JFK Assassination System Date: 9/21/201 Identification Form Agency Information AGENCY: HSCA RECORD NUMBER: _ 180-10118-10034 RECORD SERIES: |» NUMBERED FILES AGENCY FILENUMBER: 008138 Document Information ORIGINATOR: HSCA FROM: JOHNSON, JIM TO: TITLE: Peleased under the John Kennedy bSsassination Records ll ti A f1i992 DATE: 03/17/1978 eeneerron Acro (44 USC 2107 Note). PAGES: 6 ase#:NWU 53090 Date: he-O7-2017 SUBJECTS : _. ACTIVITIES ALPHA 66 AMN/LASH OSWALD, LEE, POST-RUSSIAN PERIOD, POLITICAL AND SUBVERSIVE.. FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE LEADS AND INFORMATION ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES DOCUMENT TYPE: OUTSIDE CONTACT REPORT CLASSIFICATION: — Unclassified RESTRICTIONS : — Consulted CURRENT STATUS: Withhold DATE OF LASTREVIEW: = 06/21/1993 OPENING CRITERIA : COMMENTS : Box 148. v9.1 ] HW 53090 Docld:322767309 Page 1
om Routing Slip xo. 008/36 DATE socument I.D. INDEX COPY, TO Charlie Mathews Jim Wolf ‘Donovan Gay Jackie Hess Cliff Fenton Team #1 Lael XO LX V8 42 Team #3 Team #4 ‘Beant Form #2 Special Instructions: JFK Routing Slip Robert Blakey Gary cornwell Kenneth Klein Sena Mathews OLE. pik PRiLdanss ackie Hess Cliff Fenton Mike Ewing 8 (ana Lie Coase 8  Cactana,lhadiae Team #2 aa | a & | ‘special Instructions: | HW 53090) DocId: 3026730 Fa SEE
ie so, | KENNEDY 908132 OUTSIDE CONTACT REPORT DATE March 17 TIME 10:30AM .  oTe Identifying Information: Name Jim Johnson — ‘Telephone Address - . sty Type of Contact: Telephone —— AAS Person It. Summary of Contact: ee 7 7 oe gim Johnson, formerly with the Senate Select Committee: ‘on “Intellé gence. Activities, was interviewed today by John Hornbeck, . gt rt tnt nner ttt et ttn trina ata tartrate Pett Patricia Orr, Jonathan Blackmer, Bill Triplett, and Jim Wolfe regarding his knowledge of the Senate Committee. investiga- | tion of the possibility of Castro or anti-Castro Cuban involve- ment in the Kennedy assassination. Johnson was able to.- answer questions put to him, but was restricted as to what information he could volunteer. .He did indicate that there were certain areas which he felt should be further pursued. He called our attention to pages 11-14 of Book V of the Select Committee's final report, which deals with Cuban groups active in 1963 after. the ‘U.S. government: withdrew its ee ten arate nee et! bo _ | [support of much of the military action against Cuba; the. impact of ongoing ‘Cuban exile activities in the New Orleans an Tit. _Recommended rollow- up (if any): Bo ane Request: files on operations against ‘Cuba prior to the assassina~ | tion; “files on the "Cuban-American" of -Book V;. and other - po . files as rveyommended in the summary. | ~ : 7 Signature: ; _ : , -FPorm £5 HW 53090 | “Docta: 32267509: Page 3.
