Agency: FBI
Originator: FBI
From: HQ
To: WH
Document date: 08/16/1995
Document type: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hote) .

DATE: 11-14-2017

JFK Assassination System

Date:

3/31/201

Identification Form

Agency Information

AGENCY :

FBI

RECORD NUMBER :

124-10372-10084

RECORD SERIES :

HQ

AGENCY FILE NUMBER : 62C-HQ-1029205-910

Document Information

ORIGINATOR: FBI

FROM:

HQ

TO: WH

TITLE:

DATE: 08/16/1995

• PAGES:

32

SUBJECTS :

JFKARCA OF 1992

DOCUMENT TYPE:

PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified

RESTRICTIONS: 4

CURRENT STATUS :

Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW :

03/04/1999

OPENING CRITERIA: INDEFINITE

COMMENTS : INC ARRB REPLY

v9.1

DocId: 32319752

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Page 1

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Released under the John.F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (14 USC 2107

Hotel.

DATE: 11-14-2017

8/17/95

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Doeta: 32319752

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August 16, 1995

The Honorable William J. Clinton

President of the United States L

Washington, D.C.

Re:

ALECLASSIEIED

DY.5668 540)

219199

FBI Appeal of JFK Assassination Records

Review Board Determination, Concerning

Release of FBI Documents - August 8, 1995

Dear Mr. President:

After reviewing the Assassination Records Review

Board's reply to my August 8th request for postponement of

disclosure of certain portions of nine FBI documents, I believe

it necessary to offer the following additional comments for, your

consideration.

First, the Board's analysis regarding disclosure of the

information which would reveal its source as the Swiss government

entirely misses the most salient point behind this portion of the

appeal:

the Swiss have, upon being asked, flatly refused to

consent to its disclosure.

That we may have disclosed some of

the information at issue in years past under different

circumstances does not now detract from the fact that the swiss--

even when informed of the past disclosures--object strongly to

its release today.

It is the current and future relationship between our

two countries, not that of the past, that we seek to protect by-

requesting postponement. The resolve shown by the Swiss coupled

with the views of the State Department outlined in the enclosure

are, we believe, clear and convincing evidence that the Board's

decision will compromise

the current understanding of

confidentiality that exists between our two countries if not

62c-H/9-102 2905- 9/0

classified by:

Declassify

on

38556

OADR

Mr.

SBERET

Bryant

Mr.

1

1

-

Mr.

Baugh

Higginbotham

Mr.

Hartingh

- Mr. Moschella

- Ms.

Keeley

- Mr. Fedarcyk

1 - Mr. P. Kelley

FBI/DOS

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Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Note).

DATE: 11-11-2017

SECI

KLI

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(a). Exhibits 1 and 2.11 "CI 291-S," "CI 300-S," and "CI 104-S" are symbol

numbers for informants who provided information regarding thé actions of leaders

of the Communist Party-USA immediately before and after the assassination. They

also reported to the FBI on the reactions of these leaders to the assassination and to

contacts between their Party and the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

From the first of these documents (Exhibit 1), the FBI wishes to withhold the

symbol numbers and almost an entire page of the information the informants

provided, while releasing two of the informants' file numbers: 134-63A and 134-

229A. (The "134-" prefix designates a security informant file number.) Yet in the

second document (Exhibit 2), the FBI releases all of the information provided

therein, but withholds the same two informant file numbers released in the first

document. As discussed further below, these contradictory results reveal the FBI's

inconsistent application of its "principle" of informant protection.

In support of these inconsistent redactions, the FBI provided the Review

Board with no document-specific evidence. The FBI did not provide the Review

Board with the identities or present locations of these informants, or even any

indication whether they are living or dead. In fact, the FBI provided no evidence

whatsoever about these informants. Instead, it chose to "justify" its position by

appealing to its institutional policies, and reiterating its contention, specifically

rejected by the JFK Act, that there is a current need to keep this information secret,

regardless of whether these informants are living or dead, active or inactive, safe or

at risk.

Given the FBI's refusal to provide any evidence - even information readily

available in its own files for these informants - regarding a current need to protect

"See Assassination Record Number 124-10184-10256, FBI File Number CR

100-12583-473 (attached at Exhibit 1); Assassination Record Number 124-10244-

10077, FBI File Number 105-2505-45 (attached at Exhibit 2). The latter assassination

record is duplicated at the following locations: Assassination Record Number 124-

10035-10065, FBI File Number 105-82555-648; Assassination Record Number 124-

10243-10367, FBI File Number 105-38431-205; Assassination Record Number 124-

10232-10345, FBI File Number 105-5070-18; Assassination Record Number 124-10170-

10064, FBI File Number 100-10461-1241; Assassination Record Number 124-10006-

10342, FBI File Number 105-7674-43.

