MEMO: OSWALD DOCUMENTS--ACTION TAKEN.
Originator: CIA
From: WALLER, JOHN H.
To: DDCI
Document date: 1976-12-01 00:00:00
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

# DOCID-32368661

## Page 1

Date: 02/16/05

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : CIA

RECORD NUMBER

: 104-10140-10384

RECORD

SERIES

:

JFK

AGENCY FILE NUMBER

: 80T01357A

DOCUMENT

INFORMATION

AGENCY ORIGINATOR : CIA

FROM

: WALLER, JOHN H.

TO : DDCI

TITLE

: MEMO: OSWALD DOCUMENTS--ACTION TAKEN.

DATE

:

12/01/1976

PAGES

3

SUBJECTS: OSWALD, LEE HARVEY

WASHINGTON POST

KESSLER

DOCUMENT TYPE

: PAPER

CLASSIFICATION

: SECRET

RESTRICTIONS

CURRENT STATUS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW

COMMENTS

: RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

08/03/93

JFK53

: F5 : 1993.08.03.19:37:23:650059

Released under the John F. Kennedy

[R]

-

ITEM IS

RESTRICTED

104-10140-10384

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17.

1

December 1976

MEMORANDUM FOR:

Deputy Director of Central Intelligence

FROM:

SUBJECT:

John H. Waller

Inspector General

Oswald Documents -- Action Taken

16-3489

OLC#76-34841

Lattertit

LEAKS

HSC

77-0020/3

1. Attached herewith is an edited version of the memorandum

on Kessler's article in the Washington Post forwarded to you on

27 November 1976.

2.

In an effort to obtain all the information that is avail-

able on this matter, the Office of Security, at the behest of the

the obtain-at'

Inspector General, has, initiated a formal security investigation

into the reported

leaks.

This is to be confined to an analysis of

Agency files

and records and to present and former Agency employees,

including the translator formerly assigned to the Mexico City Sta-

tion, the typist at the Station at that time and Mr. David Phillips.

They

state that it is virtually impossible to estimate the length of

time it will take to conduct these investigations.

3.

The Office of the General Counsel has been engaged since

April 1976 in perusing the Oswald 201 files, page by page, for

FOlA purposes.

It is estimated that 75 percent of that material

containing Agency information will be sanitized, if needed, and

declassified by mid-December 1976. The information relating to

telephone taps in Mexico City, however, has been deleted. The

delete. 1

Oswald 201 files consist of 11 1/2 safe drawers of material.

Other files with possible relevance to the assassination of Presi-

dent Kennedy include the following: 12 safe drawers of Cuban Opera-

tions material that is being reviewed in connection with the

Schweiker report: 2 1/2 safe drawers of material in the Office of

Security; varying amounts of related material in the Mexico City

Station files; soft files; Rocca files; CI/SIG files; OGC files

and DoI files.

E2 IMPDET

CL BY 055636

18853

=...

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I SEMET

4.

The Inspector General has also recommended that the Mexico

Branch of LA Division send

a cable to the Mexico Station inquiring

as to what records may still be there relating to the period of

Oswald's visit to Mexico and afterwards.

As of this date, we have

not located the original transcripts of the telephone intercepts of

Oswald's 1953 telephone conversations in Mexico City. We are hoping

that the present intensive search will unearth them.

5. The kinds. of information currently being deleted by the Of-

fice of General Counsel from Oswald documents under Freedom of Infor-

mation are as follows:

a.

Information confirming the existence of an Agency

station in a named city (country) abroad.

b. Cryptonyms and pseudonyms.

c. Identities of Agency staff employees.

d. Identities of agents (foreign intelligence sources).

e. Revelations concerning the Agency's use of identi- /

fiable operational tactics, techniques or equipment.

f. Confirmation of the existence of liaison agreements

or working relationships with identified or identifiable

foreign intelligence and security services.

g.

Revelation of information received from foreign

liaison services; obtained under agreements that committed

the Agency to protect the facts of the liaison arrangements

and any information received under. it, to protection against.

unauthorized disclosure.

h. In a number of instances the kind of information

cited above, if subject to public disclosure, would still

(thirteen years later) have a damaging effect on U.s.

foreign affairs, national security interests and/or

intelligence operations and classification is still

justifiable under Executive Order 11652.

2

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no decorati

i. Identities of Agency components and internal

Agency filing instructions.

j. Information concerning activities or behavior

patterns of people not even incidentally invoived in

the assassination whose personal privacy would be un-

justifiably invaded should the information be released.

k. Identities of U.S. law enforcement officials.

6. I cannot guarantee that the OGC sterilizations, following

guidelines described in the attached memorandun, are generally as

minimal as you may want.

As you can see, this process has been

going on since last April, thus it would be a major undertaking to

begin all over again.

I will look further into this, but if you

ultimately conclude that there should be a different standard for

FOIA releases on this subject than on others, we may have a very.

large job ahead of us. DDo, OGE and the FOIA office should be

heard from.

7. With regard to the Sprague investigation, our intention

would be to let Sprague or his investigators have generally un-

fettered access to our relevant files here in this building. Those

documents he wishes to take out would be given a minimal steriliza-

tion.

Those documents which he wishes to have taken out and declas

sified would be sterilized for that purpose. I anticipate that the

problems will occur as we disagree over what may be declassified.

His instincts will be to want to put as much as possible in the

public domain. But, we will have to face those

bridges when we

come to them.

Much will depend upon the kind of agreement OLC

will be able to negotiate in advance on security matters.

{signer

Bohn H. Wel:

John H. Waller

Attachinent - a/s

CC:

OCc w/att

OLC W/att

Assistant

: to DDCJ w/att

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