MEMORANDUM:REVIEW OF AGENCY HOLDINGS REGARDING PHOTOGRAPH OF UNIDENTIFIED INDIVIDUAL IN MEXICO CITY PUBLISHED BY THE WARREN COMMISSION
Agency: CIA
Originator: CIA
From: ROCCA, RAYMOND G.
To: DEPUTY CHIEF, OPERATIONS STAFF
Document date: 5/2/75
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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1104-10413-10125

SECRET

2 May 1975

MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Chief, Operations

Staff

SUBJECT

REFERENCE

Review of Agency Holdings regarding

Photograph of Unidentified Individual

in Mexico City published by the

Warren Commission

Letter dated 15 April 1975 by

Mr. David W. Belin, Executive Director

of

the Commission on CIA Activities

within the United States, to

Mr. E. Henry Knoche (copy attached to

accompanying report)

1.

This is further to, and in completion of,' my

interim memorandum of a few weeks ago.

2.

The attachment is a detailed review in narrative,

chronological order - together with appropriate comment-

ary - of our extensive holdings on the OSWALD case that

have a bearing on the matter of photographs taken by

Mexico City Station on 1, 4 and 15 October 1963 of an

Unidentified Individual.

As a consequence of a combina-

tion of analytical error, misjudgement and under the

stress of an urgent desire to contribute to the develop-

ment of the investigation of the assassination,

cropped version of one of the photographs of the

Unidentified Individual was introduced into the chain of

evidence in the OSWALD case on 23 November. 1963 by an

FBI representative in Dallas.

The successive vicissi-

tudes which have now made this event a cause celebre

right down to the present moment are detailed in the

narrative.

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3.

The attached report is not intended to be an

answer to the Fensterwald/O'Toole article which MI. Belin

attaches to his memorandum... (I haje prepared a paragraph-

by-paragraph refutation and comment on that article,

which I believe is more appropriately handled by a sepa

rate memorandum to Mr. Belin,

and I will prepare this as

a memorandum if that is desired.

The point of the referenced memorandum is that

consideration should be given now to

"whether or not the

entire matter can be fully disclosed at this time." This

submission is designed to make it possible for you, the

IG and others whom you may desire to consult to make this

decision.

The narrative-interpretive summary has been

together in such a way that it discloses no cyptonyms.

pseudonyms or other CIA jargon. However, its contents q0

well beyond what has been released to the public thus far

in the Warren Commission documentation.

This point must

be borne in mind in making a decision on Mr.

To remove any guestion in anybody's mind about

our good faith in this matter, the narrative is backed up

by copies of actual documentation from our files.

seems to me necessary, in reply to Mr. Belin, that he or

his representative review the documentation that backs up

the narrative.

The documentation has not been keyed into

the narrative presentation, but it follows the chronologi-

cal order of presentation from 9 October into the latest

and there is an overall index

developments in the matter' individual items. INB: There

to facilitate reference to

is only one copy of this collection; this is it.

As noted above, one of the photographs taken in

Mexico City on 4 October 1963

was introduced into the

Warren Commission public record.

However, it was intro

duced into that record in two cropped versions. The

Warren Commission and its staff were made fully aware in

the course of their inquiry at Headquarters and in

Mexico City of the origins of the photograph, the fact

that we had additional photographs of the same individual

taken at different times in Mexico City and on the basis

of full knowledge of these facts reached their own con-

clusions regarding the irrelevance of the photograph to

_OSWALD and the assassination.

In fact, we actually hold twelve different photo-

graphs of the Unidentified Individual.

Each of these after (s

reproduced in the collected documentation backing up the

narrative report (see Items 25 - 27)• Chief, LA Division,.

:: 2

SECRET

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had indicated in writing to DC/OPS Staff, that he has no

objection for Mr. Belin to do whatever is desired with

these photographs at this time. It should be noted that

Mr. Fensterwald in 1971 - 1972 was actually shown, by

Mr. Houston during a visit to the Agency, two of the

twelve photographs, other than the one already published

in the Warren Commission report..

(It is these two. that

he has published in The New York Review of Books article

which Mr. Belin attaches to his memorandum.)

It seems to me that whoever makes a decision on

whether the entire matter can be fully disclosed at this

time should bear in mind that a subsidiary decision must

also be made, i.e., whether to crop or otherwise

the background of the photographs or, alternatively, to

publish the entire run of the photographs for the first

time without taking out the background..

Obviously, none

of these questions apply to the passage of this material

to Mr. Belin and the Rockefeller Commission itself.

they should see the entire documentation as it

stands. Perhaps after that, the question of what could

be discussed and the question of "how?" and "how much?"

could be taken up with Mr. Belin himself.

My personal

recommendation is that the more we can say about this

matter in a fully open and final manner, the better off

we will be as an Agency.

But it is my understanding

that there are still

sensitive aspects deriving from

fact that the operation which produced the photographs

was jointly run with Mexican liaison and as a consequence

publication at this time would create additional problems

at that level in Mexico.

Also, it should be noted that

the Ambassador, according to Win Scott's memorandum to

J.C. King on 22 November 1963 (see Item 8 in the backup

documentation), allegedly played a direct role in the

decision to put the photographs into the hands of the FBI

in Dallas laterally from

the Field...As far as I know,

there has not been anything published about this aspect

at any time

in the past nor have we had any discussions

with the State Department about that aspect of the matter.

