} 0 10188-10040 % “8 DISPATCH | renee 2 Peto | acm FE ae pee | acne Ra bckacas LON Chief, WH Division . eC Se MEADQUASTERS CESK CAR ROCHE iBOE are rs) ° nS . Cis Chief of Station, Mexico City - eH SUBJECT ‘© LIFEAT Progress Heport/April, May, June 1963 ATIC ACQUIRED - REPLRENCES | References a, HMA 21h34 . b, HMMA 21080 i, Since the LIFEA? Project Renewal Request forwarded by refercace (a) Gontained a thorough review of the LIFEAT project for the entire project year through May 1963, most of the items of interest to the prejeet were included in the review through. that date, The following veport contains those items not fully reported or not inaluded in that review plus items of interest occuring ‘during June 1963," Except for the abcve noted period, LIFEAT progress reports ‘generally will be forwarded on a monthly rather than 4 quarterly basis, 2, The following report is submitted in accordance with CSFHB-F 52-6-1, section V, paragraph 2 (a) (2). A, EXPLOITATION OF LEADS (2) LIFEAT/Soviet - During the reporting period LIFEAT has continued its daily coverage of the home phones of two known Soviet.intelligence officers, Information and leads from this coverage provide the interested Station Officer with a valuable sheck om the Soviet contacts of several KUBARK controlled double agents, There ia also provided the type of information on daily activities of Seviet personnel without which the plan- ning for and suacessful completion of the technical surveillance operation against one of these Soviets would have been impossible Station believes that LIFEAT contribution to the success of this ’ operation deserves particular mention, Distr} tions ~ WHD 2 Files CONTINUED Le St-£ - 33/5 . OATE TYPED DATE OSPATCHED £S COPY hé July 1963 | 19 July 1963 © chess ReFeREnCE 1 we a me me ee Toa AND NUMBER _ HMMA 21755 HEADQUARTERS FILE NUMBER |
14-00000 CONTINUATION OF DISPATCH © serrate a ET PN PO ‘ x (2) LIFEAT/Polish - “LIFEAT support to: the BEKNAVE /BECHICK operation __ ‘in recent moriths has been particularly noteworthy in providing ” . ‘travel plans of BEKNAVE , During the intensified efforts’: against . SEKNAVE in the “coming month plans for periodic live-monitoring me” by LIFEAT have been réupleted and should provide a valuable support’ 40 this operation, . (3) LIFEAT/Vugdslav - Of continued interest to the Station has been the information ‘concerning: the locations: being considered by the Yugoslav mission “for a new embassy, Station planning for a technical “operation in this area has depended héavily on LIFEAT leads. os), (4) LIFEAT/Cuban - iaweat ‘coverage th the AMSTRUT case provides & ue ‘"" 7 wdindow.to the’ opération which is of interest to WAVE and Headquarters.. 3 (Trahseripts from these two Jines are forwarded semi-weekly. to the in- terésted"Headquartsrs component -and: WAVE.) LIFEAT coverage of the -home-of-a Cuban ‘Commercial Attache provides information of. Anterest. ‘ concerning Cuban Soomercial santacts and purchases. . (5) EIFEAT BAe = “LipEAt coverage of ESLARD-1 has been must rewarding in _ cterms.of his contacts, travel, and future plans, This information <= has been of interest to Headquarters, LIFEAT has exerted every effort to provide continuing coverage of this target even when ESLARD-1 resided in a hotel under an alias ami following his move to new quarters, Coverage by LIFEAT was especially difficult during E~1'z stay at the Lote] gaince the technical problems were considerable and the processing of all calls to and from the hotel in order to extract E-l's calls was a heavy burden on the LIFEAT processor/translator staff, It is noted that in Station’s opinion the LIFEAT complex showed up particularly well in this assignment, i LIFEAT coverage or] lnas been especially fruitful concerning thé travel and contacts of Costa Rican Communists, including thelr travel to Cuba, It has also provided some leads concerning ZRKNICK operation, : (6) LIFEAT/American Communist Group in Mexico {ACGM) - During the reporting period local ODENVY requested that LIFEAT coverage be initiated on David DRUCKER, prominent member of the ACGM, Product from this: coverage, in conjunction with that ecverage already being provided on Charles SMALL (aka SMOLIKOFF), is valuable to ODENVY tn providing data on U.S, Communists who travel to Mexice and contact the members of the ACCM, Information is also provided on the daily activities ; and contacta of members of the ACCM, : y 4 Pi IE aH ete (7) LIFEAT/Miscellaneous ~ Coverage of a former SMOTH agent at the request of Headquarters resulted in the knowledge that this former | agent was in contact with a number of Soviet Satellite personalities and was exerting a strong influence on a friend of his, a PRAPRIME | citizen employed as the local representative of a well knowh PBPRIVE news media, It became apparent that the PBPRIME citizen, through | his connection with the news media, was pef{ng encouraged by the forner {OTH agent in an attempt to “destroy” the senior ODACID official in Mexico, Early warning to this official resulted in action which greatly diminished the effect of this effort, Coverage of both the | former SMOTH agent and the PAPRIME citizen is being continued, LIFEAT coverage Ws also placed on the private office of a Mexican ern enera. 2 4 iead that he was the contact of former who was guiding ° a number of Mexican army officers of troop comnand rank who would. sup- port in eny show of force, LIFEAT coverage, however, pro-, vided no information of value and wes discontinued; Cage TaphOn SECRET fae Lost .