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identities, it is unnecessary under Section 6(4) to weigh the compelling public

interest in disclosure against whatever harm the r'Bl imagines. Even so, the Board

concluded that the public interest in "fully informing the American people about the

history surrounding the assassination" of President Kennedy UFK Act, Section

3(10)), will be substantially served by releasing these assassination records in full.

(b). Exhibit 3.12 "HO 1125-C" is a symbol number for a criminal informant

who provided, at the least, a tantalizing lead to the FBI. HO 1125-C, according to

the assassination records that the FBI wishes to keep redacted, spoke on the phone

with his (or her) long-time acquaintance, Mary Ann McCall, on November 25, 1963.

HO 1125-C reportedly knew McCall to be a " 'fixer' and 'pay-off contact' between

Dallas police and criminal element."3 Their conversation turned to the events of

the previous day, when Jack Ruby had killed Lee Harvey Oswald while Oswald was

in police custody in the basement of the Dallas Police and Courts Building. McCall

repeatedly told informant HO 1125-C that Oswald's death was not an "accident,"

but refused to elaborate beyond saying, "You know how it works." HO 1125-C was

to see McCall while on a business trip to Dallas, attempt to get more information

about Oswald's murder, and report back to the FBI.

The FBI wishes to redact the symbol number HO 1125-C, as well as McCall's

name and occupation as hostess at the "Bachelor's Club" in Dallas -- all purportedly

in order to protect its confidential relationship with HO 1125-C. Yet it has provided

no evidence whatsoever as to whether HO 1125-C, whoever he or she may have

been, may still require protection, or whether McCall still poses (or ever did pose) a

threat to an exposed HO 1125-C. As explained above, at least some information

relevant to these questions should be found in its own informant files for HO 1125-

C. But rather than, at a minimum, consulting its own files for this informant, the FBI

chose to rely on the assertions of a blanket need to protect every informant,

12 See Assassination Record Number 124-10108-10142, FBI File Number 44-

1639-299 (attached as Exhibit 3). This assassination record is duplicated at

Assassination Record Number 124-10070-10354, FBI File Number 44-24016-329.

13Until specifically requested by the Review Board to provide evidence in

support of its redactions in this document, the FBI had kept secret this

characterization of McCall - ostensibly to protect its confidential relationship with

HO 1125-C.

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Released under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hote).

DATE: 11-14-2017

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regardless of individual circumstances, that Congress rejected in enacting the JFK

Act.

Moreover, even if for some reason information about McCall might pose a

threat to HO 1125-C, there is no basis for redacting it here because the FBI has

already released the same information elsewhere. The Dallas Field Office copy of

the document in question contains a handwritten cross-reference to "serial 1343."

This notation is not redacted. Serial 1343 of the same Dallas file, 1 which in turn

refers back to the document at issue, contains the following unredacted notes:

Hostess: Batcher [sic] Club Dallas

Fixer

'Payoff Contact'

'No Accident'

Obviously, the other party to the phone conversation reported in the earlier

serial -- described therein as a "fixer" and "pay-off contact" with the Dallas police

and as the source of the story that Oswald's death was "no accident" — was the

hostess at the "Batcher Club" in Dallas.

Serial 1343 contains further handwritten information that has also been

released to the public: the name "Marianne McCloskey," followed by an address

and phone number. Plainly, the writer of this notation had concluded, or at least

suspected, that Marianne McCloskey was the same person as HO 1125-C's "Mary

Ann McCall" A researcher working only with documents in which "Mary Ann

McCall" is redacted also could easily conclude that McCloskey was the source of the

"no accident" story. Serial 1343 sets out a "lead" for the Dallas FBI to interview the

woman who originated the story, and McCloskey is the only person whose name,

address, and phone number is written on the document.

This haphazard application of the FBI's "principle" of protecting informants is

by no means unique. The Review Board staff frequently has found duplicate

14 Assassination Record Number 124-10075-10209, FBI File Number 44-1639-

1343 (attached at Exhibit 11). FBI file 41-1639 is the Dallas Field Office's case file for

Ruby's shooting of Oswald. (Redacted information highlighted in yellow and not

yet reviewed by the Review Board.)

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