SUBJECT: CONTACT WITH HERMAN E. KIMSEY.
Originator: CIA
From: TSD/GARB/RDS
To: TSD/SECURITY
Document date: 01/27/1965
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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104-10250-10080

2023 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

27 January 1965

MINORANDU: FOR:

Jim O'Connor, TSD/Sacurity

SUBJECT:

Contact with Herman E. Kimsey - Jan Beck, TSD/GARB

1. As you requested at our meeting on 25 January, I have prepared

this summary of my contact with Mr. Kimsey since he left the Agency

in August, 1962.

2. My contact with k. has been via the telephone, except for a

couple of occasions when I had lunch with him or he visited Chief, GARB

in Central Building. I connot racall ever calling him, but his calls

to me have been aostly to the office and only a few to my home.

3. With a few exceptions his reason for calling seems to have

been non-specific; he just wanted to chat.

Often he would open the

onvers-tion with, the gambit of asking for someone's telephone extension,

core then once for (Thea Hall's) extonsion, or for Dick kuhn's nort

Sonctimes he would call my attention to something interesting

he had read in the paper about some new technique, some mutual friend, etc.

Occasionally he would

seen to be fishing for information about old

associates, rainly hirs? (Hall) and Dick Kuhn:

how they ware doing and

what they were doing nowadays, and so on.

Since I usually avoided

answering such questions directly, I cannot tell if he already knew

about the person in question and wanted confirnation, or if he was

fishing.

The bulk of the converstions then consisted mainly of

dialogue about his job plans, family, mutual frierds outside the Agency,

and so on.

4. Several calls were about the one instance when I was directly

involved with him on a project. It pertained to a job opening which

I had heard about and wanted to pass on to him.

It was as a docunent

examiner or a related job with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office,

Portland, Oregon. He seened interested in pursuing the possibility,

but in a recent conversation he had still not applied and did not seem

interested.

The only other calls on a specific subject where those on

the subject of the Anastasia story, early in 1904, and on the Polish

colonel's clain, 22 Jaruary 1965.

his involvement in the case via Clove Backster and gave me the general

background as he saw it,

including & certain intrigue involving "Reds

working for 'Life' magazine" and the Soviet and British intelligence

services y obably being in the background to protect their interests.

::40

Excluded from automating

faungrading and

Litiassitsation

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Until 22 January hehad no. mentioned the subject of the

colonel at all.

He called me at home, and I innediately

too:: up the subject since I had read about his disclosures in the

paper a weck earlier.

Then I prodded him about being in trouble

over the newspaper interview, he appeared confident that he was not

in any trouble because he was "in daily contact with Agency people".

He further said that his purpose in the disclosure was to pry loose

fron: the Agency those documents which would help the colonel establish

his true identity.

But it was pretty obvious that ki. was surpised by

the big play given the story in the paper.

In fact, he had even

considered calling the reporter and asking him to retract some

distortions - he did not say which - in the story, but on second thought

could not put his finger on any clear-cut error worth fighting over.

Other itens from the conversation:

if the colonel's claim is successful

k. and Cleve Backster would turn over any share of the fortune to

"the fund for procioting the lie detector"

, except their expenses and

tine nois paid out of their on pochats; k. is convinced of the coloncl's

claim to the fortuna being legitinate. He did not seem to be fishing for

infornation about the reaction in the Agency to the newspaper story.

ho said about it ins to ask how Ion Thomas rected. K. did give me the

inpression that he had examined some (identity?) documents of the

colonel thon working for TSD/G/RB in 1961 (?) bacause he said that I

would recognize the nan's picture it I saw it. But he imediately changed

his mind and said "it was probably before our time". Then I asked him

if he asn't cursuing a matter which he only knew about fron his official

capacity in working for the Govornment, he assured me that he had only

learned of the colonel's claim to be the son of the Czar late last year

(possibly he said at the time of the Presidential campaign). At the

end of the hour-long conversation he stated the real reason for calling

and that was to tell me that the colonel was to be on television, the ll

o'clock news on ABC/Chennel 7. This must have been a mistake on his part

because that news program is local and not a network progran from New York.

7.. This sumnery is the best of my recollection; if you need

adcitional information, I will be glad to fill in the gaps.

Tan Berk

GAN: BECK

T30/3433/225

x-2009

SECRE I

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