JOHNSON page 2 area and Lee Harvey Oswald's interest in it; and the approach that the Special group and government agencies were taking in their actions against Cuba. There are three Cuban groups which Johnson felt were worth further investigation: Alpha 66; SFNE (although it was unclear to Johnson what role SFNE played vis 4 vis Alpha 66); Comandos L-66; and the DRE, the group with which Carlos Bringuier was associated. Several DIA and CIA case officers were interviewed by Johnson, but the staff of the Senate Committee did not interview or take testimony of any Cubans in these groups except Antonio Veciana, whose credibility is high, according to Johnson. Johnson indicated that while Veciana's case officer did not fit into any neat categories, he was connected with military intelligence. The committee attempted to locate or identify Maurice P:ishop without success. Johnson said he did not look at documents dated prior to 1963 in many instances, and recommended that we look at the earlier dated files. He also indicated that the June-July 1963 meetings of Cuban leaders and Somoza or officials of other Latin American countries interested in the anti-Castro movement could be of interest, since they reflect attempts to reorganize the anti-Castro movement following the withdrawal of most U.S. support. These attempts may involve wealthy Cuban emigres. (Proverbially, the wealthy Cubans went to other Latin American countries; the poorer Cubans, who often became the footsoldiers of the HW 55090 Docld:32267309 Page 4
JOHNSON page 4 on October 10, 1963 from an informant about the identity of AM/LASH and the imminent meeting between AM/LASH and his CIA contact. Johnson said the FBI would not give the Senate Committee the name of the informant, however, he did not believe it was Victor Espinosa Hernandez since the FBI was trying to locate Espinosa at this time in regards to the summer explosives arrest at Lake Ponchartrain. With respect to the nature of CIA operations against Cuba in 1963, Johnson maintained that agency plans had become more sophisticated, such as the use of AM/LASH in assassination plots. Some military raids were taken agasint Cuba in the summer and fall of 1963 to keep Cuban exile morale up, but generally there was a tough crack-down on such activity and agency involvement was usually restricted to intelligence gathering rather than hit-and-run tactics. With respect to Lake Ponchartrain training camps, JOhnson believed the camps were set up mostly to obtain right wing backing for anti-Castro operations. The McLaney camp, which was not fully investigated by the FBI, appears to have been a relatively low-level operation. Although the groups had in its possession 4000 tons of explosives, it did not have the airplanes to carry out bombing raids over Cuba, unlike groups such as Alpha 66, which were strong enough for that type of operation. Admittedly, however, Johnson said it was not known who McLaney and the others were working with. (Unfortunately, the FBI did not have HW 53090 DocId: 32267309 Page 6
JOHNSON page 5 very good coverage of organized crime activities either). He did feel that it was significant in that Oswald would probably have read about the seizures in the newspaper and Oswald's contacts after these events with Bringuier and Arnesto Rodriguez of the Berlitz School would be con- sistent with low-level infiltation attempts. Johnson believes that the incident with "D" in Mexico City may have been orchestrated by Somoza to put the blame on Castro. Johnson felt satisfied with "D"'s confession to the Mexican authorities. He noted, however, that Gibson, an FPCC member, fits the description of the red-haired man described by "D". Johnson stressed the FPCC angle as particularily interesting, especially the Canadian and Mexican aspects of the investaigation. He did not elaborate on this point, except to say that members of the FPCC located in Moscow when Oswald was in Minsk, were also in Mexico in 1963. Johnson also called our attention to page 63 of Book V of the Senate Committee report regarding the "strange travels" of a Cuban-American who crossed into Mexico at Nuevo Laredo on November 23, 1963 and then returned to Cuba. This individual had a brother in the Soviet Union in 1963; he also attended a meeting of the Tampa chapter of the FPCC, which becomes more interesting since Vincent T. Lee suggested Oswald get in touch with the Tampa chapter. JOhnson only examined the FBI files on the FPCC and never looked at CIA documents on the subject. From this review, WW 53090) Docld:32267309 Page 7
JOHNSON page 6 however, he feels that the benign picture in the Warren Report about the FPCC may have been incorrect. He feels there is reason to suspect that it had Cuban intelligence ties and it may have acted as aconduit for intelligence information. Johnson suggested a cross check on the Cuban-American and the FPCC from all possible agencies. Johnson briefly mentioned other areas to look into, including: 1) 3) The U-2 which went down into the Gulf around the 19th or 20th of November. Johnson only Saw newspaper accounts of this incident. Oswald's travel to Moscow in 1961 should be docu- mented. He reiterated the possible importance of the four Cuban groups previously mentioned, noting that groups such as Alpha 66 were sophisticated-- perhaps sophisticated enough to send someone like Oswald .to contact the Soviet Embassy or engage in intelligence operations. HW 53090 DBocld:322767309 Page 6