meeting…
Originator: NSA
From: Yeates
Document date: 11/10/1978
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

## Page 1

Doc Ref ID: A4269451

DATE: 10/05/98

PAGE: 1

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : NSA

RECORD NUMBER

144-10001-10179

RECORDS SERIES :

AGENCY FILE NUMBER :

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR

FROM

NSA

YEATES, LAO

TO

TITLE

8 NOVEMBER MTG W/MR:

BLAKEY

DATE: 11/10/78

PAGES :

6

MR. CHRTSTENSER S KNOWLEDGE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

DOCUMENT TYPE : MEMORANDUM

CLASSIFICATION

RESTRICTIONS

: 1A,

CURRENT STATUS

X

1B

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 09/25/98

OPENING CRITERIA

ORIGINATING AGENCY'S DETERMINATION REQUIRED

COMMENTS

-CONTAINS SENSTTTVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION

Released on 03-28-2022 under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Act of 1992

[R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED

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Doc Ref ID: A4269451

152-302

IO November 1978

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT: 8 November Meeting with Mr. Blakey

1. On 8 November, Ed Sapp visited Mr. Robert G. Blakey,

Chief Counsel and Staff Director for the House Select Committee

on Assassinations, to receive questions concerning a former

Air Force enlisted man's allegation that he had intercepted

information linking an

assassination plot against President Kennedy

with a figure in organized crime.

Mr. Blakey

had been referred to

NSA (GC, Dan Silver) by Ms. Judy Miller, Special Assistant to

John Kester, OSD.

2. Mr. Blakey indicated that David F. Christensen had

communicated with a friend of his named Sgt Michael B. Stevensen

at "Corry" Field, FLorida. Mr. Christensen has been committed to

a mental institution due,

he asserts, to pressures arising from

an incident occurring in 1963.

3. At that time, Christensen was in the Air Force assigned

to Kirknewton, Scotland.

Sometime

before November, 1963, in his

work as an interceptor of international commercial

communications,

he intercepted the communications referred in paragraph 1. Mr. Blakey

stated that he did not know who the crime figure is.

Christensen's

supervisor, Sgt Praeter (actually "Prater") refused to send this

traffic to

NSA and this, he alleges, eventually caused him to have

a mental breakdown.

4. Mr. Blakey stated that NSA had already acknowledged the

existence of such a facility during this period, but he didn't

indicate to whom such a statement had been made.

5. Mr. Blakey posed the following questions for NSA:

(a)

What is NSA's capability for retrieving communications

from this time and place?

(b) How quickly can we make this retrieval?

(His Committee completes its work in December. If

NSA can easily provide the answers to a number of

questions, he will do some preliminary investigatior

before formally requesting the information, but if

we indicate that much time will be required, he will

task us now.)

(c) What additional information does NSA need from Mr.

Blakey to speed the retrieval process?

(d) Is the data still available for retrieval?

Released on 03-28-2022

under the John F.

Kennedy Assassination

Records Act of 1992

was tri"?

SMIAL

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Doc Ref ID: A4269451

(e)

Was Christensen really employed by the Air Force,

working

for Praeter (Prater), and actually doing this kind of work

at that location during that

period?

6. He asked for the responses, or at least, a status of what

can be provided and how soon, by Monday, 13 November.

7. On

7 September, the General Counsel sent a copy of David

Christensen's letter to the FBI (GC/335/78), along with a letter

from AF Security Service (to which Sgt Stevensen had sent the letter).

In the General Counsel's letter he noted that Security Service was

intercepting international commercial communications at Kirknewton

in 1963 and that links between Lisbon and other parts of the world

were monitored.

8. On 9 November, Ed and I met with Dan Silver and decided

Dan should respond initially to Mr. Blakey's questions by phone.

After coordinating with EXEC/DDO, Ed asked G9 to provide input

for a response.

9. Harold Parrish (5649) of G809 conducted an initial review

of the availability of data from USA-SS covering the first eleven

months of 1963.

From a computer file listing maintained by N3, 20 boxes

of data were identified. Cross-checking assures that this is all and

the contents column helped eliminate 17 of the boxes. The remaining

three wil be manually reviewed on 13 November. If they, in fact, do

contain traffic there will be some 2000 sheets per box.

10. I notified Don silver wiks called Mr. Blakey with the news,

anch he Mguest that a set our replyin writing.

to do so a Neilt y a crite requent fine areas

EUGENE F.

YEATES

Chief

Legislative Affairs

HANDLE VIA COMET DARESVELS ONLY

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Doc Ref ID: A4269451

int the Christianse

arlegation

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Doc Ref ID: A4269451

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

BETWEEN

JOHN G. KESTER,

SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

AND

G. ROBERT BLAKEY,

CHIEF COUNSEL AND DIRECTOR TO

THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS

1. This Memorandum of Understanding shall govern the pro-

tection of classified information of the Department of Defense

relating to the investigation of the House select mittee on

Assassinations (Committee) into the allegations)of involvement

by the Government of Cuba in the assassination of President

John E. Kennedy. For such purpose, the Department of Defense

will make

_ available for an interview by a desig-

nated member of the Committee Staff at a time of mutual conven-

ience but not later than 22 November 1978.

2..

The interview will be conducted in secure spaces which

are authorized for the discussion of classified signals intelli-

gence information.

3.. The interview will be limited in scope to the substan-

tive content of the allegations of

Informa-

tion which deals with intelligence sources and methods will not

be used in responding to questions.

4. The Committee agrees, for itself and on behalf of the

person designated by the Committee to conduct the interview, not

to disclose any classified information which is revealed in the

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Doc Ref ID: A4269451

course of the interview without the prior written concurrence

of the Department of Defense.. A representative of the Depart-

ment will attend the briefing and advise the Committee represen-

tative as to information that is classified.

5. The Committee's designee who conducts the interview may

make a recording or transcript of the interview and written

notes of the responses of

to the Committee's ques-

tions. The Committee agrees that any such notes may be inspected

by the Department's representative prior to removal from the

interview room, and any classified information which is contained

in the notes shall be deleted prior to their removal. If any

classified information is contained in the notes, the original

version shall be maintained in the Office of the Special Assistant

to the Secretary of Defense, and the Committee may have access to

those notes as needed. Any recording or transcript of the inter-

view will be left in the possession of the Department of Defense

for a review to determine its classification. If the transcript

or recording contains classified information, it will remain in

the Department's possession, and the Committee may have access

to it as needed.

6. Nothing in the Committee's undertaking affects the

Committee's right to invoke in the future any subpoena power

available to it to secure and disclose the information related to

's allegations provided, however, that the Committee

will not disclose the information until any related litigation has

been concluded by judicial action that permits disclosure.

2

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