; CONTINUATION OF |. DISPATCH ! «SECRET | NVA 21755 B. PROCESSING oF TAKE c, DB. E. ' for-these duties, Station review of a numcer o. agent candidates to " Provisions] operational approval was requested on LIFEUD-28 on 29 May “be undértexen when such approval is received, “ecu; AS the 8nd of May 1963, LIFSuD-] was éalled into the offices of ——_or wr weg Cl vena pee : sept ae eee tires [O SPT Ee pee F Oy aN NS Due to the heavy workload shared by the present LIFEAT processor/ transiater staff. it was decided that an additionalagent was needed fill this position was unctrtaken and one individual was selected, See paragraph 2 C below. PERSOET, “1963 to fill the need noted in ‘paragraph 2 B above, Recruitment will the. and told that since’ he has passed the retirement age (LIFEUD-1 is 63 years old) “room mist be made for youricer men", A retirement payment was agreed upon which, when all benefits are included, equals to approximately 70 to 80 percent of LIFEID-I's base sal After the retirement plan wes agreed upon, ve the eee eeer eee ina private conversation, asked LIFEUD-2 to accept a spec commission as part-time investigator conserned with adrinistrative personnel at 1 2000 pesos per month, LIFEUD-1 accepted this comniission, The above action will reduce LIFEUD-1's access to the | where most LIFEAT tap were made, The extent of this reduction can only be determined after LIFEUD-1 works his special commission for a period of time. As ea preliminary opinion, end not a final decision, it is believed that LIFEUD-2's kmowledge of and contacts in the | coupled with hig new position as personnel investigator, will continue to make his contribution to tne LIFEAT project valuable and possibly unique, (See paragraph 2 E below re security aspects of LIFEUD-1's retirement), LIAISON In lete Fay 196% local ODENVY requested coverage be instituted on David DStCKER, OQDFAVY is to process the take as on other ACGM coverages, This coverace was installed 2 June 1963, No other change from that noted in reference (b). SECURITY Tix @) In the security area the retirement of LIFEUD-1 and the events surrounding it have produced two cGangers to the operation whieh erfect botn security and efficiency, The first of these involves the reduction of LIFSAT access to the Formerly LIFETD-1 could, by calling the arrange for LIFSID-16 to enter2 and whikle engaged in normal work there eftablish a tap on a LYFFAT target line. Tapping throug: a[”] is not ulways possible, but has become the standard method used in LIFEAT operations, It is considered less time con- suzing and somewhat more secure than tapping throush [~] Secondly, LIFEUD-1, prior to retirement, could Sackstop the presence of the LIFEAT (LIFEUD-2 and LIFEUD-3} in areas of the city outside their normal wors areas while these agents-worked on the | LIFEUD-1's retirement diminiskes ‘LIFEAT access to the | and removes the "protection" LIFEUD-1 proviced to the || | . tT a related incident during a discussion of his retirement with LIFE{T-1, it became apparent that he’ “pelleved thal LICGACH was providing backup protection to the entire LIFEAT complex, LIFEUD~1 based this assumption on the fact that at one time he had discussed _-~: pYovieitng LITEAT with hich level protection with a former LIFEAT Case 4 Officer ead later learned that this Case Officer had visited LICOSCH on a meber of oceasions, From this LIPED-1 deduced that LICOACH _ =} was in centaet with the former LIFEAT Case Officer in order to _ provide -BEO rotection for LIFEAT activities, ETPEUD=1 | hirself never , . TASS AON [PaGe NO . et : . 8: ae R ELT ae cieoe NUED (3