, insignia, weapons, ctc. On ” 9 October 1945 received a ar Department staff ‘citation ; ' for superior work in. military intelligence. Leit active Say duty in May 1946, . ‘{, GIA: memoranda ‘of ry ‘ebruary and Cetobor 1949. _ .show that there was interast by the New York office of CC, Centacts Division, in using Subject as a contact for forcign intelligence, Name checks were conducted with various milltary members of the intelligence community, _ Dut these ylelded imeulficient information, and OCC was advised that contact should ba Jevoloped with caution, on a@ iirited basis, and that Subject was not to receive im- formation claseifled higher than confidential. g. Onl2 March 1957 natlonal agency checks were again requested on Subject becanse of interest by the Cifice of Security. h. A UP article of unknown date citas an article written by UNDERHILL for squire. The article deacribad the U.S. ‘emy aa chockingly weak. The UP plece stated that Hanmi Keres. UNDOAHLLL sald that he had served as a cane \ i. A report of 6 August 1954 from the Office of Sacurity, . ‘ Cepurtment of State, concerns contacts between UNDONHILE ‘ and one Herman AXSLBANK, who wae trying to gall photo- graphs of Soviet milltary subjects. UNO RHILL reported these contacts to the PUl and to CLA. In November 1949 a SeCRET