Raymond G. Rocca

Attachments:

as

stated

3

SECRET::

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SECRET

2 May 1975

MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Chief, Operations Staff

SUBJECT

Review of Agency Holdings regarding

Photograph of Unidentified Individual

in Mexico City published by the

Warren Commission

REFERENCE

Letter dated 15 April 1975 by

Mr. David W. Belin, Executive Director

of the Commission on CIA Activities

within the United States,: to

MI. E. Henry Knoche (copy attached: to

accompanying report)

This is further to, and in completion of, my

interim memorandum of a few weeks ago.

2.

The attachment is a detailed review in narrative,

chronological order - together with appropriate comment-

ary - of our extensive holdings on the OSWALD case that

have a bearing on the matter of photographs taken by

Mexico City Station on 1, 4 and 15 October 1963 of an

Unidentified Individual®

As a consequence of a combina-

tion of analytical error, misjudgement and under the

stress of an urgent desire to contribute to the develop

ment of the investigation of the assassination, a

cropped version of one of the photographs of the

Unidentified Individual was introduced into the chain of

evidence in the OSWALD case on 23 November 1963 by an

FBI representative in Dallas:

The successive vicissi

tudes which have now made this event a cause celebre

right down to the present moment are detailed in the

narrative.

SECRET

E. Z IMPDET UT IY

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SECRET

3.

The attached report is not intended to be an

answer to the Fensterwald/O'Toole article which Mr. Belin

attaches to his memorandum.

(I have prepared a paragraph-

by-paragraph refutation and comment on that article.

which I believe is more appropriately handled by a sepa-

rate memorandum to Mr. Belin, and I will prepare this as

a memorandum if that is desired.)

4. The point of the referenced memorandum is that

consideration should be given now to "whether of not the

entire matter can be fully disclosed at this time." This

submission is designed to make it possible for you, the

IG and others whom you may desire to consult to make this

decision.

ago to do at to 2. co% no.

The narrative-interpretive summary has been

put together in such a way that it discloses no cyptonyms.

pseudonyms or other CIA jargon. However, its contents ao

well beyond what has been released to the public thus far

in the Warren Commission documentation. This point must

be borne in mind in making a decision on Mr. Belin's

question.

TO remove

any question in anybody's mind about

our good faith in this matter, the narrative is backed up

by copies of actual documentation from our files. It

seems to me necessary, in reply to Mr. Belin, that he or

his representative review the documentation that backs up

the narrative.

The documentation has not been keyed into

the narrative presentation, but it follows the chronologi-

cal order of presentation

from 9 October into the latest

developments in the matter,

and there is an overall index

to facilitate reference to individual items.

[NB:

is only one copy of this collection; this is it.]

There

5.

As noted above, one of the photographs taken in

Mexico City on 4 October 1963 was introduced into the

Warren Commission public record.

However, it was intro-

duced into that record in two cropped versions.

Warren Commission and its staff were made fully aware in

the

course of their inquiry at Headquarters and in

Mexico City of the origins of the photograph, the fact

that we had additional photographs of the same individual

taken at different times in Mexico City and on the basis

of full knowledge of these facts reached their own con-

clusions regarding the irrelevance of the photograph to

OSWALD and the assassination®

In fact, we actually hold twelve different photo-

graphs of the Unidentified Individual.

Each of these tir 15

reproduced in the collected documentation backing up the

narrative report (see Items 25 - 27). Chief, LA Division,

.: 2

SECRET

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13.00000

SECRET

had indicated in writing to DC/OPS Staff.. that he has no

objection for Mr. Belin to do whatever is desired with

these photographs at this time. "It should be noted that

Mr. Fensterwald in 1971 - 1972 was actually shown, by

MI. Houston during a visit to the Agency, two of the

twelve photographs, other than the one already published

in the Warren Commission report.

(It is these two that

he has published in The New York Review of Books article

which Mr. Belin attaches to his memorandum.)

7. It seems to me that whoever makes a decision on

whether the entire matter can be fully disclosed at this

time should bear in mind that a subsidiary decision must

also be made, i.e., whether to crop or otherwise fuzz up

the background of the photographs or, alternatively,.

publish

the entire run of the photographs for the first

time without taking out the background.

Obviously, none

of these questions apply to the passage of this material

to Mr. Belin and the Rockefeller Commission itself..

think they should see the entire documentation as it

stands. Perhaps after that, the question of what could

be discussed and the question of "how?" and "how much?"

could be taken up with Mr. Belin himself.

My personal

recommendation is that the more we can say about this

matter in a fully open and final manner, the better off

we will be as an Agency.

But it is my understanding

that there are still sensitive aspects deriving from the

fact that the operation which produced the photographs

was jointly run with Mexican liaison and as a consequence

publication at this time would create additional problems

at that level in Mexico.

Also, it should be noted that

the Ambassador, according to Win Scott's memorandum to

J.C. King on

22 November 1963 (see Item 8 in the backup

documentation), allegedly played a direct role in the

decision to put the photographs into the hands of the FBI

in Dallas laterally from the Field. As far as I know,

there has not been anything published about this aspect

at any time in the past nor have we had any discussions

with the State Department about that aspect of the matter.

Raymond G. Rocca

Attachments:

as stated

ECRET

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